dded: "A friend of mine
has picked up a little bag or something with 'Vivien, Bond Street,' on
it. He asked me to see if I could find the owner."

The landlord nodded his head with interest. "That'll be her, I expect.
Mamzelle Vivien the palmist--just across the way."

"Oh, she's a palmist, is she?" I exclaimed. The thought of George
consulting a palmist was decidedly entertaining. Perhaps he wanted to
find out whether I was likely to wring his neck.

With a side glance at the chauffeurs, the landlord leaned a little
towards me and slightly lowered his voice. "Well, that's what she
calls 'erself," he observed. "Palmist and Clairvoyante; and a smart
bit o' goods she is too."

"But I thought the police had stopped that sort of thing," I said.

The landlord shook his head. "The police don't interfere with her.
She don't advertise or anything like that, and I reckon she has some
pretty useful friends. You'd be surprised if I was to tell you some o'
the people I seen going in there--Cabinet Ministers and Bishops."

"It sounds like the Athenaeum Club," I said. "Do you know what she
charges?"

"No," he replied; "something pretty stiff I guess. With folks like
that it's a case of make 'ay while the sun shines."

He was called off at this point to attend to another customer, leaving
me to ponder over the information he had given me. I felt that somehow
or other I must make Mademoiselle Vivien's acquaintance. A beautiful
palmist, for whom George deserted his business at eleven in the
morning, was just the sort of person who might prove extremely
interesting to me. Besides, the fact that her name was the same as
that of the lady who lived next door to Tommy lent an additional spur
to my curiosity. It might be a mere coincidence, but if so it was a
sufficiently odd one to merit a little further investigation.

I drank up my whisky, and after waiting a minute or two, ordered
another. I had just got this and was taking my first sip, when quite
suddenly I saw in the mirror the reflection of George emerging from
the doorway opposite.

I didn't stop to finish my drink. I put down the tumbler, and nodding
to the landlord walked straight out into the street. The pavement was
thronged with the usual midday crowd, but pushing my way through I
dodged across the road and reached the opposite side-walk just in
time to see George stepping into a taxi a few yards farther down the
street.

I was not close enough to overhear the dire