Somehow, whether it was through Kennedy’s acquaintance with Dr. Leslie or Norton’s acquaintance with the Mendozas and the Spanish tongue, we found ourselves beyond the barrier of the door which shut out my rivals.

As we stood for a moment in a handsome and tastefully furnished living room a young lady passed through hurriedly.  She paused in the middle of the room as she saw us and eyed us tremulously, as though to ask us why we had intruded.  It was a rather awkward situation.

Quickly Norton came to the rescue.  “I hope you will pardon me, Senorita,” he bowed in perfect Spanish, “but—­”

“Oh, Professor Norton, it is you!” she cried in English, recognizing him.  “I’m so nervous that I didn’t see you at first.”

She glanced from him to us, inquiringly.  I recollected that my editor had mentioned a daughter who might prove to be an interesting and important figure in the mystery.  She spoke in an overwrought, agitated tone.  I studied her furtively.

Inez de Mendoza was unmistakably beautiful, of the dark Spanish type, with soft brown eyes that appealed to one when she talked, and a figure which at any less tragic moment one might have been pardoned for admiring.  Her soft olive skin, masses of dark hair, and lustrous, almost voluptuous, eyes contrasted wonderfully with the finely chiselled lines of her nose, the firm chin, and graceful throat and neck.  Here one recognized a girl of character and family in the depths of whose soul smouldered all the passion of a fiery race.

“I hope you will pardon me for intruding,” Norton repeated.  “Believe me, it is not with mere idle curiosity.  Let me introduce my friend, Professor Kennedy, the scientific detective, of whom you have heard, no doubt.  This is his assistant, Mr. Jameson, of the Star.  I thought perhaps they might stand between you and that crowd in the hall,” he added, motioning toward the reporters on the other side of the door.  “You can trust them absolutely.  I’m sure that if there is anything any of us can do to aid you in—­in your trouble, you may be sure that we are at your service.”

She looked about a moment in the presence of three strangers who had invaded the quietness of what had been, at least temporarily, home.  She seemed to be seeking some one on whom to lean, as though some support had suddenly been knocked from under her, leaving her dazed at the change.

“Oh, madre de Dios!” she cried.  “What shall I do?  Oh, my father—­ my poor father!”

Inez Mendoza was really a pathetic and appealing figure as she stood there in the room, alone.

Quickly she looked us over, as if, by same sort of occult intuition of woman, she were reading our souls.  Then, instinctively almost, she turned to Kennedy.  Kennedy seemed to recognize her need.  Norton and I retired, somewhat more than figuratively.

“You—­you are a detective?” she queried.  “You can read mystery—­ like a book?”