The Washington herald., 1914-10-18
ouvriEht nLl

sYork To al appearances Constance
Robinson had resumed her vocation as
hpubIicf typist, except that the contrast
between her comfortable Office of the
| present and the bare room in Hender
street in which Brooke first met her
twas pleasantly sharp.
Brooke sat by, watching her fingers
dance through the transcription of q
page.
Il cannot understand" he exclaimed
"why you 60 on grinding away at that
awretehed copyingl You get ninepencc
a thousand words for it II isn't in the
least worth your while VIII you come
out somewhere for a drive this after
'noonl"
Il viii not" she replied calmly. you
ought to have gone down and played
golf As you did not, l wish you would
sgo round to your club or somewhere.
eYou distract me"
He shrugged his shoulders and left
fher He found Constance sometimes
almost uncomfortable Her resolution,
sher indomitsble front toyard all his
attempts tol alter in any way their rela-
tions, was beginning to tell upon him
At the club he was distrait. He wan
sdered from the cardroom, which bored
him, abandoned the biIIiard-room with
out an effort to play, and finally found
himself in the library, the most deserted
spot in the club. Its only other oocu-
pant laid down his paper at his ap-
proaeh and welcomed him.
@Mr. Brooke" he said, your coming
IS rather coincidence 1 was on the
point of ringing the bell to ask whether
: you were in the club
Brooke looked at the speaker in sur
prise
Il didn't even know that you remem-
bered me, Sir William" he remarked, a
little dryly
Sir William Dennison smiled as he
drew up his chair.
"On the contrary, I remember you
very WELL" he declared. ct was in
. Vienna that 1 last met you"
Il am fattered," said Brooke, cas-
lily, TO have remained in your memory
so long"
Sir William glanced around the room
as though to make sure that they were
falone-
q have heard of you once or twice
Flately,'' he announced, through friend
Sof mine whom 1 need not name-you
land a young lady-Miss Constance
Robinson, l think"
Brooke sat quite still.
Z Il am told that in one or two cases"
Sir William continued, you have
shown, between you, an unusual amount
EOf determination and ingenuity. have
"a commission to offer you. Are you
prepared to take it,"
Without a doubt" Brooke answered
at doesn't seem, on the face of it,
a very interesting affair."" Sir William
went on. "One can't tell, however, what
1t might lead to. These are the facts !:
About a fortnight ago a Monsieur
sDupoy came over to this country, indi-
Rrectly on behalf of the French govern
ment. 1 may say that we have received
hfrom them, within the course of the last
few months, a strong protest against
our neglect in the matter of war bal
looms and aeroplanes generally.
'Dupoy was sent here to attend some
experiments at Aldershot, and to be in
trusted by US with complete scheme
Sof our proposed reorganization. He
was to have received these at the war
sofice at II o'clock last Friday week. He
presented himself at the appointed
Rplace at that time but we were not quite
ready, and We asked him to call again
the next day.
'Dupoy was perfectly willing. 1 hap
pened to be there myself, and 1 invited
Fhim to dine with me that night, an in
Fvitation which he accepted at once.
SSinoe then nothing whatever has been
sseen Of Monsieur Dupoy"
"Are you sure that he did not return
homer" ....
Quite" Sir William replied. "No
zone has seen or heard anything of him
hsince he left here last Friday week"
'I haven't noticed anything about it
in the papers," Brooke remarked.
Sir William smiled.
"The disappearance of Monsieur Du-
gpoy," he said softly, "is not one of those
cases which are advertised in the press"
/ Where was he staying?" Brooke
asked.
at DeIaeheTs Hotel on the En-
banlcment"
do you suspect any one?" Brooke
asked next
Sir William shrugged his shoulders.
Not with any reason" he answered
@Curiously enough, however, this Is the
third disappearance from Delaeher's
Hotel within the last six weeks.
q don't know whether the affair ap-
peals to you If it does, my department
viii pay exceedingly well for any sat-
isfactory elucidation of the mystery, and
will in any case, be responsible for