m House," the hotel clerk remarked. "Do you know who lives
there?"

The inspector nodded.

"The Duke of Devenham," he answered. "A very interesting young lady, I
should think, that. I wonder what she and Mr. Hamilton Fynes would have
talked about if they had lunched here today."

The hotel clerk looked dubious. He did not grasp the significance of the
question.

CHAPTER V. AN AFFAIR OF STATE

Miss Penelope Morse was perfectly well aware that the taxicab in which
she left the Carlton Hotel was closely followed by two others. Through
the tube which she found by her side, she altered her first instructions
to the driver, and told him to proceed as fast as possible to Harrod's
Stores. Then, raising the flap at the rear of the cab, she watched the
progress of the chase. Along Pall Mall the taxi in which she was seated
gained considerably, but in the Park and along the Bird Cage Walk both
the other taxies, risking the police regulations, drew almost alongside.
Once past Hyde Park Corner, however, her cab again drew ahead, and when
she was deposited in front of Harrod's Stores, her pursuers were out of
sight. She paid the driver quickly, a little over double his fare.

"If any one asks you questions," she said, "say that you had
instructions to wait here for me. Go on to the rank for a quarter of an
hour. Then you can drive away."

"You won't be coming back, then, miss?" the man asked.

"I shall not," she answered, "but I want those men who are following
me to think that I am. They may as well lose a little time for their
rudeness."

The chauffeur touched his hat and obeyed his instructions. Miss Penelope
Morse plunged into the mazes of the Stores with the air of one to
whom the place is familiar. She did not pause, however, at any of the
counters. In something less than two minutes she had left it again by a
back entrance, stepped into another taxicab which was just setting down
a passenger, and was well on her way back towards Pall Mall. Her ruse
appeared to have been perfectly successful. At any rate, she saw nothing
more of the occupants of the two taxicabs.

She stopped in front of one of the big clubs and, scribbling a line on
her card, gave it to the door keeper.

"Will you find out if this gentleman is in?" she said. "If he is, will
you kindly ask him to step out and speak to me?"

She returned to the cab and waited. In less than five minutes a tall,
broad-shouldered young man, clean-shaven, and movi