'Unfortunately no! He was to have handed it over at eleven o'clock the next morning.'
'Is any one suspected?' she inquired, dropping her voice a little.
Lavendale hesitated and glanced cautiously around.
'Scarcely that,' he answered, 'but you remember the man Jules, the _maîtres d'hôtel_ here?'
'A Swiss, wasn't he? I was just wondering what had become of him.
'During the investigations the next day,' Lavendale continued, 'it was discovered that his papers were forged and that he was in reality an Austrian. He was interned at once, of course, and I believe there was a certain amount of secrecy about his movements on that night. So far as I know, though, nothing has been discovered.'
'The detective system over here,' she remarked, 'is sometimes hopeless, isn't it?'
'Yet in one respect,' Lavendale pointed out, 'they certainly were prompt on that night. I understand that Jules was interned within an hour of the discovery of the murder.'
Miss de Freyne drew her manuscript towards her with a little shrug of the shoulders.
'They failed to find the formula, though,' she reminded him.
Lavendale, accepting his dismissal, returned to his place, finished his lunch and made his way round to the Milan Mansions. A caretaker was established now in his office in the hall. He was a small and rather melancholy-looking man, who hastily concealed a blackened pipe as Lavendale entered.
'I understand that you have a suite to let,' the latter began, 'upon the third floor?'
'We have several suites to let, sir,' he replied; 'nothing upon the third floor, though.'
'Are you sure?' Lavendale persisted. 'I called this morning and was allowed to look over it by Mr. Somers-Keyne, who had the keys.'
'It was taken by a young lady just before one o'clock, at our head office,' the man told him. 'With regard to the other suites, sir----'
'Could you tell me the young lady's name?' Lavendale interrupted.
'I haven't heard it yet,' the man answered shortly. 'With regard to the other suites----'
'Thank you,' he said, 'there is no other suite in which I am interested for the moment.'
He stepped out. Almost on the threshold he met Miss de Freyne, face to face.
'Are you coming,' he asked, raising his hat, 'to take possession of your new abode?'