before midnight. Someone had
maltreated him badly, and the wonder is he was not killed outright."

Now, the roundsman, wedged close against the prisoner, felt the man
give an almost unconscious and quite involuntary start when de Courtois
was mentioned, and there could be no question that he was straining his
ears to catch each syllable Curtis uttered.

Nudging the latter, McCulloch said:

"So it was a near thing that two weddings were not interfered with last
night, sir?"

"No, not two, only one. I married the lady."

"You did!"

The policeman's undoubted bewilderment was convincingly genuine, but,
despite his surprise, he was alert to catch the slightest move or sign
of emotion on the part of the captive.

"Yes," said Curtis. "I married her before half-past eight."

"Then you must have possessed some knowledge of the parties mixed up in
this business?"

"No, not in the sense you have in mind. I cannot supply full
particulars now, but you will learn them in due course. The point I
wish to emphasize is this--poor Mr. Hunter's death was absolutely
needless. I imagine he only came into connection with the intrigue by
exercising the journalistic instinct to obtain exclusive details of a
sensational news item which involved several distinguished people. The
miserable tools employed by men who wished to gain their own ends were
not even true to each other, and they undoubtedly attacked Hunter by
error."

"Did they mean to kill you, then?"

"Oh, no. They had never heard of me. I dropped from the skies, or the
nearest thing to it, since I was on the Atlantic at this hour
yesterday."

McCulloch was aware that the Frenchman had been profoundly disturbed by
Curtis's statements, and kept the ball rolling. That name, de
Courtois, seemed to supply the clew to the man's agitation, so he
harped on it.

"Has Mr. Steingall seen de Courtois?" he asked.

"Yes. Mr. Devar and I accompanied him to de Courtois's room, and set
the rascal free."

"That settles it," said the roundsman emphatically. "If the man with
the camera eye has looked de Courtois over it is all up with the whole
bunch. Are you listening, Anatole? This should be real lively hearing
for you."

"Monsieur de Courtois is a friend of mine," came the sullen response.

"Oh, is he? Then you do know something about events in 27th Street,
eh?"

"I tell you nothing, but why should I deny that I know Monsieur de
Courtois?"

"Or that you are a