That sprightly man was reading an evening paper. He flung it at Bell’s head. “There you are. Six-inch headlines. ‘Famous Actress Vanishes.’ And now I do hope we shan’t be long. I wonder how she’ll manage her resurrection. Was she kidnapped by a Bolshevik submarine? U-boat in Boulter’s Lock. That would be a good stunt. And rescued by an aeroplane. She might come down on the course at Ascot.” “He can’t take her seriously, Bell,” said Reggie. “It’s the other one who has his heart. Who ever loved that loved not at first sight? She captured him at a glance.” Bell was shocked and bewildered. “What the deuce do you mean?” said Lomas. “Lady Macbeth by the river. You know how she fascinated you.” “Rose Darcourt?” Lomas cried. “Good Gad!” “The morning after Sylvia Sheridan vanished, Rose Darcourt was looking unwell by the river and Sylvia Sheridan’s bag was found in the river just below Rose Darcourt’s house. Now the manager and the playwright tell us Rose has been trying to get the part which was earmarked for Sylvia, and Sylvia was cross about it. Since Sylvia vanished Rose has pitched in a letter to say she wouldn’t look at the part or the play. Consider your verdict.” “There it is, sir, and an ugly business,” said Bell with a certain satisfaction. “These stage folk, they’re not wholesome.” “My dear old Bell,” Reggie chuckled. “Good Gad!” said Lomas, and burst out laughing. “But it’s preposterous. It’s a novelette. The two leading ladies quarrel--and they meet by moonlight alone on the banks of the murmuring stream--and pull caps--and what happened next? Did Rose pitch Sylvia into the dark and deadly water or Sylvia commit suicide in her anguish? Damme, Bell, you’d better make a film of it.” “I don’t know what you make of it, sir,” said Bell with stolid indignation. “But I’ve advised the local people to drag the river. And I suggest it’s time we had a man or two looking after this Miss Darcourt.” “Good Gad!” said Lomas again. “And what do you suggest, Fortune? Do you want to arrest her and put her on the rack? Or will it be enough to examine her body for Sylvia’s finger-prints? If we are to make fools of ourselves, let’s do it handsomely.” “It seems to me we look fools enough as it is,” Bell growled. “This is a very painful scene,” Reggie said gently. “Your little hands were never made to scratch each other’s eyes.” “What do you want to do?” Lomas turned on him. “Well, it’s not much in my way. I like a corpse and you haven’t a corpse for me. And I don’t feel that I know these good people. They seem muddled to me. It’s all muddled. I fancy they don’t know where they are. And there’s something we haven’t got, Lomas old thing. I should look about.” “I’m going to look about,” said Lomas with decision. “But I’m going to look for Sylvia Sheridan’s friends--not her wicked rivals. I resent being used as an actress’s advertisement.” Reggie shook his head. “You will be so respectable, Lomas my child. It hampers you.”