Nearly five weeks have passed without a word. The last letter wasfrom the Hotel National at Lausanne. Lady Frances seems to haveleft there and given no address. The family are anxious, and asthey are exceedingly wealthy no sum will be spared if we can clearthe matter up.”
“Is Miss Dobney the only source of information? Surely she hadother correspondents?”
“There is one correspondent who is a sure draw, Watson. Thatis the bank. Single ladies must live, and their passbooks arecompressed diaries. She banks at Silvester’s. I have glanced overher account. The last check but one paid her bill at Lausanne, butit was a large one and probably left her with cash in hand. Onlyone check has been drawn since.”
“To whom, and where?”
“To Miss Marie Devine. There is nothing to show wherethe check was drawn. It was cashed at the Credit Lyonnais atMontpellier less than three weeks ago. The sum was fifty pounds.”
“And who is Miss Marie Devine?”
“That also I have been able to discover. Miss Marie Devine wasthe maid of Lady Frances Carfax. Why she should have paid herthis check we have not yet determined. I have no doubt, however,that your researches will soon clear the matter up.”
“MY researches!”
“Hence the health-giving expedition to Lausanne. You knowthat I cannot possibly leave London while old Abrahams is insuch mortal terror of his life. Besides, on general principles it isbest that I should not leave the country. Scotland Yard feels lonelywithout me, and it causes an unhealthy excitement among thecriminal classes. Go, then, my dear Watson, and if my humblecounsel can ever be valued at so extravagant a rate as two pencea word, it waits your disposal night and day at the end of theContinental wire.”
Two days later found me at the H?tel National at Lausanne,where I received every courtesy at the hands of M. Moser, thewell-known manager. Lady Frances, as he informed me, had stayedthere for several weeks. She had been much liked by all who mether. Her age was not more than forty. She was still handsome andbore every sign of having in her youth been a very lovely woman.
M. Moser knew nothing of any valuable jewellery, but it hadbeen remarked by the servants that the heavy trunk in the lady’sbedroom was always scrupulously locked. Marie Devine, the maid,was as popular as her mistress. She was actually engaged to one ofthe head waiters in the hotel, and there was no difficulty in gettingher address. It was 11 Rue de Trajan, Montpellier. All this I jotteddown and felt that Holmes himself could not have been moreadroit in collecting his facts.
Only one corner still remained in the shadow. No light which Ipossessed could clear up the cause for the lady’s sudden departure.
She was very happy at Lausanne. There was every reason tobelieve that she intended to remain for the season in her luxuriousrooms overlooking the lake. And yet she had left at a single day’snotice, which involved her in the useless payment of a week’srent. Only Jules Vibart, the lover of the maid, had any suggestionto offer. He connected the sudden departure with the visit tothe hotel a day or two before of a tall, dark, bearded man. “Unsauvage—un veritable sauvage!” cried Jules Vibart. The man hadrooms somewhere in the town. He had been seen talking earnestlyto Madame on the promenade by the lake. Then he had called.
She had refused to see him. He was English, but of his name therewas no record. Madame had left the place immediately afterwards.
Jules Vibart, and, what was of more importance, Jules Vibart’ssweetheart, thought that this call and the departure were causeand effect. Only one thing Jules would not discuss. That was thereason why Marie had left her mistress. Of that he could or wouldsay nothing. If I wished to know, I must go to Montpellier and askher.
So ended the first chapter of my inquiry. The second wasdevoted to the place which Lady Frances Carfax had sought whenshe left Lausanne. Concerning this there had been some secrecy,which confirmed the idea that she had gone with the intentionof throwing someone off her track. Otherwise why should nother luggage have been openly labelled for Baden? Both sheand it reached the Rhenish spa by some circuitous route. Thismuch I gathered from the manager of Cook’s local office. So toBaden I went, after dispatching to Holmes an account of all myproceedings and receiving in reply a telegram of half-humorouscommendation.
At Baden the track was not difficult to follow. Lady Franceshad stayed at the Englischer Hof for a fortnight. While thereshe had made the acquaintance of a Dr. Shlessinger and hiswife, a missionary from South America. Like most lonely ladies,Lady Frances found her comfort and occupation in religion. Dr.
Shlessinger’s remarkable personality, his whole hearted devotion,and the fact that he was recovering from a disease contractedin the exercise of his apostolic duties affected her deeply. Shehad helped Mrs. Shlessinger in the nursing of the convalescentsaint. He spent his day, as the manager described it to me, upon alounge-chair on the veranda, with an attendant lady upon eitherside of him. He was preparing a map of the Holy Land, withspecial reference to the kingdom of the Midianites, upon whichhe was writing a monograph. Finally, having improved much inhealth, he and his wife had returned to London, and Lady Franceshad started thither in their company. This was just three weeksbefore, and the manager had heard nothing since. As to the maid,Marie, she had gone off some days beforehand in floods of tears,after informing the other maids that she was leaving serviceforever. Dr. Shlessinger had paid the bill of the whole party beforehis departure.
“By the way,” said the landlord in conclusion, “you are not theonly friend of Lady Frances Carfax who is inquiring after her justnow. Only a week or so ago we had a man here upon the sameerrand.”
“Did he give a name?” I asked.
“None; but he was an Englishman, though of an unusual type.”
