son."

The captain graphically rubbed a thumb over two fingers, donned his
cap, buttoned up his tunic, and strode forth with an impressive gait.

"Still wakeful?" Phinuit hinted hopefully.

"And shall be till we drop the pilot, thanks."

"If I hadn't seen de Lorgnes make that safe sit up and speak, and didn't
know you were his master, I'd be tempted to bat an eye or two.
However...." Phinuit sighed despondently. "What can I do now to entertain
you, dear sir?"

"You might have pity on my benighted curiosity...."

"Meaning this outfit?" Lanyard assented, and Phinuit deliberated over
the question. "I don't know as I ought in the absence of my esteemed
associates.... But what's bothering you most?"

"I have seen something of the world, monsieur, and as you are aware not
a little of the underside of it; but never have I met with a
combination of such peculiar elements as this possesses. Regard it, if
you will, from my view-point, that of an outsider, for one moment."

Phinuit grinned. "It must give you furiously to think--as you'd say."

"But assuredly! Take, for example, yourself, a man of unusual
intelligence, such as one is not accustomed to find lending himself to
the schemes of ordinary criminals."

"But you have just admitted that we're anything but ordinary."

"Then Mademoiselle Delorme. One knows what the world knows of her, that
she has for many years meddled with high affairs, that she had been for
many years more a sort of queen of the demi-monde of Paris; but now you
tell me she has stopped to profit by association with a professional
burglar."

"Profit? I'll say she did. According to my information, it was she who
mapped out the campaigns for de Lorgnes; she was G.H.Q. and he merely
the high private in the front line trenches; with this difference, that
in this instance G.H.Q. was perfectly willing to let the man at the
front cop all the glory.... She took the cash and let the credit go,
nor heeded rumblings of the distant drum!"

"Then your picturesque confrere, Captain Monk; and the singular
circumstance that he owns a wealthy cousin of the same name; and this
beautiful little yacht which you seem so free to utilize for the
furtherance of your purposes. Is it strange, then, that one's curiosity
is provoked, one's imagination alternately stimulated and baffled?"

"No; I suppose not," Phinuit conceded thoughtfully. "Still, it's far
simpler than you'd think."

"One has found that true of most my