"I haven't been into her room. Will you come up with me?"
He followed her up the stairs and into Lydia's big bedroom, and the first thing that caught his eye was a sealed letter on a table near the bed. He picked it up. It was addressed to him, in Lydia's handwriting, and feverishly he tore it open.
His face, when he had finished reading, was as white as hers had been.
"Where have they gone?" he asked.
"They went to San Remo."
"By car?"
"Of course."
Without a word he turned and ran down the stairs out of the house.
The taxi that had brought him in the role of Jaggs had gone, but down the road, a dozen yards away, was the car he had hired on the day he came to Monte Carlo. He gave instructions to the driver and jumped in. The car sped through Mentone, stopped only the briefest while at the Customs barrier whilst Jack pursued his inquiries.
Yes, a lady had passed, but she had not returned.