"You see," he laughed. "Do you require further proof?"

Even while he spoke the diminutive little Frenchman turned and bolted.
One of the Turks drew a revolver and rushed after him, but
Hussein-ul-Mulk uttered some authoritative words which prevented the man
from firing. The Frenchman was evidently an adept in the art of dodging
pursuit. In the passage he ducked suddenly, and threw the Turk heavily
to the ground. Then, without further interference, he slipped the latch
of the door and slammed it hastily behind him, leaving Brett silently
laughing at Hussein-ul-Mulk and his remaining confederate, whilst the
gentleman who had been upset was slowly regaining his disturbed gravity.

"Can it be possible that what you say is true?" said Hussein-ul-Mulk, in
such piteous accents that Brett was moved to further mirth.

"Surely you do not doubt the evidence?" he said. "Take any of these
stones; they will crumble to pieces on the hearth if struck the
slightest blow. See, I will pulverise one with my heel."

And he did so, though the amazed and despairing men whom he addressed
would have restrained him, for they still could not bring themselves to
believe.

"Come, now," he went on "arouse yourselves; and give me the information
I want. That is the only way in which you may attain your ends. Of
course I cannot help you. It may be that as you have bungled matters so
badly, the authorities will stop you and land you all in prison; but
that is no concern of mine. At this moment I simply wish to release my
friend and proclaim his innocence. For the rest, you must take care of
yourselves. You know best who it is that has so thoroughly outwitted
you."

Hussein-ul-Mulk was the first to recover his scattered senses.

"We cannot choose but believe you, Mr. Brett," he said. "We are even
indebted to you for making this disastrous discovery at such an early
date. We paid our agents so highly that we thought their honesty was
assured. We find we are mistaken, and consequently we apologise to you
for using threats which were unnecessary. We rely on your honour not to
incriminate us with the police. All we can tell you is that your friend
is not dead, but we do not know his whereabouts."

"Nonsense," cried Brett angrily. "Why do you seek to mislead me in this
fashion?"

"Sir," said the Turk, "I am telling you the truth. We believe that Mr.
Talbot is a prisoner in London, but we do not know in what locality. My
friends here and myself, a