The Lady in Blue by Fred M. White

Inspector Stead appeared to be anything but satisfied. Apparently, he had seen nothing of the glance that had passed between Lady Goring and her husband; but it did appear to him that her ladyship was a little anxious to close the discussion. Nevertheless, the most minute description of the lady in blue failed to touch a responsive chord in Lady Goring's memory. She reiterated, with some asperity, the statement that her acquaintances far outnumbered her friends, and that scores of invitations to the dance had been sent out merely to please certain people who desired one of the coveted cards for others, with whom the hostess of the evening was hardly on bowing acquaintance. There was nothing unusual in such things.

"There were fifteen hundred guests," she said. "If you had asked me to go round and name them all I could not possibly have done so. Besides, this has happened more than once. Impudent impostors have found their way into these big parties, without the host or hostess being any the wiser. After what Mr. Kelso says, I have not the smallest doubt that this is what has happened, and, so far as I am concerned, there is nothing more to be said."