“But the doctor shook his head.  ’I’m afraid that, too, is impossible.  Nurse Edith left with a patient to-night also.’  ’I seem to be real unlucky,’ I remarked.  ’Have you Mr. Whittington’s address in town?  I guess I’d like to look him up when I get back.’  ’I don’t know his address.  I can write to Nurse Edith for it if you like.’  I thanked him.  ’Don’t say who it is wants it.  I’d like to give him a little surprise.’

“That was about all I could do for the moment.  Of course, if the girl was really Whittington’s niece, she might be too cute to fall into the trap, but it was worth trying.  Next thing I did was to write out a wire to Beresford saying where I was, and that I was laid up with a sprained foot, and telling him to come down if he wasn’t busy.  I had to be guarded in what I said.  However, I didn’t hear from him, and my foot soon got all right.  It was only ricked, not really sprained, so to-day I said good-bye to the little doctor chap, asked him to send me word if he heard from Nurse Edith, and came right away back to town.  Say, Miss Tuppence, you’re looking mighty pale!”

“It’s Tommy,” said Tuppence.  “What can have happened to him?”

“Buck up, I guess he’s all right really.  Why shouldn’t he be?  See here, it was a foreign-looking guy he went off after.  Maybe they’ve gone abroad—­to Poland, or something like that?”

Tuppence shook her head.

“He couldn’t without passports and things.  Besides I’ve seen that man, Boris Something, since.  He dined with Mrs. Vandemeyer last night.”

“Mrs. Who?”

“I forgot.  Of course you don’t know all that.”

“I’m listening,” said Julius, and gave vent to his favourite expression.  “Put me wise.”

Tuppence thereupon related the events of the last two days.  Julius’s astonishment and admiration were unbounded.

“Bully for you!  Fancy you a menial.  It just tickles me to death!” Then he added seriously:  “But say now, I don’t like it, Miss Tuppence, I sure don’t.  You’re just as plucky as they make ’em, but I wish you’d keep right out of this.  These crooks we’re up against would as soon croak a girl as a man any day.”

“Do you think I’m afraid?” said Tuppence indignantly, valiantly repressing memories of the steely glitter in Mrs. Vandemeyer’s eyes.

“I said before you were darned plucky.  But that doesn’t alter facts.”

“Oh, bother me!” said Tuppence impatiently.  “Let’s think about what can have happened to Tommy.  I’ve written to Mr. Carter about it,” she added, and told him the gist of her letter.

Julius nodded gravely.

“I guess that’s good as far as it goes.  But it’s for us to get busy and do something.”

“What can we do?” asked Tuppence, her spirits rising.

“I guess we’d better get on the track of Boris.  You say he’s been to your place.  Is he likely to come again?”