“I expected it. Gloria Garland - such is not a name likely to fall to human lot. Sounds like a manufacture. And Australia is so placed on map it might be appropriate end of journey from Peshawar. Blonde, blue-eyed, she breaks necklace on the stair. Yet you discover a pearl beneath the office desk.”

Miss Morrow nodded. “Yes - Miss Garland certainly is a possibility.”

“There remains,” continued Chan, “Mrs. Tupper-Brock. A somewhat dark lady - but who knows? Sir Frederic did not ask her presence?”

“No - I don’t think he knew she existed,” said Kirk.

“Yes? But it is wise in our work, Miss Morrow, that even the smallest improbabilities be studied. Men stumble over pebbles, never over mountains. Tell me, Mr. Kirk - was Colonel John Beetham the idea of Sir Frederic, too?”

“Not at all. And now that I remember, Sir Frederic seemed a bit taken aback when he heard Beetham was coming. But he said nothing.”

“We have now traversed the ground. You have, Miss Morrow, three ladies to receive your most attentive study - Mrs. Enderby, Miss Garland, Mrs. Tupper-Brock. All of proper age, so near as a humble man can guess it in this day of beauty rooms with their appalling tricks. These only of the dinner party -“

“And one outside the dinner party,” added the girl, to Chan’s surprise.

“Ah - on that point I have only ignorance,” he said blankly.

“You remember the elevator operator spoke of a girl employed by the Calcutta Importers, on the twentieth floor? A Miss Lila Barr. She was at work in her office there last night.”

“Ah, yes,” nodded Chan.

“Well, a newspaper man, Rankin of the Globe, came to see me a few minutes ago. He said that the other evening - night before last - he went to call on Sir Frederic in Mr. Kirk’s office, rather late. Just as he approached the door, a girl came out. She was crying. Rankin saw her dab at her eyes and disappear into the room of the Calcutta Importers. A blonde girl, he said.”

Chan’s face was grave. “A fourth lady to require your kind attention. The matter broadens. So much to be done - and you in the midst of it all, like a pearl in a muddy pool.” He stood up. “I am sorry.