e Louvre et
Paix--and I am here."

"Then we have a secret enemy--eh?"

"Yes--and he is not very far to seek. Monsieur Howell has done this!"

"Howell! He would never do such a thing, my dear mademoiselle," replied
the gloved man, smiling.

"Oh! wouldn't he? I would not trust either Benton or Howell!"

"I think you are mistaken, mademoiselle. They have never shown much
friendship towards each other."

"They are close friends as far as concerns the Henfrey affair," declared
mademoiselle. "I happen to know that it was Howell who prepared the old
man's will. It is in his handwriting, and his manservant, Cooke, is one
of the witnesses."

"What? _You know about that will, Lisette?_ Tell me everything."

"Howell himself let it out to me. They were careful that you should
not know. At the time I was in London with Franklyn and Benton over
the jewels of that ship-owner's wife, I forget her name--the affair in
Carlton House Terrace."

"Yes. I recollect. A very neat piece of business."

"Well--Howell told me how he had prepared the will, and how Benton, who
was staying with old Mr. Henfrey away in the country, got him to put his
signature to it by pretending it to be for the purchase of a house
at Eltham, in Kent. The house was, indeed, purchased at Benton's
suggestion, but the signature was to a will which Howell's man, Cooke,
and a friend of his, named Saunders, afterwards witnessed, and which has
now been proved--the will by which the young man is compelled to marry
Benton's adopted daughter before he inherits his father's estates."

"You actually know this?"

"Howell told me so with his own lips."

"Then why is young Henfrey being made the victim?" asked The Sparrow
shrewdly. "Why, indeed, have you not revealed this to me before?"

"Because I had no proof before that Howell is _our_ enemy. He has now
given us away. He has some motive. What is it?"

The bristly-haired little man of twenty names and as many
individualities pondered for a moment. It was evident that he was both
apprehensive and amazed at the suggestion the pretty young French girl
had placed before him.

When one finds a betrayer, then in order to fix his guilt it becomes
necessary to discover the motive.

The Sparrow was in a quandary. Seldom was he in such a perturbed state
of mind. He and his accomplices could always defy the police. It was not
the first time in his career, however, that he had found a traitor in
his camp. If Howell was r