"She has brown hair and blue eyes, and her taste in dress is conservative, but her manner when last I saw her was altogether too self-reliant; pert, it would have been considered when I was a girl. There is very little more that I can tell you about her, but I believe her to be in the city somewhere."
"Your description is remarkably clear." The young detective preserved an inscrutable face as he added blandly: "No doubt you have a photograph of her?"
"If I had, young man, I should not exhibit it," the old lady retorted.
"Only to me," he smiled persuasively, then dodged the issue. "You say, Madame Dumois, that the young woman is well educated. Is she also accomplished? Music, art, languages?"
"A mere smattering of music, but she is a perfect parrot in picking up strange tongues; a born linguist." She caught herself up abruptly. "However, I did not come here to answer questions, Mr. Ross, as I explained very definitely this morning. I want this young woman found. You have her description; now go ahead and find her."
"I will do my best." His smile had not wavered, and he bent forward ingratiatingly. "But will you permit one solitary question? It will not be an impertinent one, and it would simplify matters greatly. It has been said, you know, that the most passive, idle-minded of us has one pet enthusiasm, one hobby or talent, call it what you will, which interests us above all other things. Has this young woman any special predilection?"
"I hadn't thought of that!" Madame Dumois exclaimed. "Of course, she has, and a most ridiculous one for a gentlewoman: Egyptology."
The detective gave no sign that at last a clue lay within his grasp, but remarked with studied carelessness:
"Oh, that sort of thing is a fad nowadays, to acquire the patter of some science or art and pose as a savant or connoisseur. In all probability the young woman has no real knowledge of the subject."
"If she hasn't it is her own fault." The old lady returned in unguarded haste. "She was a pupil of the greatest authority of the age, Professor Mallory, of Cairo."