But the telephone remained silent.
Consequently they went alone next morning to the office of the Metropolitan Secret Agency.
The room into which they were shown was the office where Alix Stothert and Madame Camille Lenoir had been working late on the night Lord Froissart had so unexpectedly made his appearance; only now in the rooms adjoining many clerks were at work, and typing machines clattered. Only Stothert was in the room, and he looked up as they entered. Then, as he rose, he removed the eyeshade from his forehead.
“Good morning,” he said solemnly. “Won’t you sit down?” and he waved his hand in the direction of two chairs.
“I asked you to call,” he went on at once, coming straight to the point, “because I wish to put one or two questions to Miss Hagerston verbally. Will you tell me, please,” he turned to Yootha, “how long you have been engaged to be married to Captain Preston?”
The girl started.
“Who told you we were engaged?” she exclaimed, coloring. “Our engagement has not yet been announced in the papers.”
“I am aware of that, but it is our business to know things before they are made public. How long, Miss Hagerston?”
“Ten days. But has this any bearing on the theft of the pearl necklace?”
“Indirectly—yes. And you made his acquaintance at lunch at the Ritz on August the ninth of last year, I think?”