No letter from Lambert, and failure in an attempt to see the chef de la sûreté, completed the day's trials.
The fourth morning brought Lambert's promised letter. The girl supposed to resemble Elsie was a rouged modeste, with dyed hair, and rather good blue eyes, the only real point of resemblance. "The reasons for his expedition to Marseilles were too numerous for a letter," Lambert wrote. "He had some faint hopes of success, and would tell all when he returned, if Glynn was still in Paris." If! how could he tear himself away till this cruel mystery was cleared up?
In the porter's lodge, as he passed out, Glynn found a police agent with a message—Could he come soon to the Bureau de la sûreté? M. le Chef wished to speak with him.
Glynn's reply was to hail a fiacre, and making the agent come with him, drove at once to the bureau.
"So the commissaire at Bordeaux was mistaken," said M. Claude. "That is the difficulty of descriptions, even photographs sometimes deceive. I am having several copies made of mademoiselle's, and shall send them to the principal towns." He paused, and looking at Glynn, said, "I do not approve this démarche to Marseilles; M. Lambert should have confided his reasons to us. He cannot work independently; but he will make nothing by his journey. Were he here—there is a fresh and more hopeful report from Bruges this morning."
"And it is?" exclaimed Glynn, leaning forward in his chair, quivering with anticipation.
"Two ladies, one young, fair, blue-eyed and English; the other elderly, German or Russian, well-dressed and well-bred, arrived the day before yesterday at the Hôtel des Trois Couronnes. They keep most retired, and only go out in a covered carriage, to the convent of the Béguines. The younger lady weeps a good deal, and often mentions the word 'father' with emotion. They have told their landlord that they await the coming of the young lady's father."
"This sounds more promising," cried Glynn, all eager attention.
"Were M. Lambert here he might take the journey to Bruges, and identify them. Probably he is the father they expect."
"I wish he were here, but, in his absence, I will undertake the journey; I can identify Miss Lambert."