we here at all?"

"That's our business, my dear Ewart. Leave matters to us. All you've got
to do is just to play your part well. Appear to be very devoted to La
Comtesse, and it'll be several hundreds into your pocket--perhaps a
level thou'--who knows?"

"A thou' each--quite," declared Blythe, a cool, audacious international
swindler of the most refined and cunning type.

"But what risk is there?" I inquired, for my companions seemed to be
angling after big fish this time, whoever they were.

"None, as far as you are concerned. Be advised by Valentine. She's as
clever a girl as there is in all Europe. She has her eyes and ears open
all the time. A lover will come on the scene before long, and you must
be jealous--devilish jealous--you understand?"

"A lover? Who? I don't understand."

"You'll see, soon enough. Go back to the hotel--or stay with us
to-night, if you prefer it. Only don't worry yourself over risks. We
never take any. Only fools do that. Whatever we do is always a dead
certainty before we embark upon the job."

"Then I'm to understand that some fellow is making love to
Valentine--eh?"

"Exactly. To-morrow night you are both invited to a ball at the Belle
Vue, in aid of the Hospital St. Jean. You will go, and there the lover
will appear. You will withdraw, and allow the little flirtation to
proceed. Valentine herself will give you further instructions as the
occasion warrants."

"I confess I don't half like it. I'm working too much in the dark," I
protested.

"That's just what we intend. If you knew too much you might betray
yourself, for the people we've got to deal with have eyes in the backs
of their heads," declared Bindo.

It was five o'clock next morning before I returned to the Grand, but
during the hours we smoked together, at various obscure cafes, the trio
told me nothing further, though they chaffed me regarding the beauty of
the girl who had consented to act the part of my wife, and who, I could
only suppose, "stood in" with us.

At noon, surely enough, came a special invitation to the "Comte et
Comtesse de Bourbriac" for the great ball that evening at the Hotel
Belle Vue, and at ten o'clock that night Valentine entered our private
salon splendidly dressed in a low-cut gown of smoke-grey chiffon covered
with sequins. Her hair had been dressed by a maid of the first order,
and as she stood pulling on her long gloves she looked superb.

"How do you find me, my dear M'sieur Ewart?