Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/233

 Miss Ricardo's sitting-room for a talk. Probably the girl would secretly smuggle a note to the small inn, where the coachman had put up, and she would arrange to meet him at some quiet spot near the hotel.

The detective could scarcely have eaten his dinner in peace if, before sitting down, he had not ascertained that the ladies were dining in private. Sure of this arrangement, he caused the door of Miss Ricardo's sitting-room to be watched by a servant of the hotel, who believed him an admirer of the younger woman, Miss Verney. If either of the ladies should go out, or receive any one, or send a note, he was to be informed at once.

It was not until after he had comfortably finished his meal, that word was brought to him of something which had happened. A waiter who served dinner in the private sitting-room had been told by the younger lady to give a letter to a porter who could run out with it immediately. The chambermaid who had earned Michel's bribe had seen the envelope. It was addressed to Guiseppe Verdi, Hotel des Bons Amis.

"Hotel des Bons Amis" was the name of the little inn at the other end of the village, where the long-haired driver was staying.

And all this was as Michel had expected, but he was not pleased that the coachman should be called Guiseppe Verdi. He was just as sure as before that