"On the other 'and, w'y _should_ they?" ventured Nickson. "_I_ wouldn't if I was 'im. And see 'ere, sir, beggin' your pardon, I know you're a detective, in a privit wye. I've told you all I done. But t'ain't all I _want_ to do. I want to find 'is Grice. If you and the Captain make any frontal attack, so to speak, will you tike me along? I'd give my life for th' Dook. And I might come in 'andy, 'oo knows?" "Who knows, indeed?" echoed Sanders. "But you shall have the chance of finding out when the time comes. And it may come soon--any day, any hour, even any minute. Now, if you think Mademoiselle's due back, I suggest that you leave us, as we've sent for her here. If there's anything in your suspicions, we don't want her to smell a rat." "Right you are, sir, and thank you, sir!" said Nickson. "I'll be off and leave all clear." "So, you actually suspect Simone? _And_ Defasquelle!" Jack turned on Sanders when they were alone. "I can't go as far as that--yet. There's no evidence against them--not even circumstantial. There's no crime in a flirtation between a man and woman, both of the _Midi_, thrown together in a foreign land. I meant to spring this on you only when or if I had cause to be sure. Up to date, my indoors man at Rudin's--that's the French place in Twelfth Street where they meet--hasn't been able to overhear a word between the two, though he speaks French. He's acting as a waiter there now. He has instructions to ring me up if he gets onto anything queer. And I always leave word at home and the office where I'm going to be." This conversation, following Lyda's letter, had keyed up Manners' nerves. He started as rather a sharp knock sounded on the door. It was Simone. She was very neat and _chic_, and led Beatty, whose bored look suggested that he had been denied his proper share of exercise. "_Monsieur le Capitaine_!" she purred; and bowed discreetly to the detective. "Togo says Monsieur has asked for me the moment I am home. I come. But the dog----" "Never mind the dog!" Sanders caught the word from Jack. "We've some questions to ask you, Mademoiselle. Please stay where you are." His tone was rough, and he had put on a professional, hectoring air. There had been no time to arrange a plan of action, but Manners guessed what was in Sanders' mind. He meant to try scaring Simone; and he wanted to do it off his own bat. Jack trusted him, and was willing to keep out of the business. Though the Frenchwoman's black eyes appealed to him--as her mistress's relative--against the rude stranger, he sat still and lit a cigarette. CHAPTER XX THE THIRD DEGREE "To begin with, where's the Duchess?" "At a rehearsal, Monsieur, of an entertainment Madame van Esten has got up. Mademoiselle Pavoya will----" "We don't want to hear about her. The Duchess isn't at the rehearsal." "Then I do not know where she is. It is her affair, not mine." Simone looked the picture of injured innocence.