"But how terrible!" said Lady Sybil. "What a shocking thing! The man should be exposed. He is not fit to associate with human beings. Can't you do something to punish him?" "That could be done," said Silva, "it could be done, but it would bring a great deal of unhappiness to his present wife, who is ignorant of her husband's treachery." "Better she should know now than later," said the militant Lady Sybil. "I think you do very wrong to keep it from her." Mr. Crotin rose unsteadily and his wife looked at him with suspicion. "Aren't you feeling well, John?" she asked with asperity. It was not the first time she had seen her husband's hand shaking and had diagnosed the cause more justly than she was doing at present, for John Crotin had scarcely taken a drink that evening. "I'm going into the library, if you'll excuse me, love," he said. "Maybe, Mr.--Mr. de Silva will join me. I'd--I'd like to talk over the question of that mill with him." Pinto nodded. "Then run along now," said Lady Sybil, "and when you've finished talking, come back to me, Mr. de Silva. I want to know something about your charitable organisations in Portugal." Pinto followed the other at a distance, saw him enter a big room and switch on the lights and followed, closing the door behind him. Mr. Crotin's library was the most comfortable room in the house. It was lighted by French windows which opened on to a small terrace. Long red velvet curtains were drawn, and a little fire crackled on the hearth. When the door closed Crotin turned upon his guest. "Now, damn you," he said harshly, "what's thy proposition? Make it a reasonable sum and I'll pay thee." CHAPTER XXVI THE SOLDIER WHO FOLLOWED In the train which had carried Pinto Silva to Huddersfield were one or two remarkable passengers, and it was not a coincidence that they did not meet. In a third-class carriage at the far end of the train was a soldier who carried a kit-bag and who whiled away the journey by reading a seemingly endless collection of magazines. He got out at Huddersfield too, and Pinto might and probably did see him as he passed through the barrier. The soldier left his kit-bag at the cloak-room and eventually became one of the two dozen people who patronised Lady Sybil's bazaar on that afternoon. He passed Pinto twice, and once made a small purchase at the same stall where the Portuguese was buying lavishly. If Pinto saw him, then he did not remember the fact. One soldier looks very much like another, anyway.