as no niece, has he?--except, of course, Lady Shalford, whom I
know quite well."

"Where is Gabrielle Tennison?"

"In London--I believe."

"Are you certain she is not here, in Florence?"

"Mr. De Gex told me that she came to Florence for a few days----"

"To visit him--eh?"

"I suppose so. But she has returned to London."

"Do you know her address in London," I asked very anxiously. "I ask
you this in our mutual interests, Mrs. Cullerton," I added
confidentially.

"Yes. She lives with her mother in a maisonette in Longridge Road,
Earl's Court, I forget the number, but you could easily find out."

"And she is there now, I presume?"

"I expect so--if what Mr. De Gex has told me is the truth."

"But will he ever tell you the truth?" I queried. "Recollect that
although he poses as your husband's friend, he is nevertheless your
enemy--because he fears you! Why is that?"

The pretty wife of the young London stockbroker hesitated. I saw that
she was much perturbed by my question.

"I suppose he suspects that I know certain things," was her low, hard
reply. "But he has been very good to Jack on several occasions. He
has prevented him from being hammered on the Stock Exchange, therefore
I can only be grateful to him."

I looked the pretty woman straight in the face, and said:

"Grateful! Grateful to a man whose dastardly intention is, when the
whim takes him, to send you to your grave, Mrs. Cullerton?"

"I--I really don't know what you mean. Are you mad? Do be more
explicit," she cried. "Why do you make these terrible allegations
against Mr. De Gex?"

"Please recollect, Mrs. Cullerton, that I am here first in your
interests, and secondly in my own. You and I are now both marked down
as victims, because both of us are in possession of certain knowledge
which would, if exposed, bring obloquy and prosecution upon an
exceedingly wealthy man. Your husband, yourself, and myself, are
merely pawns in the clever game which this man is playing--a
mysterious game, I admit, and one in which he is actively assisted by
Doctor Moroni--but also one in which, if we are not both very wary, we
shall find ourselves the victims of fatal circumstances."

My words seemed to impress the stockbroker's wife, for she asked:
"Well--what shall I do?"

"Be perfectly frank with me," I replied promptly. "Both of us have all
to lose if we close our eyes to the conspiracy against us on the part
of your friend De Gex and his shrewd and un