affected. She has delusions; she may have
suicidal mania. She has disappeared, and she must be found--as secretly
as possible. Her delusions and illness must not become a newspaper
headline. I needn't tell you it would make 'a story.' There's one chance
in fifty that she may come here, or telephone for me. You are not to
leave this room. Answer that telephone--you know her voice, don't you?
You are to tell her that I have her letter and she has nothing to worry
about; that I have had charge of all her affairs in her absence; that
her daughter knows of her return and wants her at once. Tell her that I
have left a letter for her--this one. When Miss Marteen calls up, tell
her to go to her home; that her mother has come back, but has left
again, and is ill; that I'm doing all in my power to find her. Tell her
to call me at once on the long distance telephone to Washington, at the
New Willard. Wherever I have to be I'll arrange that I can be called at
once. Do you understand?

"Dr. Balys will be here in a few moments. He will have the hospitals
canvassed. If you locate her, Brencherly, send my doctor to her at once.
Get her to her own apartment, and don't let her talk. I want you to pick
a man to watch the morgue; to look up every case of reported suicide
that by any chance might be Mrs. Marteen--here or in other cities." Gard
felt the blood leave his heart as he said the words, though there was no
quaver in his voice. "If they should find her, don't let her identity be
known if there is any chance of concealing it, not until you reach me.
Don't let Miss Marteen know. Put another man on the hotel arrivals. She
left St. Augustine--Here--" He--jotted down times and dates on a slip.
"Work on that. Keep the police off. I'll have Balys stay here, unless he
locates her in any of the hospitals. My secretary is yours; and there
are half a dozen telephones in the house; you can keep 'em all going.
But, mind, there must be no leak. Watch her apartment, too. Question her
maid up there. Of course that letter on the table there might interest
you, but I think I had better trust you, since I make you my deputy.
This is no small matter, Brencherly. Honesty is the best policy--and
there _are_ rewards and punishments."

The strain of grief and anxiety had set its mark on Gard's face. His
deadly earnestness and evident effort at self-control sent a thrill of
pitying admiration through the detective's hardened indifference. A rush
of loyalt