夜雨聆风“I expect you’re right, Slack,” said Colonel Melchett, disguising his usualrepugnance for the unpleasant way Slack had of putting things. “If so, weought to be able to discover this tough friend’s identity fairly easily.”
“You leave it to me, sir,” said Slack with his usual confidence. “I’ll gethold of this ‘Lil’ girl at that Palais de Danse place and turn her right insideout. We’ll soon get at the truth.”
Colonel Melchett wondered if they would. Slack’s energy and activity al-ways made him feel tired.
“There’s one other person you might be able to get a tip from, sir,” wenton Slack, “and that’s the dance and tennis pro fellow. He must have seen alot of her and he’d know more than Josie would. Likely enough she’dloosen her tongue a bit to him.”
“I have already discussed that point with Superintendent Harper.”
“Good, sir. I’ve done the chambermaids pretty thoroughly! They don’tknow a thing. Looked down on these two, as far as I can make out.
Scamped the service as much as they dared. Chambermaid was in herelast at seven o’clock last night, when she turned down the bed and drewthe curtains and cleared up a bit. There’s a bathroom next door, if you’dlike to see it?”
The bathroom was situated between Ruby’s room and the slightly largerroom occupied by Josie. It was illuminating. Colonel Melchett silently mar-velled at the amount of aids to beauty that women could use. Rows of jarsof face cream, cleansing cream, vanishing cream, skin- feeding cream!
Boxes of different shades of powder. An untidy heap of every variety oflipstick. Hair lotions and “brightening” applications. Eyelash black, mas-cara, blue stain for under the eyes, at least twelve different shades of nailvarnish, face tissues, bits of cotton wool, dirty powder-puffs. Bottles of lo-tions—astringent, tonic, soothing, etc.
“Do you mean to say,” he murmured feebly, “that women use all thesethings?”
Inspector Slack, who always knew everything, kindly enlightened him.
“In private life, sir, so to speak, a lady keeps to one or two distinctshades, one for evening, one for day. They know what suits them and theykeep to it. But these professional girls, they have to ring a change, so tospeak. They do exhibition dances, and one night it’s a tango and the next acrinoline Victorian dance and then a kind of Apache dance and then justordinary ballroom, and, of course, the makeup varies a good bit.”
