The Mother Hunt (Rex Stout Library)

Where did you get it?

I'm going to tell you, but with a long preamble. First, to clear the way, you should know that what I told you in this room nearly six weeks ago was pure invention. Mrs. Valdon had received no anonymous letters.

Bingham and Krug made noises. Haft adjusted his balloon-tired cheaters to stare better.

Wolfe ignored the noises. It wasn't about anonymous letters that Mrs. Valdon came to me, it was about a baby that had been left in the vestibule of her house. She hired me to learn who had left it there and who its mother was. And father. I failed miserably. After a week of fruitless effort I decided to try the conjecture that Mrs. Valdon's late husband had been the father, and I asked her to get the cooperation of three or four of his close associates. You know how that resulted. Mr. Upton refused my request. Each of you three gave me a list of the names of women who had been in contact with Mr. Valdon in the spring of last year, the period when the baby had been conceived. I remark in passing that the name of Carol Mardus was on none of the lists.

She's dead, Bingham blurted. She is indeed. Of course the procedure was to learn if any of the women listed had given birth to a baby at the time indicated. Four of them had, but the babies were all accounted for. That effort, again fruitless, took nearly four weeks. Close to desperation, I tried another conjecture, that the mother of the baby would like to see it, and I arranged for publication but perhaps you saw the page in the Gazette about Mrs. Valdon?

They all had.

It worked. Hidden cameras were attached to the baby carriage, and pictures were taken of everyone who stopped for a look. That was the source of the pictures that were sent to each of you gentlemen on Monday and Tuesday. Each of you reported that he recognized none of them, but Mrs. Valdon recognized Carol Mardus and named her. Inquiry disclosed that she had gone to Florida last September, had remained there into the winter, had entered a hospital on January sixteenth under an alias and given birth to a baby, and had returned to New York on February fifth, with the baby. Obviously I had found the mother of the baby left in Mrs. Valdon's vestibule, since the newspaper article had lured her to Washington Square to look at it. Naturally I wished to see her, and yesterday morning Mr. Goodwin was going to telephone her, but she anticipated him. She phoned when, Archie?

Ten minutes to nine.