assurance that the place existed dictated his next step.

This was to write a note to Mrs. Medora Hastings, Miss Holland's
aunt. The note set forth that for reasons which he would, if he
might, explain later, he was interested in the woman who had
recently made an attempt upon her niece's life; that he had seen the
woman and had obtained an address which he was confident would lead
to further information about her. This address, he added, he
preferred not to disclose to the police, but to Mrs. Hastings or
Miss Holland herself, and he begged leave to call upon them if
possible that day. He despatched the note by Rollo, whom he
instructed to deliver it, not at the desk, but at the door of Mrs.
Hastings' apartment, and to wait for an answer. He watched with
pleasure Rollo's soft departure, recalling the days when he had sent
a messenger boy to some inaccessible threshold, himself stamping up
and down in the cold a block or so away to await the boy's return.

Rollo was back almost immediately. Mrs. Hastings and Miss Holland
were not at home. St. George eyed his servant severely.

"Rollo," he said, "did you go to the door of their apartment?"

"No, sir," said Rollo stiffly, "the elevator boy told me they was
out, sir."

"Showing," thought St. George, "that a valet and a gentleman is a
very poor newspaper man."

"Now go back," he said pleasantly, "go up in the elevator to their
door. If they are not in, wait in the lower hallway until they