thout first
consulting him? Yet he had no knowledge of the whereabouts of the man of
mystery whom he firmly believed was none other than the elusive Sparrow.
Besides, was not Benton, his father's closest friend, warning him of his
peril?

The latter thought decided him.

"I'm sure it's awfully good of Mrs. Bond whom I know so slightly to
invite me to stay with her."

"Nothing, my dear boy. She's a very old friend of mine. I once did her
a rather good turn when Maxwell was alive, and she's never forgotten
it. She's one of the best women in the world, I assure you," Benton
declared. "I'll run along to a garage I know in Knightsbridge and get
a car to take us down to Shapley. It's right out in the country, and as
long as you keep clear of the town of Guildford--where the police
are unusually wary under one of the shrewdest chief constables in
England--then you needn't have much fear. Pack up your traps, Hugh, and
I'll call for you at the end of the road in half an hour."

"Yes. But I'll want a dress suit and lots of other things if I'm going
to stay at a country house," the young man demurred.

"Rot! You can get all you want in Aldershot, Farnham or Portsmouth. Come
just as you are. Mrs. Bond will make all allowances."

"And probably have her suspicions aroused at the same time?"

"No, she won't. This is a sudden trip into the country. I told her you
had been taken unwell--a nervous breakdown--and that the doctor had
ordered you complete rest at once."

"I wish I had stayed in Monte Carlo and faced the charge against me,"
declared Hugh fervently. "Being hunted from pillar to post like this is
so absolutely nerve-racking."

"Why did you go to that woman's house, Hugh?" Benton asked. "What
business had you that led you to call at that hour upon such a notorious
person?"

Hugh remained silent. He saw that to tell Benton the truth would be to
reopen the whole question of the will and of Louise.

So he merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Won't you tell me what really happened at the Villa Amette, Hugh?"
asked the elder man persuasively. "I've seen Brock, but he apparently
knows nothing."

"Of course he does not. I was alone," was Hugh's answer. "The least said
about that night of horror the better, Benton."

So his father's friend left the house, while Hugh sought Mrs. Mason,
settled his bill with her, packed his meagre wardrobe into a suit-case,
and half an hour later entered the heavy old limousine which he fou