"Owing to the cessation of the drugs, Mr Monkton's faculties were swiftly restored. He was weak and ill from his long confinement, but he could think clearly. His first impulse was to come home at once. I dissuaded him from this till he had gone to Smeaton and sought his advice. I felt also it was imperative to get rid of Stent and Bolinski in case they meditated further mischief. It happened that the means were in my power, means which I should not have used except in an extreme case. Information in my possession, which I placed at the disposal of Scotland Yard, enabled the authorities to arrest them on a criminal charge. That you have heard, or will hear." She paused a moment, and Sheila spoke. "You drove up to Chesterfield Street the other night with a companion." "Your father. He was longing to come back, and to humour him I suggested we should come for a few minutes as far as the house." "And the portrait of Lady Gladys that was sent me? That was my father's idea, of course. And to make sure, you sent that young woman to tell me what to do. But I had guessed before she came." "That young woman was a friend of mine, who knows nothing about the general circumstances. I simply made use of her for this particular purpose." There was a long pause. Wingate was the first to break it. He had no kindly feelings towards this woman who was ready to betray her old associates when it suited her own interests. Still, he could dissemble better than Sheila. "You have cleared up all except one thing, Mrs Saxton. What of the Italian who died at Forest View, and the man Whyman who disappeared after Smeaton's visit to him at Southport?" "They were both members of a rather wide fraudulent partnership which included Stent and Bolinski. Roselli was evidently seized with remorse on his deathbed, and, much to Stent's chagrin, conveyed a message in Italian which the young man Franks in his turn conveyed to Smeaton. Had Stent guessed the nature of that message, he would have found some means to keep Franks out of the house. In consequence of my information, the police are searching for Whyman now." This extraordinary woman was, by now, perfectly calm and collected. What her inmost feelings were, it would be impossible to guess, but apparently she felt no shame in avowing that she had betrayed her old friends. There was an embarrassing silence till she spoke again. "I have now concluded my story. If there is nothing more you wish to ask me, I will go." Sheila rose, her face cold and hard. "Nothing more, Mrs Saxton. My father will, of course, reward you for the help you gave him, as you have put it yourself, at the eleventh hour. He has no doubt arranged that with you already. You will understand that now I want him to myself." "I quite understand." Without another word, she bowed and left the room, her bearing not devoid of a certain dignity, which might, or might not, have been the result of callousness.