Very well, then--why have you been baffled?
Simply because the Princess herself attended the ball, and there has been no disappearing lady at all." The detective, with great vehemence, brought down his fist on the table.
"By Jove!" he cried, "I believe you are right.

I have been completely blinded, the more so that I have the clue to the mystery right here under my own eyes." He fumbled for a moment and brought forth a letter from his pile of documents.
"Here is a note from St.Petersburg, written by Lord Donal himself, saying the Princess had sent him the companion glove to the one you now have in your hand.

He says he is sure the Princess knows who her impersonator was, but that she won't tell; and, although I had read this note, it never struck me that the Princess herself was the woman.

Miss Baxter, you have solved the puzzle!" "I should be glad to think so," replied the girl, rising, "and I am very happy if I have enabled you to give up a futile chase." "It is as plain as daylight," replied the detective.

"Lord Donal's description fits the Princess exactly, and yet I never thought of her before." Jennie hurried away from the detective's office, happy in the belief that she had not betrayed herself, although she was not blind to the fact that her escape was due more to good luck than to any presence of mind of her own, which had nearly deserted her at one or two points in the conversation.