Minister of War and Chief of
Police."

"I may need their aid."

"Mademoiselle Milan, you _do_ need their aid; but, with all your
charming courtesies, you have not secured it."

"M. Dupleisis chooses to speak in enigmas. I am obtuse."

"At our last most agreeable _tete-a-tete_, you were pleased to feel
interested in my somewhat sluggish history. Would you pardon a few
inquiries concerning yours?"

"M. Dupleisis, I am at your service."

"Two months since, you resided in the Rue de Luxembourg, Paris."

"This is an assertion. I expected an inquiry."

Dupleisis took from a pocket-book a half-sheet of thin, closely-written
letter-paper, and spread it out on the table before him.

"It was about two months ago that this document was blown from your
window. Am I right, Mademoiselle Milan?"

"It _was_ blown from my writing-desk into the street."

"I knew I was right; for 'twas I that picked it up. It is a letter,
written in Rio de Janeiro, and contains the details of a plot to rob one
of the wealthiest diamond-dealers in this city. You may think my
interest singular, mademoiselle; but the merchant deals with every
large jewelry-house in Paris. Their loss by a felony of this magnitude
would be immense."

Mademoiselle Milan listened with an air of indifference that was
absolutely freezing.

"You may think it singular, also, that when, shortly afterward, you
started for Bordeaux, I went by the same train; and that when you
concluded to prolong your journey to Brazil by the French packet, via
Lisbon, it was _I_ who assisted with your luggage."

"There is nothing low enough to be singular in M. Dupleisis."

"Mademoiselle Milan, one week ago you and Edgar Fay went into the
hall-way of Mr. Reed's house together, and you went _out_ alone. Denial
is useless, for I _saw_ you. If you remember, the door was banged
violently, and it was you who did it. A careless servant locked him in.
He opened the secret vault in that table, and abstracted diamonds worth
a million. You were wise in courting the Minister of War and Chief of
Police, but your passports have been stopped. No power under heaven can
get you out of Rio."

For the first time her countenance changed, and she looked at Dupleisis
with a smile of contemptuous pity.

"So I was not wrong in suspecting you to be an agent of the police. How
strong an alloy of cunning exists in every fool! The man whom you
believe to have stolen a million is my own brother. The letter