rs. Latterly he seems to
have come under the influence of an international crook called--at the
moment--Dompierre, who soon saw a way of utilizing Stelli's genius on
a royal scale. Helene Brunesi, who in private life is--and really is,
I believe--Madame Dompierre, readily lent her services to the
enterprise."

"Quite so," nodded Mr. Carlyle, as his host paused.

"You see the whole sequence, of course?"

"Not exactly--not in detail," confessed Mr. Carlyle.

"Dompierre's idea was to gain access to some of the most celebrated
cabinets of Europe and substitute Stelli's fabrications for the
genuine coins. The princely collection of rarities that he would thus
amass might be difficult to dispose of safely, but I have no doubt
that he had matured his plans. Helene, in the person of Nina Brun, an
Anglicised French parlourmaid--a part which she fills to
perfection--was to obtain wax impressions of the most valuable pieces
and to make the exchange when the counterfeits reached her. In this
way it was obviously hoped that the fraud would not come to light
until long after the real coins had been sold, and I gather that she
has already done her work successfully in general houses. Then,
impressed by her excellent references and capable manner, my
housekeeper engaged her, and for a few weeks she went about her duties
here. It was fatal to this detail of the scheme, however, that I have
the misfortune to be blind. I am told that Helene has so innocently
angelic a face as to disarm suspicion, but I was incapable of being
impressed and that good material was thrown away. But one morning my
material fingers--which, of course, knew nothing of Helene's angelic
face--discovered an unfamiliar touch about the surface of my favourite
Euclideas, and, although there was doubtless nothing to be seen, my
critical sense of smell reported that wax had been recently pressed
against it. I began to make discreet inquiries and in the meantime my
cabinets went to the local bank for safety. Helene countered by
receiving a telegram from Angiers, calling her to the death-bed of her
aged mother. The aged mother succumbed; duty compelled Helene to
remain at the side of her stricken patriarchal father, and doubtless
The Turrets was written off the syndicate's operations as a bad debt."

"Very interesting," admitted Mr. Carlyle; "but at the risk of seeming
obtuse"--his manner had become delicately chastened--"I must say that
I fail to trace the inevitabl