"But _her_ money is already gone."

"Her husband has a full purse."

"But how--"

"Oh, I see the way clear enough. It's only half the work of the other job, and double the money."

"The money! Ah! how do you think to get it?"

"Honestly, this time; honestly, old man. It shall come to us _as a reward_!"

Drawing nearer still to her hesitating partner, the woman began to whisper rapidly, gesticulating fiercely now and then, while the old man listened in amazement, admiration, doubt, and fear; asking eager questions, and feeling his way cautiously toward conviction.

When the argument was ended, he said, slowly:

"I shall never feel safe until it's over, and we are away from this place. When can you do--the job?"

"To-morrow night."

"To-morrow night!"

"Yes; it's the very time of times. To-morrow night it shall be."

"It's a big risk! We will have to bluff the detectives, old woman."

"A fig for the detectives! They will have a cold scent; besides--we have dodged detectives before."

CHAPTER IV.

ENLISTED AGAINST EACH OTHER.

It is early in the evening of the day that has witnessed the events recorded in the preceding chapters, and the Chief of the detectives is sitting in his easiest office chair, listening attentively to the words that fall from the lips of a tall, bronzed, gray-bearded man who sits opposite him, talking fast and earnestly.

He has been thus talking, and the Chief thus listening, for more than an hour, and the story is just reaching its conclusion when the stranger says:

"There, sir, you have the entire case, so far as I know it. What I ask is something unusual, but what I offer, in compensation, is something unusual too."

"A queer case, I should say," returns the Chief, half to himself; "and a difficult one. Twenty years ago a man was murdered--killed by a nail driven into his skull. Detectives have hunted for the murderer, singly, in twos and threes. English experts have crossed the ocean to unravel the mystery and it remains a mystery still. And now, when the secret is twenty years old, and the a.s.sa.s.sin dead and buried, perhaps, you come and ask me for my two best men,--men who have worked together as brothers--and ask me to set their skill _against each other_, in a struggle, which, if it ends as you desire, will mean victory and fortune for the one, defeat and loss of prestige for the other."

"There is no such thing as loss of prestige. A man may bow to a superior and yet retain his own skill. Plainly, I have come to you as an honorable man should. I wish to deal with these men through you, if possible. But they are free agents. What you refuse to do for me, I must do for myself; and I tell you plainly, that if money can purchase their services, I will have Van Vernet and Richard Stanhope to work this case."

"You are frank, sir! But I have observed that, in relating your story, you have been careful to avoid giving either your own name or the name of the murdered man."

"As I shall continue to do until I state the case to the two detectives, _after_ they have enlisted in my service."

The Chief ponders for a time and then says:

"Now, hear my proposition: you are justified in believing that, if there _is_ a bottom to this ancient mystery, Vernet and Stanhope, singly or together, are the men to find it. That is my belief also. As for your idea of putting them on their mettle, by offering so magnificent a reward to the man who succeeds, _that_ is not bad--for you and the man who wins. Vernet and Stanhope have, this very day, taken in hand two cases,--working separately, understand. If you will wait in patience until these cases are finished, you shall have the men from this office,--if they will accept the case."

"Put my proposition before the two men at once. When I know that I shall have their services, I can wait in patience until their duty of the present is done."

"Then," said the Chief rising, "the question can soon be settled; Vernet is in the outer office; Stanhope will soon be here. You will find the evening papers upon that desk; try and entertain yourself while I put your case before Vernet."

Ten minutes later, Van Vernet was standing before his Chief, listening with bent head, compressed lip, and glowing cheek, to the story of the man who was murdered twenty years before, and to the splendid proposal of the tall stranger. When it was all told, and the Chief paused for a reply, the young detective moved a pace nearer and said with decision:

"Tell him that I accept the proposition. A man can't afford to lose so splendid a chance for friendship's sake. Besides," his eyes darkening and his mouth twitching convulsively, "it's time for d.i.c.k and I to find out _who is the better man_!"

Returning to the inner office, the Chief of the force found his strange patron walking fiercely up and down the room, with a newspaper grasped firmly in his hand, and on his countenance traces of agitation.

"Look!" he cried, approaching and forcing the paper upon the astonished Chief; "see what a moment of waiting has brought me!"

And he pointed to a paragraph beginning:

WANTED. INFORMATION OF ANY SORT CONCERNING one Arthur Pearson, etc. etc.

"An advertis.e.m.e.nt, I see;" said the Chief. "But I fail to understand why it should thus excite you."

"A moment ago it was my intention to keep the ident.i.ty of the murdered man a secret. This," indicating the paper by a quick gesture, "changes the face of affairs. After twenty years, some one inquires after Arthur Pearson--"

"Then Arthur Pearson is--"

"The man who was murdered near the Marais des Cygnes!"

"And the child?"

"I never knew her name until now. No doubt it is the little girl that was in Pearson's care."

"What became of the child?"

"I never knew."

"And how does this discovery affect your movements?"

"I will tell you; but, first, you saw Vernet?"

"Yes; and he accepts."

"Good! That notice was inserted either by some friend of Pearson's, or by the child's father, John Ainsworth."

"What do you know of him?"

"Nothing; I never met him. But, as soon as you have seen Stanhope, and I am sure that these two sharp fellows are prepared to hunt down poor Pearson's a.s.sa.s.sins, I _will_ meet him, if the notice is his, for I am going to Australia."

"Ah!"