Doctor Voules, who did not believe in moods, who never permitted such weakness in his subordinates, pressed his lips tightly together.
"You will be good enough, _gnädige Frau_," he commanded, "to be a little more precise and explicit. Something has occurred, no doubt, to ruffle your temper." He went to a chair at the hearth, seated himself, asked permission to smoke, and lit one of his big, black cigars.
Mrs. Beecher Monmouth looked at him squarely for a moment.
"Of course, my personal sufferings are nothing to you! It is nothing to you, for instance, that my friend, Lady Rachel Marvin, has vanished!"
"She is one of the most useful friends I have ever had," returned Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "and has suddenly disappeared without leaving me a note or a line."
"Refresh my memory, please, in regard to this lady."
"She is the foolish little chatterbox who provided me with all the information I needed in regard to the _Malta_," retorted Mrs. Beecher Monmouth curtly.
Doctor Voules suddenly became all attention.
"And you mean, _gnädige Frau_, that this lady has vanished?"
Mrs. Beecher Monmouth assured him of the fact.
"No one knows," she went on, "where she is. She was my most intimate friend. I had put all my hopes in her, Excellenz! Then, to add to my vexation, my husband has been suddenly and unexpectedly appointed to a Government commission of inquiry in Ireland. He is delighted, of course; it is an honour for him. Then, again," went on Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "Mrs. Pomfret Bond, who was in the habit of telling me everything she knew, who was always scraping up bits of gossip that were of use, is----"
"Has she vanished also?" inquired Voules, suddenly rising.
"No," returned Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "but she has become mute as a fish. My opinion is that she has been warned not to talk, and that I have at last become a suspected person!"
Voules looked at her and shook his ponderous head.
"No, no! Your position, _gnädige Frau_, is too secure for that; also you are too clever."
"I am not a fool," answered Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "but these things disturb me!"
"Your love of the Fatherland, your belief in final victory, will sustain you. You lose your friend, Lady Rachel Marvin, but to a woman of your beauty and position nothing is impossible. You shall get other fools--is it not so? England, _gnädige Frau_, is full of fools!"