She Faded into Air : Large Print

The story of the alleged disappearance of Evelyn Cross was too fantastic for credence.

According to the available evidence, she melted into thin air shortly after four o'clock on a foggy afternoon in late October.

One minute, she was visible in the flesh-a fashionable blonde, nineteen years of age and weighing about eight and a half stone.The next minute, she was gone.The scene of this incredible fade-out was an eighteenth-century mansion in Mayfair.

The Square was formerly a residential area of fashion and dignity.

It had escaped a doom of complete reconstruction, but some of the houses were divided up into high-class offices and flats.This particular residence had been renamed "Pomerania House" by its owner, Major Pomeroy.

He speculated in building property and had his estate office, as well as his private flat, on the premises.The ex-officer might be described as a business gentleman.

Besides being correctly documented-Winchester, Oxford and the essential clubs-he had not blotted his financial or moral credit.

In appearance he conformed to military type, being erect, spare and well dressed, with a small dark tooth-brush moustache.

His voice was brisk and his eyes keen. He walked with a nonchalant manner. He had two affectations-a monocle and a fresh flower daily in his buttonhole.