“I was calling on Mrs. Ringold in her Brooklyn residence. That was several days ago.”
“Were you alone with her?”
“Yes. We were seated in the library.”
“She is the wife of the Honorable Charles Ringold, I take it, who was a member of the last Congress.”
“Yes, the same,” bowed Mrs. Waldmere. “She——”
“One moment, please,” Nick interposed.
Mr. Carrington had returned, bringing a pasteboard box containing the invitation cards received by the butler at the front door, and presumably bearing the name of every guest who had entered the house.
Nick at once began a rapid inspection of them, his companions watching him with mute interest, and he was not long in finding what he sought. He discovered first the two cards presented by the missing man and his wife:
“Mr. Archie Waldmere, Spanish Cavalier. Mrs. Archie Waldmere, Night.”
The names of the costumes had been written on the cards by Waldmere himself, and his wife readily identified them.