As Madame Larenz whizzed past in her car, he looked up keenly in spite of his seeming near-sightedness and huge smoked glasses. He watched her closely, noting the number of the car, then turned and followed it.
Madame Larenz drew up, a second time, before Del Mar's. As she got out and entered, the naturalist, having quickened his pace, came up and watched her go in. Then, after taking in the situation for a moment, he made his way around the side of the bungalow.
"Is Mr. Del Mar at home?" inquired Madame Larenz, as the valet ushered her into the library.
"No ma'am," he returned. "Mr. Del Mar is out. But he left word that if you came before he got back, you were to leave word."
The woman sat down at the desk and wrote hastily. When she had finished the short note, she read it over and folded it up.
"Tell Mr. Del Mar I've left a note here on his desk," she said to the valet.
A moment later she left the library, followed by the valet, who accompanied her to her car and assisted her in.
"The hotel," she directed to her driver, as he started off, while the valet returned to the bungalow.
Outside, the naturalist had come through the shrubbery and had been looking in at the library window, watching every move of Madame Larenz as she wrote. As she went out, he paused just a second to look about. Then he drew a long knife from his pocket, forced the window catch, and quickly climbed into the room.
Directly to the desk he went and hurriedly ran over the papers on it.
There was the note. He picked it up and read it eagerly.