At this point in the investigation the unexpected happened. One of the
policemen burst in to say that some one had called for the lady's cloak and
bag. It was a young man with a check for the things; he was waiting for
them now in the cloakroom and he seemed nervous.

"Well?" snapped the commissary.

"I was going to arrest him, sir," replied the other eagerly, "but----"

"Will you never learn your business?" stormed Pougeot. "Does Gibelin know
this?"

"Yes, sir, we just told him."

"Send Joseph here--quick." And to the waiter when he appeared: "Tell the
woman in the cloakroom to let this young man have the things. Don't let him
see that you are suspicious, but take a good look at him."

"Yes, sir. And then?"

"And then nothing. Leave him to Gibelin."

A moment later Joseph returned to say that he had absolutely recognized the
young man downstairs as the one who had passed him in the corridor,
François was positive he was the missing banquet guest. In other words,
they were facing this remarkable situation: that the cloak and leather bag
left by the mysterious woman of Number Six had now been called for by the
very man against whom suspicion was rapidly growing--Lloyd Kittredge
himself.