opolis!"

The colonel swept his cards aside with a quick, nervous gesture.

"Taken Phillopolis?" he repeated slowly. "On what charge?"

"For being the receiver of stolen property," said the other. "They found
the proceeds of the Regent Street burglary in his apartments."

The colonel opened his mouth to speak, then shut it again, and there was
silence for two or three minutes.

"I see. They have planted the stuff on him, have they?"

"What do you mean?" asked Pinto.

"You don't suppose that Phillopolis is a fence, do you?" said the
colonel scornfully. "Why, it is a business that a man must spend the
whole of his life at before he can be successful. No, Phillopolis knows
no more about that burglary or the jewels than you or I. The stuff has
been planted in his rooms."

"But the police don't do that sort of thing."

"Who said the police did it?" snarled the colonel. "Of course they
didn't. They haven't the sense. That's Mr. Jack o' Judgment once more,
and this time, Pinto, he's real dangerous."

"Jack o' Judgment!" gasped Pinto. "But would he commit a burglary?"

The colonel laughed scornfully.

"Would he commit murder? Would he hang Raoul? Would he shoot you? Don't
ask such damn-fool questions, Silva! Of course it was Jack o' Judgment.
I tell you, the night you were in Yorkshire making a mess of that Crotin
business, Jack o' Judgment came here, to this very room, and told me
that he would ruin us one by one, and that he would leave me to the
last. He mentioned us all--you, Crewe, Selby----"

He stopped suddenly and scratched his chin.

"But not Lollie Marsh," he said. "That's queer, he never mentioned
Lollie Marsh!"

He was deep in thought for a few moments, then he went on:

"So he's worked off Phillopolis, has he? Well, Phillopolis has got to
take his medicine. I can do nothing for him."

"But surely he can prove----" began Pinto.

"What can he prove?" asked the other. "Can he prove how he earns his
money? He's been taken with the goods; he hasn't that chance," he
snapped his fingers. "I'll make a prophecy," he said: "Phillopolis will
get five years' penal servitude, and nothing in the world can save him
from that."

"An innocent man!" said Pinto in amazement. "Impossible!"

"But is he innocent?" asked the colonel sourly. "That's the point you've
got to keep in your mind. He may be innocent of one kind of crookedness,
and be so mixed up in another that he cannot prove he is innocent of
either.