"My name is Taylor," he said, "and I'm a deputy-surveyor."
"You wanted to see me about a ring, I think, didn't you?"
"Yes," he answered. "The intention evidently was to smuggle it through the Customs."
"Do you really think so?" she demanded, interested. "I haven't the faintest idea who could have sent it to me."
"Of course you haven't," he said in his blandest, most reassuring manner. It was a manner that made the listening Duncan wonder what was to follow. His chief was always most deadly when he purred. "It's a mistake," he continued, "but the record will probably shed some light on the matter. Duncan," he called sharply, "go and get those papers relating to Miss Cartwright."
"Papers?" he repeated. "What papers, sir?"
"The papers relating to the package sent Miss Cartwright from Paris." There was a significance in his tone that was not lost on Duncan. Gibbs would have argued it out, but Duncan though in the dark followed his cue.
"Oh, _those_ papers," he answered. "I'll get 'em, sir."
When he had gone the girl turned to Taylor.
"Do you know," she asserted, "I feel quite excited at being here and sitting in a chair in which you probably often examine smugglers. One reads about it constantly."
"It's being done all the time," he responded, "among all sorts of people. Now, Miss Cartwright, since we are talking of smuggling, I'd like to have a little business chat with you if I may."
The girl looked at him astonished. She could not conceive that a man like the one looking at her could be serious in talking of a business proposition.
"With me?" she demanded, and Taylor could see that the idea was not pleasing. He resolved to abandon his usual hectoring tactics and adopt softer modes.
"I mean it," he asserted. "You said you've read about all this smuggling and so on. Believe me, you've not read a thousandth part of what's going on all the time, despite all our efforts to check it. The difficult part is that many of the women are so socially prominent that it isn't easy to detect them. They move in the sort of world you move in." He leaned forward and spoke impressively. "But it's a world where neither I nor my men could pass muster for a moment. Do you follow me?"
He interrupted her, "Miss Cartwright, we are looking for someone who belongs in society by right. Someone who is clever enough to provide us with information and yet never be suspected. We want someone above suspicion. We want someone, for instance, like you."