"But you--you write to her, you have been over several times to see her," he said, with a new trouble coming into his eyes, and Peters turned from his steady stare.
"Her letters, by her own request, are sent to the bank. I was only once in the flat, shortly after you left. I think she must have given it up almost immediately. Since then when I have run over for a day--she never seemed to want me to stay longer--we have met in the Louvre or in the gardens of the Tuileries, according to weather," he said hesitatingly.
Craven stiffened in his chair.
"The Louvre--the gardens of the Tuileries," he gasped, "but what on earth--" he broke off with a smothered word Peters did not catch, and springing up began to pace the room with his hands plunged deep in his pockets. His face was set and his lips compressed under the neat moustache. His mind was in a ferment, he could hardly trust himself to speak. He halted at last in front of Peters, his eyes narrowing as he gazed down at him. "Do you mean to tell me that you yourself do not know where she is?" he said fiercely. Peters shook his head. "I do not. I wish to heaven I did. But what could I do? I couldn't question her. She made it plain she had no wish to discuss the subject. The little I did say she put aside. It was not for me to spy on your wife, or employ a detective to shadow her movements, no matter how anxious I felt."
"No, you couldn't have done that," said Craven drearily, and turned away. To pursue the matter further, even with Peters, seemed suddenly to him impossible. He wanted to be alone to think out this new problem, though at the same time he knew that no amount of thought would solve it. He would have to wait with what patience he could until the morning when he would be able to act instead of think.
His face was expressionless when he turned to Peters again and sat down quietly to discuss business. Half an hour later the agent rose to go. "I'll bring up a checque book and some money in the morning before you start. You won't have time to go to the bank in London. Wire me your address in Paris--and bring her back with you, Barry. The whole place misses her," he said with a catch in his voice, stuffing the bundle of papers into his pocket. Craven's reply was inaudible but Peters' heart was lighter than it had been for years as he went out into the hall to get his coat. "Yes, I'm walking," he replied in response to an inquiry, "bit of rain won't hurt me, I'm too seasoned," and he laughed for the first time that evening.