"I don't know what to believe until more evidence is forthcoming," said the reporter impatiently, "but Miss Moon's hiding-place? Where is it best to place her, with Mrs. Bolstreath as her guardian?" Halliday reflected, and then made the last answer Freddy expected to hear, considering the circumstances. "At Sheepeak with Miss Vincent," he declared. "Dan, are you serious. You place her under the guns of the enemy." "Quite so, and there has been proof that under the guns is the safest place in some cases. It is in this, I am sure. Should Mrs. Jarsell be the person we suspect her to be, she will not foul her own nest at Sheepeak. Therefore she will not dare to have Lillian killed within a stone-throw of her own house. By daring all, we gain all." "It's a risk," said Laurance pondering. "I can see that." "So can I. Everything is risky in this business." "Then there's Mildred," rejoined the journalist uneasily. "I really do not want her to be brought into the matter." "It will be all right, Freddy, and much the safer for Lillian. Mrs. Jarsell won't have the courage to hurt my promised wife, when your promised wife is in her company. Still, if you have qualms----" "No, no, no!" interrupted Laurance eagerly, "after all, I cannot be half a friend, and if Mildred is willing--when she learns the whole circumstance that is, I shall agree. After all, if anything does happen, we can accuse Mrs. Jarsell, and if she is Queen Beelzebub she will end her career in jail. I don't think she will risk that by hurting the girls." "Oh, she would never hurt Miss Vincent, I am sure, and would only harm Lillian because I have to be frightened into joining her gang. No, Freddy, a daring policy is the best in this case. We'll place Lillian with Mrs. Bolstreath under Mildred Vincent's charge--under the guns of the enemy as you say. I am sure the result will be good." "But Sir John Moon will make a row if you take his niece away." "Let him," retorted Dan contemptuously. "I can deal with that fribble of a man. After all, Lillian need only be absent from London for a month, and during that time we must break up the gang, with or without the aid of the police. If we don't, I shall certainly be murdered, like Moon and Durwin and Penn have been, and on the same grounds--that I know too much. But I daresay Lillian will then be left alone, and Sir John can carry out his pet scheme and marry her to Curberry." "I wonder," said Laurance musingly, "if Curberry has anything to do with the gang in question." "I think not, he has nothing to gain." "Now he hasn't," said Freddy drily, "but he had a good deal to gain when he was a barrister and two lives stood between him and a title and a fortune."