‘Now, how am I to get hold of her?’ he said. The clerk making no suggestion, he went on after a pause:-- ‘I think if you could tell me just when she left it might help me. Could you do that?’ ‘About six weeks ago. I can tell you the exact day by looking up the old wages sheets if you don’t mind waiting. Will you take a seat?’ La Touche thanked him and sat down, trusting the search would be concluded before any of the other clerks returned. But he was not delayed long. In three or four minutes the boy returned. ‘She left on Monday, the 5th of April, monsieur.’ ‘And was she long with you?’ ‘About two years, monsieur.’ ‘I am greatly obliged. And her Christian name was?’ ‘Éloise, monsieur. Éloise Lambert.’ ‘A thousand thanks. And now I have just to beg of you not to mention my visit, as it would injure me if it got out that my business was not too flourishing. Here is my debt to you.’ He handed over the twenty francs. ‘It is too much, monsieur. I am glad to oblige you without payment.’ ‘A bargain is a bargain,’ insisted the detective, and, followed by the profuse thanks of the young clerk, he left the office. ‘This grows interesting,’ thought La Touche, as he once more emerged into the street. ‘Boirac dismisses a typist on the very day the cask reaches St. Katherine’s Docks. Now, I wonder if the new typewriter made its appearance at the same time. I must get hold of that girl Lambert.’ But how was this to be done? No doubt there would be a record of her address somewhere in the office, but he was anxious that no idea of his suspicions should leak out, and he preferred to leave that source untapped. What, then, was left to him? He could see nothing for it but an advertisement. Accordingly, he turned into a café and, calling for a bock, drafted out the following:-- ‘If Mlle. Éloise Lambert, stenographer and typist, will apply to M. Georges La Touche, Hôtel Suisse, rue de La Fayette, she will hear something to her advantage.’ He read over the words and then a thought struck him, and he took another sheet of paper and wrote:-- ‘If Mlle. Éloise Lambert, stenographer and typist, will apply to M. Guillaume Faneuil, Hôtel St. Antoine, she will hear something to her advantage.’ ‘If Boirac should see the thing, there’s no use in my shoving into the limelight,’ he said to himself. ‘I’ll drop Georges La Touche for a day or two and try the St. Antoine.’ He sent his advertisement to several papers, then, going to the Hôtel St. Antoine, engaged a room in the name of M. Guillaume Faneuil. ‘I shall not require it till to-morrow,’ he said to the clerk, and next day he moved in. During the morning there was a knock at the door of his private sitting-room, and a tall, graceful girl of about five-and-twenty entered. She was not exactly pretty, but exceedingly pleasant and good-humoured looking. Her tasteful, though quiet, dress showed she was not in need as a result of losing her situation. La Touche rose and bowed.