here was a painful silence
for a few seconds.

To Weirmarsh Trendall was known by sight, therefore the criminal saw that
the game was up, and that Sir Hugh had risked his own reputation in
betraying him.

"You infernal scoundrel!" cried the doctor angrily. "You--to whom I have
paid so many thousands of pounds--have given me away! But I'll be even
with you!"

"Say what you like," laughed the old general in defiance. "To me it is
the same whatever you allege. I have already admitted my slip from the
straight path. I do not deny receiving money from your hands, nor do I
deny that, in a certain measure, I have committed serious
offences--because, having taken one step, you forced me on to others,
always holding over me the threat of exposure and ruin. But,
fortunately, one day, in desperation, I took Enid yonder into my
confidence. It was she who suggested that I might serve the ends of
justice, and perhaps atone for what I had already done, by learning your
secrets, and, when the time was ripe, revealing all the interesting
details to our authorities. Enid became your friend and the friend of
your friends. She risked everything--her honour, her happiness, her
future--by associating with you for the one and sole purpose of assisting
me to learn all the dastardly plot in progress."

"It was you who supplied Paul Le Pontois with the false notes he passed
in France!" declared Weirmarsh. "The French police know that; and if ever
you or your step-daughter put foot in France you will be arrested."

"Evidently you are unaware, Doctor, that my son-in-law, Paul Le Pontois,
was released yesterday," laughed Sir Hugh in triumph. "Your treachery,
which is now known by the Surete, defeated its own ends."

"Further," remarked Walter Fetherston, turning to Enid, "it was this man
here"--and he indicated the grey-faced doctor of Pimlico--"this man who
denounced you and Sir Hugh to the French authorities, and had you not
heeded my warning you both would then have been arrested. He had
evidently suspected the object of your friendliness with me--that you
both intended to reveal the truth--and he adopted that course in order to
secure your incarceration in a foreign prison, and so close your lips."

"I knew you suspected me all along, Walter," replied the girl, standing a
little aside and suddenly clutching his hand. "But you will forgive me
now--forgive me, won't you?" she implored, looking up into his dark,
determined face.

"Of cou