at Stretton Street. It would then
have been so very easy."

"I know! I was a fool! I did not foresee the consequences if he met
and recognized the girl. Even now we do not know where and how he met
her. But the menace to us is the same. We must get rid of him--and
quickly, too! The trap must be baited--and what better bait than the
girl herself?"

CHAPTER THE EIGHTH

LITTLE MRS. CULLERTON

For nearly half an hour Oswald De Gex and the Italian doctor, Moroni,
sat chatting in the darkness.

De Gex apologized to his visitor for not offering him a cigarette,
remarking that the striking of a match might reveal their presence to
anyone strolling in the grounds, for guests at dances frequently have
that habit.

"Indeed, after you have gone, Moroni, I am meeting the lady whom I
mentioned, and shall walk with her outside here. I want to speak with
her in private."

"But surely that is dangerous!" exclaimed the doctor instantly.

"Why?"

"If you intend to act as you say you should not hold any clandestine
meeting with her," Moroni suggested.

"I shall take your advice and preserve this little tube intact," and
he paused, "intact at least for the present," he added. "Hence there
can be no harm in leaving the ballroom and coming out into the fresh
air--eh?"

"In that case I see no risk."

"The only risk we run is in allowing young Garfield to make inquiries
here, in Florence. When he saw me, I, of course, denied everything.
But I know that he must have noticed how upset I was at his
reappearance."

"Well, we have decided to suppress him, have we not?" said Moroni
briefly. "And now it is getting late and my taxi is awaiting me down
in Fiesole. So I had better be going."

"Have a care that the fellow does not meet her--not until you are
quite prepared," the millionaire urged. "And lose no time in making
ready. Each day's delay is increasingly dangerous."

"I do not disregard the fact, signore," replied the Italian, and next
moment they emerged from the little Greek temple, and having walked a
short distance, they parted, De Gex returning to the house, while
Moroni made his way back past the lake to the gate.

When the mysterious millionaire had disappeared, I approached the
broad terrace which ran along the side of the house from which such a
wonderful panorama of the Apennines was to be obtained. If he brought
his lady guest out, as was his intention, then he no doubt would
descend from the terrace, f