single
definite piece of information as to her whereabouts.

Arriving at the shop of Messrs. Goddard & James, we went inside and
asked to see the chief partner. An assistant immediately conveyed us to
an office at the rear of the building, where we found an elderly
gentleman writing at a desk. He looked up as we entered, and then,
seeing the Inspector's uniform, rose and asked our business.

"The day before yesterday," began my companion, "you supplied a
gentleman with a number of South-Sea weapons and curios on hire, did you
not?"

"I remember doing so--yes," was the old gentleman's answer. "What about
it?"

"Only I should be glad if you would favour me with a description of the
person who called upon you about them--or a glimpse of his letter, if he
wrote."

"He called and saw me personally."

"Ah! That is good. Now would you be so kind as to describe him?"

"Well, in the first place, he was very tall and rather handsome; he had,
if I remember rightly, a long brown moustache, and was decidedly well
dressed."

"That doesn't tell us very much, does it? Was he alone?"

"No. He had with him, when he came into the office, an individual whose
face remains fixed in my memory--indeed I cannot get it out of my head."

Instantly I became all excitement.

"What was this second person like?" I asked.

"Well, I can hardly tell you--that is to say, I can hardly give you a
good enough description of him to make you see him as I saw him. He was
tall and yet very slim, had black hair, a sallow complexion, and the
blackest eyes I ever saw in a man. He was clean-shaven and exquisitely
dressed, and when he spoke, his teeth glittered like so many pearls. I
never saw another man like him in my life."

"Nikola, for a thousand!" I cried, bringing my hand down with a thump
upon the table.

"It looks as if we're on the track at last," said the Inspector. Then,
turning to Mr. Goddard again: "And may I ask now what excuse they made
to you for wanting these things!"

"They did not offer any; they simply paid a certain sum down for the
hire of them, gave me their address, and then left."

"And the address was?"

"83, Charlemagne Street. Our van took the things there and fetched them
away last night."

"Thank you. And now one or two other questions. What name did the hirer
give?"

"Eastover."

"When they left your shop how did they go away?"

"A cab was waiting at the door for them, and I walked out to it with
them."