Vanderlyn winced as he nodded a dubious assent.

But at first everything went ill with them. Pargeter insisted on sending
for the police interpreter and stating his business in English; then,
irritated at the man's lack of comprehension, he broke out--to
Vanderlyn's surprise--into voluble French. But as the two foreigners
were sent from room to room in the old-fashioned, evil-smelling
building, as endless forms were placed before them to be filled up, it
became increasingly clear that the disappearance of a human being,
especially of an Englishwoman, did not strike the listless employees as
being particularly remarkable.

The more angry Pargeter grew and the more violent in his language, the
more politely, listlessly, indifferent became those to whom he addressed
his questions and indignant complaints.

The cosmopolitan millionaire-sportsman, accustomed to receive a constant
stream of adulation and consideration from all those with whom life
brought him in contact, was first amazed, and then angered, by the lack
of interest shown in him and in his affairs at the Prefecture of Police.

Then, to his surprise and only half-concealed mortification, a reference
made by Laurence Vanderlyn to an incident which had taken place the year
before--that is, to the disappearance of an American citizen--followed
by the production of the diplomatist's card, brought about a magic
change.

Immediately the two friends were introduced into the presence of an
important official; and a moment later Tom Pargeter's outraged dignity
and sense of importance were soothed by an outpouring of respectful
sympathy, while in an incredibly short time the full particulars of
every accident which had occurred in the streets of Paris during the
last twenty-four hours were laid before the anxious husband. But it soon
became clear that in none of these had Mrs. Pargeter been concerned.

The official left the room a moment; then he returned with a colleague.

This man, the chief of the detective force, proceeded with considerable
tact to examine and cross-examine both Pargeter and Vanderlyn concerning
the way in which Mrs. Pargeter had spent the earlier part of the
previous day--that is, the day on which she had disappeared.

The man's manner--that of scenting a secret, of suspecting that more lay
behind the matter than was admitted by the husband and friend of the
woman they were seeking--produced a disagreeable impression on
Vanderlyn. For the f