"I suppose not," she replied. "I never thought. I know that when I came to leave the theatre one had vanished and Teddy had it here." "That was the first time you missed it?" "Yes." "But it might have gone earlier in the evening--mislaid or lost or stolen?" "I remember taking them off in the box. I sat in the corner farthest from the stage--the front row, of course--and I placed them on the support." "Where anyone in the next box could abstract one without much difficulty at a favourable moment." "That is quite likely. But we didn't see anyone in the next box." "I have half an idea that I caught sight of someone hanging back," volunteered Straithwaite. "Thank you," said Carrados, turning towards him almost gratefully. "That is most important--that you think you saw someone hanging back. Now the other glove, Mrs Straithwaite; what became of that?" "An odd glove is not very much good, is it?" said Stephanie. "Certainly I wore it coming back. I think I threw it down somewhere in here. Probably it is still about. We are in a frantic muddle and nothing is being done." The second glove was found on the floor in a corner. Carrados received it and laid it with the other. "You use a very faint and characteristic scent, I notice, Mrs Straithwaite," he observed. "Yes; it is rather sweet, isn't it? I don't know the name because it is in Russian. A friend in the Embassy sent me some bottles from Petersburg." "But on Tuesday you supplemented it with something stronger," he continued, raising the gloves delicately one after the other to his face. "Oh, eucalyptus; rather," she admitted. "I simply drenched my handkerchief with it." "You have other gloves of the same pattern?" "Have I? Now let me think! Did you give them to me, Teddy?" "No," replied Straithwaite from the other end of the room. He had lounged across to the window and his attitude detached him from the discussion. "Didn't Whitstable?" he added shortly. "Of course. Then there are three pairs, Mr Carrados, because I never let Bimbi lose more than that to me at once, poor boy." "I think you are rather tiring yourself out, Stephanie," warned her husband. Carrados's attention seemed to leap to the voice; then he turned courteously to his hostess. "I appreciate that you have had a trying time lately, Mrs Straithwaite," he said. "Every moment I have been hoping to let you out of the witness-box----" "Perhaps to-morrow----" began Straithwaite, recrossing the room. "Impossible; I leave town to-night," replied Carrados firmly. "You have three pairs of these gloves, Mrs Straithwaite. Here is one. The other two----?" "One pair I have not worn yet. The other--good gracious, I haven't been out since Tuesday! I suppose it is in my glove-box." "I must see it, please." Straithwaite opened his mouth, but as his wife obediently rose to her feet to comply he turned sharply away with the word unspoken. "These are they," she said, returning.