to me. And her identity is a secret--a great secret."

"But I have discovered her identity where our English police had failed!"
I protested. "Besides, am I not assisting you?"

"Very greatly, and we are greatly indebted to you, M'sieur Royle," he
replied, with exquisite politeness; "but it is not within my province as
_Chef du Surete_ to tell you facts which have been revealed to me under
pledge of secrecy."

"Perhaps M'sieur Fremy may be able to tell me some facts," I suggested.
"Remember, I am greatly interested in the mysterious affair."

"From mere curiosity--eh?" asked Van Huffel with a smile.

"No, m'sieur," was my earnest reply. "Because the arrest and condemnation
of the assassin of Marie Bracq means all the world to me."

"How?"

I hesitated for some moments, then, hoping to enlist his sympathy, I told
him the truth.

"Upon the lady who is my promised wife rests a grave suspicion," I said,
in a low, hard voice. "I decline to believe ill of her, or to think that
she could be guilty of a crime, or----"

"Of the assassination of Marie Bracq?" interrupted Van Huffel. "Do you
suspect that? Is there any question as to the guilt of the man Kemsley?"
he asked quickly.

"No one has any suspicion of the lady in question," I said. "Only--only
from certain facts within my knowledge and certain words which she
herself has uttered, a terrible and horrible thought has seized me."

"That Marie Bracq was killed by her hand--eh? Ah, m'sieur, I quite
understand," he said. "And you are seeking the truth--in order to clear
the woman you love?"

"Exactly. That is the truth. That is why I am devoting all my time--all
that I possess in order to solve the mystery and get at the actual
truth."

Fremy glanced at his chief, then at me.

"Bien, m'sieur," exclaimed Van Huffel. "But there is no great necessity
for you to know the actual identity of Marie Bracq. So long as you are
able to remove the stigma from the lady in question, who is to be your
wife, and to whom you are undoubtedly devoted, what matters whether the
dead girl was the daughter of a prince or of a rag-picker? We will assist
you in every degree in our power," he went on. "M'sieur Fremy will
question the postal clerk, watch will be kept at the Poste Restante, at
each of the railway stations, and in various other quarters, so that if
any of the gang are in the city they cannot leave it without
detection----"

"Except by automobile," I interrupted.

"Ah!