respect: "Pardon, sir, but--madame's orders?"

"If they are not"--Lanyard was nettled--"she will countermand them."

"Quite so, sir. And--if you don't mind my asking--what's the idea?"

"I presume you set some value on your skin?"

"Plumb crazy about it."

"Mademoiselle Delorme and I are afflicted with the same idiosyncrasy.
We want to save our lives, and we don't mind saving yours at the same
time."

"That's more than fair with me. But is that all I'm to know?"

"If the information is any comfort to you: in a grey car which has been
following us ever since we left St. Germain, is the man who--I
believe--murdered Monsieur le Comte de Lorgnes on the Lyons rapide, and
who--I know--tried last night to murder Mademoiselle Delorme."

"And I suppose that, in his big-hearted, wholesaler's way, he wouldn't
mind making a bag of the lot of us tonight."

"I'm afraid you have reason..."

"If you're planning to put a crimp in his ambitions, sir, I've got a
pistol I know how to use."

"Better have it handy, though I don't think we'll need it yet. Our
present plan is merely to change cars with Leon and Marthe; the grey
car will pass and go on ahead before we make the shift; then you,
mademoiselle and I follow in the touring car, the others in the
limousine. If there's a trap, as we have every reason to anticipate
there will, the touring car will get through--or we'll hope so."

"Ah-h!" Jules used the tone of one who perceives enlightenment as a
blinding flash. "Marthe and Leon are in on the dirty work too, eh?"

"What makes you think that?"

"Putting two and two together--what you've just told me with what I've
been noticing and wondering about."

"Then you think those two--"

"Marthe and Leon," Jules pronounced with deliberation, "are two very
bad eggs, if you ask me. I shan't shed a solitary tear if something sad
happens to them in this 'bus to-night."

There was no time then to delve into his reasons for this statement of
feeling. The outskirts of Caen were dropping behind. Providentially,
the first bend in the road to Bayeux afforded good cover on the side
toward the town. Jules shut off the power as he made the turn, and
braked to a dead stop in lee of a row of outhouses. Lanyard was on the
ground as soon as the wheels ceased to turn, Jules almost as quickly.

"Now for your engine trouble," Lanyard instructed. "Nothing serious,
you understand--simply an adjustment to excuse a few minutes' delay and
lend col