"I know," was his simple response. "I was quite well aware of that. I hope, however, Holford, that you have kept your promise and kept a still tongue." "To a certain extent, yes." "You told Langton nothing, I trust?" he asked anxiously. "Why are you in such mortal fear of Langton?" I demanded hotly, halting before him as he stood on the hearthrug coolly surveying me, with his back to the fire. "My dear fellow," he answered, "pray calm yourself. Have a drink, and let's discuss this matter amicably from a purely business-like standpoint. Surely when I invoked your aid I did not commit a grave error of judgment? You have been judicious throughout, I hope? You have not forgotten the great issues which I explained depended upon your silence?" "My silence you shall command no longer, Mr. Kirk!" I cried, suddenly interrupting him. "I've been silent far too long." "Ah!" he remarked, still unruffled. "I see. Well, your attitude is quite justifiable, my dear sir--quite. You have lost your wife, I understand." "Yes," I said, advancing towards him a couple of paces in a manner which I now believe must have appeared threatening. "And you know more about the trap into which my poor wife has been led than anybody else. That is why I'm here to-night--to compel you to speak--you crafty old cur!" "My dear Holford, why--what's the matter?" he asked, even then quite unperturbed. "Now if I did not know you so well I might easily be annoyed, but I'm not. No doubt the loss of Mrs. Holford has seriously upset you." And the fellow actually smiled at this. I grew furious. The mysterious man's eyes gleamed with a triumphant light, and his pale lips parted, revealing his pointed teeth. "You make pretence of ignorance!" I cried. "You think that I believe you when you say you know nothing of where she is, but--" "I assure you, Holford, that these suspicions of myself are entirely groundless. I have no knowledge whatever of the lady. I have seen her once or twice at her dining-room window, it is true." "And yet I've been out to Florence, to the Grand Bretagne, where I was informed that you had been in her company!" was my hasty reply. "I can't help what cock-and-bull story you've been told by an Italian hotel-keeper. They are notorious for their untruths, as you would discover if you travelled as much up and down Italy as I do," he said with an evil grin. "I can only tell you, once and for all, that I have no knowledge whatever of your wife's present whereabouts." "Then who has?" "How can I tell, my dear sir? You ask me a riddle. On my arrival at Charing Cross an hour ago one of my friends who met me told me of Mrs. Holford's sudden journey abroad and her disappearance into space. The story set me wondering as to the motive of the plot--for plot it undoubtedly must be. Mrs. Holford and yourself, I am told, are devoted to each other. There is no reason for her leaving you, is there?"