At this point
I began an investigation, Monsieur, and the further I went the more
uneasy I grew.
"Now, Monsieur, there are only two entrances to the embassy--the front
door, where a servant is in constant attendance from nine in the morning
until ten at night, and the rear door, which can only be reached through
the kitchen. Neither of the two men who had been stationed at the front
door had seen the ambassador since breakfast, therefore he could not
have gone out that way. _Comprenez_? It seemed ridiculous, Monsieur, but
then I went to the kitchen. The _chef_ had been there all day, and he
had not seen the ambassador at all. I inquired further. No one in the
embassy, not a clerk, nor a servant, nor a member of the ambassador's
family had seen him since he left his office."
Again he paused and ran one hand across his troubled brow.
"Monsieur," he went on, and there was a tense note in his voice, "the
ambassador of France had disappeared, gone, vanished! We searched the
house from the cellar to the servants' quarters, even the roof, but
there was no trace of him. The hat he usually wore was in the hall, and
all his other hats were accounted for.
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