iring through the open door. Are you quite certain that
Mademoiselle's assailant was outside--and not inside?" he asked, with a
queer expression upon his aquiline face.

Hugh saw that he was hinting at his suspicion that he himself had shot
her!

"Quite certain," he assured him. "Why do you ask?"

"I have my own reasons," replied the police officer with a hard laugh.
"Now, tell me what do you know about Mademoiselle Ferad?"

"Practically nothing."

"Then why did you call upon her?"

"I have told you. I desired some information, and she was about to give
it to me when the weapon was fired by an unknown hand."

"Unknown--eh?"

"Yes. Unknown to me. It might be known to Mademoiselle."

"And what was this information you so urgently desired?"

"Some important information. I travelled from London to Monte Carlo in
order to obtain it."

"Ah! Then you had a motive in coming here--some strong motive, I take
it?"

"Yes. A very strong motive. I wanted her to clear up certain mysterious
happenings in England."

Ogier was instantly alert.

"What happenings?" he asked, for he recollected the big dossier and
the suspicions extending over four or five years concerning the real
identity and mode of life of the handsome, sphinx-like woman Yvonne
Ferad.

Hugh Henfrey was silent for a few moments. Then he said:

"Happenings in London that--well, that I do not wish to recall."

Ogier again looked him straight in the face.

"I suggest, M'sieur Henfrey"--for Hugh had given him his name--"I
suggest that you have been attracted by Mademoiselle as so many other
men have been. She seems to exercise a fatal influence upon some
people."

"I know," Hugh said. "I have heard lots of things about her. Her success
at the tables is constant and uncanny. Even the Administration are
interested in her winnings, and are often filled with wonder."

"True, m'sieur. She keeps herself apart. She is a mysterious person--the
most remarkable in all the Principality. We, at the Bureau, have heard
all sorts of curious stories concerning her--once it was rumoured that
she was the daughter of a reigning European sovereign. Then we take all
the reports with the proverbial grain of salt. That Mademoiselle is a
woman of outstanding intellect and courage, as well as of great beauty,
cannot be denied. Therefore I tell you that I am intensely interested in
this attempt upon her life."

"And so am I," Hugh said. "I have a strong reason to be."

"