ntly.

"I told you that I had a surprise in store for you," I exclaimed.

"But if Despujol is with him it must be with some evil intent!"

"That is certain!"

"While Senor De Gex was in Madrid we had orders to afford him police
protection," Rivero said. "Possibly he suspected that some attempt
might be made upon him. Certainly he has no idea of that man's true
identity."

"Yes, he has, for he has come here specially to meet him in secret.
But why that Italian should be here I can only surmise. He is a doctor
from Florence, named Moroni--a man of very evil repute."

"But why should Senor De Gex meet such people in secret?" asked
Rivero, much astonished.

"I suppose there is some strong motive why they should meet--the more
so, now that I have proved to you that the notorious Despujol is a
hireling of this wealthy man De Gex."

"A hireling!" he gasped. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that De Gex hired Despujol to make that attempt upon my life,
and I have a suspicion--one not yet entirely verified--that Moroni
prepared that deadly orosin by the agency of which it was hoped that I
should meet with my death."

"Do you really suggest that De Gex, one of the best-known and most
philanthropic men in Europe, actually hired Despujol to go to your
room that night?" my companion asked, his eyes following the trio as
they walked together and chatted beneath the trees of the Avenue
Feucheres.

"I do. And further, De Gex has every motive in closing my lips."

"Ah! Then you hold some secret of his, perhaps?" asked Rivero, a new
interest being instantly aroused.

"I do--one that I intend to expose when I obtain sufficient
corroborative evidence," I answered with determination. "But is not
the fact of the three men meeting here in secret under assumed names
sufficient proof to you that some fresh plot is afoot?"

"Certainly it is," Rivero agreed. "But I wish you would reveal to me
the whole facts."

"It is unnecessary," was my reply. "You are here only to deal with
Despujol. I promised I would bring you to him--and I have done so.
Instead of living in obscurity in a high-up frontier village in the
Pyrenees, as you in Madrid believed, I have shown you that he lives in
Montauban, where he passes as an industrious commercial traveller. If
you search that house in the Rue de Lalande you might find a quantity
of stolen property."

"As a matter of fact, it has already been searched by the police of
Montauban at my request,"