atch-box the
papers concerning that oil well at Baku. The company was started later
on in Chicago, and only two months ago I received my dividend."

"Teddy Manfield is a very good friend," declared the man with the gloved
hand. "Birth and education always count, even in these days. To any
ex-service man I hold out my hand as the unit who saved us from becoming
a German colony. But do others? I make war upon those who have profited
by war. I have never attacked those who have remained honest during the
great struggle. In the case of dog-eat-dog I place myself on the side of
the worker and the misled patriot--not only in Britain, but in all
the countries of the Allies. If members of the Allied Governments are
profiteers what can the man-in-the-street expect of the poor little
scraping-up tradesman oppressed by taxation and bewildered by waste? But
there!" he added, "I am no politician! My only object is to solve the
mystery of who shot poor Mademoiselle Yvonne."

The pretty decoy of the great association of _escrocs_ smoked another
cigarette, and gazed into the young man's face. Sometimes she shuddered
when she reflected upon all she knew concerning his father's unfortunate
end, and of the cleverly concocted will by which he was to marry Louise
Lambert, and afterwards enjoy but a short career.

Fate had made Lisette what she was--a child of fortune. Her own life
would, if written, form a strange and sensational narrative. For she had
been implicated in a number of great robberies which had startled the
world.

She knew much of the truth of the Henfrey affair, and she had now
decided to assist Hugh to vanquish those whose intentions were
distinctly evil.

At last she rose and wished them _bon soir_.

"I shall leave the Gare de Lyon at eleven fifty-eight to-morrow, and go
direct to Madame Odette's in Nice," she said.

"Yes. Remain there. If I want you I will let you know," answered The
Sparrow.

And then she descended the stairs and walked to her hotel.

Next evening Hugh and The Sparrow, both dressed quite differently, left
by the Riviera _train-de-luxe_. As The Sparrow lay that night in the
_wagon-lit_ he tried to sleep, but the roar and rattle of the train
prevented it. Therefore he calmly thought out a complete and deliberate
plan.

From one of his friends in London he had had secret warning that the
police, on the day he left Charing Cross, had descended upon Shapley
Manor and had arrested Mrs. Bond under