"Not first, anyhow. Maybe later. That depends! But now, to Madame Veno's." "Oh, I'm worried!" Lyda put out her hands, and laid them on his khaki-clad arms. "They say these _Inner Circle_ people may be a nest of crooks!" "I don't doubt 'they' are right for once! But I'm not going alone." "I thought your detective was busy with the maid and the pearl carrier." "He is. But you know Old Nick? You must! You couldn't have known Pat without Old Nick." "Good Old Nick! Of course I know him--since Paris, when Claremanagh was ill at my house." "Well, Nick's going 'over the top' with me, as a volunteer. I don't know whether I shall find anything for him to do, but if so, he'll be ready!" "Yes--yes! He'd do anything for Claremanagh." "And even for Claremanagh's wife. Good-bye, my darling. Wish me luck." "I do--I do." "A kiss to speed the wish?" "No. Only my hand. Wait!" "How long--in God's name?" "Till--the Duke's found--and the pearls." CHAPTER XXI THE MIDDLE DOOR "Tell her two gentlemen for a consultation," Jack Manners announced at Madame Veno's door, Nickson at his heels. "Madame can see no more clients this afternoon, sir," replied the neat woman in black silk. "She closes for business at six, and----" "It's not six yet," cut in Jack. "No, sir, but she has a lady with her now. I have orders to receive no one else." "Can't you forget those orders, and persuade her to make an exception for us?" As he spoke, Manners took from his pocket a cigarette-case and extracted from it a twenty-dollar bill. It would have been simple--physically--to push past the spinster-like person in black, but Jack could more easily have got over a high stone wall. Luckily she liked the look of the bank-note. "I might try, sir," she hesitated. "If trying's worth twenty dollars to you." "It is," he replied, promptly. The money changed hands. The woman in black silk ceased to bar the entrance with her neat person. Jack walked into the flat, Nickson after him. Again there was hesitation. Evidently their guide was not sure where she ought to put them. Jack imagined that he could read her thoughts. She feared to lead the forbidden visitors into the ordinary waiting-room. Either there was someone there, or something that ought not to be seen; or the room was next the one where Madame Veno was with her "last client"--Juliet! In that case, words might be overheard through a wall or door. As he and Nick were invited into a dining room, Manners counted three doors on the opposite side of the hall, all closed. Behind one of those he believed Juliet to be hidden at that moment, probably in process of being blackmailed. He made up his mind quickly as to a plan of action, already half-decided on between Nickson and himself. "We're in no great hurry, so long as we see Madame sooner or later," he told the woman who had let them in. "We wouldn't think of having you interrupt her."