, of course, you sent him as a waiter; and this chap didn't do any waiting, though he did his share of drinking.'
'Perhaps I can throw some light on this mystery,' said Racksole. 'I may tell you that I was already aware that man had attended your ball uninvited.'
'How did you get to know?'
'By pure chance, Mr Levi, and not by inquiry. That man was a former waiter at this hôtel—the head waiter, in fact—Jules. No doubt you have heard of him.'
'Not I,' said Mr Levi positively.
'Ah!' said Racksole, 'I was informed that everyone knew Jules, but it appears not. Well, be that as it may, previously to the night of your ball, I had dismissed Jules. I had ordered him never to enter the Babylon again.
But on that evening I encountered him here—not in the Gold Room, but in the hôtel itself. I asked him to explain his presence, and he stated he was your guest. That is all I know of the matter, Mr Levi, and I am extremely sorry that you should have thought me capable of the enormity of placing a private detective among your guests.'
'This is perfectly satisfactory to me,' Mr Sampson Levi said, after a pause.
'I only wanted an explanation, and I've got it. I was told by some pals of mine in the City I might rely on Mr Theodore Racksole going straight to the point, and I'm glad they were right. Now as to that feller Jules, I shall make my own inquiries as to him. Might I ask you why you dismissed him?'
'I don't know why I dismissed him.'
'You don't know? Oh! come now! I'm only asking because I thought you might be able to give me a hint why he turned up uninvited at my ball. Sorry if I'm too inquisitive.'
'Not at all, Mr Levi; but I really don't know. I only sort of felt that he was a suspicious character. I dismissed him on instinct, as it were. See?'
Without answering this question Mr Levi asked another. 'If this Jules is such a well-known person,' he said, 'how could the feller hope to come to my ball without being recognized?'
'Give it up,' said Racksole promptly.
'Well, I'll be moving on,' was
