“Please tell me the story,” said the girl; “then we can speak more understandingly about it.”
The detective selected a packet of papers, one of many which occupied the end of his table. He slipped from it a rubber band which held the documents together.
“The first act of the drama, if we may call it so, began at the Duchess of Chiselhurst’s ball.”
“The Duchess of Chiselhurst’s ball!” echoed Jennie, with a shudder. “Oh, dear!”
The detective looked up at her.
“Why do you say ‘Oh, dear’?” he asked.
“Because,” said the girl wearily, “I am tired hearing of the Duchess of Chiselhurst’s ball; there seems to have been nothing else in the papers for weeks past.”
“It has excited a great deal of comment,” assented the detective; “and, by the way, the Daily Bugle had one of the best accounts of it that was printed in any newspaper.”
“So I have heard,” said Jennie carelessly, “but I most confess that I didn’t read that copy of the Bugle.”
“You amaze me! I should have thought that would have been the first part of the paper to which any lady would turn. However, the report of the ball has nothing to do with what we have in hand. Now, you remember the Princess von Steinheimer, at whose castle I first had the pleasure of meeting you?”