The Classic Mystery Collection - Arthur Conan Doyle [3492]
"We don't know your name, but that is of no consequence. We _do_ know that in Spain you were Senora Cassavant, in Paris Mademoiselle d'Aubinon, in London Miss Jane Kellog, and here Miss Isabel Thorne. We realize that exigencies arise in your calling, and mine, which make changes of name desirable, necessary even, and there is no criticism of that. Now as the representative of your government--rather _a_ government--you have a right to be here, although unaccredited; you have a right to remain here as long as your acts are consistent with our laws; you have a right to your secrets as long as they do not, directly or indirectly, threaten the welfare of this country. Now, why are you here?"
He received no answer; he expected none. After a moment he went on:
"Admitting that you are a secret agent of Italy, admitting everything that you claim to be, you haven't convinced me that you are not the person who came here for the letters and cigarettes. You have said nothing to prove to my satisfaction that you are not the individual I was waiting for to-night."
"You don't mean that you suspect--?" she began in a tone of amazement.
"I don't mean that I suspect anything," he interposed. "I mean merely that you haven't convinced me. There's nothing inconsistent in the fact that you are what you say you are, and that in spite of that, you came to-night for--"
He was interrupted by a laugh, a throaty, silvery note that he remembered well. His idle hands closed spasmodically, only to be instantly relaxed.
"Suppose, Mr. Grimm, I should tell you that immediately after Madame Boissegur placed the matter in my hands this afternoon I went straight to your office to show this letter to you and to ask your assistance?" she inquired. "Suppose that I left my card for you with a clerk there on being informed that you were out--remember I knew you were on the case from Madame Boissegur--would that indicate anything except that I wanted to put the matter squarely before you, and work with you?"
"We will suppose that much," Mr. Grimm agreed.
"That is a statement of fact," Miss Thorne added. "My card, which you will find at your office, will show that. And when I left your office I went to the hotel where you live, with the same purpose. You were not there, and I left a card for you. And _that_ is a statement of fact. It was not difficult, owing to the extraordinary circumstances, to imagine that you would be here to-night--just as you are--and I came here. My purpose, still, was to inform you of what I knew, and work with you. Does that convince you?"
"And how did you enter the embassy?" Mr. Grimm persisted.
"Not with a latch-key, as you did," she replied. "Madame Boissegur, at my suggestion, left the French window in the hall there unfastened, and I came in that way--the way, I may add, that _Monsieur l'Ambassadeur_ went out when he disappeared."
"Very well!" commented Mr. Grimm, and finally: "I think, perhaps, I owe you an apology, Miss Thorne--another one. The circumstances now, as they were at our previous meetings, are so unusual that--is it necessary to go on?" There was a certain growing deference in his tone. "I wonder if you account for Monsieur Boissegur's disappearance as I do?" he inquired.
"I dare say," and Miss Thorne leaned toward him with sudden eagerness in her manner and voice. "Your theory is--?" she questioned.
"If we believe the servants we know that Monsieur Boissegur did not go out either by the front door or rear," Mr. Grimm explained. "That being true the French window by which you entered seems to have been the way."
"Yes, yes," Miss Thorne interpolated. "And the circumstances attending the disappearance? How do you account for the fact that he went, evidently of his own will?"
"Precisely as you must account for it if you have studied the situation here as I have," responded Mr. Grimm. "For instance, sitting at his desk there"--and he turned to indicate it--"he could readily see out the windows overlooking the street. There is only a narrow strip of lawn between the house and the sidewalk. Now, if some one on