e man and the woman."

"Winter is a perfect terror," said Brett. "He dreams of handcuffs and
penal servitude. I hope this couple will not be brought to trial, or at
any rate that your name will not be mixed up in it."

"Oh, no. As soon as I heard the Under-Secretary's wishes, I promptly
communicated with Scotland Yard. The Frenchman and his wife will be
remanded on a mysterious charge of abetting a felony and held in durance
vile until their testimony is wanted, should we ever capture Dubois."

At Brett's request, detectives were hunting through Paris all that night
and the next day for a sign of Hussein-ul-Mulk and his Turkish friends.
But these gentlemen had vanished as completely as if the earth had
swallowed them up.

This was a strange thing. Although Paris is a cosmopolitan city, a party
of Turks, only one of whom could speak French, should be discovered
with tolerable rapidity in view of the fact that the French police
maintain such a watch upon the inhabitants.

It was not until Brett and his four companions quitted the train at
Marseilles late at night and the barrister received a telegram from the
commissary announcing that the search made by the police had yielded no
results, that he suddenly recalled the existence of a doorless and
windowless room in the Cafe Noir.

Curiously enough, he had omitted to make any mention of this strange
apartment in his recital to the official. He would not trust to the
discretion of the Telegraph Department, so on reaching the Hotel du
Louvre et de la Paix he succeeded, after some difficulty, in ringing up
the commissary on the long-distance telephone.

Having acquainted the police officer with the exact position of the
hidden apartment, he ended by saying--

"Continue inquiries throughout Paris during the whole of to-morrow. Do
not visit the Cabaret Noir for the purpose of police inspection until a
late hour--long after midnight--when the cafe is empty and the Boulevard
comparatively deserted. It is only a mere guess on my part. The Turks
may not be there. If they are, they should be set at liberty and not
questioned. Tell them they owe their escape to me. If you do not find
them you may make other discoveries of general interest to the police.
But above all things, I do not wish you to interfere with Gros Jean or
his house until the next twenty-four hours have elapsed."

The commissary assured him that his desires would be respected, and soon
afterwards Brett went