age were it not for the
presence of Mrs. Curtis.

"Now, sir," he said, with a perceptible stiffening of manner, "let us
have done with pretense. You strike me as being sane, yet you ask me
to believe that you have acted like a lunatic. Well, let it go at
that. Who is this Jean de Courtois, whom Lady Hermione Grandison was
to have married to-night?"

"My wife tells me that he is a French music-master whom she hired to
marry her in order that she might escape from a pestiferous person
named Count Ladislas Vassilan," replied Curtis with cool directness.
"She brought the obliging individual with her from Paris for the
purpose, and paid him a thousand dollars as a sort of retaining fee.
From what little I have seen of her, she impresses me as a charming
girl wholly without experience of a world which, though not altogether
wicked, is nevertheless callous and self-seeking. Among other
drawbacks, she embarked on a fantastic project with a most disingenuous
belief in the good faith of a Frenchman. Now, I admire France as a
nation, but where women are concerned, I distrust Frenchmen as a race,
and I suspect--mind you, I am merely guessing--but I repeat that I
suspect the honesty of Monsieur Jean de Courtois in this matter. There
was no earthly reason why he should not have married Lady Hermione some
weeks ago, but it is clear that he has used every artifice to delay the
ceremony until to-night--and, it may be found when we learn the facts,
was prepared to put it off once more till to-morrow or next day. Why?
In my opinion, the reason is not far to seek. The Earl of Valletort
and Count Ladislas Vassilan were crossing the Atlantic hot in pursuit
of the unwilling bride. They arrived in New York to-night, and were so
well posted in events, both past and prospective, that they headed
straight for the flat in which Lady Hermione was living with her maid.
Naturally, I am keenly interested in the causes which led up to a
peculiarly brutal and uncalled-for murder, and, as my wife's husband, I
have the further incentive of hoping to bring to justice certain of her
persecutors whom I cannot help connecting indirectly with the crime of
which I was, I suppose, one of the most credible and intelligent
witnesses. Now, before I was aware that such a winsome creature
existed as the present Lady Hermione Curtis, I had estimated the
murderers as Hungarians, two of them at any rate, since I am hardly
prepared to vouch for the chauffeur.