be informed that he was out. He had left no word of his whereabouts at the office, but as he still retained his rooms I decided to wait for him. The clerk told me that he had come to the hotel that afternoon about four, and later had gone out, apparently to dinner.
But though I waited until midnight, his lordship did not appear.
Again I conferred with the clerk, telling him I was especially anxious to see the Earl of Clarendon.
He was not greatly disturbed over my anxiety, but was willing to do what he could, and suggested that I interview his lordship's man-servant.
This was a truly brilliant idea, and I directed that the valet be sent for. But the response was, that Lord Clarendon's man,—by name, Hoskins,—was not at present in the hotel.
"Did he go away with the Earl?" I inquired, but this, nobody seemed to know. The Earl had left at about six o'clock, and as it was now twelve, all the porters and bell-boys had shifted, and no one at present on duty could give me the information I wanted.
Nonplussed, I told the clerk that I would go to his lordship's rooms and wait for him there; for secretly I had a hope that I might learn something from an examination of his apartments.
But permission to do this was refused me; and then, though I didn't want to hint my suspicions openly, I gave the clerk to understand, that it was in the character of a detective that I wished to see the Earl's rooms.
Whereupon the clerk nonchalantly asked to see my badge. As I had none, not being a real detective at all, he seemed to consider the interview closed; and realizing I could do nothing more that night, I asked for a room and went to bed.
I rose the next morning with a firm determination to find the Earl. Surely such a personage could not drop out of civilization without leaving a trace; and he had kept his apartments at the hotel, so he evidently intended to return. But to sit and wait for him was not my plan.
I went down-stairs and inquired for him at the desk, but, as I had anticipated, I received no information whatever, except that he was not at present in the hotel.
I thought it over, as I ate breakfast on the sunny side of the dining-room, and at last a brilliant idea came to me. I was determined to do real detective work in this matter; something more than merely making inquiries of a secretive clerk.
My brilliant plan might not prove successful, but after breakfast I put it at once to the test.
Going up in the elevator, I stepped off at the fourth floor where the Earl's rooms were, instead of going on to my own on the ninth floor.
I knew the Earl's apartment was numbered four-ninety-two. I managed to get to its door unobserved, and then stood there, hesitating, as if just leaving the room.
I stood thus for sometime, but my patience was finally rewarded by seeing a chamber-maid coming along the hall.
"Ah! there you are," I said, stepping briskly forward; "Now, look here, my good woman, I find that I put an important paper in my waste-basket by mistake. When did you empty the baskets?"
"Last evening, sir," she said, looking a little alarmed. "It should have been done earlier, sir, but I got behind-hand with my work, and—"
"Never mind; show me the place where the papers were thrown. They're not burned yet, are they?"
She hesitated, but a powerful argument that was green and crisp induced further information. "They're in a sack, in my broom-closet, sir. But I'd be fined if it were known."
"It sha'n't be known, I promise you. There's no one about; show me where they are. I want to see the contents of the basket that was in four-ninety-two."
"They're all together, sir, but that room is near the top. Step in here, please."
I followed the woman into her broom-closet, which proved to be a small but fairly well lighted room. She took up a large sack and tossed part of its contents out on the floor.
"Will you search, yourself, sir? I must be at my work."
"Yes, my good woman, go along. I'll find what I want, and no one will be the wiser."
She went away and I began the well-nigh hopeless task of looking over the waste paper. But after a time I began to find torn envelopes addressed to the Earl of Clarendon, and these I examined with interest. There were many invitations, advertisements and personal letters, but none seemed to bear on his present absence until I struck a note from one Mrs. Ogilby Pauncefote. This was an invitation to her country house on Long Island, at Osprey-by-the-Sea. The lady asked Lord Clarendon to come the afternoon before, and as I found also a timetable with the railroad station checked, I couldn't help thinking that his lordship had accepted her invitation. At any rate I found nothing else to give me any idea of where the nobleman had gone, and I resolved to go to this place, and if he were not there, perhaps to learn from Mrs. Pauncefote where he might be.
Making use of the discarded time-table, I started at once toward my destination. But taking the first available train, it was eleven o'clock when I reached the ornate mansion at Osprey-by-the-Sea.
The footman who answered my ring informed me that Mrs. Pauncefote was not at home.
"Is the Earl of Clarendon here?" I inquired.
"No sir; he has been here all night, but he went with the party in the yacht."
"Ah, in the yacht," I said, endeavoring to assume an air of intimacy with the family. "What time did they start?"
"At ten o'clock, sir."
I looked at my watch. "Then they've been gone about an hour," I observed. "And where are they headed for?"
"Montauk Point, sir."
"Montauk Point! why they can't reach that till late this afternoon."
"No, sir; they will lunch on board the yacht, and reach the point by dinner-time,—or I should say, perhaps at tea-time, about four o'clock, sir." He was an amiable sort of man, and as he probably thought me a friend of the family, he was giving me all the information he could.
"H'm," I said; "I wonder how I could catch up to them. Could I get a motor-boat anywhere?"
"I don't think you could overtake the Butterfly that way, sir. She's a clipper. But of course you could take the train."
This seemed to be the only thing to do, and I turned away and went back to the railway station. If I had only risen earlier and started sooner, I could have found my Lord Clarence with no trouble at all. But there was nothing for it but to keep on to Montauk Point. I had time before my train went, to send a telegram to Hunt, in which I told him that I was making progress and was on the trail of the Earl.
Chapter XV.
The Earl's Story
I grew very impatient during the long ride. I had no appetite for luncheon, and occupied myself with wondering whether I were not on a wild goose chase. The yacht, Butterfly, might change her course and I might wait in vain on the eastern end of Long Island. But surely I was following a direct clue. Surely we wanted the Earl and I was taking the only way to find him. I reached Montauk Point and went at once to the dock where the Pauncefotes' steam-yacht might be expected to arrive. She was not in, so I waited with such patience as I could command and at last she came—a beautiful craft which seemed to be the last word in elaborate luxury.
As the party came ashore I looked in vain for my elusive nobleman, but he was certainly not with them. There were a dozen or more fashionable people, and deciding that the gray-haired, important-looking lady was the hostess, I went up to her and introduced myself. With polite apologies for intruding, I inquired for the Earl of Clarendon.
Mrs. Pauncefote was exceedingly affable.
"Why, Mr. King," she said, "we did have Lord Clarence with us, but he had an engagement in New York that