ntimate with--or would he
endeavour in person to enlist the aid of the woman he was to marry?

No one knew better than Heldon Foyle the danger of jumping to
conclusions. Inferences, however clever, however sound they may seem
when they are drawn, are apt to lead one astray. The detective who
habitually used the deductive method would spend a great deal of his
time exploring blind alleys. Yet Foyle, with the unostentatious Maxwell
at his right hand, hurried in the direction of Berkeley Square with a
hope that his theory might not be ill-founded.

A little distance away from the Duke of Burghley's house he crossed the
road and spoke to a cabman who was lounging on the seat of his
motionless vehicle. Curiously enough the constables patrolling the beat
did not order that particular cabman away to a rank, although he had
been there for several hours, creating a technical obstruction.

"Have you seen a man call over the road lately?" asked the
superintendent.

"No, sir," answered the cabman alertly. "The only person has been a
messenger-boy with a note for Lady Eileen Meredith. He told me it had
been handed in at the district messenger office at Victoria. Lady Eileen
came out shortly afterwards and walked away in the direction of
Piccadilly. Phillips has gone after her."

"Right. Report to the Yard directly she returns, and keep a sharp
look-out."

"Very good, sir," said the cab-driver, and Foyle turned away to mount
the steps of the house. The footman who answered the door replied that
both his Grace and the Lady Eileen were out. He could not say when they
would return. The superintendent tapped the step impatiently with the
tip of his well-polished American boot, and his brow puckered. Finally
he produced a card.

"I think I had better wait," he said. "My business is important." That
procured his admission into the house, but he had no idea of waiting in
idleness in one of the reception-rooms. Eileen had received a note
which had taken her out--he shrewdly suspected that it was from Grell.
It was conceivable, though it was not probable, that she might have left
it about. It was for him to learn the contents of that note if possible.
"Look here, old chap," he said, with an assumption of familiarity that
flattered the frigid footman, "I want to see Lady Eileen directly she
comes in, and I don't want to be announced." He winked as though from
one man of the world to another. "You understand, don't you?"

The footman