deal already."

"What?" cried his lordship. "Did that shooting affair convey anything
more to you than what I have said?"

"Of course. What need was there for such a trick? In the first place it
is very simple. You or I could do it after ten minutes' practice with an
expanding charge and a show pistol. Secondly, she admitted that the
Cabaret Noir is a centre of operations for the gang in whom we are
interested. By the way, I should like to know her name."

He directed the driver to wait for them at a street corner some little
distance further on. Close to where they stood an itinerant vendor was
selling some mechanical toys.

Brett bought one. The price was twenty sous. He gave the man a two-franc
piece and refused the change.

"Do you know," he said, "who is the proprietor of the Cabaret Noir?"

"Certainly, monsieur," replied the gutter-merchant; "it is Gros Jean.
His name is Beaucaire."

"Ah! And the lady who lives there, a dark pretty woman with white skin,
who is she?"

"That is his daughter," said the man. "She is known as La Belle
Chasseuse."

"Why such a name?"

"Because she is clever with firearms. She used to be in a circus, but
she left the profession a year ago."

"And does she live here constantly?"

"I cannot say. I think she goes away a great deal. She was travelling
recently; she came back--let me see--last Tuesday night."

"Thank you," said Brett. The two re-entered their cab, and Brett told
the driver to proceed as rapidly as possible to the Rue St. Honore.

"I hope to goodness," he said to Fairholme, "that Captain Gaultier has
not left Paris already; these Foreign Office messengers are liable to be
despatched to the other end of the earth at a moment's notice."

"Why do you wish to see him?" said Fairholme.

"Simply to obtain definite confirmation of my theory. La Belle Chasseuse
was the woman who accompanied the man made up to look like Jack Talbot
during his journey from London. If Gaultier can see her and assure me
that I am right I will be convinced concerning that which I already know
to be true."

"By Jove!" cried Fairholme, "that never occurred to me. I wonder if it
is so?"

"Mademoiselle Beaucaire is quite an adept in two things: she can break
tiny glass bulbs and she can flirt. She chose to exhibit the first of
these accomplishments to us, and convey what was intended to be a
warning; in reality, she gave us some valuable information."

"I suppose," said Fairholme, "