The man had
got wind that we were keeping observation upon him, and had already
fled. The gang consisted of an old hump-backed woman, who posed as his
mother, a young woman, who he said was his married sister, but who was
really the wife of his man-servant, and the girl Drew, who was his
photographic assistant."

"Where's the girl? I suppose you don't intend to arrest her?"

"I think not. If you saw her perhaps you might induce her to tell you
the truth. The plot to photograph those plans while you were insensible
was certainly a cleverly contrived one, and it's equally certain that
the two women you met in Salisbury only travelled with you in order to
be convinced that you really carried the precious maps with you."

"Yes," I admitted, utterly amazed. "I was most cleverly trapped, but it
is most fortunate that we were forewarned, and that our zealous friends
across the water have been prevented from purchasing the detailed
exposure of our most vulnerable points."

That afternoon, Gertie Drew, the neat-waisted girl with the fair face,
walked timidly into my room, and together we sat for fully an hour,
during which time she explained how the man Sandford had abstracted the
portfolio from my car and substituted an almost exact replica, prior to
sending Bennett back to Colchester, and how at the moment of my
unconsciousness--as he was searching me for my key--she had entered the
dining-room when I had opened my eyes, and staring at her had accused
her of poisoning me. She knew she had been recognised, and that had
caused her alarm in the "Carlton."

That Sandford had managed to replace the portfolio in the car and
abstract the replica next day was explained, and that he had held the
girl completely in his power was equally apparent. Therefore, I have
since obtained for her a situation with a well-known firm of
photographers in Regent Street, where she still remains. The hump-backed
woman and her pseudo-daughter have never been seen since, but only a
couple of months ago there was recovered from the Rhine at Coblenz the
body of a man whose head was fearfully battered, and whom the police, by
his clothes and papers upon him, identified as Charles Sandford, the man
with whom I shall ever remember partaking of that peculiarly seductive
glass of 1815 cognac.

CHAPTER XI

THE PERIL OF LONDON

Certain information obtained by Ray led us to adopt a novel method of
trapping one of the Kaiser's secret agents.

Abo