spicion of his good faith. So
they rarely if ever make use of each other."

"You say 'rarely.' But possibly in this instance?"

"I think not. Dupont was employed as your chauffeur, you've told me,
upwards of a month. He had ample opportunity to familiarise himself
with the premises and pass the information on, if acting in connivance
with those others. But we know he didn't, or they would never have
shown themselves here in order to secure information they couldn't have
got otherwise."

"I see, monsieur," said the woman. "Then you think the thief may have
been any one of the Monk party--"

"Or several of them acting in concert," Lanyard interrupted, smiling.

"Or Albert."

"Not Dupont. Unless I underestimate him gravely he is incapable of such
finesse. He is a thug first, a thief afterwards. He would have killed
me out of hand if it had been he who had me at his mercy, down here, in
the dark. Nor would he have been able to open the safe without using an
explosive. That, indeed, is why, as I understand him, Dupont attacked
you at Montpellier. If he could have disposed of you there, he would
have returned here to work upon the safe and blow it at his leisure,
fobbing the servants off with some yarn, or if they proved too
troublesome intimidating them, killing one or two if necessary."

"But why has he made no other attempt--?"

"You forget the police have been making the neighbourhood fairly warm
for him. Besides, he wanted me out of the way before he tried
housebreaking. If he had succeeded in murdering me that night, I don't
doubt he would have burglarised the chateau soon after. But he failed;
the police were stirred up to renewed activity; and if Monsieur Dupont
is not now safely back in Paris, hiding in some warren of Montmartre or
Belleville, I am much mistaken in the man--a type I know well."

"Eliminating Albert then--"

"There remains the Monk lot."

"You are satisfied that one or all of its members committed the theft
last night?"

"Not less than two, probably; say Phinuit, at a venture, and his
alleged brother, Jules, the chauffeur, both Americans, adventurous,
intelligent and resourceful. Yes; I believe that."

"And your plan of campaign is based on this conclusion?"

"That's a big name"--Lanyard's smile was diffident, a plea for
suspended judgment on his lack of inventiveness--"for a lame idea. I
believe our only course is to let them believe they have been
successful in every way, and so lu