hen see with a piercing clearness signs which would escape many who
pride themselves upon their shrewdness. And when James Jervoyce faltered
out the words, 'There are three of them! 'John Jervase gave a start and
a look which indicated an instant understanding.

'He knows those three,' said General Boswell to himself.

'De Blacquaire's lawyer gave me their names to-day,' said Jervoyce, who
had by this time found what he had been fumbling for in the pocket of
his overcoat. 'Here they are.'

He reached out a crumpled piece of paper to his cousin, who took it from
him, and, after a single glance at it, started again, and, pale as he
was already, grew still paler.

'He knows those three,' said the General, voicelessly, and without a
spoken word reached forward and took the crumpled page from Jervase's
unresisting hand.

CHAPTER III

There was what seemed like a long silence, though in reality it
endured only for a few seconds, whilst General Boswell searched for his
gold-rimmed reading glasses, and balanced them on the bridge of that
high Quixote nose. By and by, he began to read with great slowness and
deliberation, pausing at every other instant to direct a look of calm
inspection from John to James, and back again. 'William Ford,' he read,
Ninth Avenue, Freemans Town, Ontario.' He paused after the name of the
man--he paused after the name of the street--he paused after the name of
the town, and he paused again when he had completed the reading of the
address. The last pause was longer than the others had been, and he
resumed his reading like a man of ice. 'William Buckle, Lafayetteville,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A. George Lightfoot, late of Melbourne, now in
England.'

He laid the paper down upon the table with a firm hand, and with a
slight shake of the head threw the glasses from their place. 'Do you
know these men?' he asked, directing his inquiry to Jervoyce.

'No,' he said, 'I never heard of any one of 'em.' His shifty eye tried
in vain to meet his questioner's, and he began to fumble nervously with
other papers which he had drawn from his pocket in his search for the
first.

'It needs no penetration to discover that this man is lying,' said the
General to himself. He addressed his question to John Jervase, who made
shift somehow to meet his look. 'Do you know these men?' he asked.

'No,' John answered, 'I never heard of one of them. It's a conspiracy,'
he cried, suddenly, 'that's what it is! It's a consp