"Hum! A cottage in St. John's Wood--gilded vice, and all the rest of it. And what was she doing in Jermyn Street that night?"
"I don't know, sir. That's one of the things I've got to discover."
"Well, what else have you found out, and how did you manage to acquire your information?"
"That was easy enough," said? Dowker confidentially. "I'll just tell you all, sir, for I want you to give me some information."
"Delighted--if I can."
"As to the finding out, sir. The hat worn by the dead 'un had a ticket inside, showing it was made by Madame Rêne, of Regent Street. I went there, and found out it had been sold to a woman called Lydia Fenny, of Cleopatra Villa, St. John's Wood. I, thinking Lydia Fenny was the victim, went there and found that she was alive, and had lent the hat to her mistress last Monday night."
"Curious thing for a maid to lend her mistress clothes," said Ellersby, smiling. "It's generally the reverse."
"I think she did it for a disguise, sir," explained Dowker, "because Miss Sarschine went to Lord Calliston's chambers in Piccadilly."
"What for?"
"To get information concerning his elopement with Lady Balscombe."