The message to Moroni was highly suspicious. Harry Hambledon, as a solicitor, was, of course, a very acute person, and in addition he had very fortunately entered into the true spirit of the adventure. Though he longed to be back again at Richmond with his pretty _fiancée_, Norah Peyton, yet the mystery of the whole affair had bewildered him, and he was as keen as I was myself in elucidating the strange enigma. Moroni was no doubt a tool in the hands of that quiet, sallow-faced man who, by reason of his colossal wealth and huge financial resources, could even make and unmake dynasties. Oswald De Gex, the man who without nationality or patriotism pulled a hundred financial strings both in Europe and in America, held the sinister Doctor Moroni in his pay. I could discern that fact, just as I could see that the man Suzor, who had so cleverly posed as an official of the Crédit Lyonnais, was one of the many confidential agents of the mysterious De Gex. One evening I went, by appointment, to the Nuevo Club, to which I had been admitted as a foreign member, and in the smoking-room I awaited Hambledon. At last he came through the big swing doors, and approaching me, excitedly exclaimed: "They've both gone out to Segovia to see the Countess de Chamartin. De Gex sent a wire early this morning and then, on receipt of a reply, they hired a car and drove out to keep the appointment." "Chamartin was a Spanish financier. De Gex is one of international fame--a millionaire," I remarked. "The wits of De Gex are perhaps pitted against the widow and the executors of the dead man. Don't you agree?" "Entirely," was Hambledon's reply. "I follow the trend of your thoughts, Hugh. De Gex is the controlling influence of great events, but why should he seek to send you into an asylum for the insane?" "With the same motive that he endeavoured to send into such an asylum poor Gabrielle Tennison," I said bitterly. "In law we have an old adage which says 'discover the motive and you also discover the miscreant,'" Harry remarked. I agreed, and, as much bewildered as he, exclaimed: "Well, as far as we can discern there is something very underhand in this meeting. But the count's widow is a cheery, easy-going person, despite her mournful black, and perhaps, after all, we may be upon a wrong scent." "Exactly. De Gex may be attracted by her handsome niece, the Señorita Carmen Florez--eh?" "He may. But as the dead count was a great financier, Oswald De Gex may be working in the interests of the widow--or to the contrary." "To the contrary," said my friend without hesitation.