t be obtained in any other way."
I was not paying much attention to him, but still the doctor rattled on
in an undertone, "Some of these dancers are past masters in the art of
intrigue. Do you suppose Rawaruska and the rest have had the task set
for them to win back the public opinion of your country, which departed
from its traditional policy of friendliness during the Japanese war?"
I made no answer. I was engrossed in considering the primary question.
Could it have been a suicide, after all? Surely she had removed the
evidences of it much better than in any other case I had ever seen.
Or, had there been a "triangle," perhaps a quadrangle here? I could not
persuade myself that De Guerre cared greatly for his wife, except
perhaps to be jealous of anyone else having her. He was too attentive to
Elsa Hoffman, and she, in turn, was not of the type to care much for
anyone. As for Dr. Preston, although he seemed to have had a friendship
for Rawaruska, I could not exactly fit him into the scheme of things.
We proceeded up the bay on the _Sylvania_, but were able to discover
nothing further that night. As we left the ship at the dock in the
morning we ran across Wade, who was quietly directing a dozen or so of
his men.
"Any trace yet of the Invincible?" asked Craig, stopping in an
unostentatious corner.
The customs man shook his head gravely. "Not yet," he replied. "But I'm
not discouraged. If we miss it here in the customs inspection it will be
sure to turn up later. There's a shady jeweler on Fifth Avenue, Margot,
who knows these Antwerp people pretty well. I have a man working there,
a diamond cutter, and other agents in the trade. Oh, I'll hear about it
soon enough, if it is here. Only I'd like to have done something
spectacular, something that would count for me at Washington. Have you
found out anything?"
Briefly Kennedy told him some of the scattered facts we had discovered,
just enough to satisfy him without taking him into our confidence.
"I'm going to be busy in the laboratory, Walter," remarked Kennedy as
our taxicab extricated itself from the ruck of the river-front streets.
"I don't know that there is anything that you can do--except--well, yes.
I wish you'd try to keep an eye on some of these people--that maid,
Cecilie, especially."
We had learned that De Guerre was to stop at the Vanderveer and, later
in the morning, I dropped into the hotel and glanced over the register.
De Guerre was regist
|