he obtained happiness he would owe it all to her. She it was who had
shown him his duty; there was a good deal of it, but that's what it
meant.

"A week later came another letter, dated from New York this time. Mary
could not be discovered anywhere; her situation she had left just two
years ago, but for what or for where nobody seemed to know. What was to
be done?

"Mam'sel Marie sat down and wrote him by return of post, and wrote him
somewhat sharply--in broken English. It seemed to her he must be
strangely lacking in intelligence. Mary, as he knew, spoke French as
well as she did English. Such girls--especially such waitresses--he
might know, were sought after on the Continent. Very possibly there were
agencies in New York whose business it was to offer good Continental
engagements to such young ladies. Even she herself had heard of one
such--Brathwaite, in West Twenty-third Street, or maybe Twenty-fourth.
She signed her new name, Marie Luthier, and added a P.S. to the effect
that a right-feeling husband who couldn't find his wife would have
written in a tone less suggestive of resignation.

"That helped him considerably, that suggestion of Marie's about the agent
Brathwaite. A fortnight later came a third letter. Wonderful to relate,
his wife was actually in Paris, of all places in the world! She had
taken a situation in the Hotel du Louvre. Master Tom expected to be in
Paris almost as soon as his letter.

"'I think I'll go round to the Louvre if you can spare me for quarter of
an hour,' said Marie, 'and see the manager.'