istake, gentlemen. Any young woman off on that sort of
adventure should be cautious enough to destroy marks of identification.
This hat, as it happens, came from Mme. Altier, just uptown."

"The little blonde?" escaped from Johnson Boller.

"The little blonde," sneered his wife. "The little blonde is quite a
friend of mine; I lent her the money that started her in business up
this way, in fact, and I've been buying hats there for five years.
Therefore, I went and interviewed the little blonde, and her memory and
her methods of bookkeeping are alike commendable. She might not have
told another woman, but she was very glad to tell me."

Beatrice gazed at the slip briefly.

"Mrs. Henry Wales!" she said very suddenly indeed, and sent her eyes
straight through both of them at once.

Innocent for once, Anthony and Johnson Boller merely frowned at
Beatrice, and after a little she shrugged her shoulders.

"Not Mrs. Henry Wales, evidently," she mused. "Very well; I was right
about her. I've met her, I think, and she seemed a little bit too nice
for that sort of thing. Er--Laura Cathcart!"

Once more the word was hurled straight into them. Once more Anthony and
his old friend stared innocently--but they did a little more this time.
They turned and stared at one another, and all the air between them
vibrated with a wordless message!

Beatrice had made one grave tactical error in not reading the right name
first; Anthony and his friend understood now and were quite prepared for
anything--and it seemed almost as if Beatrice sensed the message, for
she frowned a little as she said:

"Mary Dalton!"

Blankly, innocently as babes unborn, and still not too innocently
withal, Anthony and Johnson Boller stared back, and the latter even had
assurance enough to say:

"What's the idea, Bee? Is it a roll-call?"

"It is the names of the three women in New York who have bought that
particular style of hat from Sarah," said Mrs. Boller. "She made up just
three, as is her custom, and when they were sold she made no more. So
that in spite of your extreme wonder at hearing the names, and although
I had rather hoped to guess which one it might be, one of that trio was
in this flat last night. Which one?"

Johnson Boller shook his head vigorously.

"None of 'em!" he said flatly.

"What do _you_ say?" Beatrice asked Anthony.

"Madam, I decline to say anything whatever!" Anthony said stiffly.

"Really?" smiled Beatrice, and gazed at