?' said Jules. 'I was afraid
so.

Let me explain that that needed no accomplice. The bottle was topmost in
the bin, and naturally it would be taken. Moreover, I left it sticking
out a little further than the rest.'

'You did not arrange, then, that Hubbard should be taken ill the night
before last?'

'I had no idea,' said Jules, 'that the excellent Hubbard was not
enjoying his accustomed health.'

'Tell me,' said Racksole, 'who or what is the origin of your vendetta
against the life of Prince Eugen?'

'I had no vendetta against the life of Prince Eugen,' said Jules, 'at
least, not to begin with. I merely undertook, for a consideration,
to see that Prince Eugen did not have an interview with a certain Mr
Sampson Levi in London before a certain date, that was all. It seemed
simple enough. I had been engaged in far more complicated transactions
before. I was convinced that I could manage it, with the help of Rocco
and Em--and Miss Spencer.'

'Is that woman your wife?'

'She would like to be,' he sneered. 'Please don't interrupt. I had
completed my arrangements, when you so inconsiderately bought the hotel.
I don't mind admitting now that from the very moment when you came
across me that night in the corridor I was secretly afraid of you,
though I scarcely admitted the fact even to myself then. I thought it
safer to shift the scene of our operations to Ostend. I had meant to
deal with Prince Eugen in this hotel, but I decided, then, to
intercept him on the Continent, and I despatched Miss Spencer with some
instructions. Troubles never come singly, and it happened that just
then that fool Dimmock, who had been in the swim with us, chose to prove
refractory. The slightest hitch would have upset everything, and I was
obliged to--to clear him off the scene. He wanted to back out--he had a
bad attack of conscience, and violent measures were essential. I regret
his untimely decease, but he brought it on himself. Well, everything
was going serenely when you and your brilliant daughter, apparently
determined to meddle, turned up again among us at Ostend. Only
twenty-four hours, however, had to elapse before the date which had
been mentioned to me by my employers. I kept poor little Eugen for the
allotted time, and then you managed to get hold of him. I do not deny
that you scored there, though, according to my original instructions,
you scored too late. The time had passed, and so, so far as I knew, it
didn't matter a pin