had made
too hot to hold him--stayed at the same hotel, and left within three
days for Cape Town. Why should he go to Cape Town _via_ New York? I may
be right or wrong in the opinion I have formed, but at any rate we have
established a point of contact between the two men."

"There is something in that," agreed Sir Hilary, with a jerky nod of the
head.

"More than that, on the New York visit Goldenburg was accompanied by a
woman whose description in every particular corresponds with that of the
Princess Petrovska--though she called herself the Hon. Katherine
Balton. There is material enough in that information, Sir Hilary, to
draw a number of conclusions from. At any rate, they go to confirm my
opinions at present. I know very well that there is sometimes smoke
without fire, but my experience is that you can usually safely lay odds
that there is a fire somewhere when you do see smoke."

The elliptic form of speech was sometimes adopted by Heldon Foyle in
discussing affairs with one whose alertness of brain he could depend
upon. Thornton twisted his grey moustache and his eye twinkled
appreciatively.

"That's all right," he said. "But how do you account for Grell finding
people ready to his hand in London to help him disappear at the very
moment he needs them? There are several people mixed up in it, we know;
but how is it that they are all loyal to him? We know that criminals
will not keep faith with each other unless there is some strong
inducement. How do you account for it?"

"There may be a dozen reasons. Purely as an hypothesis, Grell may have a
hold on these people by threatening them with exposure for some crime
they have committed. Self-interest is the finest incentive I know to
silence."

"All the same, it's queer," said Sir Hilary, with a little frown. "What
do you propose to do?"

Heldon Foyle's lips became dogged. "Break 'em up piecemeal as we lay our
hands on 'em now. We've got one--the man we roped in with Red Ike. He's
as tight as an oyster; but while we've got him he can't do anything to
help his pals. Then there's the Princess. She's as slippery as an eel;
but if the Liverpool people can get hold of her we may reckon she'll be
kept safe for a few weeks on the charge of drugging Blake. Then there's
Ivan Abramovitch. We may be able to lay our fingers on him. If there's
any more in this business I don't know 'em; but every one of the gang we
take means so much less help for Grell."

A discreet