iping on in a manner which
interested and amused him.

Her arrival had put an end to his boredom, and, though he was longing to
get away from his surroundings, she certainly cheered him up.

They had walked for nearly an hour, when, declaring she felt tired,
they sat upon a rock to rest and eat the sandwiches with which they had
provided themselves.

Two carabineers in cloaks and cocked hats who met them on the road put
them down as lovers keeping a clandestine tryst. They never dreamed that
for both of them the police were in search.

"Now tell me something concerning yourself, mademoiselle," Hugh urged
presently.

"Myself! Oh! la la!" she laughed. "What is there to tell? I am just of
_la haute pegre--a truqueuse_. Ah! you will not know the expression.
Well--I am a thief in high society. I give indications where we can
make a coup, and afterwards _bruler le pegriot_--efface the trace of the
affair."

"And why are you here?"

"_Malheureusement_! I was in Orleans and a _friquet_ nearly captured me.
So Il Passero sent me here for a while."

"You help Il Passero--eh?"

"Yes. Very often. Ah! m'sieur, he is a most wonderful man--English, I
think. _Girofle_ (genteel and amiable), like yourself."

"No, no, mademoiselle," Hugh protested, laughing.

"But I mean it. Il Passero is a real gentleman--but--_maquiller son
truc_, and he is marvellous. When he exercises his wonderful talent and
forms a plan it is always flawless."

"Everyone seems to hold him in high esteem. I have never met him," Hugh
remarked.

"He was in Genoa on the day that I arrived. Curious that he did not call
and see Beppo. I lunched with him at the Concordia, and he paid me five
thousand francs, which he owed me. He has gone to London now with his
_ecrache-tarte_."

"What is that, pray?"

"His false passport. He has always a good supply of them for anyone
in need of one. They are printed secretly in Spain. But m'sieur," she
added, "you are not of our world. You are in just a little temporary
trouble. Over what?"

In reply he was perfectly frank with her. He told her of the suspicion
against him because of the affair of the Villa Amette.

"Ah!" she replied, her manner changing, "I have heard that Mademoiselle
was shot, but I had no idea that you had any connexion with that ugly
business."

"Yes. Unfortunately I have. Do you happen to know Yvonne Ferad?"

"Of course. Everyone knows her. She is very charming. Nobody knows the
truth."