Dyke is buried at Putney. We have failed to establish her identity by
the evidence of the husband and servants. The linen and clothes, our
sole effective testimony, remain in our possession; so, taking
everything into consideration, I prefer that matters should remain as
they are for the present."
"Really, Mr. White, I congratulate you. You will perhaps pardon me for
saying that some of your colleagues do not usually take so sensible a
view."
The policeman smiled at the compliment. "I am learning your method, Mr.
Bruce," he said.
As he spoke, Smith entered with a note endorsed "Urgent."
It was in the handwriting of Sir Charles Dyke, and even the
imperturbable barrister could not resist an exclamation of amazement
when he read: "MY DEAR BRUCE,--My wife's maid has vanished. She has not been
near the house for three days. The thing came to my ears owing
to gossip amongst the servants. There is something maddening
about these occurrences. I really cannot stand any more. Do
come to see me, there's a good fellow."
"Well, I'm jiggered!" said the detective. "The blessed girl must have
been spirited away a few hours after I saw her. Maybe, Mr. Bruce, we are
all wrong. Has she gone to join her mistress?"
"Possibly--in the next world."
Nothing would shake the barrister's belief that Alice, Lady Dyke, was
dead. 

CHAPTER IV
NO. 61 RALEIGH MANSIONS
Really, the maid deserved to have her ears pulled.
People in her walk in life should not ape their betters. Lady Dyke,
owing to her position, was entitled to some degree of oddity or mystery
in her behavior. But for a lady's maid to so upset the entire household
at Wensley House, Portman Square, was intolerable.
Sir Charles became, if possible, more miserable; the butler fumed; the
housekeeper said that the girl was always a forward minx, and the
footman winked at Buttons, as much as to say that he knew a good deal if
he liked to talk.
The police were as greatly baffled by this latter incident as by its
predecessor. The movements of the maid were quite unknown. No one could
tell definitely when she left the house. Her fellow-servants described
the dress she probably wore, as all her other belongings were in her

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