"One day there may be a slip--and it will cost you all very dearly," he said.

"You are in a bad mood, Giulio--like all those who exist by being honest," Benton laughed, though he was extremely annoyed at his failure to learn anything from the old fellow.

Was it possible that the suspicions which both Molly and he had entertained were true--namely, that the old man had attempted to kill his mistress? After all, the hue-and-cry had been raised by the police merely because Hugh Henfrey had fled and successfully escaped.

Benton, after grumbling because the old man would make no statement, and again hinting at the fact that he might be the culprit, left with very ill grace, his long journey from London having been in vain.

If Henfrey was to be free to marry Louise, then his innocence must first be proved. Charles Benton had for many weeks realized that his chance of securing old Mr. Henfrey's great fortune was slowly slipping from him.

Once Hugh had married Louise and settled the money upon her, then the rest would be easy. He had many times discussed it with Molly, and they were both agreed upon a vile, despicable plot which would result in the young man's sudden end and the diversion of his father's fortune.

The whole plot against old Mr. Henfrey was truly one of the most elaborate and amazing ones ever conceived by criminal minds.

Charles Benton was a little too well known in Nice, hence he took care to leave the place by an early train, and went on to Cannes, where he was a little less known. As an international crook he had spent several seasons at Nice and Monte Carlo, but had seldom gone to Cannes, as it was too aristocratic and too slow for an _escroc_ like himself.

Arrived at Cannes he put up at the Hotel Beau Site, and that night ate an expensive dinner in the restaurant at the Casino. Then, next day, he took the _train-de-luxe_ direct for Calais, and went on to London, all unconscious of the sensational events which were then happening.

On arrival in London he found a telegram lying upon his table among some letters. It was signed "Shaw," and urged him to meet him "at the usual place" at seven o'clock in the evening. "I know you are away, but I'll look in each night at seven," it concluded.

It was just six o'clock, therefore Benton washed and changed, and just before seven o'clock entered a little cafe off Wardour Street, patronized mostly by foreigners. At one of the tables, sitting alone, was a wiry-looking, middle-aged man--Mr. Howell, The Sparrow's friend.

"Well?" asked Howell, when a few minutes later they were walking along Wardour Street together. "How did you get on in Nice?"

"Had my journey for nothing."

"Wouldn't the old man tell anything?" asked Howell eagerly.

"Not a word," Benton replied. "But my firm opinion is that he himself tried to kill Yvonne--that he shot her."

"Do you really agree with me?" gasped Howell excitedly. "Of course, there has, all along, been a certain amount of suspicion against him.

The police were once on the point of arresting him. I happen to know that."

"Well, my belief is that young Henfrey is innocent. I never thought so until now."

"Then we must prove Cataldi guilty, and Henfrey can marry Louise,"

Howell said. "But the reason I wanted to get in touch with you is that the police went to Shapley."

"To Shapley!" gasped Benton.

"Yes. They went there the night you left London. Evidently somebody has given you away!"

"Given me away! Who in the devil's name can it be? If I get to know who the traitor is I--I'll--by gad, I'll kill him. I swear I will!"

"Who knows? Some secret enemy of yours--no doubt. Molly has been arrested and has been up at Bow Street. They also arrested Louise, but there being no charge against her, she has been released. I've sent her up to Cambridge--to old Mrs. Curtis. I thought she'd be quite quiet and safe there for a time."

"But Molly arrested! What's the charge?"

"Theft. An extradition warrant from Paris. That jeweller's affair in the Rue St. Honore, eighteen months ago."

"Well, I hope they won't bring forward other charges, or it will go infernally bad with her. What has The Sparrow done?"

"He's abroad somewhere--but I've had five hundred pounds from an unknown source to pay for her defence. I saw the solicitors. Brigthorne, the well-known barrister, appeared for her."

"But all this is very serious, my dear Howell," Benton declared, much alarmed.

"Of course it is. You can't marry the girl to young Henfrey until he is proved innocent, and that cannot be until the guilt is fixed upon the crafty old Giulio."

"Exactly. That's what we must do. But with Molly arrested we shall be compelled to be very careful," said Benton, as they turned toward Piccadilly Circus. "I don't see how we dare move until Molly is either free or convicted. If she knew our game she might give us away. Remember that if we bring off the Henfrey affair Molly has to have a share in the spoils. But if she happens to be in a French prison she won't get much chance--eh?"

"If she goes it will be ten years, without a doubt," Howell remarked.

"Yes. And in the meantime much can happen--eh?" laughed Benton.

"Lots. But one rea.s.suring fact is that, as far as old Henfrey's fate is concerned, Mademoiselle's lips are closed. Whoever shot her did us a very good turn."

"Of course. But I agree we must fix the guilt upon old Cataldi. He almost as good as admitted it by his face when I taxed him with it. Why not give him away to the Nice police?"

"No, not yet. Certainly not," exclaimed Howell.

"It's a pity The Sparrow does not know about the Henfrey business. He might help us. Dare we tell him? What do you think?"

"Tell him! Good Heavens! No! Surely you are fully aware how he always sets his face against any attempt upon human life, and no one who has taken life has ever had his forgiveness," said Howell. "The Sparrow is our master--a fine and marvellous mind which has no equal in Europe. If he had gone into politics he could have been the greatest statesman of the age. But he is Il Pa.s.sero, the man who directs affairs of every kind, and the man at the helm of every great enterprise. Yet his one fixed motto is that life shall not be taken."

"But in old Henfrey's case we acted upon our own initiative," remarked Benton.

"Yes. Yours was a wonderfully well-conceived idea. And all worked without a hitch until young Henfrey's visit to Monte Carlo, and his affection for that girl Rans...o...b.."

"We are weaning him away from her," Benton said. "At last the girl's suspicions are excited, and there is just that little disagreement which, broadening, leads to the open breach. Oh! my dear Howell, how could you and I live if it were not for that silly infection called love? In our profession love is all-conquering. Without it we could make no progress, no smart coups, no conquests of women who afterwards shed out to us money which at the a.s.sizes they would designate by the ugly word 'blackmail.'"

"Ah! Charles. You were always a philosopher," laughed his companion--the man who was a bosom friend of The Sparrow. "But it carries us no nearer.

We must, at all costs, fix the hand that shot Yvonne."

"Giulio shot her--without a doubt!" was Benton's quick reply.

They were standing together on the kerb outside the Tube station at Piccadilly Circus as Benton uttered the words.

"Well, my dear fellow, then let us prove it," said Howell. "But not yet, remember. We must first see how it goes with Molly. She must be watched carefully. Of course, I agree that Giulio Cataldi shot Yvonne. Later we will prove that fact, but the worst of it is that the French police are hot on the track of young Henfrey."

"How do you know that?" asked his companion quickly.

"Well," he answered, after a second's hesitation, "I heard so two days ago."

Then Howell, pleading an urgent meeting with a mutual friend, also a crook like themselves, grasped the other's hand, and they parted.

TWENTY-SIXTH CHAPTER