ncts of the
sleuth-hound scenting his quarry.

"Don't argue, I beg of you," continued the lovely creature, who indeed
seemed the prey of overwhelming emotions--fear, horror, pity. "When he
comes back do not let him find you here. I'll explain, I'll know what
to say, only I entreat you--go!"

Sir, I have many faults, but cowardice does not happen to be one of
them, and the more the angel pleaded the more determined was I to see
this business through. I was, of course, quite convinced by now that I
was on the track of M. Aristide Fournier and the English files, and I
was not going to let five thousand francs and the gratitude of the
Minister of Police slip through my fingers so easily.

"Mademoiselle," I rejoined as calmly as I could, "let me assure you
that though your anxiety for me is like manna to a starving man, I
have no fears for my own safety. I have come here in the capacity of a
humble interpreter; I certainly am not worth putting out of the way.
Moreover, I have been paid for my services, and these I will render to
my employer to the best of my capabilities."

"Ah, but you don't know," she retorted, not departing one jot from her
attitude of terror and of entreaty, "you don't understand. This house,
Monsieur," she added in a hoarse whisper, "is nothing but a den of
criminals wherein no honest man or woman is safe."

"Pardon, Mademoiselle," I riposted as lightly and as gallantly as I
could, "I see before me the living proof that angels, at any rate,
dwell therein."

"Alas! Sir," she rejoined, with a heart-rending sigh, "if you mean me,
I am only to be pitied. My dear mother and I are naught but slaves to
the will of my brother, who uses us as tools for his nefarious ends."

"But . . ." I stammered, horrified beyond speech at the vista of
villainy which her words had opened up before me.

"My mother, Sir," she said simply, "is old and ailing; she is dying of
anguish at sight of her son's misdeeds. I would not, could not leave
her, yet I would give my life to see her free from that miscreant's
clutches!"

My whole soul was stirred to its depths by the intensity of passion
which rang through this delicate creature's words. What weird and
awesome mystery of iniquity and of crime lay hid, I wondered, between
these walls? In what tragedy had I thus accidentally become involved
while fulfilling my prosaic duty in the interest of His Majesty's
exchequer? As in a flash it suddenly came to me that perhaps I cou