an instant her hand trembled on his arm, and he caught the fragrance of
her hair.

"Where is she now?" he asked.

"Playing bridge," replied Miss Thorne, with a sad little smile. "It is
always so--at least twice a week, and she rarely returns before two or
half-past." She extended both hands impetuously, entreatingly. "Please
be generous, Mr. Grimm. You have the gold; don't destroy her."

Señor Rodriguez, the minister from Venezuela, found the gold in his safe
on the following morning, with a brief note from Mr. Grimm, in which
there was no explanation of how or where it had been found.... And two
hours later Monsieur Boisségur, ambassador from France to the United
States, disappeared from the embassy, vanished!




XII

THE VANISHING DIPLOMATIST


It was three days after the ambassador's disappearance that Monsieur
Rigolot, secretary of the French embassy and temporary
_chargé-d'affaires_, reported the matter to Chief Campbell in the Secret
Service Bureau, adding thereto a detailed statement of several singular
incidents following close upon it. He told it in order, concisely and to
the point, while Grimm and his chief listened.