Mrs. Gertstein sipped silently, while Penelope waited till she should have somewhat recovered herself. What crisis had brought her friend to that place in Larry’s company, was a question on which she could not but hazard mental speculation. From what she knew and guessed, the notion that at last the police had hit on something near the truth occurred to her as a wild probability. Or it might be that Adèle had been abducted in much the same way as herself, as a measure of precaution by Hughes. That was the more likely. She tried to think how it might affect her own case. Did it bode good or evil for her?

As she finished the brandy, Mrs. Gertstein’s drooping shoulders straightened up, and her dull eyes brightened. She slipped off her coat and hat and threw them nonchalantly to the floor.

“Have you a cigarette, Pen?” she asked. “I’ve had the very devil of a time.”