he
changed his clothes at the usual time and sat down to a _tete-a-tete_
dinner with his wife. Three times during the course of the meal he was
summoned to the telephone, and from each visit he returned more
perplexed. Finally, when the servants had left the room, he took his
chair round to his wife's side.

"Violet," he said, "you were asking me just now about the telephone. You
were quite right. These were not ordinary messages which I have been
receiving. I am engaged in a little matter which, I must confess,
perplexes me. I want your advice--perhaps your help."

Violet smiled.

"I am quite ready," she announced. "It is a long time since you gave me
anything to do."

"You have heard of Guillot?"

She reflected a moment.

"You mean the wonderful Frenchman," she asked, "the head of the criminal
department of the Double Four?"

"The man who was at its head when it existed," Peter replied. "The
criminal department, as you know, has all been done away with. The
Double Four has now no more concern with those who break the law, save
in those few instances where great issues demand it."

"But Monsieur Guillot still exists?"

"He not only exists," Peter answered, "but he is here in London, a rebel
and a defiant one. Do you know who came to see me the other morning?"

She shook her head.

"Sir John Dory," Peter continued. "He came here with a request. He
begged for my help. Guillot is here, committed to some enterprise which
no man can wholly fathom. Dory has enough to do with other things, as
you can imagine, just now. Besides, I think he recognises that Monsieur
Guillot is rather a hard nut for the ordinary English detective to
crack."

"And you?" she demanded, breathlessly.

"I join forces with Dory," Peter admitted. "Sogrange agrees with me.
Guillot was associated with the Double Four too long for us to have him
make scandalous history, either here or in Paris."

"You have seen him?"

"I have not only seen him," Peter said, "I have declared war against
him."

"And he?"

"Guillot is defiant," Peter replied. "He has been here only this
evening. He mocks at me. He swears that he will bring off this
enterprise, whatever it may be, before midnight to-night, and he has
defied me to stop him."

"But you will," she murmured softly.

Peter smiled. The conviction in his wife's tone was a subtle compliment
which he did not fail to appreciate.

"I have hopes," he confessed, "and yet, let me tell you this,