"All that in good time, my dear sir," calmly returned Cooper-Nassington. "For the present it must be sufficient for you that I have a very real and vital stake in what you have found, and you had better treat me well over the business when I come to you again after you have deciphered the manuscripts, or you'll live to regret the day I was born." For a second the two men stood glaring at each other in angry defiance, but again I saw that the millionaire won. Whatever was the mysterious hold he had over the hunchback there was no doubt but that it was a very potent and a very effective one, and that, however much Zouche might kick and threaten, in the end he was bound to come to the other's heel. "All right. Come to me in a fortnight's time," he growled, "and I'll see then what can be done. Don't fancy, though, that this business is simply fitting out a yacht with a party of Cornish miners and engineers and going to take possession of the loot." "I don't," said the Member of Parliament coolly; "there are the Jesuits to reckon with." "Yes; but that's not the worst," retorted Zouche; "there are others." "Others!" cried the man in astonishment. "What do you mean?" "Well, first, who was the man that put you on the track of my discovery, eh? What, for instance, is the name or position of Mr Glynn's employer?" In spite of myself I flushed and started. Should I now hear who Don Jose Casteno really was, if he were really a friend of Lord Cyril Cuthbertson, and why he was a resident at that home of mystery, St Bruno's. Alas! no. I was doomed to disappointment. "We decline to tell you," said my companion with great firmness. "I shall find out for myself," roared the dwarf. "Do, if you can," returned the man coolly. "For the present, stick to the point we are discussing. Who else have we to fear?" "The cut-throats who did this," snarled the hunchback, stepping quickly across the room and taking down a cloak from the walls. Then he spread the garment out on the table and indicated certain bullet holes in the back. "They did this to me this afternoon as I walked homeward," he added. "The shots came just as I was crossing Westminster Bridge. I searched everywhere for a sight of the man, who must have done it with some new-fangled air-gun. I could find none at all. "Nor is that all," he proceeded the next moment; "just cast a glance in this direction, will you?" He stumbled across the parlour to a point where stood an old oaken chest about two feet high, the lid of which he threw back with a bang. "Do you see that fine mastiff in there?" pointing to the shadowy form of a huge dog in the depths of the chest. "Well, an hour ago he was poisoned. By whom? For what? I have lived here in this house, in this neighbourhood, for five and forty years and nothing of the sort has ever occurred before.