From these tender but mournful reflections I aroused myself, almost angrily, and set off through the muddy streets towards Charing Cross; for I was availing myself of the opportunity to call upon Dr. Murray, who had purchased my small suburban practice when (finally, as I thought at the time) I had left London.

This matter occupied me for the greater part of the afternoon, and I returned to the New Louvre Hotel shortly after five, and seeing no one in the lobby whom I knew, proceeded immediately to our apartment.  Nayland Smith was not there, and having made some changes in my attire I descended again and inquired if he had left any message for me.

The booking-clerk informed me that Smith had not returned; therefore I resigned myself to wait.  I purchased an evening paper and settled down in the lounge where I had an uninterrupted view of the entrance doors.  The dinner hour approached, but still my friend failed to put in an appearance.  Becoming impatient, I entered a call-box and rang up Inspector Weymouth.

Smith had not been to Scotland Yard, nor had they received any message from him.  Perhaps it would appear that there was little cause for alarm in this, but I, familiar with my friend’s punctual and exact habits, became strangely uneasy.  I did not wish to make myself ridiculous, but growing restlessness impelled me to institute inquiries regarding the cabman who had driven my friend.  The result of these was to increase rather than to allay my fears.

The man was a stranger to the hall-porter, and he was not one of the taximen who habitually stood upon the neighboring rank; no one seemed to have noticed the number of the cab.

And now my mind began to play with strange doubts and fears.  The driver, I recollected, had been a small, dark man, possessing remarkably well-cut olive-hued features.  Had he not worn spectacles he would indeed have been handsome, in an effeminate fashion.

I was almost certain, by this time, that he had not been an Englishman; I was almost certain that some catastrophe had befallen Smith.  Our ceaseless vigilance had been momentarily relaxed—­and this was the result!

At some large bank branches there is a resident messenger.  Even granting that such was the case in the present instance, I doubted if the man could help me, unless, as was possible, he chanced to be familiar with my friend’s appearance, and had actually seen him there that day.  I determined, at any rate, to make the attempt; reentering the call-box, I asked for the bank’s number.

There proved to be a resident messenger, who, after a time, replied to my call.  He knew Nayland Smith very well by sight, and as he had been on duty in the public office of the bank at the time that Smith should have arrived, he assured me that my friend had not been there that day!

“Besides, sir,” he said, “you say he came to deposit valuables of some kind here?”