The man set down his hat upon a vacant chair, and turned over the leaves of his book.
"Guess I can fix that for you," he remarked, running his forefinger down one of the pages. "Here we are. The Duchess left on Friday, and we checked her baggage through to Lenox by the New York, New Haven & Hartford."
"Thank you," he said. "She would probably take a carriage to the station. It will be worth another ten dollars to you if you can find me the man who drove her."
"Well, we ought to manage that for you," the man remarked encouragingly. "It was one of Steve Hassell's carriages, I guess, unless the lady took a hansom."
"Very good," Mr. Sabin said. "See if you can find him. Keep my inquiries entirely to yourself. It will pay you."
"That's all right," the man remarked. "Don't you go to bed for half-an-hour, and I guess you'll hear from me again."
Duson busied himself in the bed-chamber, Mr. Sabin sat motionless in his easy chair. Soon there came a tap at the door. The porter reappeared ushering in a smart-looking young man, who carried a shiny coachman's hat in his hand.
"Struck it right fust time," the porter remarked cheerfully. "This is the man, sir."
"You drove a lady from here to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Depot last Friday?" he asked.
"Well, not exactly, sir," the man answered. "The Duchess took my cab, and the first address she gave was the New York, New Haven & Hartford Depot, but before we'd driven a hundred yards she pulled the check-string and ordered me to go to the Waldorf. She paid me there, and went into the hotel."
"You knew her by sight, you say. Was there anything special about her appearance?"
"She'd a pretty thick veil on, sir, but she raised it to pay me, and I should say she'd been crying. She was much paler, too, than last time I drove her."
"In the spring, sir,--with you, begging your pardon. You were at the Netherlands, and I drove you out several times."
"You seem," Mr. Sabin said, "to be a person with some powers of observation. It would pay you very well indeed if you would ascertain from any of your mates at the Waldorf when and with whom the lady in question left that hotel."
"I'll have a try, sir," the man answered. "The Duchess was better known here, but some of them may have recognised her."