Les femmes
like me not. I haf had mes affairs--ah, yis. Conceive--" and he
rattled out an adventure of his youth which was more amusing than moral.

But Jennings paid very little attention to him. He was thinking that
Maraquito-Celestine was a more mysterious woman than he had thought
her. While Jennings was wondering what use he could make of the
information he had received, Le Beau suddenly flushed crimson. A new
thought had occurred to him. "Do you know zis one--zis Celestine
Durand? Tell her I vish money--"

"Did she not pay you?"

Le Beau seized Jennings' arm and shook it violently. "Yis. Tree pound;
quite raight; oh, certainly. But ze four piece of gold, a
louis--non--ze Englees sufferin--"

"The English sovereign. Yes."

"It was bad money--ver bad."

"Have you got it?" asked Jennings, feeling that he was on the brink of
a discovery.

"Non. I pitch him far off in rages. I know now, Celestine Durand. I
admire her; oh, yis. Fine womans--a viecked eye. Mais une--no, not
zat. Bad, I tell you. If your frien' love, haf nozzin' wis her. She
gif ze bad money, one piece--" he held up a lean finger, and then,
"Aha! ze bell for ze tables. Allons, marchons. We dine--we eat," and
he dashed out of the room as rapidly as he had entered it.

But Jennings did not follow him. He scribbled a note to Peggy, stating
that he had to go away on business, and left the Academy. He felt that
it would be impossible to sit down and talk of trivial things--as he
would have to do in the presence of Le Beau--when he had made such a
discovery. The case was beginning to take shape. "Can Maraquito have
anything to do with the coiners?" he asked himself. "She is English--a
Jewess--Saul is a Jewish name. Can she be of that family? It seems to
me that this case is a bigger one than I imagine. I wonder what I had
better do?"

It was not easy to say. However, by the time Jennings reached his
home--he had chambers in Duke Street, St. James'--he decided to see
Maraquito. For this purpose he arrayed himself in accurate evening
dress. Senora Gredos thought he was a mere idler, a man-about-town.
Had she known of his real profession she might not have welcomed him so
freely to her house. Maraquito, for obvious reasons, had no desire to
come into touch with the authorities.

But it must not be thought that she violated the law in any very
flagrant way. She was too clever for that. Her house was conducted in
a most