t the Albion Hotel, and seemed to be in
every way above suspicion of any sort.

Of course I started off at once to see Mrs. Purvis.

Parmalee came just as I was leaving the inn, and was of course anxious
and inquisitive to know where I was going, and what I was going to do.

At first I thought I would take him into my confidence, and I even
thought of taking him with me. But I felt sure I could do better work
alone. It might be that Mrs. Egerton Purvis should turn out to be an
important factor in the case, and I suppose it was really an instinct of
vanity that made me prefer to look her up without Parmalee by my side.

So I told him that I was going to New York on a matter in connection
with the case, but that I preferred to go alone, but I would tell him
the entire result of my mission as soon as I returned. I think he was
a little disappointed, but he was a good-natured chap, and bade me a
cheerful goodby, saying he would meet me on my return.

I went to New York and went straight to the Albion Hotel.

Learning at the desk that the lady was really there, I sent my card up
to her with a request for an immediate audience, and very soon I was
summoned to her apartment.

She greeted me with that air of frigid reserve typical of an English
woman. Though not unattractive to look at, she possessed the high
cheekbones and prominent teeth which are almost universal in the women
of her nation. She was perhaps between thirty and forty years old, and
had the air of a grande dame.

"Mr. Burroughs?" she said, looking through her lorgnon at my card, which
she held in her hand.

"Yes," I assented, and judging from her appearance that she was a woman
of a decided and straightforward nature I came at once to the point.

"I'm a detective, madam," I began, and the remark startled her out of
her calm.

"A detective!" she cried out, with much the same tone as if I had said a
rattlesnake.

"Do not be alarmed, I merely state my profession to explain my errand."

"Not be alarmed! when a detective comes to see me! How can I help it?
Why, I've never had such an experience before. It is shocking! I've met
many queer people in the States, but not a detective! Reporters are bad
enough!"

"Don't let it disturb you so, Mrs. Purvis. I assure you there is nothing
to trouble you in the fact of my presence here, unless it is trouble of
your own making."

"Trouble of my own making!" she almost shrieked. "Tell me at once what
you mean,