of a rich Austrian banker. After mutual recriminations,
Henfrey, knowing the woman had ruined him, drew out a revolver and shot
her."

"I tell you it's an abominable lie! Hugh is not an assassin!" cried the
girl fiercely.

"I merely repeat what I have heard on very good authority," replied the
smug-faced man with the thick red lips.

"And you have of course told my mother that--eh?"

"I didn't think it was any secret," he said. "Indeed, I think it most
fortunate we all know the truth. The police must get him one day--before
long."

For a few moments Dorise remained silent, her eyes fixed across the
broad river to the opposite bank.

"And if they do, he will most certainly clear himself, Mr. Sherrard,"
she said coldly.

"Ah! You still have great faith in him," he laughed airily. "Well--we
shall see," and he grinned.

"Yes, Mr. Sherrard. I still have faith in Mr. Henfrey. I know him well
enough to be certain that he is no assassin."

"Then I ask you, Dorise, why is he hiding?" said her companion. "If he
is innocent, what can he fear?"

"I know he is innocent."

"Of course. You must remain in that belief until he is found guilty."

"You already condemn him!" the girl cried in anger. "By what right do
you do this, I ask?"

"Well, common sense shows that he is in fear lest the truth should come
to light," was Sherrard's lame reply. "He escaped very cleverly from
Monte Carlo the moment he heard that the police suspected him, but
where is he now? Nobody knows. Haynes, of Scotland Yard, who made the
inquiries when my flat in Park Lane was broken into, tells me they
have had a description of him from the Paris police, and that a general
hue-and-cry has been circulated."

"But the woman is still alive, is she not?"

"Yes. She's a hopeless idiot, Haynes tells me. She had developed
homicidal mania as a result of the bullet wound in the head, and they
have had to send her to a private asylum at Cannes. She's there in close
confinement."

Dorise paused. Her anger had risen, and her cheeks were flushed. The
sandwich she was eating choked her, so she cast it into the river.

Then she rose abruptly, and looking very straight into the man's eyes,
said:

"I consider, Mr. Sherrard, that you are absolutely horrid. Mr. Henfrey
is a friend of mine, and whatever gossip there is concerning him I will
not believe until I hear his story from his own lips."

"I merely tell you of the report from France to Scotland Yard,"