Detective and mystery stories, English; English fiction -- 20th century; Short stories, English
Haasberg now feared the worst. He blamed himself terribly for not
having made more certain of the mysterious visitor's identity. He
had not yet come to the point of accusing his brother-in-law in his
mind of a conspiracy to steal the necklace, but frankly, at this
stage, he did not know what to think. Saunders's conduct had--to say
the least--been throughout extremely puzzling. Why had he elected to
spend the night in Paris, when all arrangements had been made for him
and his wife to travel straight through? Who was the mysterious
visitor with the walrus moustache, vaguely referred to by both Arthur
and Mary as "old Pasquier"? And above all why had Arthur withdrawn
the necklace from the hotel strong-room where it was quite safe, and,
with it in his pocket, walked about the streets of Paris at that hour
of the night?
Haasberg was quite convinced that "old Pasquier" knew something about
the whole affair, but, strangely enough, Mary persisted in asserting
that he was quite harmless and an old friend of Arthur's who was
beyond suspicion. When further pressed with questions, she declared
that she had no idea where the man lodged, and that, in fact, she
believed that he had left Paris the self-same evening _en route_ for
Brussels, where he was settled in business.
Enquiry amongst the personnel of the hotel revealed the fact that
Captain Saunders's visitor had been seen by the hall porter when he
came soon after half-past eight, and asked whether le Capitaine
Saunders had finished dinner; his question being answered in the
affirmative, he went upstairs, refusing to take the lift. Half an
hour or so later he was seen by one of the waiters in the lounge
hurriedly crossing the hall, and finally by the two boys in
attendance at the swing doors when he went out of the hotel. All
agreed that the man was very tall and thick-set, that he wore a heavy
moustache and a pair of gold-rimmed spectacles. He had on a bowler
hat and an overcoat with the collar pulled right up to his ears. The
hall porter, who himself spoke English fairly well, was under the
impression that the man was not English, although he made his
enquiries in that language.
In addition to all these investigations, the commissaire de police,
on his second visit to the hotel, was able to assure Haasberg that
all the commissariats in and around Paris had been communicated with
by telephone so as to ascertain whether any man answering to
Saunders's description had been injured during the night in a street
accident, and taken in somewhere for shelter; also that a description
of the necklace had already been sent round to all the Monts-de-Piété
throughout the country. The police were also sharply on the lookout
for the man with the walrus moustache, but so far without success.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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