now
is due to the fact that every other resource has been tried and has
failed me."

"Proceed, sir," said the host, with a courteous bow.

"I am seeking certain information about a woman who was known as La
Montalbon, and----" An instantaneous change came over the face of Mr.
Neuilly. His hospitable smile of welcome vanished. He rose erect and
stiffly said:

"I know nothing of that woman, and must wish you a very good morning,"
with which he deliberately began to walk from the room. Mr. Barnes for a
moment was nonplussed, but saw that he must act quickly or lose all
chance of gaining any information from this man.

"One moment, Mr. Neuilly," he said; "you certainly would not refuse to
help me convict her murderer." As he expected, the last word brought him
back.

"Murderer? Did you mean to intimate that she has been murdered?" Saying
this he stopped for a second, and then slowly returned and sat down
again.

"Rose Montalbon was murdered in New York some months ago. I believe
that I am on the track of the guilty man. Will you aid me?"

"That depends upon circumstances. You say the woman is dead. That alters
my position in this matter very much. I had reasons, good ones to me,
for refusing to converse with you on this subject. But if the woman is
dead, the objections vanish." Mr. Barnes thought he understood. Here was
one of those who had been ruled by fear, as Chambers had said.

"What I want from you, Mr. Neuilly, is very simple. You either can or
you cannot give me the information that I wish. Did you know a man named
Leroy Mitchel who was at one time this woman's husband?"

"I knew him very well. He was a scoundrel of the deepest dye, for all
that he had the manners of the polished gentleman."

"Do you know what became of him?"

"No; he left this city suddenly and has never returned."

"Did you know little Rose Mitchel?"

"Many a time has she sat upon my knee. This man was her father. He
wronged one of the sweetest little girls that ever lived."

"You knew this girl? Knew her name?"

"I did."

"What was it?"

"That is a secret I have guarded for too many years to be willing to
yield it now to a stranger. You must show me good reasons for giving it
to you before I tell it."

"I will explain. This man Mitchel is now in New York. He is about to
marry a sweet, good woman. Yet I think that he murdered Rose Montalbon,
or Mitchel, to get her out of his way. I think that she was blackmailing
him. Bes