a 
 
THE CLOSING NET 
 
IS HE DEAD?" I ASKED, AND LEANED 
 AGAINST THE WALL (page 234) 
 
THE CLOSING NET 
 
 BY 
 HENRY C. ROWLAND 
 
 AUTHOR OF "iN THE SERVICE OF THE PRINCESS, 
 "THE MAGNET," ETC. 
 
 WITH ILL USTRA TIONS B Y 
 A. C. MICHAEL 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY HENRY C. ROWLAND AS " CHU, CHU, 
 THE SHEARER " AND " LEONTINE AND COMPANY " 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 
 
Stack 
 Annex 
 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART ONE 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I TIDE WATER CLAM ........... i 
 
 II THE TIDE TURNS L ........... 25 
 
 III LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND ......... 41 
 
 IV A BACK EDDY ............. 59 
 
 V LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH ......... 74 
 
 VI " WILL You WALK INTO MY PARLOUR ? " ..... 94 
 
 VII AMERICAN METHODS ............ 105 
 
 VIII HAWK AND RAVEN ............ 116 
 
 IX THE FALCON STRIKES ........... 128 
 
 X ROSENTHAL .............. 142 
 
 XI AN HEROIC LIE ............. 160 
 
 PART TWO 
 
 I UNDER COVER .............. 175 
 
 II THE COUNTESS ROSALIE ........... 191 
 
 III THE FIRST ROUND ............ 219 
 
 IV SANCTUARY .............. 237 
 
 V QUICKSANDS .............. 247 
 
 VI TEMPTATION .............. 276 
 
 VII BACK INTO THE WORLD ........... 290 
 
 VIII THE PASSING OF IVAN ........... 306 
 
 IX THE NET CLOSES ............. 316 
 
 X INTO THE LIGHT ............. 329 
 
 2137993 
 
"Is he dead?" I asked, and leaned 
 
 against the wall. (Page 234) . Frontispiece 
 
 Rosalie Facing Page 34 
 
 Rosalie caught my drift and began to 
 
 gesticulate. (Page 199) . . . " " 98 
 
 " What if I were to tell you that you 
 
 were talking to a crook?" (Page 
 
 218) " "164 
 
 There was a snarl of rage in his voice, 
 and I began to think that Ivan was 
 a more dangerous man than I had 
 thought. (Page 273) .... " 230 
 
 I fired again and brought a snarl out of 
 
 him. (Page 327) " "300 
 
PART ONE 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 TIDE WATER CLAM 
 
 MY friend, it s my belief that when it rains every 
 third drop lands on a crook. You ve no idea what a 
 lot there are, and the only wonder is how they make 
 a living. But your most dangerous crook is the gen 
 tleman variety, and that was easy for me because my 
 father s family was about the best in the United 
 States, barring only my mother s. His stock was 
 pure English and hers Dutch; you ll find both names 
 in the school histories; both families had signers of 
 the ^Declaration. They were both thoroughbreds, 
 all right. The only trouble was that they were never 
 married, and that made a lot of trouble for me, 
 afterwards. 
 
 [ spent the first six years of my life in a pretty 
 little cottage down Boston way, and about the 
 only person I saw was my old nursery governess, 
 Ma m selle Durand, or Tante Fi-Fi, as I called her. 
 Then, as far as I could make out, my father lost his 
 fortune and his nerve at the same time, and they 
 found him in his library dead. That settled my 
 mother, and a little later Tante Fi-Fi faded away, 
 and I found myself bawling my lungs open in the 
 state asylum for orphans. 
 
 Young as I was, I couldn t stand it very long, so 
 one hot day in July I ambled out, slipped down to a 
 pond that was near by, hid my clothes under some 
 stones, and splashed around. Then I came out cry- 
 
2 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ing and went up naked to a farmhouse and told the 
 folks that the other boys had swiped my clothes and 
 I was due home three hours ago. They laughed at 
 first; then a motherly woman went into the house and 
 fetched me out some old duds one of her brood had 
 outgrown. She said I needn t bother to bring them 
 back, they weren t worth it. They were worth a lot 
 to me, because, you see, they represented my whole 
 capital for a start in life on my own. 
 
 Well, I drifted around for a few years, doing the 
 things that most homeless kids do, I suppose, and 
 finally I got a billet as cabin-boy on a yacht. That 
 led to steward, and then the family took me into their 
 town house as butler. It was a low-grade, flash 
 crowd with barrels of money and all as crooked as a 
 switch-back railway, men and women both, so that 
 one fine night when a second-story worker handed me 
 a proposition for opening the back door I said, " All 
 right, matey, on one condition that you share up 
 even and then teach me the trade! " 
 
 That was how I started my professional career. 
 Before that I d only been an amateur, like a good 
 many butlers and chauffeurs and the like. Ever feel 
 any compunctions? Nary one! There are two 
 emotions that never touched me; one is scruple and 
 the other fear. Good workers go down under both 
 sometimes, and if I had been with real swell people 
 at the start it might have been different. But where 
 the boss of the house buncoes his guests at bridge and 
 brags of it afterward to his wife, before the butler, 
 there ain t much of an example set to the service. 
 More than that, everybody was always saying to me, 
 just as you did a little while ago, " You look like a 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 3 
 
 gentleman." And I did, and behaved a darn sight 
 more like one than the people I waited on. The re 
 sult was that I got to thinking of myself as a man 
 that wasn t getting what by rights belonged to him, 
 and I went to work to correct that with all the nat 
 ural intelligence I had in me, which was consider 
 able. 
 
 For some years I was mighty successful. Plain 
 burglary was my specialty because I liked the ex 
 citement of it; but I was handy at the side lines, too, 
 and when it came to con games or even such youthful 
 pranks as nicking a pocketbook or wrist-bag I was 
 right on the job, and here my looks helped me a lot. 
 Once or twice I ve bluffed out a sucker that as good 
 as saw me take the goods. I knew how to dress 
 and how to walk into a big ballroom and how to 
 order a dinner in a swell restaurant and how to talk 
 to a lady in the deck chair next to mine. Yes, my 
 son, I have seen life. 
 
 The first time I got pinched, and I tell it to my 
 shame, was right here in Paris, and all along of a 
 piece of sheer, light-hearted foolishness. I d come 
 over from London with a running-mate, just for a 
 spree. We were both flush and doing the swell act. 
 It was the week of the Grand Prix de Steeplechase 
 out at Auteuil, and we went to the races, not on 
 business, mind you, but just for fun. While we 
 were standing by the paying-booth watching the 
 types cash in, along comes a big, whiskered Russian 
 with a whole fistful of winning tickets. The guy 
 handed him out a big wad of bank-notes, which Mr. 
 Russian crams into the side pocket of his trousers, 
 then saunters over to the betting-booths. 
 
4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " That looks appetising," says I to my pal. 
 " What d ye want to bet I can t take that away from 
 Mr. Bear?" 
 
 " Lay ye a five-pun note," says he. 
 
 " Done," says I. 
 
 The betting was pretty brisk. You know how it 
 is out there a lot of different windows for differ 
 ent amounts and the bettors filing up between the 
 rails. The Russian goes to the one-hundred-frank 
 slip, and I shove in beside him. There was a crowd 
 ahead of us, so for the moment he left his money 
 where it was, waiting to get to the window before 
 hauling it out. He had on a long, light overcoat 
 with slash pockets, and watching my chance I slipped 
 my hand through and felt for the wad. I peeled 
 one or two bills off, and was just cuddling the whole 
 bunch, winking over my shoulder at Jeff, when clip! 
 something closed on my wrist like a bear-trap! 
 Body o me ! You d never have thought to find 
 such strength in a human fist! His fingers closed 
 around my wrist like a vise, so that I couldn t even 
 begin to straighten em out. Of course I didn t 
 know it at the time, but his nibs was Prince Kharkoff, 
 and he was in the habit of amusing his friends by 
 such little parlour stunts as bending up five-franc 
 pieces and tearing two-sou pieces apart! 
 
 Umph! " says he, blowing a mouthful of cigar- 
 smoke in my face, and I could see his big white teeth 
 shining through his beard. 
 
 Everybody looked around, and the gendarme who 
 was on duty at the booths steps up. 
 
 Well, there wasn t much for me to say. The cop 
 pulled back the overcoat, and the Russian lugged 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 5 
 
 out my fist, still full of bills! I couldn t open it, 
 mind you ! Jeff was laughing fit to bust, but it 
 took three cops to keep the crowd from mauling me. 
 "A I eau;" said they; "a I eau!" Meaning, I 
 take it, to first give me a bath in the water-jump. 
 That s the way with Frenchies; they love a crook, as 
 long as he doesn t get nailed. But let him once get 
 caught, and they want to tear him apart, like a shot 
 wolf in the pack! 
 
 Well, sir, it was Cayenne for mine. Cayenne 
 isn t in all ways like Palm Beach, and I didn t care 
 for it much, but I perfected my French, the La Vil- 
 lette sort, and different from my early education in 
 that tongue with Tante Fi-Fi. In the end I es 
 caped and managed to get up to Demerara (George 
 town, you know), where I joined the colony of pep 
 pers and became what they call a " Walla-baby." A 
 Walla-baby is an escaped French convict who keeps 
 alive by making a nasty mess of sorghum and 
 chopped cocoanut and peddling it to the nigger 
 piccaninnies at a total net profit of about five cents 
 a day. " Voila bebe Folia, bebe! " says this mer 
 chant, and that s how he got the name. 
 
 It wasn t much of a job, even when business was 
 brisk, for the son of R. F. but there, never mind 
 the name. My inherited financial talent kept me 
 from being satisfied even when I made a coup and 
 cleared as much as fifty cents a week, so I pulled out 
 and stowed away on a Royal Mail ship for Trini 
 dad, and landed there, black and blue. The follow 
 ing day I tried to get a billet on an American yacht. 
 While the captain was calling me several different 
 kinds of a beach-comber there came down the deck 
 
6 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 a crusty-looking old lobster, and the minute he laid 
 eyes on me he brought up all standing. 
 
 " I ve seen this man before," says he. " What s 
 your name? " 
 
 I told him one of those I d traded under. 
 
 " Huh," says he. " Don t know it." But he 
 kept on staring at me, and I thought that maybe he 
 had known my father and saw the likeness. So I 
 pipes out, " Maybe you knew my father, sir." And 
 I told him his name. 
 
 He scowled at me for a moment, then his face got 
 purple. You are a liar and a scoundrel! " says he. 
 "I know the son of that man! You are not he, 
 though you do look alike, and no doubt you have 
 found out the resemblance and tried to work a re 
 lationship." 
 
 I stared him straight in the eye. " Could you ac 
 count for all of your own children legitimate and 
 illegitimate? " I asked. Then I turned to the gang 
 way. While I was beckoning to my nigger the old 
 fellow sings out: 
 
 " Hold on a minute. Captain, give that man 
 twenty dollars and let him go! " 
 
 But I didn t wait for the twenty. Somehow, 
 charity has always been out of my line. I don t 
 mind taking it by force or stealth, but as a gift 
 nit! 
 
 A week or so later I got a billet on a boat bound 
 for New York, and once there I was all right-o, as 
 I had a grub-steak salted away where I could get it; 
 and as soon as I was rested up a bit and some of the 
 sugar-fields fever rinsed out of me I was back on my 
 old job again. Butler? Not on your life! Thief 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 7 
 
 the oldest profession in the world and instituted 
 by father Adam himself, or, to be more accurate, by 
 mother Eve, Adam being only the fence, like. 
 
 Well, sir, as if to compensate for all I d been 
 through, everything ran my way for a while. Then 
 they got to watching me pretty close, so I decided 
 to take a European trip for my health. I went to 
 London, but it was early spring, and the raw damp 
 brought out my fever, so I lit out for Monte Carlo, 
 and managed to drop the bulk of my wad, then went 
 up to Paris, where the first man I ran into at the 
 Moulin Rouge was my old pal, Jeff. 
 
 We sat down and had a drink, then says he: 
 " Look here, Frank, I m off to a swell supper-party. 
 Will you come? Any friend of mine will be wel 
 come there." 
 
 " Who are the people? " I asked. 
 
 " The spread is being given by Leontine Petrov- 
 sky," says he. "She s a wonder; half French, half 
 Polish. Nobody knows exactly what her lay is, but 
 she s a good fellow and knows her little book. Some 
 say she s a nihilist, others say she s the head of a 
 French gang of thieves. Whatever her game 
 may be it pays, all right. She s got a house over in 
 Passy, near Ranelagh. Come on; you might meet 
 somebody there that d be useful." 
 
 I agreed, so we piled into a taxi and sped over 
 across the city. We were both in evening dress and 
 might have passed anywhere for a couple of English 
 swells the real thing. Jeff stopped the motor on 
 a corner, and we got out and walked down a quaint 
 little street and rang the bell of a big iron gate which 
 opened into a garden. A footman in uniform let us 
 
*8 , THE CLOSING NET 
 
 in, and we followed him down a path with beds of 
 flowers on either side. The house was a pretty lit 
 tle stone cottage with ivy growing over the walls 
 and a big studio window at the top. As we reached 
 the door we heard a lot of talking and laughter, 
 which stopped suddenly as the door opened, then 
 went on again. 
 
 Four women and two men were in the room, but 
 the only one I had any eyes for was a tall, dark girl 
 in an orange-coloured chiffon gown that made her 
 look like a nymph coming up out of some gorgeous 
 lily. It was cut lower than you d see anywhere ex 
 cept on the French stage, and she had a great rope 
 of pearls, almost as deep as amber, and just match 
 ing her satin skin. I ve seen some lovely women in 
 rny time, but this girl was superhuman when it came 
 to body and face and the tone of her voice. Ev 
 erybody was in evening dress, of course, and the first 
 glimpse I got of the others made me think I was in a 
 sure-enough swell crowd. The girls were pretty, 
 and the men, one a Pole and the other a Frenchman, 
 looked distinguished and high bred. The French 
 man wore the red ribbon and had a fine face with 
 keen eyes and an iron-grey moustache and imperial. 
 
 " Leontine," says Jeff to the beauty, " let me pre 
 sent my old friend and comrade, Francis Clamart. 
 I found him all alone at the Moulin Rouge and 
 brought him with me, knowing that you would make 
 him welcome." 
 
 I bowed, but Leontine came forward and gave me 
 her hand. 
 
 " M. Clamart is doubly welcome," says she, " on 
 my friend s account as well as upon his own." 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 9 
 
 She looked me straight in the eyes, and I felt the 
 blood coming into my face, for never in my life had 
 I seen such eyes before. In my business we get the 
 habit of taking in any peculiarity about a person at 
 one glance, and I saw that this girl s eyes were 
 tawny yellow around the pupils, then deepened grad 
 ually into a dark jade-green. Her hair was thick, 
 almost black, rather curly but cut a bit short and 
 drawn snugly down over her head and held by a 
 gold band just above her ears so that the curls clus 
 tered around her neck. 
 
 " While introducing my friend," says Jeff, " I 
 might add a few of his titles. He is also known as 
 His Lordship, < Wall Street Frank, Tide-Water 
 Clam, and The Swell. " 
 
 " Ha ! " says the Frenchman. " I have heard of 
 you, camarade! " He stepped over and gave me 
 his hand. 
 
 " Monsieur Maxeville," says Leontine, with a 
 smile, " is also a celebrity. No doubt you have 
 heard of Chu-Chu le Tondeur ? " 
 
 I had, of course, because my profession has its 
 cracks as well as its cracksmen. The Pole I had 
 never heard of, but they told me that his work was 
 mostly executive, having an able gang under him to 
 carry out his ideas. The girls were two of them 
 " souris d hotel," literally " hotel mice," the French 
 slang for second-story workers. Their game was to 
 get a billet as governess or companion or some 
 thing of the sort, locate jewels, money, or other valu 
 ables as well as the habits of the family, then give 
 up the position and send some one to work the 
 house. 
 
io THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Well, we chatted for a while and had a drink or 
 two, and pretty soon another man came in. He was 
 Italian and a sort of executive officer of the Pole. 
 Then supper was served in a gem of a Louis XV din 
 ing-room with all the good things to eat you can 
 think of and vintage champagne, but I noticed that 
 nobody drank much. People at the head of any 
 profession don t, I notice; the two things don t go 
 together, perhaps in mine less than in any other, be 
 cause with us defeat means not only failure but our 
 finish. 
 
 The wine did take off the little edge of formality, 
 however, and pretty soon we were having no end of 
 fun, and from the stories going around you might 
 have thought you were at a swell English house- 
 party, or at some French chateau, or trailing with the 
 smart set in Newport. Leontine drank more than 
 anybody else, and pretty soon she had everybody on 
 the go. Then Jeff started in and told them the 
 story of how I had got pinched at Auteuil and de 
 ported to Cayenne. But when he told who had 
 nailed me there was a moment of astonished silence 
 and then a roar of laughter. Chu-Chu leaned be 
 hind the girl, who was sitting between us, and 
 whispered to me that it was Prince Kharkoff himself 
 who was paying for the hospitality we were enjoy 
 ing, though of course he didn t know it! 
 
 " He is mad over Leontine," says he, and I an 
 swered that the prince was a man of taste. But it 
 set me thinking. 
 
 Then somebody asked me about Cayenne, and I 
 told them the tale and afterward about my candy 
 business at Georgetown. The " Walla-baby " story 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM n 
 
 tickled them almost to death, and Leontine laughed 
 until she might have fallen out of her chair if I 
 hadn t slipped my arm around her waist. She sort 
 of caught her breath and gave me a look that made 
 my head swim. From that moment she talked al 
 most entirely to me, and I told her about my work. 
 Con games and daylight second-story work didn t 
 seem to appeal to her much, but she was clean fasci 
 nated by burglary. She listened to one of my yarns, 
 and when I had finished she asked, 
 
 " Have you ever killed? " 
 
 I shook my head. " No," I answered. " To 
 my way of thinking, killing is a dirty business un 
 worthy of a high-class workman. I carry a gun just 
 for a bluff, if need be, but it is never loaded. I am 
 a burglar, not an assassin, and if I can t carry off a 
 job without killing somebody, then I ll get put away. 
 To my mind," said I, " burglary is just as much an 
 art as painting or music or literature or sculpture. I 
 take pride in being a master-craftsman. It s the 
 clumsy, awkward bungler, usually some ignorant 
 tough, that goes charging around a house, waking 
 everybody up, and relying on his gun to pull him 
 through that brings discredit on the profession and 
 makes it so hard for the rest of us when we get 
 nipped. But we are all on the same footing where 
 our lives are concerned, so life I will not take, except 
 in a fair fight or to square an account." 
 
 Leontine looked across the table. " Chu-Chu 
 hasn t any such principles," says she, lifting her chin 
 a little. 
 
 ; Every man to his taste," said I. " But when it 
 comes right down to a question of cold nerve it 
 
12 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 strikes me that it needs more to work unarmed than 
 to know that you ve got a gun to fall back on. Be 
 sides, it s better practice; it makes you a lot cleaner 
 in your technique." 
 
 She looked at me and nodded, her eyes like emer 
 alds in the dark. " Oh," says she, " it must be de 
 licious ! Such tension ! The night, the blackness all 
 about, the stealth, the listening; eyes, ears, touch, 
 every sense alert and keyed to the highest pitch, like 
 a tiger stalking its prey in the black jungle! I 
 should love to feel it! " 
 
 " Have you never tried? " I asked, looking at her 
 curiously. 
 
 " No. Never in that way. I have done things 
 like it, but not looking for jewels or money." 
 
 Jeff interrupted just at this moment to crack some 
 joke about " our absent host." I saw an angry flash 
 in Leontine s eyes, but before she could answer I 
 said to Jeff : 
 
 " Speaking about Kharkoff reminds me that I 
 never paid you that bet. Five pounds, wasn t it? " 
 I pulled out my pocketbook and handed him a hun 
 dred-franc note with twenty-five in gold and silver. 
 " Is that near enough? " said I. 
 
 He took it with a laugh. " Never mind the 
 twenty-tWo sous," says he. " Sure you can spare it? 
 You told me you got singed down at Monte." 
 
 " Oh, I ve got enough to take me home," I an 
 swered, laughing. 
 
 Leontine gave me a quick look. " If you need any 
 money," says she, " I ll be your banker." 
 
 I thanked her and said that I thought I could 
 manage until I got home, but she wasn t satisfied. 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 13 
 
 " Why don t you do a job here? " says she. 
 
 " Here in Paris? " I answered. 
 
 " Yes. We can find you something." Quick as 
 a flash she turned to the Pole. " Ivan," says she, 
 " our guest, M. Clamart, is in need of money. 
 Haven t you something that you could turn over to 
 him?" 
 
 Everybody stopped talking and looked at the Pole. 
 He drew his silky black moustache through his fingers 
 and smiled. 
 
 " That would be interesting," says Chu-Chu. " I 
 should like to see a demonstration of the skill of my 
 American comrade. Come, Ivan, surely you have 
 some little work that you might turn over to M. 
 Clamart." 
 
 This sounds funny to you, maybe, but it was rea 
 sonable enough. Just like as if I might have been any 
 other kind of a foreign sport, a pigeon-shooter or 
 jockey or something like that. Ivan smiled again, 
 then drew a note-book out of his pocket and began 
 to turn the pages. 
 
 Leontine looked at me. " Ivan," says she, in her 
 low voice, " is the one who arranges most of this 
 work here in Paris. He has the entree to many 
 -good houses, and when he goes into society he is on 
 the lookout for an opening. When he finds one he 
 turns it over to some of his people, giving them all 
 the necessary information. Listen." 
 
 The Pole was studying his note-book. Presently 
 he looked up and smiled. " Here is something 
 which ought to pay," says he, " and which should not 
 greatly tax the skill of so distinguished an expert 
 as our friend. It is a private house on the Boule- 
 
i 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 vard des Invalides, standing back in a garden which 
 surrounds it on all sides, the whole enclosed by a high 
 wall. The occupants," he smiled, " are your com 
 patriots, M. Clamart, an American gentleman and 
 his wife. She has very fine jewels. When I dined 
 there not long ago I estimated her pearls at fifty 
 thousand francs, while her rings and tiara should 
 double that amount in value. When I admired the 
 pearls she told me that she was fond of jewels and 
 had some very fine ones. No doubt these jewels, to 
 gether with the gold and silver table-service, which is 
 very good, are kept in an old-fashioned safe built 
 into the wall of the dining-room and rather clumsily 
 concealed by a portiere. I have here a map of the 
 house and grounds and a plan of the entresol. For 
 the rings, it will be necessary to enter the room of 
 madame. No doubt they will be found on the dress 
 ing-table; but they are of lesser importance. If you 
 wish to undertake the work, then go ahead. What 
 ever you may be so fortunate as to find you may 
 bring to my office, and we will settle the matter ac 
 cording to the usual terms." 
 
 Leontine looked at me with eyes like brilliants. 
 " Let me go with you ! " says she. 
 
 " Ah, no ! " says the Pole. " That would not 
 do!" 
 
 " Ivan," cries Leontine, " I insist. I want the ex 
 perience ! The excitement!" She turned to me. 
 " You will let me go, will you not? " she begged, for 
 all the world like a child that wants to be taken on a 
 picnic. 
 
 Everybody laughed, and I glanced at my watch. 
 It was just two o clock." 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 15 
 
 " All right," said I. " Come along." 
 
 This made them laugh even harder, though no 
 body took it seriously. When I explained that I 
 meant business, and was ready to do the trick then 
 and there, they stopped laughing and looked aston 
 ished. 
 
 " There you have American methods! " says Jeff. 
 " No time like the present, eh, old pal? " 
 
 " But you have not yet looked over the ground! " 
 cries Chu-Chu, flinging out his hands. 
 
 " I ll do that when I get there," said I. " That s 
 my custom. It is a great mistake to go prying 
 around beforehand, unless the job is very compli 
 cated, which, from all accounts, this is not. I am 
 just like a European nobleman at home in any 
 rich man s house." 
 
 There was another laugh; Leontine gave me a 
 look that set my heart to hammering. 
 
 " How about tools? " asks Jeff. 
 
 " I will stop at my hotel and run up and get 
 what I need. I always carry them with me," 
 said I. 
 
 Well, it was a bit wild, but it was a wild crowd, 
 and the idea hit them in the eye. There was a dash 
 and go to it which struck their crooked natures in the 
 right spot, so when Leontine jumped up and swore 
 that she was going to have a hand in the game, no 
 body had a word of protest. 
 
 " I ve got a maillot upstairs," says she. " I had 
 it made for a masquerade to which I went as a souris 
 d hotel." 
 
 " Where you stole the hearts of all the men," says 
 Chu-Chu. 
 
16 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " All right," said I. " Get your maillot, but be 
 quick about it, for we haven t much time." 
 
 Leontine spun about with her eyes flashing and her 
 cheeks all aglow. " Here is a plan," says she. 
 " What if I order the motor and we all go down to 
 gether? The rest of you can wait near by while we 
 go in and get the stuff. Then we will come back 
 here and finish our supper-party." 
 
 Everybody howled with delight. It was crazy, 
 but crazy games made on the spur of the moment 
 have always appealed to me, and besides, I felt a 
 sort of national pride in showing those foreign crooks 
 how we do things at home. 
 
 It wasn t long before we heard the girls laughing 
 in the antechamber and here was Leontine, standing 
 in the doorway like some wonderful statue of a 
 woman carved in coal. Her full-length black mail 
 lot began with a hood which covered all of her head 
 but the face, encased her straight round neck, and 
 swept in lovely curves right to the floor, clothing 
 every inch of her but the white, gleaming face. She 
 wore a little black silk mask, and her eyes blazed 
 through the oval slits like two quivering jewels, 
 while her red lips curled up in a sort of mocking 
 smile. 
 
 For a moment everybody was speechless, sheer 
 dumb with the wonder of her. Then I heard Ivan 
 gasp under his breath, 
 
 " La femme du diable! " 
 
 Body o me ! But she looked like the devil s wife. 
 She wasn t divine by a long shot, and certainly she 
 wasn t human ! Just for a moment she stood there, 
 enjoying the effect she made, then she picked up a 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 17 
 
 long cloak with a hood and flung it over her 
 shoulders. 
 
 " The car is waiting," says she; " let us go." She 
 turned to me. " Here is a mask I cut for you from 
 some black stuff." 
 
 We were all a little quiet as we got into the car, 
 a big touring affair with a double row of seats. I 
 told the chauffeur to go to my hotel, and presently 
 we pulled up in front of the door. I ran up and 
 filled the pockets of my overcoat with what I thought 
 I might need, then ran down and out, wondering 
 what the gold-laced concierge who opened the door 
 of the car for me would think if he knew that the 
 gay swell he was serving was a burglar on the way to 
 a job! 
 
 " What now? " asks Ivan, who was now driving 
 the car. 
 
 " Go to the house," said I, getting up beside him, 
 " and stop directly in front of the door." 
 
 "What do you propose to do? " says he, letting 
 in the clutch. 
 
 " You will see. I m not quite sure myself. Wait 
 until we get there," I answered. 
 
 It was then about a quarter to three, and a little 
 drizzle of rain was falling. We sped across the 
 Place de la Concorde, all gleaming and glistening 
 with the lamplight on the wet pavement, then across 
 the river by the Pont Alexandre III, and around the 
 Invalides. A minute later we pulled up in front of 
 a high stone wall, over the top of which rose the 
 branches of big trees, black and dripping with the 
 rain. The street was deserted, so far as I could see, 
 so I jumped out and crossed the sidewalk to a small 
 
i8 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 iron door which was beside the big gates of the 
 driveway. The little door looked pretty solid, and 
 I was afraid of an alarm, so I stepped to the big 
 gates and was up and over like a cat. A quick ex 
 amination of the door showed me that there were no 
 wires and that it was locked and bolted on the inside, 
 so I slid the bolt, and in two minutes had picked the 
 lock and swung back the door. Then I walked out 
 to the car. 
 
 " Come on," I said to Leontine. " The rest of 
 you wait on the other side of the street. We won t 
 be long." 
 
 Leontine followed me through the door. For a 
 minute I waited, looking up and down the street. 
 There were one or two distant figures, but nobody 
 near by. 
 
 "Bravo, mon ami! " says the girl. " You lose no 
 time." 
 
 " There s none to lose," said I, and shut the door 
 gently and slid one of the bolts. Then we stepped 
 into the wet shrubbery, and a moment later the grey 
 walls of the house rose through the foliage ahead. 
 I chose one of the long French windows of the din 
 ing-room and examined the shutters. They were 
 iron and bolted on the inside, but a little scientific 
 work with the hack-saw and I had them open and 
 stood listening carefully for any alarm. Then I 
 cut an armhole in the window, and holding the glass 
 carefully with the adhesive wax, removed it and 
 reached in and turned the knob. A moment later 
 we were in the house. 
 
 " Here we are in the dining-room," I whispered 
 to Leontine. " Now for the safe." 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 19 
 
 We found it just where Ivan had said. It was a 
 clumsy, old-fashioned box. Leontine held the light 
 on it from my little pocket-lamp, and it needed only 
 a few minutes work before I had it open. The 
 gold and silver stuff was all there, every bit of it 
 solid, and as soon as I had stowed it in the sack I 
 forced the little drawers, and sure enough, here were 
 the jewels a splendid rope of pearls, a tiara of 
 brilliants, and a lot of small pieces, rings, brooches, 
 and the like. In no time we had the safe stripped 
 of everything that we wanted. 
 
 " Now let s go," I whispered. " We ve licked 
 the cream off this jug! " 
 
 But the sight of the jewels had got Leontine ex 
 cited. 
 
 " There must be some more jewellery upstairs," 
 says she. " Let s get all that there is." 
 
 " No," said I. " It s not worth the risk. We 
 are well paid for the job. Let s get away." 
 
 " But I want the rest," she whispered. " And I 
 want the fun of getting it. This has been too easy." 
 She moved toward the door. " Come, let s go up." 
 
 I slipped my arm around her waist and drew her 
 back. " Don t be silly," said I. That is the way 
 people get in trouble. We ve had our lark and made 
 a good haul; don t spoil it all." 
 
 I was drawing her gently back as I spoke. She 
 yielded a little at first. Suddenly she turned, with a 
 low, whispering laugh, threw both her arms around 
 my neck, and drew my face to hers. I felt her rich 
 lips against mine. 
 
 " Now can I have my way, Frank? " says she, 
 with a low, gurgling little laugh. 
 
20 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 I dropped the sack, and it fell with a clatter, but 
 neither of us noticed it. With both arms clasping 
 her tight I whispered, 
 
 " Yes, for another kiss." 
 
 She kissed me again, then again. " Now will 
 you come with me to get the rings?" she panted. 
 
 " Yes," said I, and loosed my hold of her. 
 
 Picking up the sack, I carried it to the window and 
 dropped it softly on the ground, outside. We 
 passed out through the drawing-room and into the 
 antechamber, then stopped at the foot of the stairs 
 to listen. There was not a sound. Up the stairs 
 we stole, stepping close to the wall to lessen the 
 chance of creaking planks, but there was no danger, 
 for the stairway was of heavy oak. On a landing 
 we stopped again. It was silent as the grave, and 
 about as dark, but for some reason I did not like it. 
 A burglar gets to have instincts, like a wild animal 
 or a cat or any other prowler, and several times mine 
 have warned me of danger and saved my pelt before 
 there was actually anything that came within the 
 range of the ordinary senses. It s an uncanny feel 
 ing, and the only one that has ever made me nervous. 
 Danger that you have positive evidence of ain t hard 
 to face or get around, but danger that you feel in the 
 air without being able actually to sense is mighty un 
 settling. 
 
 I put out my hand behind me, and it fell on Leon- 
 tine s shoulder, and rested there. For a full three 
 minutes we stood like two statues. Then the clocks 
 of St. Francis Xavier and the Invalides struck the 
 half-hour, and I realised that it must be getting day 
 light outside. 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 21 
 
 " We d better go. It s daylight now, and there s 
 something here I don t like," I whispered to Leon- 
 tine. 
 
 For answer she clasped my hand tight in hers and 
 pushed her face forward until her lips were against 
 my ear and I could feel her breath on my cheek. 
 
 " You promised," she whispered, almost plead 
 ingly. " Surely you are not afraid ! And there may 
 be another kiss for you when it s all done! " 
 
 I didn t answer, but started ahead. We reached 
 the top of the stairs and passed softly down the hall, 
 for I judged that madame s room would be in the 
 front of the house and probably on the southeast 
 corner. As we reached the end I could see that the 
 dawn was coming, for there was a pale-grey light 
 through the window. Then all at once I had the 
 same nasty sensation of danger close at hand, this 
 time even stronger, and I cursed myself for a fool to 
 have listened to the girl. We stopped again, and 
 I whispered: 
 
 " I don t like this. There s somebody around " 
 
 That was as far as I got, for there came a sharp 
 click from behind us, then a blaze of light, and there 
 we were standing in the full glare of the electric 
 lamps at the far end of the hall, while not ten feet 
 away, between us and the stairs, stood a tall man 
 in pajamas, with a big black revolver at half-arm, 
 ready to cut down and shoot. 
 
 Leontine gave a choked little scream and lurched 
 back against me. She was between the man and 
 myself. But the girl was game, and suddenly she 
 reached behind her and shoved a gun into my hand. 
 I saw my chance, because the man balked at firing on 
 
22 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 a woman, and for the sake of Leontine I might have 
 dropped him. 
 
 But as I glanced at his face my heart seemed to 
 stop beating. For there in front of me was my own 
 living, breathing image! There were the same 
 clean-cut features inherited from generations of 
 aristocrats; the same flat cheeks and straight brows, 
 with the same blue eyes shining out beneath; the same 
 light, close-cropped moustache and short crisp hair 
 and the ears set trim and close, high on the side of 
 the narrow head. By George, if I d stepped in 
 front of a mirror the likeness couldn t have been 
 cleaner! And I knew in that moment that the man 
 was my closest blood kinsman, my half-brother. I 
 knew that he had married a rich woman and lived in 
 Paris, but I had never known where. 
 
 " Shoot! Shoot! " Leontine was hissing in my 
 ear. 
 
 But the man had got himself together. I saw 
 his face set and stiffen and knew that something was 
 going to happen quick, so I shoved Leontine behind 
 me and faced him, the gun in my hand. His keen 
 eye caught the flash of it, then bang! and I felt a 
 bullet tearing through my upper arm. Bang! and 
 he fired again. But at the same moment I leaped 
 forward, and though the powder scorched my face 
 the bullet only creased the scalp. The next sec 
 ond I had both arms around him, and down the stairs 
 we fell, over and over, to the landing. His head 
 struck something, and he went limp in my grip. 
 
 "Run!" I yelled at Leontine. " Now s your 
 chance ! Run ! " 
 
 She swept down and past me like a black leopard- 
 
TIDE WATER CLAM 23 
 
 ess, but at the foot of the stairs she stopped and 
 looked back. 
 
 "Come!" she cried, her heart in her voice. 
 "Come!" 
 
 I scrambled to my feet, and together we rushed 
 through the drawing-room, through the dining-room, 
 and across the garden to the gate. The car was on 
 the other side of the street, the motor running. 
 Leontine darted for it, but at the same moment a 
 policeman came running around the corner of the 
 wall. 
 
 " Here s a sacrifice play," said I to myself. You 
 see, the cop could have caught the car before it got 
 under way, and it seemed better for one to get nabbed 
 than for all. So as he came I tackled him, football 
 fashion, and down we went in a heap. As we were 
 struggling there in the street I saw Jeff jump out and 
 haul Leontine into the limousine; then the car shot 
 ahead and disappeared in the grey dawn across the 
 Place Vauban. 
 
 Well, I lay there in the middle of the street hug 
 ging my French cop as if I loved him until I was sure 
 that the car was well clear. One arm was out of 
 action but even then I could have wrenched loose 
 and handed him a jolt on the side of the jaw that 
 would have kept him quiet while I did my getaway 
 if it hadn t been for a bunch of soldier boys who had 
 been out on leave from the garrison at the Invalides 
 and happened to come along at just that moment. 
 Seeing the agent struggling with a man in the street, 
 they hopped in to help and a moment later I was 
 stretched out with a big dragoon sitting on my chest 
 and the horse s tail in his helmet tickling my face 
 
24 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 while the agent whistled for help. It doesn t take 
 long to draw a crowd at any moment of the day or 
 night in Paris and while I was waiting there in the 
 hands of four or five cops in the middle of a gang 
 that wanted to lynch me, the iron door opened and 
 out came the master of the house. He pushed 
 through the crowd and took a look at my face under 
 the glare of the street lamp. 
 
 My mask had been torn off in the scuffle and as his 
 eyes rested on me I saw that he was struck by the 
 same likeness which had saved his life a few minutes 
 before. 
 
 " I m glad you re not hurt," said I. 
 
 "Who the devil are you?" he asked, staring at 
 me. 
 
 " A captured burglar," I answered. 
 
 " But who are you?" he insisted. "You don t 
 look like a burglar." 
 
 " Come around to the station in the morning and 
 I ll tell you," I answered. " We don t want to 
 make a family scandal here in the street." 
 
 "What the deuce are you talking about?" he 
 demanded. 
 
 " Oh, come around in the morning if you re so 
 interested," I answered, and not very steadily for 
 my arm was giving me the devil, particularly as one 
 of the cops was swinging to it. Besides, I had 
 lost a good bit of blood. Then, things began to 
 spin and I heard him asking questions of the agents 
 and that s the last that I knew until I came around 
 a little later and found myself in a cell with a young 
 chap who seemed to be a surgeon bending over me. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE TIDE TURNS 
 
 THE police surgeon had just finished dressing my 
 arm and sent me back to the cell when the door was 
 unlocked and who should come in but the man whom 
 I d gone to rob the night before. 
 
 The jailer closed the door behind him and for 
 a moment we stood looking at each other without a 
 word said. Seen in the light of day I wondered why 
 it had seemed like looking into a mirror when I had 
 first sighted him at the head of the stairs. Perhaps 
 it was the nervous tension that he had been under at 
 that moment which had made the resemblance be 
 tween us so strong, for as I saw him now he was a 
 big, good-natured looking fellow, twenty pounds 
 heavier than I and his face showed signs of high 
 living. 
 
 His eyes fell on my bandaged arm. 
 
 " Are you badly hurt? " he asked. 
 
 " It s nothing much," I answered. " The doctor 
 says your bullet gouged the bone but it s not broken. 
 Wounds heal quickly with me." 
 
 He stared at me for an instant, then asked: 
 
 "Who are you?" 
 
 " Can t you guess? " I answered. 
 
 He nodded. Yes," said he, " you are my half 
 brother." 
 
 " Not quite that," I answered. " We may have 
 had the same father, but that doesn t mean much." 
 
 25 
 
26 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " It means a good deal to me," he answered. 
 "What is your name?" 
 
 " I ve got several," said I, " Tide-water Clam, 
 4 The Swell, Gentleman Frank . . . " 
 
 " Oh, chuck all that," said he, " and don t be so 
 confounded bitter. Can t you guess that I m here to 
 try to get you out of this scrape? " 
 
 I stared at him for a moment without speaking. 
 I d thought that he d come out of curiosity, and 
 maybe to rub it in a little. 
 
 " Why do you want to get me out of it? " I asked. 
 " I m a burglar and I ve got what was coming to 
 me . . . what s coming to any other burglar. 
 Let it go at that." 
 
 He studied me for a second, then asked: 
 
 " Why didn t you shoot at me, last night. You 
 started to, then stopped." 
 
 " I m not a gun man," I answered. 
 
 " It wasn t that," said he. " You knew who I 
 was." 
 
 " I didn t until I saw your face," I answered. 
 " Then I couldn t help but guess. The girl shoved 
 the gun into my hand." 
 
 " I saw that," said he. " Do you know my 
 name? " 
 
 " I suppose you are John Cuttynge," I answered. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " I m John. What s your name, 
 old chap?" 
 
 " Frank Clamart is what they called me," I mut 
 tered. " Old Tante Fi-Fi came from Clamart and 
 named me after her birthplace. Why? " 
 
 " Brothers ought to know each other s names," 
 said John. 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 27 
 
 " And you would like to claim me as a brother? " 
 I asked, sarcastically. 
 
 " Drop it, Frank," said John. " See here 
 . you look rather gone. What do you say 
 to a drink?" 
 
 " I could do with one." 
 
 He turned and banged on the door, then when the 
 jailer came sent him out for a bottle of champagne. 
 I noticed that his French was as good as mine. 
 
 " My dear chap," said John, presently, " I don t 
 pretend to be very bright, but I know something of 
 your history and that you have been forced into all 
 this business by force of circumstance. You ve never 
 had a square deal. There s not a wrong line in your 
 face. Won t you loosen up a bit and tell me some 
 thing about yourself? " 
 
 There was something mighty winning in the tone 
 of his voice and before I realised it I was telling him 
 the story of my life. The jailer came back with the 
 champagne and a couple of glasses and we had a 
 drink and a cigarette while I was spinning my yarn. 
 John listened without interrupting. 
 
 " Look here, Frank," said he, when I had finished, 
 " we must get you out of this." 
 
 " You re mighty good," I answered, " but there s 
 nothing you can do. I m an old offender a reci- 
 diviste, all catalogued and bertilloned. I ve done 
 my little trick in Cayenne, and this time it s au bat d 
 Afrique for me." 
 
 ; I m not so sure," says he. ;t I ve got some 
 strong influence in official and diplomatic circles. 
 Suppose I manage it, will you give me your word to 
 live strictly on the square?" 
 
28 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 "A thief s word?" I asked. 
 
 "My brother s word," says John; "that s good 
 enough for me." 
 
 Say, my friend, would you think me capable of 
 tears? Me, a post-graduate American crook, and 
 as hard as nails? I didn t shed them, but they were 
 in my eyes and a lump in my throat, and I had to 
 get up and walk to the grated window. 
 
 " Will you give it? " asked John. 
 
 " Yes," I muttered. 
 
 " Your hand on it," says he. 
 
 "A thief s hand?" 
 
 " My brother s hand." 
 
 My right arm was in bandages, from his bullet, so 
 I turned and held out the left. 
 
 "Here s the left," said I. "That s all right, 
 though, seein that I m your brother on the wrong 
 side." 
 
 " You re my brother on the right side from now 
 on," says he, and gave me a hearty grip and then 
 turned to the door. 
 
 " Now I ll get busy," says he, and went out with 
 out looking back. 
 
 Well, sir, how he managed it I don t know, but 
 two weeks later I walked out with him a free man. 
 His car was waiting at the door. 
 
 "Where now, John?" I asked. 
 
 " Home," says he. " You are to stop with us, 
 Frank, until we make up our minds what you d bet 
 ter do. Edith expects you and we have sent to the 
 hotel for your things." 
 
 Now what do you think of that? Only three 
 weeks before Leontine Petrovski and I had broken 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 29 
 
 into this man s house not knowing who he was, 
 of course to steal his wife s jewels. He had sur 
 prised us, like I told you, and to save Leontine I 
 would have shot him dead only that his resemblance 
 to me told me who he was. In spite of this, here 
 was the man that I d gone to rob going my bond, get 
 ting me out of a life sentence perhaps, and then, 
 insisting on my living at his house until I got a fresh 
 start on the level ! 
 
 But I balked dead. 
 
 " That don t go, John," said I. " My nerve 
 never failed me yet, but it ain t up to meeting your 
 wife." 
 
 Then get it up," says he, with his good-natured 
 smile. " Edith is the one who s doing the whole 
 thing." 
 
 "What s that?" I cried. 
 
 " Yes, old chap. She s the one you ve got to 
 thank. You see, Frank, Edith has all the money. 
 Our father died bankrupt, otherwise you would not 
 have been a burglar. I could never make a dollar 
 to save my life, though I hope to pretty soon; and 
 that s something I want to talk to you about." 
 
 But I shook my head. You see, I had thought all 
 the time that John was a rich man in his own right; 
 that he might have saved something from the wreck 
 when the old man went broke and blew his brains 
 out; then made good investments and pulled out well 
 off. Looking at it that way, it was all right if he 
 wanted to pay up a score for the father of us both. 
 But to be an object of charity to a woman who owed 
 me nothing but the good chance of losing her jewels 
 that wouldn t do. 
 
30 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 John saw what was passing in my mind and laid 
 his hand on my shoulder. 
 
 " Come, Frank," says he, " you ll feel differently 
 about it when you ve met her. She s not a usual 
 woman, old chap; she s a sort of angel on earth. 
 ,You want to thank her, anyway, don t you? Come, 
 jump in." 
 
 So in I got, but as we moved off I said: 
 
 " What will your friends say when they know that 
 your half-brother is or was a crook? " 
 
 " They will never know it," he answered. " I ve 
 taken care of that. These people at the Sante think 
 it was a domestic scandal; an effort to get posses 
 sion of some family jewels that you laid claim to. 
 The prefecture knows, but that bureau knows lots of 
 things that would set Society by the ears if they ever 
 got out. You are under bond and under observation 
 to some extent, but what does that matter, since 
 you ve chucked the old game? I ve got something 
 in view for you now, but we ll discuss that later." 
 
 Before many minutes the car drew up in front of 
 the same big gate that I had scaled that night while 
 Ivan and Chu-Chu and Jeff and the girls waited in 
 the motor to see a demonstration of snappy Amer 
 ican methods and came so near getting pinched, 
 doing it. We crossed the garden, and let me tell 
 you, sir, my heart was beating a lot faster than it 
 did the night I first laid eyes on that old, Renaissance 
 house. 
 
 " Madame is in the studio," said the maitre 
 d hotel as he opened the door. He gave me a quick, 
 curious look, for at first glance the resemblance be 
 tween John and myself is almost that of twins. I 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 31 
 
 was dressed like a swell, for John had brought me 
 down some of his own things, I having been in even 
 ing clothes when pinched the night of Leontine s 
 supper party. 
 
 " Let s go out to the studio," said John. " Edith 
 is at work on her Salon picture." 
 
 So out we went, and John rapped at the door of a 
 pretty little vine-covered building, placed well clear 
 of the big trees. From inside a clear voice called: 
 " Entrez." 
 
 My friend, I shall never forget that picture; not 
 the one on the easel, but Edith as she turned to greet 
 us. You know her, of course, and appreciate what 
 a lovely creature she is, with her tall, queenly figure 
 and wonderful great eyes. They are not woman s 
 eyes; they are more the eyes of some splendid arch 
 angel guarding the gates of Paradise; clear and 
 steadfast and deep as Heaven itself. She was in 
 her paint-blouse, standing in front of a big canvas, a 
 portrait, and posing in the middle of the studio was 
 an uncommonly beautiful girl in evening dress and a 
 great rope of gorgeous pearls. 
 
 Edith laid down her palette and brushes and came 
 forward with a smile on her sweet mouth and a tinge 
 of colour in her cheeks. 
 
 " Welcome, Frank," she said, then glanced from 
 me to her husband and laughed. 
 
 " You are like as two peas," she said. " I don t 
 wonder that you got a dreadful start when you saw 
 John." 
 
 She gave me her hand and I took it in a sort of 
 daze. Then I looked at the girl who was posing. 
 Edith smiled. 
 
32 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Miss Dalghren is one of our family, Frank," she 
 said. " She was here that night and knows the 
 whole story. You are with your own people, Frank, 
 so you are not to feel uncomfortable. Do you know 
 what a Bishop of London is said to have once re- 
 ma. ked when he watched a man being led to the 
 gallows? There, but for the grace of God, goes 
 myself. The grace of God has brought you to us, 
 Frank, and all of the old dead past has got to bury 
 its dead." Her lovely, sensitive mouth curved in 
 the sweetest little smile, which drew one corner 
 lower than the other, and her big eyes grew dark 
 and deep, suddenly, and seemed to look through 
 mine to see what was behind them. " The inter 
 ment is already going on, Frank but I don t see 
 any mourners. Now, you men must run out and let 
 me make the most of my light. My picture is way 
 behind." She looked at John. " Show Frank his 
 room," she said, " and see that he has everything 
 that he needs. You may come back for tea, at five, 
 if you like." 
 
 I got out of the studio like a man in a dream. 
 John closed the door, then looked at me and laughed. 
 
 " How do you feel about it now, old chap? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " I feel," said I, in a shaky sort of voice, " a good 
 deal as I imagine Jeanne d Arc may have felt when 
 the angel brought her the banner." I spun around 
 and stared at him. " What did you ever do to de 
 serve a wife like that? " 
 
 John laughed. " Nothing," says he, " and I 
 don t deserve her." 
 
 He led the way to the house and I followed, still 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 33 
 
 rather dazed. You see, the reception I d had was 
 so different from what I expected. It was so cor 
 dial and natural, even while not ignoring the real 
 state of affairs. There was none of the fuss I d 
 dreaded being made over the reformed criminal 
 especially when it was a case of reform or pencil 
 servitude; and on the other hand there was no silly 
 pretence that I was just like the rest of their sort. 
 The sentimental mush that is served out to the ex- 
 thief by a certain class of people is almost enough to 
 keep the self-respecting crook from tufning honest, 
 unless he s hard up against it; but there was nothing 
 of that sort here. Some folks seem to think that a 
 criminal is an entirely different sort of human being, 
 but my experience in the Under-World had shown 
 that there s a lot of honesty in most crooks, just the 
 same as there s a lot of crookedness in many honest 
 folk, and that the difference is principally in circum 
 stance. But even then, you do find once in a great 
 while what seems to be the unmixed bad, just as 
 there is the unmixed good. This yarn is a story of 
 both, and a few between. 
 
 John took me to his smoking-room and we sat 
 down and each lighted a cigarette. I noticed his 
 furniture and pictures, and he seemed a bit surprised 
 to find that I understood periods and art. He 
 touched the bell and ordered whisky and soda. 
 When it came I declined, never touching anything 
 except a little wine with meals. 
 
 " You don t drink? " he asked, pouring himself 
 out a pretty stiff one. 
 
 " Never hard stuff," I answered. " That was 
 too risky in my old trade." 
 
34 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " It s always risky in any trade," said he, " and 
 still riskier when you haven t any trade at 
 all." And his face darkened a little. He set 
 down his half-emptied glass and looked at me 
 curiously. 
 
 " Now that you ve met Edith," said he, " don t 
 you see what I meant when I said that she was not 
 like most women? " 
 
 "Yes; I see." 
 
 " And you don t feel the same way about taking 
 help from her? " 
 
 " No," said I; " I d take help from her just as 
 I d take it from God." 
 
 He raised his eyebrows a little. 
 
 "You believe in God?" he asked. 
 
 " Most people who carry their lives in their 
 hands believe in God," I answered. " But the 
 trouble is, my kind don t feel as if they had any 
 great reason for loving Him." 
 
 John nodded, took another swallow, then gave 
 me a quick, curious look. 
 
 "Did you notice the girl who was posing?" he 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes. She is very beautiful." 
 
 "She is a Miss Dalghren," said John. "Her 
 father was a promoter and made a big fortune in 
 different schemes; mines principally. Then he took 
 to stock gambling and lost it all and died bankrupt 
 -just as our father did. All that she got after 
 the smash were those pearls she was wearing, a 
 magnificent string that she had from. 1 her mother. 
 She gives music lessons here in Paris." 
 
 "Singing?" 
 
ROSALIE 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 35 
 
 " Yes, and the piano. She plays the harp very 
 well, also." 
 
 We talked for a while and then John took me 
 to see his library. I noticed that he helped him 
 self to another drink before leaving the room. 
 There was nothing in this, of course, but his manner 
 of doing it was queer; quick and furtive, as if he 
 wanted to gulp it down before anybody came in. 
 We spent the rest of the hour looking at his old 
 volumes, and he was surprised to see that I knew 
 books, too. Then, says John: 
 
 " Come on, Frank. It s five. We can go back 
 to the studio now." 
 
 Edith had finished her painting and was sitting 
 on the divan talking with Miss Dalghren. The old 
 maitre d hotel brought in the tea things and a de 
 canter of whisky. Miss Dalghren poured the tea. 
 
 " How do you like it? " she asked me. 
 
 " Perhaps Frank would rather have whisky," 
 said Edith. 
 
 " No," I answered, " I prefer the tea." 
 
 She handed me a cup and I stirred it slowly. 
 Then I felt Edith s eyes on me and looked up. She 
 gave her crooked little smile. 
 
 " Really, Frank," she said, " you and John are 
 as like as you can be." 
 
 " On the outside, perhaps," I answered. 
 
 Her deep grey eyes looked into mine as if she was 
 trying to see all that was inside. Usually, when a 
 person goes prospecting in my thoughts this way 
 I pull the dead-light over my " lanterns of the 
 soul." But there was something here that went 
 through the shutter like radium. Perhaps it was 
 
36 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 because everybody else had always looked me in the 
 eyes hunting for something bad, while Edith seemed 
 to be looking not for, but at, something that was 
 good. It must have been that, for her sweet mouth 
 seemed to soften and she smiled again. 
 
 You are all right inside," she said, quietly. 
 Your education has been wrong, that s all." 
 
 " I was educated for a thief," I answered, in the 
 same tone; " and so far as the education went I was 
 always considered a credit to it." 
 
 Perhaps it wasn t a nice thing to say, but for 
 some reason I wanted to justify myself. I wanted 
 her to know how I came to belong to the Under- 
 World. Perhaps she understood and wished me to 
 understand that no explanation was necessary, for 
 she said: 
 
 Whatever you set yourself to do you will do 
 strongly, Frank, and without fear. Weakness 
 will never be your fault. How old are you, 
 Frank?" 
 
 " Thirty-two," I told her. 
 
 " Six years younger than John," she said, " but 
 you look to be the same age." 
 
 " Nobody ever discovered the fountain of youth 
 at Cayenne," said I; "a year there is worth five 
 anywhere else." 
 
 Miss Dalghren had not said a word, but I felt 
 her watching me closely. She was a beautiful girl, 
 of the big, Diana sort, with a rather square face 
 and blazing, blue eyes; the sort of woman that looks 
 as if she was meant to be the mother of good fight 
 ing men. 
 
 " Why did you enter this house? " she said. 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 37 
 
 I told them the story of how Jeff had taken me 
 to Leontine s swell supper party leaving out 
 names and places, of course and how I had of 
 fered to rob John s house more to show off than 
 anything else, and as a demonstration of American 
 methods for Chu-Chu le Tondeur and Ivan, the 
 head of the mob. When I told them how Leontine 
 had insisted on coming with me for the sheer excite 
 ment of the thing, although not a professional thief 
 herself, Miss Dalghren s blue eyes sparkled. 
 
 " I can understand that," she said. " Is she 
 very beautiful, this woman?" 
 
 "Yes," I answered; "she s a big, gorgeous sort 
 of tigress." 
 
 "She rather fancied you, eh?" said John. 
 
 " Such women have fierce, sudden fancies," I an 
 swered. " No doubt hers may have rested on me 
 for the hour. I never saw her until that night. It 
 was her gun that I had when you fired. I never 
 carry a loaded gun myself when doing a piece of 
 work." 
 
 "Why not?" asked Miss Dalghren. 
 
 " It s not sportsmanlike. Besides, I wouldn t 
 take the life of people defending their property. 
 I always felt that if I failed to pull off the job by 
 skill I d take the consequences. That makes the 
 game all the more interesting." 
 
 Then you burgled less for the goods than for 
 the game? " 
 
 I was out for both," I answered. " Mind you, 
 I don t pose for a kid-glove burglar. Once or twice 
 when I ve been interrupted I ve bluffed out the 
 householder by the roughest sort of treatment. 
 
38 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 But I must say the game has always appealed to me 
 as much as the loot. I might be compared to a big- 
 game hunter: I liked the stalk and I liked the bag. 
 Most men have got a plundering instinct and 
 some women, too. Soldiers loot when they get the 
 chance." 
 
 " From an enemy," said Miss Dalghren. 
 
 " Society and I were enemies," I answered. 
 " Society declared war on me when I was a help 
 less little kiddy. I felt, when I grew up, that it 
 owed me a lot. So I sailed in to collect." 
 
 Edith looked at me with a little smile. 
 
 " But the war is over now, Frank? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes," said I. " The war is over and peace is 
 signed, and you may be sure that I shall never break 
 it. You and your husband have paid Society s war 
 debt to me in full and we are square. From now 
 on I live within the law." 
 
 "Bravo!" said John. His hand went out to 
 the decanter in a careless sort of way, but I noticed 
 again that worried, furtive look in his eyes. Edith 
 saw it, too, though she pretended not to, and a 
 shadow rested on her lovely face. It passed 
 quickly, but it struck me suddenly that here, per 
 haps, was the explanation for the note of sadness 
 that showed in all of her work. 
 
 We were to go to the Opera that night and at 
 dinner Edith wore her magnificent pearl necklace, 
 the one that Ivan had told me about. They were 
 uncommon pearls, but it struck me that Miss Dal- 
 ghren s were even finer. The girl noticed my eyes 
 resting on them and asked, with a smile: 
 
 " Aren t they beauties? " 
 
THE TIDE TURNS 39 
 
 " Superb," I answered. " I doubt if I ever saw 
 finer ones." 
 
 "Do they arouse your cupidity?" 
 
 " Not one bit," I answered. " No more than a 
 stag in a man s park would arouse the cupidity of 
 a sportsman." 
 
 " I suppose," said John, in his easy voice, " that 
 even when in active business there is a good deal of 
 honour amongst thieves?" 
 
 " A good deal," I answered, " but you can t 
 always bank on it; any more than you can on honour 
 amongst politicians or high financiers. Still, there s 
 a certain amount. There is a man in this city who 
 arranges for the theft of such jewels as these. He 
 supplies the cracksman with the necessary informa 
 tion and details one of his mob to do the job. Very 
 often the chief is not dead sure himself as to 
 what other jewels there may be, and which are real 
 and which are imitations. Yet when the burglar 
 has made his haul he takes the lot straight to head 
 quarters, where they are assayed in the laboratory 
 and then turned over to a third party to dispose of. 
 There s little doubt but that these transactions are 
 practically always carried on strictly on the level. 
 Moreover, there s a sinking fund for protecting 
 members of the gang that get nabbed and tiding 
 over others that are in a run of bad luck. Paris 
 is a great town for organised crime." 
 
 John nodded and beckoned to the maitre d hotel 
 to fill his champagne glass, and again I saw that 
 faint shadow cross Edith s face. 
 
 When we reached the Opera the house was 
 already filled. Edith and Miss Dalghren sat in 
 
40 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the front of the box, of course, John behind his wife 
 and I behind the girl, and you may believe it or not, 
 but those two magnificent pearl necklaces within the 
 reach of my hand never gave ! me so much as a 
 quiver. Tristan was being sung and my eyes and 
 ears were all for the stage, for I love music. 
 
 About the middle of the first act there was a stir 
 in the box beside us, and Edith half-turned and 
 brushed my sleeve with her fan. 
 
 " Prince Kharkoff," she whispered, " and his 
 beautiful Polish Princess." 
 
 I swung about in my seat and looked straight into 
 the wonderful, amber eyes of Leontine. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 
 
 IT was this same Prince Kharkoff, you remember, 
 who got me shipped off to Cayenne. But that was 
 three years before, and when I had been fool enough 
 to get caught in his bear-trap grip, that day at the 
 races, I was wearing a Vandyk beard and mous 
 tache. But now I was smooth shaven, and, con 
 sidering my surroundings and resemblance to John, 
 there was no danger of his recognising me, espe 
 cially as he and the Cuttynges had frequently met at 
 dinner and receptions. Being with Leontine he did 
 not bow. 
 
 Leontine had not seen us, and as she swung 
 slowly in her chair to see who her neighbors were, 
 I turned as if to speak to John. There were a 
 good many people looking, and I was not sure that 
 the girl would be able to hide her feelings. You 
 see, my play in getting myself collared to save the 
 rest of the crowd had hit her pretty hard, espe 
 cially as she knew that I would have pulled the job 
 off all right except for her wilfulness. As she saw 
 it she had cost me my liberty for life, so that when 
 I tackled the agent, and held him while the others 
 got away in the car, she was horribly broken up. 
 You see, we were already pretty well started on 
 one of those swift, savage affairs that sometimes 
 happen in the Under-World, where people don t 
 know at what moment they may find iron bars be- 
 
 41 
 
42 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 tween them. Every day that I was in the Sante 
 I had got a love message from her. 
 
 John was taking her in through his monocle. 
 
 "Gad she is a beauty," he whispered to me, 
 then added: "What s the matter with her?" 
 
 I glanced carelessly about. Kharkoff and the 
 girl had seated themselves. The Prince was star 
 ing around the house, but Leontine was straight in 
 her chair, her face pale and her eyes fixed on the 
 stage, while her bosom was heaving like that of a 
 runner at the end of a race. Suddenly Kharkoff 
 turned to say something and noticed the rigid ex 
 pression of her face. His bushy brows came down 
 and he leaned over so that his beard brushed her 
 gleaming shoulder. 
 
 " Qu est ce que tu as . . . dis . . . ? " 
 I heard him ask in the thick voice that I remembered 
 so well. 
 
 Leontine pulled herself together and managed a 
 smile. 
 
 " Un vertige ce n est rlen . . ." 
 
 she answered, and raised her fan. 
 
 When I glanced at her again a few minutes later 
 she was looking at the stage. Her cheeks were 
 still pale, but there was a crimson spot in each. 
 She felt my eyes on her and flashed me a quick look, 
 which passed to Edith, then Miss Dalghren. I 
 was watching her closely and saw her gaze fasten 
 on both sets of pearls and there was an unholy 
 gleam in her tawny eyes. She took a deep breath, 
 then turned to the Prince and whispered a few 
 words. 
 
 John leaned over and said, with his lips so close 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 43 
 
 to my ear that I caught the strong reek of liquor: 
 
 "Ain t she a wonder! All Paris is mad to find 
 out who she really is and what. Somebody 
 asked Kharkoff about her at the Automobile Club 
 the other night,, just before they started to play. 
 La femme dn diable! he growled. That s the 
 name she goes by now." 
 
 " She looks it," I whispered, wondering what he 
 would say if he was to know that she was the woman 
 who had shoved the gun into my hand while she 
 hissed into my ear to shoot him dead a couple of 
 weeks before. 
 
 Leontine was wearing a pale green chiffon gown 
 and her black hair was drawn down under a gold 
 band set with emeralds. Her neck and shoulders 
 glowed like old ivory. Edith and Miss Dalghren 
 were stealing sidelong glances at her. Then the 
 latter turned to me, and her blue eyes held a sort 
 of inquiry which made me wonder if she had no 
 ticed Leontine s expression when she first looked 
 into our box. 
 
 Presently the curtain rose and the stage took 
 everybody s attention that is, everybody s but 
 mine. I was doing some mighty hard thinking, you 
 can bet. 
 
 Just before the curtain fell Leontine and Khar- 
 koff left the box. Edith turned to me. 
 
 "Did you ever see so wonderful a creature?" 
 she asked. 
 
 "Did you?" said Miss Dalghren. 
 
 " She s rather too exotic for my taste," I an 
 swered. 
 
 " Do you know who she is? " asked the girl. 
 
44 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " They call her the Devil s wife ! " said John. 
 " Let s go out and see if she s in the promenade." 
 
 So we got up and went out. As we left the box 
 Kharkoff and Leontine passed, dressed for the 
 street. I was talking to Miss Dalghren and Leon- 
 tine s eyes avoided mine but rested for a moment 
 intently on the girl. Miss Dalghren gave a little 
 shiver. 
 
 " She s rather terrible, I think," said she. " Did 
 you see the look she gave me? It was not agree 
 able. I wonder why? " 
 
 " Jealousy, perhaps," said John. 
 
 " Of what? " asked Miss Dalghren, quickly. 
 
 " I fancy," said John, " that for all of her dark 
 beauty the Night is always a bit jealous of the Morn 
 ing; also, your pearls are finer than hers." 
 
 Miss Dalghren shrugged her handsome shoulders, 
 but did not seem pleased. We started to walk 
 through the press, talking of the music and the peo 
 ple, and presently returned to the box. 
 
 When the show was over and we went out into 
 the crush a woman attendant brushed past me and 
 slipped a piece of paper into my hand. I guessed 
 what it was and shoved it into my pocket, fiercely 
 angry for the second that Leontine should have taken 
 a chance like that. But the attendant had glanced 
 at the lapel of my coat, and I saw that Leontine had 
 probably noticed John s decoration and told the 
 woman to give the note to the one of us who did not 
 wear the red ribbon. John had been decorated for 
 some silly thing or other; assisting at the unveiling 
 of a statue, I believe. 
 
 We went for supper, then home. As soon as I 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 45 
 
 was alone in the pretty chintz bedroom where Edith 
 had put me I took the note from my pocket and read : 
 
 "How does it happen? How, how, how? Oh, 
 my dear, are you your own man? Meet me in the 
 rose garden at Bagatelle to-morrow morning at n. 
 Don t dare to fail me. L." 
 
 Let me tell you, my friend, that I was not pleased 
 with this note. Leontine was not for me. She be 
 longed to the Under- World or at best the Half- 
 World and I had put all thought of her away 
 from me with the criminal life which I had passed 
 my word to give up. Whether she was an anar- 
 chiste, a spy, or one of Ivan s organised mob, I did 
 not know, and had no wish to find out. 
 
 At first I thought that I would send her a line to 
 say that my past and everything included in it was 
 blotted out. Mind you, I had known Leontine for 
 only about five hours, and then, except for the few 
 minutes when we were in John s house, in the com 
 pany of a gay crowd of high-rolling thieves. So it 
 seemed a little thick that she should bother me now 
 when I had escaped a life sentence by a miracle or 
 as Edith said, " the grace of God." I owed her 
 nothing, but she owed me a lot and I thought that the 
 best way would be to write and claim that she pay 
 rne the debt by leaving me alone. 
 
 Thinking it over, however, I decided that this very 
 payment was probably the only one that a woman 
 like Leontine would refuse to meet, unless absolutely 
 convinced that it was the only one which I would 
 ever accept. Besides, I had a feeling that down 
 underneath there was a lot of heart to Leontine and 
 a little good sense. So I decided to meet her and 
 
46 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 make things plain, when I thought that I could count 
 on her to do her part and make no trouble. 
 
 When I came down the next morning I found John 
 on the terrace reading the papers over his coffee. 
 He looked up with a nod and a smile. 
 
 We talked for a few minutes, then said John: 
 
 " Frank, do you know anything about motors? " 
 
 Yes," I answered. " I ve fooled around cars a 
 good deal." I didn t add that I had once made a 
 tour of New England in a motor-car, working the 
 different places we struck en route. 
 
 " Good," says he, then went on to tell me how 
 for some time past he had been considering a new 
 motor-car proposition. A few days before he came 
 to see me in the Sante he had decided to take it up, 
 backing it with quite a lot of capital. The concern 
 had rented a place on the Avenue de la Grande 
 Armee, but was at a standstill for lack of funds. 
 
 " You speak perfect French," says he, " and un 
 derstand business methods over here. How would 
 you like to take the managership of the Paris office? " 
 
 " That would suit me to the ground," I answered. 
 
 " Well, then," says he, " we ll go up there this 
 afternoon and look things over. Have you anything 
 to do before luncheon?" 
 
 " Yes," said I. " There s one of my former pals 
 I must see and give it out straight that I m retiring 
 from the graft business." 
 
 John looked thoughtful. " Perhaps you re right," 
 says he. " You don t anticipate any trouble, do 
 you?" 
 
 " No," I answered, " there s nothing to fear. 
 Thieves often do just what I m doing; get out of it 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 47 
 
 in time. Fact is, most thieves chuck the game soon 
 after middle age, if they re out of jail. I ll hand it 
 out cold that I ve quit, and make it plain that so far 
 as the old gang is concerned I never knew it." 
 
 This may sound queer, but as a matter of fact it s 
 nearly as frequent for a crook to turn honest as it is 
 for an honest person to turn crook. 
 
 So out I went and hailed a motor-taxi and spun 
 through the Bois to Bagatelle. I told my driver 
 to let me out at the main gate on the side of the Bois, 
 when I walked across to the rose garden. There 
 was nobody in sight, so I strolled up to the little 
 summer-house, looking over the gardens, and waited, 
 for I was a bit ahead of time. The day was per 
 fect; cloudless and the air soft and fragrant. No 
 body was in the gardens, so far as I could see, and 
 pretty soon I got tired of waiting and started to stroll 
 down one of the narrow paths, banked on either side 
 with perfumed laurel. 
 
 It was at the first abrupt bend of the little path that 
 I came face to face with Leontine. She was in a 
 dark blue riding-habit with a little tricorne hat of 
 Loden felt cocked a bit on her wavy black hair. Her 
 .cheeks were flushed and her eyes were sparkling, 
 and as we came together she flung back her head and 
 threw out both arms. 
 
 " Frank! " she cried, as if I had been a long-lost 
 lover, instead of a burglarising acquaintance of from 
 nine until two. The next instant she was in my 
 arms, or to put it more exactly, I was in hers, and her 
 fresh face, with its faint odour of Houbigant, was 
 crushed against mine. 
 
 My friend, a man can t stand being fondled by as 
 
48 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 lovely a woman as Leontine and never lift a hand. 
 This man couldn t, at that time, so I caught her in 
 my arms and gave her a squeeze that made her gasp, 
 big strong woman that she was. But she must have 
 felt the lack of fire in it and as I loosed my grip she 
 laid one of her gauntleted hands on my chest and 
 pushed herself away, while her clear, curious eyes 
 looked searchingly into mine. 
 
 " Frank," she said in her rich voice, " are you 
 really free? Your own man and mine?" 
 
 " I m free all right," I answered, " but neither 
 yours nor mine, my dear girl." 
 
 " What do you mean? " she asked. 
 
 " Come over here in the summer-house and I will 
 tell you all about it," I answered. 
 
 When we were in the little pagoda I told her the 
 whole story. Leontine listened in silence. 
 
 ". So you see," I finished, " my word 
 
 is passed and I m going to make good. I ve done 
 with everything belonging to the old life." 
 
 Leontine began to trace figures in the dust with 
 the loop of her riding crop. Presently she said: 
 
 " And are you content to give up your freedom as 
 tamely as this? " 
 
 " I gave it up," said I, " when I tackled that agent 
 to keep the rest of you from getting pinched." 
 
 She looked at me quickly and her eyes darkened. 
 
 " Ah, that was splendid," says she, " that was 
 glorious. Oh, Frank, nobody will ever know what 
 I suffered that night. If Ivan and Chu-Chu had not 
 held me fast I would have leaped out of the car and 
 shot that policeman. When they got me home I was 
 like a mad woman. They locked me in my room and 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 49 
 
 the girls never left me for two days. Because I 
 knew that it was all my fault. I spoiled everything. 
 But," she gave me a burning look, " I never imagined 
 that it could be as bad as this." 
 
 " You ve never done time in a French penal col 
 ony," said I. " This is good enough for me." 
 
 Leontine stamped her booted foot. 
 
 " Then it s not good enough for me," she cried, in 
 a hot voice. " If you think that I am going to give 
 you up like this, you are mistaken, Frank." 
 
 I did not answer. She looked at me and her eyes 
 filled. 
 
 " You told me that night that you loved me," she 
 whispered, " and my heart leaped to meet yours. I 
 have never loved a man before, Frank. The min 
 ute that our hands touched and I looked into your 
 cold, grey eyes I knew that I had found my mate and 
 my master. You belong to me, Frank, and to my 
 world. Society is our enemy. Why should you go 
 hat in hand and ask to be taken back? Listen, 
 Frank. Find out how much your half-brother paid 
 to get you clear. Then we will pay it back. I am 
 rich, just now. Afterwards, if you like, we will go 
 away " 
 
 I raised my hand. " Thank you, my dear," I 
 said gently; " but it can t be done. My word is 
 passed. The money is only a part of the debt. The 
 good faith, the warmth of heart and voluntary good 
 will are things that I can only repay by being worth 
 them and, so help me, I intend to." 
 
 A dark flush came into Leontine s face. She 
 looked at me fixedly for a moment, then began again 
 to trace patterns in the dust. Finally she said: 
 
50 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Suppose that you had not been caught that I 
 had not been such a fool as to insist on going upstairs 
 after the pearls what would you have done ? Did 
 you really care for me, or was it just the madness of 
 the moment? Did you really intend to win me?" 
 She fastened me with those wonderful eyes of hers. 
 
 " I meant to win you," I answered. " Nothing 
 would have kept me from it. I was mad about your 
 beauty, it s true; but there was something else be 
 sides " I stopped. 
 
 What, Frank? " she asked, softly, and laid her 
 hand on my shoulder, leaning toward me until her 
 flushed face was almost against mine. 
 
 I gave a short laugh. " It sounds like a foolish 
 thing for a professional thief to say, Leontine," I 
 answered, " but it was because I felt the good in 
 you." 
 
 Leontine s eyes opened wide. 
 
 " You are the first man to feel that," she an 
 swered. 
 
 " It is there," I answered; " tons of it. You have 
 plenty of heart, my dear, and a great big generous 
 soul. I don t know anything about you, but I know 
 that you are not bad. Not by a long shot." 
 
 " I am a thief," she flashed back. " A thief on a 
 bigger scale than you ever dreamed of, mon ami." 
 
 " And I am a thief no longer," I answered. 
 
 " But if you were - ? " 
 
 " If I were " I hesitated. The fascination 
 
 of her was beginning to turn my head, as it had that 
 night. " If I were then all hell could never keep 
 you from me," I cried, and reached for her with 
 both arms. 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 51 
 
 For a few mad seconds everything was blurred. 
 Then I pushed her away. Her arms still clung, but 
 I was the stronger. She reeled back against the 
 rustic rail and pressed her hands against her temples. 
 
 " But I m not," I muttered, and stepped away. 
 " As long as my half-brother and his angel of a wife 
 continue to believe in me I shall never break faith 
 and this is good-by, Leontine." 
 
 She looked at me with a curious expression in her 
 tawny eyes. 
 
 "And if they should lose their faith in you?" 
 she asked. 
 
 I shrugged. " It s my business to see that they 
 never do," I answered. 
 
 Leontine gave me a curious smile. We ll see, 
 Frank," said she, softly. " Once a thief, always a 
 thief. It s in the blood." 
 
 Suddenly she turned and walked down the path 
 and disappeared behind the heavy foliage. 
 
 That afternoon John took me up to see the new 
 car that he was promoting. The company planned 
 to make only big fellows. One of their six-cylinders 
 was in the garage and we took her out for a spin 
 over the road. We made the run to Chartres in 
 about fifty minutes, John driving. The chief mec- 
 anicien was with us and his son, a bright youngster 
 of eighteen, named Gustave. 
 
 On the way home we stopped at the Automobile 
 Club for a business talk with three members of the 
 company with whom John had made a rendezvous: 
 a Swiss engineer, the General Director and the Gen 
 eral Superintendent. It was arranged that I should 
 take charge of the Paris office, my principal duty 
 
52 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 being to show the car to clients. After the others 
 had gone John and I remained to talk, and I noticed 
 that in the course of our conversation he took several 
 drinks of whisky and soda. He was in that state of 
 buoyancy about the new venture that you find so 
 often in the rich amateur whose only knowledge of 
 business comes from buying things instead of trying 
 to sell them. He told me that he had always been 
 very sore at his dependence on his wife for every 
 cent he spent and that he soon hoped to be a rich 
 man on his own account. He hinted to me that he 
 had several things in hand from which he expected 
 big results, and that if all went as it should he would 
 be able to back his automobile venture with a couple 
 of million francs. But he didn t tell me what there 
 was to warrant these expectations, and I rather sus 
 pected that he was playing the stock market. I no 
 ticed that with every drink he got a little more san 
 guine, and as his spirit went up my own went down. 
 To tell the truth, I began to fear that a good many 
 of John s big ideas came out of the whisky bottle. 
 
 That night at dinner John was very jolly and 
 talkative at first, but toward the end his good-na 
 ture passed off, and I could see that the reaction was 
 setting in. John did not impress me as a drinking 
 man. His methods were more those of a person 
 who is bothered about something and hits the bottle 
 to drown care. 
 
 After dinner Edith and Miss Dalghren went out 
 to the studio, as Edith wanted to study the effects of 
 artificial light on the portrait. John and I went into 
 the smoking-room, and I noticed that he took three 
 cups of strong black coffee. 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 53 
 
 I said good-night early, for the ride had made me 
 sleepy. While I was undressing there came a rap at 
 the door, and the maitre d hotel handed me a tray 
 with a letter addressed in Leontine s hand, which! 
 was of the round, English sort. 
 
 " Confound the girl," I said to myself, u here s 
 more trouble." I sat down at a little writing desk 
 and opened the letter. There were fathoms and 
 fathoms of it; a regular essay. 
 
 She began by telling me that since our meeting at 
 Bagatelle she had been thinking constantly of the 
 step which I had taken, and had decided to write 
 and tell me the result of her reflections. She had 
 also, she said, been analysing the state of her senti 
 ments toward me (I could imagine her doing that as 
 much as I could imagine a small boy analysing the 
 effect of a match held to a heap of loose powder), 
 and she had found that she loved me enough to give 
 me up and to help me in my new resolutions, pro 
 vided she could manage to persuade herself, or be 
 persuaded, that such an act on my part was rational. 
 So far, however, my reform under the existing con 
 ditions impressed her as fore-doomed to failure, and 
 could result only in unhappiness to me and social in 
 jury to those who had befriended me. At present, 
 said she, they were enthusiastic over my redemption, 
 while I, for my part, was full of gratitude and good 
 resolutions. But, said Leontine, the leopard cannot 
 change his spots. Once a thief, always a thief. 
 Sooner or later the old instincts are bound to awaken. 
 " As long as all goes smoothly with you," said she, 
 " all right and good. But if ever you should be 
 pressed; if you were to get in any sort of financial 
 
54 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 difficulty, as happens to all business people at times, 
 you would find the temptation to take the easy way 
 out irresistible. No, Frank," she wrote, " once a 
 thief, always a thief." 
 
 Then she went on to say how, in time, my past 
 was bound to become known, and that there would 
 always surround me an atmosphere of spectacular 
 notoriety, which was bound to hurt my friends and 
 make me, myself, uncomfortable. If I married into 
 the class of society where I now found myself the 
 stain would always stick to wife and children, said 
 Leontine. A reformed burglar, said she, might do 
 for a very quiet or else a Bohemian Society, but was 
 bound to be utterly out of his element in the aristo 
 cratic circles of my half-brother and his wife. My 
 duty to them, said Leontine, was to tell them that I 
 could never be of their world and to go away. 
 " Do that before they begin to be conscious of their 
 mistake," she wrote. 
 
 About here I stopped and did some solid thinking. 
 There was no doubt but that the girl was dead right; 
 absolutely right. I had felt it myself in a vague 
 sort of way. It struck me suddenly, and I tell you 
 the thought was a mighty bitter one, that all of this 
 must, of course, have occurred to Edith, but because 
 she was such an angel of a woman, she had decided 
 on her line of duty and meant to follow it at any 
 cost. I wondered if John had seen it in the same 
 way, and decided that, for his part, he was probably 
 so pleased with himself for the fine thing that he 
 was doing as not to reckon in the cost. You see, I 
 was losing my respect for my half-brother, as a man, 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 55 
 
 just as I was gaining it for his wife, as a woman. 
 You didn t need an X-ray machine to see smack 
 through John. He was a good, kind, easy-going 
 sort of chap, with artistic tastes, athletic, physically 
 brave, but morally weak. No doubt if he had ever 
 had to work for his living it might have stiffened his 
 back. But he had been an idler from childhood, 
 with all of his wants provided for, and had always 
 been too lazy to use his opportunities to employ 
 what energy he had. He was the typical dilettante, 
 dabbling at art and sports and science, and never 
 making himself the master of anything, least of all 
 himself. No man with any real stuff in him who 
 was care-free, in robust health, with a fine position, 
 and, most of all and here something blazed up in 
 side me such a, woman as Edith for his wife, 
 would be sitting, as no doubt he was that moment, 
 guzzling whisky in his smoking-room, to go reeling 
 up a little later to snore drunkenly at his wife s side 
 for the rest of the night. Augh! 
 
 It may seem beastly ungrateful of me, my friend, 
 but the idea gave me a sort of hot rage. I felt 
 like going down the stairs and smashing the decanter 
 over his head. 
 
 I took up Leontine s letter again. "-As far as 
 your half-brother is concerned," she went on, " it 
 does not so much matter. After all, there is a blood 
 tie between you, and blood is thicker than water. 
 Besides, Frank, I have learned a good deal about 
 him from Kharkoff and another man. He is not a 
 very wonderful person. But, for his wife s sake, do 
 you yourself think that you ought to remain one of 
 
5 6 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the household? From what you have told me, I 
 can see that your ransom was all her doing and 
 why should she have done it? " 
 
 " Yes," I said to myself. Why should she have 
 done it? " 
 
 From this point the letter jumped into another 
 key. " Frank," wrote Leontine, " don t think that I 
 am urging you to remain in the Under-World. I 
 love your firmness and I adore your strength of pur 
 pose. You are too good for a thief; too strong and 
 fine. Oh, my dear, do you think that I have never 
 felt as you do? Do you think that I have never 
 wished to get out of this slough? To look the 
 whole world in the face without fear and without 
 reproach? I am sick of this atmosphere of doubt 
 and defiance. Let us go away together and begin 
 our lives afresh. We are both young and strong 
 and talented. Let us go far away to some new coun 
 try and begin our lives anew, and on a clean and 
 wholesome footing. Let us pay your money debt, 
 Frank for all that I have is yours. You told me 
 to-day that Society s debt to you had been paid in 
 full. My dear, Society owes me a debt also; a debt 
 far greater than yours. But if Society will give me 
 you, I will consider the obligation as cancelled " ; 
 and then there was a whole lot which would make me 
 feel even more a fool to repeat. 
 
 I dropped the letter on the desk and ran my hands 
 through my hair. The room felt hot, the night was 
 hot, my head was hot. Up I jumped and opened 
 the window on the other side, and a fresh breeze 
 swept in. For several minutes I stood in the win 
 dow, facing it, my head in a whirl. Leontine was 
 right, I thought. Such a past as mine could never 
 
LEONTINE DIGS IN THE SAND 57 
 
 be kept a secret. It was bound to become known, 
 and then what would be said of Edith for harbour 
 ing a criminal a low grade of criminal: burglar, 
 sneak-thief, pickpocket? No doubt the story would 
 reach Kharkoff. Leontine herself might tell him, 
 and he would remember how I had tried to relieve 
 him of his winnings that day at the races, when he 
 had caught me and got me deported to Cayenne. I 
 was a marked man. My picture was in the French 
 Rogue s Gallery and my head measurements in the 
 Bertillon records. 
 
 To think that Edith should fall heiress to all this ! 
 Edith, that angel of a woman. The very thought 
 of her sent a glow through me. Angel she might 
 be, and as such far above all earthly shame and suf 
 fering. But she was a woman, too and such a 
 woman. My heart was full of her, and my mind 
 too; and as I stood there in the long window, star 
 ing into the dark shadows of the trees, I saw the 
 sweet, thoughtful face with the clear, steady eyes 
 and sensitive mouth. Such a woman was meant for 
 love and happiness and peace of soul in which to 
 accomplish the work of her rich gifts; not to suffer 
 the sneers and evil criticisms of an evil world. 
 
 Suddenly I knew why Leontine s feverish kisses 
 had left me cold. I knew why my gratitude to 
 John was turning slowly to a cold disgust. It had 
 not taken long, I thought, with a sort of joyful pain. 
 
 In a rage I turned back to the table to torture my 
 self afresh with Leontine s letter. The girl was 
 right. So be it, she should have her way. I would 
 go with her to the ends of the world. 
 
 Such a woman as Edith was not for me. Leon- 
 
58 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 tine and I were well mated; creatures of the same 
 clay. We were of the earth, earthy. Heaven was 
 not for my kind, and it seemed to me that if I were 
 to go clawing after it worse things might happen, 
 not only to me but to this sweet woman who was 
 ready to sacrifice her own position, if need be, to help 
 me. The Polish girl and I were of, and belonged 
 to, the Under-World. We were destroyers; tearers 
 down of the established order of affairs. 
 
 So I turned and read the letter through agaitf, and 
 then, with a curse, I held a lighted match to one 
 corner, and it seemed to me that with it burn<M all 
 of my new-found future. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 A BACK EDDY 
 
 EDITH, I knew, was an early riser, and the next 
 morning at nine I found her already at work in her 
 studio. She was alone, for Miss Dalghren was 
 more luxurious. 
 
 " May I interrupt you for a few minutes talk, 
 Edith?" I asked. 
 
 " Of course you may," she answered, laying down 
 her palette and giving me a quick look with her 
 thoughtful eyes. 
 
 So I told her of my letter from Leontine, holding 
 back, of course, the name and identity of the writer. 
 Edith listened with her smooth brows knit. I did 
 not mention what Leontine had said about a thief 
 being always a thief, because I knew in my heart that 
 this did not apply to me. I had been a criminal, 
 but not a weak man. Whenever I have committed 
 a crime it has always been of my own deliberate in 
 tention and not the result of temptation. To my 
 way of thinking the man who wants to be honest and 
 then falls, in spite of himself, is not a thief. He is 
 not worthy of the name of a thief. He is merely 
 a weakling. To that class belong pilfering valets 
 de chambre and absconding cashiers and the like. 
 A professional thief would be ashamed to associate 
 with that sort. He steals because he wants to, not 
 because he can t help it. What I dwelt upon to 
 Edith was the harm that might come to her husband 
 
 59 
 
60 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 and herself from receiving me into their household 
 and I put this even stronger than Leontine had 
 done. 
 
 When I had finished she looked at me with her 
 twisted little smile. 
 
 " Is that all, Frank? " she asked. 
 
 " Isn t it enough? " I retorted. " And isn t it all 
 true?" 
 
 " It may be true, to some extent," she answered 
 slowly, " but it is not enough." 
 
 " It may not be enough for you, Edith," I cried, 
 " because you are a sort of angel on earth. But it 
 is enough for me and probably would be for John, 
 if he were to look at it in this light." 
 
 " John understands," said Edith, " he is loyal to 
 the core and besides, he is your half-brother, and 
 it is his duty." 
 
 " It is his duty not to sacrifice you," said I, " and 
 mine, too. No, Edith, I won t have it. My word 
 is passed to keep straight and I ll stick to it. But 
 not here. I am going away." 
 
 "With this woman? " she asked. 
 
 "With or without her. What does it matter? 
 That is not the question." 
 
 " How long do you think you would keep your 
 word to remain honest if you were with her, 
 Frank? " Her eyes looked steadily into mine. 
 " No; if you go back to her, I would prefer to ab 
 solve you from your promise. It is better to be dis 
 honest to the world, I think, than untrue to yourself. 
 That is why I am so sure of you; because, whatever 
 you may have done, I know that you have always 
 been right with yourself. But you could not be so if 
 
A BACK EDDY 61 
 
 you Were to slip now. And with such a woman it 
 would be almost inevitable. Listen to me, Frank. 
 I thought of all of this when I told John to bring you 
 here. I weighed the pros and cons for all of us. 
 If I had found you a different sort of person I might 
 have lost my courage; but I feel instinctively your 
 resolution and your strength. Since you are what 
 you are I have no fear of the result to any of us. 
 John and I are not dependent on the dictates of So 
 ciety. If such friends as we have cannot accept our 
 decision we do not want to keep them." 
 
 : It s asking too much I muttered. 
 
 Edith laid her hand upon my wrist. 
 
 " We are asking nothing of anybody, Frank. 
 We have merely made our choice, that is all." 
 
 What was I to say? She was stronger than I 
 ten thousand million times. I mumbled back the 
 same old argument, and she listened with her twisted 
 smile, saying a warm word here and there, for which 
 I found no answer. It was like a chunk of ice try 
 ing to argue the point with the sun. Finally I gave 
 it up and raised her hand to my lips. 
 
 " I ll talk a bit to John," I muttered, and sham 
 bled out. 
 
 John was on the terrace at breakfast. His eyes 
 were puffy, as he looked up to wish me good-morn 
 ing, and I noticed that his hand was shaky as he 
 poured his coffee. 
 
 I told him of my talk with Edith. He listened, 
 looking rather bored. 
 
 " Oh, well," said he, " I understand, of course, 
 how you feel about it all. Why can t we make some 
 sort of a compromise? You needn t stop here at 
 
62 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the house if you re afraid that it might reflect on 
 Edith, but there s no need for you to go away. Give 
 this crook lady to understand that she s got to 
 leave you alone, then find yourself diggings up near 
 the office and pitch into our motor business. There s 
 a lot to be done in the way of introducing the car 
 advertising and all that. Besides, I ve got quite a 
 list of possible clients, and you will be busy taking 
 them out over the road. Let s go ahead with our 
 business and let the social part slide." 
 
 There was a certain amount of sense in this. As 
 long as I kept away from the house, it didn t seem 
 as if I could do them any special harm. So, for the 
 time being, we decided to let it go at that. 
 
 I found myself quarters on a side street near the 
 office and started in to work. Rather to my sur 
 prise, John proved himself a mighty good hustler 
 for trade. He had a big acquaintance, both resi 
 dent and amongst visiting Americans, and in the 
 course of the first six weeks we booked quite a num 
 ber of orders. Our car was a good one, silent as a 
 watch, easy to handle, and constructed a bit on the 
 American plan with a high clearance and light for 
 the size and power, which made it easy on tires. I 
 joined the Automobile Club and made quite a lot of 
 useful acquaintances. 
 
 I wrote to Leontine, telling her, briefly, of the 
 course I d taken, and asking her to make good in 
 what she said about doing her part. She never 
 answered the note, but I ll be hanged if she didn t 
 come swelling into the office one day with Kharkoff 
 and make him buy a car. John was tremendously 
 tickled over this. 
 
A BACK EDDY 63 
 
 Now and again I saw Edith, but I kept away from 
 the house. She was herself a very good driver and 
 duly certificated in Paris. Then one day John told 
 me that Miss Dalghren was anxious to learn to 
 drive, and asked me to give her a few early-morning 
 lessons in a little voiturette which we had taken in 
 trade and used for knocking about on our business. 
 So I took the girl out in the Bois before business 
 hours in the morning, and twice we met Leontine 
 riding with Kharkoff. The face of the Polish 
 girl was not as amiable as I would have liked 
 to see it, and knowing something of the wild 
 nature of women of her sort, I told Miss Dalghren 
 that, if she didn t mind, we would continue our 
 lessons late in the afternoon, as I had missed 
 one or two early clients, and later in the day I 
 could get John to relieve me at the office while I was 
 gone. She agreed, and the very next day we ran 
 into Leontine and Kharkoff again at about six in the 
 evening. 
 
 We were rounding the corner of a narrow little 
 route and we couldn t have been in a worse posi 
 tion, for I was leaning over with my face so close to 
 hers that a few tendrils of her yellow hair were 
 against my cheek, the car being old and a noisy lit 
 tle beast. Miss Dalghren turned to me with a 
 smile, just as Leontine and Kharkoff, walking their 
 horses, came upon us. As I looked up I caught a 
 glimpse of Leontine s face. It had gone as black 
 as a thunder-cloud. She raised her crop and 
 brought it down with a vicious cut on the ribs of 
 her hunter, which sprang ahead, almost striking the 
 car. 
 
64 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 They swept past and Miss Dalghren looked at 
 me, her eyes big with surprise. 
 
 ; Did you see that? " she cried. " I wonder why 
 she did it? And her face was furious." 
 
 " Probably the Prince said something nice about 
 you," I answered. 
 
 The girl did not answer, and I guessed that she 
 was thinking of the night that Leontine had sat next 
 us in the box. A little later she turned and gave me 
 a look which I pretended not to see. For my part, 
 I was troubled, and w r hen we got back I said : 
 
 " You drive well enough now to take your exam 
 ination. I ll go down to the prefecture and make 
 an engagement for you." 
 
 " Very well," she answered quietly, but there 
 was a tone to her voice that made me uneasy. 
 
 It was about a week later that John came into the 
 office one morning looking so badly that I thought 
 he must have been making a night of it. He shot 
 me a quick look, then said, shortly: 
 
 " Come into the private office, Frank, I want to 
 talk to you." 
 
 I followed him in. John turned to me with a 
 haggard face. 
 
 " Frank," said he, " here s the devil to pay. 
 Mary Dalghren s pearls have been stolen." 
 
 My friend, I have had some hard jolts at different 
 times in my busy life. But never did I get such a 
 knock-out blow as that. I could feel the blood suck 
 ing out of my face and the pit of my stomach seemed 
 to melt. John s expression was pretty bad, but my 
 own must have been worse, for he said, sharply: 
 " What s the matter with you? " 
 
A BACK EDDY 65 
 
 I pulled myself together. My throat and mouth 
 felt dry and I hated to speak. John gave me an 
 other curious look and his face hardened a trifle. 
 He pulled out his cigarette-case and lit a cigarette in 
 a sullen sort of way. Something in his expression 
 stiffened my back. 
 
 " Tell me the particulars," I said. 
 
 " There ain t much to tell," he answered. 
 " Mary went to a big dinner at the Billings last 
 night. They are Americans barrels of money, 
 and mighty little else. Mary teaches the daughters 
 music. She wore her pearls. After your visit 
 showed me how easy it was for a cracksman to walk 
 in and out of the house, I bought a small, new-model 
 American safe, which is in my room. Both Mary 
 and Edith keep their jewels in it. But last night I 
 was playing a little baccarat at the Automobile Club 
 and didn t get in till three. Edith has the combina 
 tion, but she was asleep when Mary got home, and 
 not wishing to disturb her, Mary locked up her 
 pearls in her bureau de toilette. When she looked 
 for them this morning they were gone. That s all." 
 
 He smoked sulkily, staring out through the win 
 dow. 
 
 What have you done about it?" I asked. 
 
 " Nothing," he snapped, " what was there to do? 
 
 Edith would not let me " he stopped short and 
 
 got red. 
 
 " Edith would not let you notify the police," I 
 said. " Of course she wouldn t. What would be 
 the use, after you have taken a felon into your fam 
 ily? The prefect would laugh at you and say it 
 served you right. The thief knew that." 
 
66 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 I got on my feet and reached for my hat. 
 
 " Let s go down to the house," I said, " I want 
 to look around." 
 
 John got up and we went out and whirled down 
 to the Boulevard des Invalides. Neither of us 
 spoke until we reached the Place de la Concorde. 
 Then said I : 
 
 John, I know what has happened to those pearls 
 and I don t despair of getting them back. Not by 
 a whole lot." 
 
 He gave me a startled look. " Well? " he asked. 
 
 " Some of my ex-pals know how you saved me 
 from the law," said I, " and that I stopped for awhile 
 in your house. They also know that your wife has 
 fine jewels. Somebody has sized up the proposition 
 for an easy one, knowing that you could hardly go 
 to the police. Also, the thief counts on your sus 
 pecting me. Do you?" 
 
 John looked away. " Oh, no not a bit," he 
 answered, hesitating a trifle. 
 
 "I m glad of that," said I; and added: "was 
 Kharkoff playing last night, as usual? " 
 
 " Yes," growled John, " worse luck." 
 
 "You lost?" 
 
 He gave me a quick look, then grunted: "Oh, 
 a trifle." 
 
 Neither of us spoke until we reached the house, 
 where we found Edith and Miss Dalghren on the 
 terrace. The girl s face was pale and I thought she 
 seemed a little embarrassed at seeing me. But 
 Edith s clear, steady eyes were as steady as ever, and 
 she gave me a good grip of the hand. 
 
 " This is horrid, Frank," said she. " It makes 
 
A BACK EDDY 67 
 
 me wish that there were no such things as jewels. 
 But I have told Mary that she is not to worry; that 
 we have a member of the family who is worth a 
 whole bureau of detectives." 
 
 A cynical sort of grin spread over John s self-in 
 dulgent mouth. 
 
 " You are right, Edith," I said. " I told John 
 a little while ago that I could locate those pearls, 
 and so I can." 
 
 "Do you know who stole them?" asked Mary 
 Dalghren, with a straight look. 
 
 " I think so," I answered. " Now I want to ask 
 you some questions. You went to dine at the Bill 
 ings last night and wore your pearls. Who and 
 what are the Billings?" 
 
 " They are rich Americans who have come over 
 here to educate their daughters. They live on the 
 Avenue de Bois." 
 
 " Are they aristocratic people? " I asked. 
 
 The two women exchanged glances. 
 
 " Hardly that," answered Miss Dalghren, hesi 
 tatingly, " Mr. Billings is rather a common man 
 who has made a big fortune in ready-made clothes, 
 or something of the sort. His wife is ordinary, but 
 kind and well meaning. She is very ambitious so 
 cially." 
 
 "How about their guests?" I asked. "How 
 many were there and what were they like? " 
 
 There were twelve, only four of whom I had 
 ever met before. Two or three of them I thought 
 rather queer." 
 
 " Could you describe a few of the men? " I asked. 
 There were a few titles, I suppose? " 
 
68 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 She smiled. " They were all titled, I think. 
 Barons and counts and princes and a general or two. 
 Naturally, the one I remember the best is the man 
 who took me out. He was Italian, I think, or pos 
 sibly a Pole. Just before we went in Mrs. Billings 
 took me aside and said: You have made a con 
 quest, my dear. Captain Schlossberg was to 
 have taken you out, but a man has just begged 
 so hard for you that I must give you to him, 
 and she pointed out a handsome man who looked 
 like an Italian. He was tall and slender, with 
 thick black hair and a black moustache, waxed at 
 the tips." 
 
 " What was his name? " 
 
 " I did not catch his last name, but during the 
 dinner one of the other men called him Ivan. 
 
 " Ivan," I repeated, as if to fix the name in my 
 mind. " Now," I said, " can you remember what 
 you talked about? " 
 
 " At dinner we talked principally about music," 
 she answered. " He was very well informed and 
 appeared to know most of the artists and composers. 
 Also, he seemed to be acquainted with a good many 
 nice people here in Paris." 
 
 " What happened after dinner? " I asked. 
 
 " There was a girl who sang. Then my dinner 
 partner played some Hungarian folk-songs and sang 
 one or two. He had rather a nice voice. At the 
 end I played the harp. When I had finished, my 
 dinner partner brought me some orangeade. There 
 was some sort of liqueur in it, I think, and I did not 
 like the taste, but the room was hot and I was thirsty 
 and drank it all. Shortly after that I came home. 
 
A BACK EDDY 69 
 
 Therese, Edith s maid, was waiting for me in the 
 motor." 
 
 "And when you got home- ? " 
 
 " Edith had gone to bed and John had not come 
 in. I did not want to disturb Edith, as she has been 
 sleeping poorly, so I put the pearls in the drawer of 
 my toilet table and dropped the key in one of my 
 stockings. I don t think that I was ever so sleepy 
 in my life, and when I woke up I had a splitting 
 headache, which I put down to that nasty sweet 
 orangeade and the stuff in it." 
 
 " Thank you," said I. " That s quite enough, 
 Miss Dalghren." 
 
 "Have you got a clue?" asked John. 
 
 " I have," I answered. 
 
 " And you think that you can get back the 
 pearls? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered, and turned to Edith. " Are 
 your pearls safe?" I asked. 
 
 Edith nodded. " I haven t looked," said she, 
 " but it s not necessary. I opened the safe to get 
 Mary s out last night and mine were there. I did 
 not leave the room after that, as I was not feeling 
 well, and had my dinner in bed. Nobody could 
 have come into the room during the night because 
 because I did not go to sleep." 
 
 " Not at all? " I asked quickly. 
 
 " Not a wink," she confessed, and the colour 
 came into her cheeks. " I heard every quarter 
 from the clocks at St. Francois Xavier and the 
 Invalides." 
 
 " In that case," said I, guessing why she had not 
 slept, " it s as you say hardly worth while to look. 
 
70 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Now I will say au voir, as there is no time to lose 
 if I want to get the pearls." 
 
 So I went out and jumped into the little car and 
 started back up town alone. The whole business 
 was pretty plain to me, but there were a few details 
 I wanted to study out. Ivan, as you may remember, 
 was the man who had given me the job of stealing 
 Edith s jewels. He was the chief executive of the 
 Paris mob of thieves, some of whom I had met that 
 night at Leontine s house in Passy. Ivan never did 
 any of the active work. He was a clubman and din 
 er-out, and when he was asked to some rich house he 
 looked things over, and if the proposition seemed a 
 good one, assigned it to some worker who robbed 
 the house and turned over the swag to Ivan who dis 
 posed of it, deducting his percentage. If the job 
 went wrong and the burglar got caught, there was a 
 fund to defend him. Ivan kept his hands clean and 
 was always in some conspicuous place on the night 
 of the theft. 
 
 So far, all was clear as spring-water. The next 
 thing was to find out who had the pearls at the pres 
 ent moment. The more I thought of this, the more 
 I became convinced that the disposition of jewels 
 stolen by the mob was Leontine s work. Leontine 
 was undoubtedly the fence. Being under the pro 
 tectorship of Kharkoff, who was fabulously rich, 
 she might be expected to have valuable jewels, and 
 these she might also be expected to dispose of, for 
 various reasons common to women of her position. 
 Her words to me at Bagatelle crossed my mind: " I 
 am a thief on a bigger scale than you ever dreamed 
 of." There was little doubt in my mind that at the 
 
A BACK EDDY 71 
 
 present moment Leontine had Miss Dalghren s 
 pearls. 
 
 The next thing was to get them, and I had no 
 great fear of my ability to do that. I would go to- 
 Leontine and give it to her straight that unless she 
 handed them over I would call on the Prefect of 
 Police, and lay information for the rounding up of 
 the whole mob: Ivan, Maxeville, or Chu-Chu le 
 Tondeur, as he was known, the women sonris 
 d hotel and herself. I would tell her in strong 
 terms that they had played it rotten low on me. 
 Here was I, who a few weeks before had got myself 
 pinched to save their hides, being used as a shield 
 for them to crawl behind when they stole pearls 
 from the house of the people who had saved me a 
 life sentence. This would be a dangerous game for 
 me, I knew, but I never scared worth a cent, and by 
 the time I got to the office I was so tearing mad 
 that I asked nothing better than to take on the 
 whole slimy gang. 
 
 So I sent Leontine a pneumatique to say that she 
 could take her choice between meeting me at Baga 
 telle the next morning at eleven or later in the day 
 at the Prefecture of Police. I knew that she might 
 not be able to get away from Kharkoff in the after 
 noon or evening, but as he was A.D.C. to one of the 
 Grand Dukes and supposed to report every morn 
 ing before mid-day, the chances were that the girl 
 could manage a morning rendezvous. 
 
 That night, at about eleven, I went into the Auto 
 mobile Club. There was a baccarat game already 
 going, and meeting an acquaintance, who was mana 
 ger of a motor concern near our office, the pair of us 
 
72 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 strolled in to watch the play. Almost the first person 
 my eyes rested on was John. His back was turned 
 to us, but my acquaintance had recognised him also 
 and said to me: 
 
 " There is your patron, M. Clamart. You will 
 have to sell a good many cars to pay for his game of 
 last night." 
 
 "Really?" I answered carelessly. "Was it as 
 bad as that? " 
 
 " I heard that his losses were about forty thousand 
 francs," said he. 
 
 I shrugged. " M. Cuttynge told me that he had 
 been unlucky," I said; " but he spoke of his losses as 
 trifling." 
 
 " I myself saw him lose thirty thousand," says 
 my friend; "but these Americans and Russians do 
 not think much of a sum like that. Kharkoff was 
 the heavy winner. He won over eighty thousand 
 francs." 
 
 " Do you think that he will play to-night? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " It is probable. They told me to-day in his gar 
 age on the Rue Guyot, that he was off for London 
 to-morrow in his car." 
 
 "Alone? "I asked. 
 
 " Probably la femme du dlable will go with him. 
 But since Kharkoff is going to London to-morrow, 
 to-night will be his last chance to play, and he will 
 probably play high. It will be interesting to watch." 
 
 I assented, and we turned our attention to the 
 game. But my mind was not on the table. I was 
 thinking of John and his loss of the night before; a 
 loss that he could ill afford, as we needed 
 
A BACK EDDY 73 
 
 every cent that could be scraped together for 
 our business. But what interested me even 
 more was Kharkoff s journey to London. I 
 had little doubt that Leontine would take the pearls 
 with her, to dispose of in England. If the Prince 
 were to make an early start for the run to Boulogne, 
 Leontine might not be able to meet me at Bagatelle 
 or at least, this would be so difficult that she might 
 prefer to run the risk of my fulfilling my threat. 
 
 If possible, then, I must manage to see her that 
 very night. It seemed likely that Kharkoff would 
 want to follow up his luck at the tables, and, having 
 once started to play, he might be counted on as a 
 fixture until the game closed. This would give me a 
 chance to see Leontine; and, for that matter, the 
 sooner I had it out with her over the pearls the bet 
 ter. 
 
 So I found an inconspicuous corner near the door 
 and waited. As the game proceeded it appeared 
 that John was winning, and I decided to have a 
 straight talk with him the next day and try to per 
 suade him to leave baccarat alone. The chances 
 were, I thought, that if he managed to recoup to any 
 extent he would listen to reason, being a good-na 
 tured sort of chap and not hard to influence. 
 
 A little after midnight there was a sudden stir 
 in one room and the crowd not playing turned to 
 look over their shoulders. " Le Prince," I heard, 
 and here was Kharkoff s big bulk at my shoulder. 
 He crowded in to reach the table, and I slipped out 
 and made for the street. 
 
 " And now," said I to myself, " for Leontine." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 
 
 OUT I went and jumped into a taxi-cab, telling the 
 driver to stop at the corner of Leontine s street. 
 
 With the inside knowledge that I had it was not 
 difficult to reconstruct the theft of Mary Dalghren s 
 pearls. Leontine, I thought, was behind the whole 
 dirty business. She was playing a double game, or 
 possibly a triple one; the pearls themselves, an act of 
 revenge and spite against a girl she no doubt consid 
 ered to be her successful rival, and, finally, the chance 
 of driving me back to the Under-World. Jealousy 
 had probably induced her to do what she would never 
 for a moment have thought of doing otherwise. She 
 had leaped to the conclusion that I was in love with 
 Miss Dalghren, and had decided that it was this, 
 more than gratitude, which had led me to stick to my 
 good resolutions. 
 
 Therefore she had made up her mind to get the 
 pearls, thinking that, even if the actual suspicion did 
 not fall upon me, I would, nevertheless, be held in a 
 measure to blame, and that this might lead to a 
 rupture with my benefactors which would drive me 
 back to my old life. So she had seen Ivan and per 
 suaded him to undertake the job. This, I thought, 
 had not been very easy for her to do. I had read 
 Ivan s character as that of a man of soul and senti 
 ment. He was an enemy to Society, like the rest 
 of them, but his Slavic nature was warm and emo- 
 
 74 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 75 
 
 tional, and I knew that he had deeply appreciated the 
 sacrifice that I had made when I surrendered my 
 liberty in order to save himself and the others. Dur 
 ing the time that I was in the Sante he had sent one 
 of his gang, disguised as a priest, to tell me that if 
 money could help me to get my freedom I might rest 
 assured that none would be spared in the attempt. 
 
 But Leontine s persuasion had overcome his 
 scruples. The girl was an indispensable ally to him 
 in his work, and I more than half-suspected that 
 he was himself in love with her. I remembered how 
 his lustrous eyes had glowed as they rested on her 
 the night of the dinner-party at Leontine s house. 
 He had accordingly undertaken the theft, and the 
 opportunity to carry it off had come sooner and more 
 easily, no doubt, than he had hoped for. On meet 
 ing Miss Dalghren by chance at the Billings dinner 
 he had sent a word to Chu-Chu to get on the job. 
 It was even possible that Chu-Chu himself had been 
 at the dinner, for as M. de Maxeville, clubman and 
 officier de la legion d honneur, he went a good deal in 
 Society. Chu-Chu might have left early, and have 
 been in or about the Cuttynge s house when Miss 
 Dalghren got home. Miss Dalghren had said that 
 after playing the harp Ivan had brought her a glass 
 of orangeade which had a queer taste, as if from 
 some liqueur. It was possible that Ivan had drugged 
 the beverage with an opiate not strong enough to 
 take immediate effect but which would ensure of her 
 not waking once she fell asleep. Miss Dalghren had 
 remarked that she had never felt so sleepy in her 
 life and had awakened with a splitting headache. 
 
 The chance of Edith being asleep, and John at 
 
76 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the club, had made Chu-Chu s work only too easy. 
 Knowing the ruthless character of the man, the only 
 thing that surprised me was that he had not con 
 tinued his efforts and gone upstairs to crack the safe, 
 either gagging or strangling Edith, for Chu-Chu was 
 a killer. But no doubt Ivan s instructions had 
 strictly forbidden anything of this sort and Chu-Chu 
 had not dared to disobey. 
 
 This was the way I reasoned it out; and whether 
 the details were accurate or not, I had no doubt that 
 the main features were correct. I was firmly con 
 vinced that Ivan would never have played me such 
 a trick but for Leontine s influence. There is a pro 
 fessional etiquette observed between thieves of the 
 highest class, just as there is between swell members 
 of other professions; and although it is not always 
 strictly adhered to, there was in this case a strong 
 obligation to me. As to the location of the pearls, 
 I was sure that they were now in Leontine s posses 
 sion, having been first turned over to Ivan by Chu- 
 Chu and then delivered to Leontine by Ivan, that 
 she might dispose of them in England or elsewhere. 
 
 I paid off my taxi at the head of the Rue de Passy 
 and walked quickly to Leontine s little house. There 
 was a single light in one of the upper windows. 
 Hardly had I rung the gate-bell when the door 
 opened and a manservant came out and let me in. 
 
 "Mile. Petrovski?" I asked. 
 
 He gave me a quick glance and I recognised him as 
 the same person who had served us the night of the 
 dinner-party. 
 
 u Mademoiselle is expecting monsieur," said he, 
 " if monsieur will take the trouble to enter." 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 77 
 
 I followed him into the house, when he ushered 
 me to the little Moorish room overlooking the garden 
 at the rear. Like most places of the sort, there were 
 two entrances front and rear. 
 
 I had not long to wait. There was a rustle in the 
 corridor, a light step, and Leontine entered. She 
 wore the evening gown of orange-coloured chiffon 
 which I remembered, and for a moment the inhuman 
 beauty of her almost took away my breath, just as 
 it had at our first meeting. There was a warm flush 
 on her cheeks and her eyes shone like yellow dia 
 monds. 
 
 " Frank," she murmured, and gave me both hands. 
 
 I held them for an instant, then let them fall, and 
 stepped back to look at her. The room was softly 
 lighted by two tall lamps which shone through am 
 ber-coloured shades. 
 
 " So you expected me? " said I. 
 
 " Yes. I received your pneumatique; but thought 
 it probable that you would learn that I was leaving 
 for London to-morrow with Kharkoff." 
 
 " Aren t you ashamed of yourself? " I asked. 
 
 " Horribly," she threw back her head and 
 laughed. My word, but the pearls which she had 
 stolen were no more perfect than her teeth, nor of 
 a purer quality than her round throat. There was 
 nothing artificial about the laugh either. It was low 
 and gurgling and as full of real mirth as though what 
 she had done were the funniest thing that ever hap 
 pened. 
 
 " But you are the one who ought to be ashamed, 
 Frank," said she. " I never received such a horrid 
 pneumatique, except from Kharkoff, and he s a sav- 
 
78 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 age. It s not good manners to threaten a lady." 
 
 " It s even more impolite to threaten her by word 
 of mouth," said I, " but that s what I am here for. 
 That was a low-down trick of yours, Leontine. I 
 never would have believed it of you. What made 
 you do it? " 
 
 Her eyes danced. " There were two reasons," 
 said she. " First, I wanted to get you back to your 
 own again. The other was because I hate that lump 
 of a girl you are always with. The last time we met 
 it was all that I could do to keep from slashing her 
 across the face with my crop. You don t really care 
 for her, do you, Frank? Such a lump of a flaxen- 
 headed doll." 
 
 " I don t care for her at all," I answered. : I 
 have been teaching her to drive because I was ordered 
 to. Those reasons are not enough to excuse your 
 rounding on a pal, my dear." 
 
 "I am not excusing myself and you are no 
 longer a pal. You refused to be a pal." 
 
 There s no use going into that," said I, " where 
 are those pearls? " 
 
 She gave me a teasing look. 
 
 " Don t you wish you knew? " said she. 
 
 " I do know," I answered. " They are here. 
 Hand them over, Leontine. Your plot has failed. 
 My friends believe in me as much as ever, but they 
 think that my old pals have played it on me mighty 
 low. So do I. Why don t you tell the truth and 
 say that you wanted the money and knew that you 
 ran no risk because, owing to what they did for me, 
 the hands of the victims were tied? " 
 
 Leontine s eyes blazed. " Wanted the money! " 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 79 
 
 she cried. "Come you know better than that, 
 mon ami. Hadn t I just offered to pay back what 
 your mushy relatives had spent on you? " 
 
 " For your own selfish purposes," I answered. 
 " Failing in that, you thought you might as well make 
 a little out of me in a different way." 
 
 The blood rushed into her face. 
 
 " You lie ! " she cried. " You lie, and you know 
 it!" 
 
 "Who is impolite now?" I asked. "However, 
 it s all right. I didn t come here to bandy compli 
 ments." 
 
 The criminality in the girl flashed out of her yel 
 low eyes. 
 
 "No?" she asked. "Then what did you come 
 for?" 
 
 " I came to get the pearls," I said, " and some 
 thing tells me that I am going to succeed. If you 
 stole them for the reason that you say, you might 
 as well give them back. Your plan has absolutely 
 failed. I have always played fair myself, and was 
 fool enough to have a little sentiment about honour 
 amongst thieves. But I know better now. This 
 experience alone would be enough to sicken me with 
 graft and start me on the level, even if there were 
 no other reasons. But then, I was an American 
 crook, and that makes a difference." 
 
 Leontine s face turned the colour of ivory a 
 dead, creamy white and her eyes seemed to 
 darken. 
 
 You are a fool, Frank," she said, breathing hard. 
 
 You may think that your friends still believe in you, 
 
 but they don t. Of course, they would pretend to, 
 
80 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to save their own self-respect. Have they said any 
 thing to you about your handkerchief found in that 
 girl s room and your monogram cigarette and 
 the prints of your tennis shoes on the path out 
 side ? " 
 
 "What s that?" I cried, turning on her so sud 
 denly that she shrank back a little. 
 
 " I see that they haven t." She gave her low 
 
 laugh, but there was no amusement in it this time. 
 
 Yes, my dear," she went on mockingly, " Chu-Chu 
 
 first paid a visit to your rooms and got what he 
 
 needed 
 
 " So it was Chu-Chu ! " I snarled. " I ll twist his 
 hairy neck for that and you can tell him so for 
 me." 
 
 " Chu-Chu takes good care of his neck. But you 
 see, Frank, you are outclassed. Better come back 
 to the fold, my little boy." 
 
 "You think so, do you?" I answered quietly. 
 ;< Well then, my dear girl, let me tell you something. 
 If you think that you are going to play me for a 
 sucker, you re wrong. I m either an old pal or I m 
 an honest citizen. If I m the first, hand over those 
 pearls. If I m the honest citizen, then look out for 
 squalls." 
 
 Leontine was silent for a moment. Then, says 
 she, softly: 
 
 What do you mean?" 
 
 " I mean this. That if you choose to consider me 
 as an honest citizen, I shall act like one. You like 
 your little joke and so do I. You got Chu-Chu to 
 play yours. I ll get the Prefect of Police to play 
 mine and glad enough he ll be to do it." 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 81 
 
 Leontine s eyes narrowed. Her face was like al 
 abaster. 
 
 " Indeed? " says she softly. " And how long do 
 you think that our honest little citizen would be apt 
 to live after playing such a joke?" She smiled. 
 " I think that he would go straight to Heaven, where 
 he belongs." 
 
 " Not until he had sent an old pal or two to the 
 other place," I answered. " M. de Maxeville would 
 probably find his handsome head under the guillotine 
 - where it belongs." 
 
 Leontine took a swift step forward and her hand 
 fell on my wrist like a cold, steel bracelet and I 
 know how that feels. 
 
 " Frank," she whispered, " don t joke on such vital 
 matters. It s only a joke, of course but it is not a 
 
 nice one." 
 
 u 
 
 Well then," said I, " it s not a joke and the 
 sooner you get that through your pretty, curly pate 
 the better for all hands." 
 
 She dropped my wrist and stepped back, her eyes 
 wide and filled with a genuine look of horror. By 
 George, my friend, you d have taken her for the 
 President of a Benevolent Society listening to a 
 proposition to ditch a trainload of preachers. 
 
 " I don t believe it! " she cried. " I will not be 
 lieve it! What, betray your former pals to the po 
 lice. You, Frank? " 
 
 I began to feel my patience slipping her cogs. 
 
 " Yes," I snarled, " I. What s the matter with 
 you, girl ? Haven t you got good sense ? You make 
 me sick! Why, just look at it; the other night I 
 had a good-enough job all done down there at the 
 
82 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Cuttynge s house. I d done all that I set out to do. 
 And because you made me lose my head with your 
 hugs and kisses, we smashed around like a brace 
 of drunken dagoes and roused up the house and had 
 to do a quick get-away. Then when I saw the agent 
 about to nab the car I tackled him, broken arm and 
 all, and held him while the rest of you quit it. Don t 
 you suppose that I could have saved my bacon if 
 I d had a mind to? Broken arm or not, I d have 
 been over the wall opposite and away from there 
 like a scared cat. Do I look like the sort of goop 
 to get collared by a French cop? And the rest of 
 you would have got nailed. Now what do I get in 
 return? You send that animal, Chu-Chu, to rob the 
 house of the people who saved me a life sentence, 
 and get away with a rope of pearls and stick the 
 blame on me, knowing well that my friends have got 
 to sit tight and take it on account of what they did 
 for me. And now you have the cast-iron nerve to 
 tell me that I m to sit tight and take it, too. No! 
 You don t know me girl. Hand over those pearls, 
 and be quick about it, or by the Power that made us 
 both wrong I ll have you and your whole filthy mob 
 in the dock. I ve seen some dirty tricks in my life, 
 but never such a skunk game as this." 
 
 Leontine had drawn back and was staring at me 
 with a white face and flaming eyes. For a moment 
 she raised her hands to her temples, standing rigid 
 and erect, and with a curious expression as of a per- 
 soa who thinks deeply and with strong intensity. 
 Then suddenly her face seemed to stiffen. She 
 dropped her arms, and, turning, rushed to a little 
 writing desk in the corner of the room. 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 83 
 
 My friend, in my old trade the man lived longest 
 who thought quickly and took no sentimental chances. 
 I knew what she was after and crossed that room 
 with the spring of a performing panther. Even 
 then I was barely in time, for Leontine had snatched 
 a revolver from the drawer of the desk and whirled 
 about to face me. 
 
 But if she was quick, then I was quicker, and had 
 her by both wrists. The little revolver flew out of 
 her hand, whirled glittering across the room, and 
 landed on a divan. My grip on her wrists tightened 
 so that she gave a little cry of pain. 
 
 "Curse you!" she shrieked. "Let me go! 
 Wait until Ivan hears of this ! " 
 
 She leaned forward, thrusting her face almost in 
 mine. 
 
 "You swine!" she snarled. "If Ivan guessed 
 what was in your mind you d never live to get home ! 
 You traitor ! " 
 
 She went too far. All the criminality in me came 
 blazing out. 
 
 " I ll wring Ivan s snipe neck, you cat! " I growled, 
 " and I ll skin Chu-Chu with his own knife. Do 
 you think you can scare me with your mob o yellow 
 crooks? Scare Tide-water Clam ? Do you think 
 there s an ounce of scare in The Swell ? Did you 
 think so when I stepped in front of you and took the 
 bullet you would have got? You re up against an 
 American, you slut, and, crook or no crook, he s good 
 for you and your dago bunch." And with that, my 
 friend, and perhaps I should shame to tell it, but I 
 don t, I loosed her two wrists, shifted my grip like 
 lightning to her soft, round shoulders, and shook 
 
8 4 
 
 her so savagely that her hair came tumbling over her 
 face. 
 
 " Don t talk scare to me, you little fool," I said, 
 and threw her across the room and on the divan. 
 " Pick up your gun and shoot," I cried. There 
 it is beside you. Shoot, and save your pretty, 
 cowardly pelt, for I give it to you cold that you are 
 up against the real thing at last." And I leaned 
 across the table and glared at her. 
 
 Leontine flung back her hair with both hands. It 
 was short and thick and curly and only reached to her 
 chin. She snatched up the revolver, raised it, and 
 covered my chest. I wasn t thinking of long-life 
 policy just then. I was too mad. 
 
 " Unhook her. Empty your fool-gun," I taunted 
 her. " A lot I care." 
 
 The muzzle wavered. I was staring into the eyes 
 over it, willing her not to press the trigger. I won, 
 too,- for suddenly her pupils dilated and the yellow 
 eyes grew dark. Her stiffened arm drooped. Then 
 she dropped the pistol and flung herself face down 
 ward on the cushions. 
 
 I leaned across the table watching her. Then, 
 straightening up, I pulled out a cigarette and lighted 
 it. Leontine did not move, but her bare shoulders 
 were heaving. The clock in the hall struck one. I 
 dropped into a chair by the table and smoked and 
 watched her. 
 
 Presently she raised her head, stared at me a 
 moment, then looked at the revolver shining at her 
 feet. She reached down, picked it up, and laid it on 
 the table. Then she looked at me and laughed. 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 85 
 
 " You win, Frank," she said unsteadily, struggling 
 to her feet. 
 
 " Of course I ve won," I answered, and laid down 
 the cigarette. " Why shouldn t I ? " 
 
 She swept around the table, then dropped at my 
 feet on the rug, and, gripping me by both knees, laid 
 her head against them. 
 
 " Yes," she said, " you ve won." Her voice 
 broke. " And oh, my dear, I m glad, I m glad, I m 
 glad!" 
 
 " Then go and get the pearls," I answered without 
 moving, and picked up my cigarette again. 
 
 " You shall have the pearls," she murmured. 
 " Swear to me that you don t love her, Frank." She 
 laughed hysterically. " Chu-Chu told me that while 
 he was getting the pearls she was snoring like a pig. 
 Snoring, Frank." She laughed again. 
 
 " Thanks to Ivan s dope," said I. " But she can 
 snore without, for all me." 
 
 "You don t love her?" 
 
 u No, I don t," I answered impatiently. " Where 
 are those pearls? It s getting late." 
 
 " Ivan has them. I ll give you a note to him," 
 she said; and I felt that she was telling the truth. 
 " He didn t want to do it, Frank. He absolutely 
 refused at first. Chu-Chu and I had an awful time 
 persuading him. I m sorry, Frank. Kiss me, and 
 say that you forgive me." 
 
 I leaned over and kissed her. " I ll forgive you 
 when I get the pearls," I said. 
 
 Her bare arms flashed up around my neck, and, 
 for a moment, held me tight. Then she scrambled 
 
86 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to her feet and went to the writing desk, where for 
 several minutes she scribbled fast. 
 
 " There, Frank," said she, rising and turning to 
 me, as smooth and sleek and unruffled as though she 
 had never been mauled about like a mutinous school 
 boy. She had pushed back her short, wavy hair, and 
 jammed down over it the gold band which she usually 
 wore to keep it in place and which had flown off when 
 I gave her the shaking; and to look at her, no one 
 would ever have guessed that anything out of the 
 ordinary had happened. Such rows, after all, are 
 food and drink to women of the Leontine sort; they 
 love the excitement, and like to rouse the dominant 
 male in the man on whom their fancy happens to 
 rest. But I thought she would have some blue finger 
 marks on her shoulders the following day. 
 
 She slipped the note into an envelope and handed 
 it to me unsealed. 
 
 " Here, Frank," she said, " take this note to Ivan. 
 He never wanted to take up the job and he will be 
 quite content to give you back your old pearls. I ll 
 have to make it right with Chu-Chu, though. He 
 did his part, poor man." 
 
 " I ve got a little score with him, too, on the debit 
 side," I answered. " Better let me settle mine out 
 first; it might cancel yours." 
 
 "Be careful, Frank; and don t make any more 
 threats. If Ivan were to guess what was in your 
 mind you would be like a rabbit in the coils of a cobra. 
 His system is like a cancer it sifts in everywhere." 
 
 " The mob may be the cobra," said I, " but I ain t 
 a rabbit by a whole lot. I know my way home in 
 the dark." 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 87 
 
 ; Don t take any more chances, Frank, as you did 
 to-night. And don t think that I am giving up the 
 pearls because of your threats. I did so because you 
 are the first man who ever mastered me. Kiss me, 
 Frank." 
 
 She held up her lovely, flushed face, and I kissed 
 her twice. 
 
 " I always knew that there was a lot of good in 
 you, my dear," I said. 
 
 " There s a lot of bad, too. When you threw 
 me over there on the divan I wanted to murder you. 
 I meant to call up Ivan after you had left and tell 
 him what had happened. You would never have 
 lived to go to the prefecture, Frank. But when you 
 reminded me that the pistol was right beside me and 
 I found that I could not shoot then I knew." 
 
 She turned to me, her eyes misty and her lips quiv 
 ering. But I had other affairs more important than 
 to sit there and spoon with Leontine, so Igot up to 
 go. 
 
 Thanks for the note," I said, " and forgive me 
 for getting rough. I lost my temper." 
 
 You ve found something else," she said; and 
 there was a break in her voice. " Hereafter, I ll 
 play fair, Frank. Good-night." 
 
 So out I went and walked across to the Chausee 
 de la Muette, where there is a cab-stand. It was a 
 good hour to find Ivan, I thought, for people of the 
 Under-World don t waste the night in sleeping. His 
 address was on the note and my taxi pulled up in 
 front of a charming little house over by the Pare 
 Monceau. A sharp-eyed manservant opened the 
 door and took my card, saying that he would see i 
 
88 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 M. le Comte was at home; for Ivan sported a title. 
 The man returned at once and asked me to follow 
 him. We went up a flight of stairs and I was shown 
 into a very handsome and practical-looking office, 
 where Ivan himself, in a velvet costume d interieur 
 was seated at a fine mahogany desk. 
 
 " How do you do, Mr. Clamart? " said he, rising. 
 Ivan spoke perfect English. He was a fine-looking 
 fellow, with an intelligent, aristocratic face, tall and 
 slender in build, and with beautiful hands. 
 
 I replied to his greeting and took the chair which 
 he offered me. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how delighted I was to learn 
 of your release," said he. The whole situation 
 was most dramatic; such a chain of circumstance as 
 one might expect to find in a book or a play, but sel 
 dom finds in real life, even in a profession so full 
 of startling incident as my own. Fancy being con 
 fronted by your own half-brother while working a 
 strange house, and calmly receiving his bullet rather 
 than to fire upon your own flesh and blood." 
 
 It might interest you to know," said I, " that I 
 have taken bullets before rather than fire on a person 
 who was not of my own flesh and blood." 
 
 " Indeed? " said Ivan, raising his fine brows. 
 
 " Monsieur," said I, leaning forward and fasten 
 ing his brilliant eyes with mine, " I have been a suc 
 cessful thief for a good many years. The profession 
 interested me not only from its money profit and ex 
 citement but also from the purely artistic point of 
 view. I enjoyed exercising my wit and skill against 
 the difficult problems presented, and have always been 
 fascinated by the interest of the stalk. A big, dark, 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 89 
 
 silent house which I knew to contain treasure ap 
 pealed to me in much the same way that a dangerous 
 gold country might appeal to the prospector. I 
 never stole from poor people, and there has never 
 been a time when I would not have filled a position 
 of trust, such as that of cashier in a savings bank, 
 with scrupulous honesty. This was not because of 
 any conscientous principle, but merely a sportsman 
 like instinct. My purse has always been open to 
 the needy and I have never let a just debt go un 
 paid." 
 
 Ivan smiled. " I can readily believe you," he 
 said. " In fact, you quite voice my own code of 
 ethics." 
 
 " I am very sorry," said I, " that I cannot agree 
 with you." 
 
 Ivan s thin, black eyebrows lifted and a tinge of 
 colour showed in his olive cheeks. 
 
 " If what you say is true," I went on, " how was 
 it that you could bring yourself to take advantage of 
 a pal whose hands were tied by his given word and 
 use him as a scapegoat for your own gain? Mon 
 sieur, theft is theft, of course, and in this wicked 
 world of ours every man is for himself, and the 
 Devil take the hindmost. That seems to be the 
 motto that most people live by from the pick 
 pocket to the high financier. But as I see it, mon 
 sieur, it is a d d poor motto for people who pre 
 tend to have any code of honour of their own, 
 even though that code is one not generally recog 
 nised." 
 
 Ivan s clear complexion grew swarthy. In the 
 Under-World fierce passions lie closer to the surface 
 
90 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 than in the upper, and it is not hard to bring them 
 to the top. 
 
 1 What do you mean? " he snapped, leaning for 
 ward and gripping the rim of his desk. His eyes, 
 however, shifted from mine. 
 
 " I mean," said I, " that a man may be a thief and 
 an enemy to Society and still be a man, with his own 
 personal pride and self-respect. When that is gone 
 he can t claim to be anything but a low-grade, mean- 
 spirited sneak." 
 
 That fetched him. Ivan shed his sleek polite 
 ness as a pickpocket slips out of his coat. 
 
 " Be careful what you say, Mr. Clamart," he 
 snarled, his face purple. " I m not accustomed to 
 such talk." 
 
 " I believe you," I answered. " Nor are you ac 
 customed to the sort of act that causes it. I d be 
 willing to stake my life that this is the first time in 
 yours that you ever paid a man for saving you and 
 your gang by shoving a job on him as you have 
 on me. You are a master-criminal and you couldn t 
 be unless you were a big man. Big men don t do 
 petty things. I know my human nature, monsieur, 
 and I place you as gentleman born, like myself, who, 
 for reasons of his own, has taken up crime as a pro 
 fession. But in your world you are known to be 
 square and generous and laid out on large lines. 
 When I was in the Sante you offered to back me with 
 your fund and you would have done it, too. And 
 then, when I get out, by a miracle, you turn around 
 and steal from me something that I value a lot more 
 than my liberty. Are you proud of that job, mon 
 sieur? " 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 91 
 
 Ivan pushed himself back in his chair and 
 the colour went out of his face. His eyes nar 
 rowed. 
 
 " Do your friends suspect you? " he muttered. 
 
 " I can t tell. But they consider the loss to have 
 come as the result of what they did for me, and that 
 very act of theirs ties their hands. Worst of all, 
 those pearls were the entire fortune of a poor girl, 
 a penniless music-teacher. Her father died bank 
 rupt, and these pearls that she had from her mother 
 was all that she saved. I am telling you the truth. 
 Of course, a consistent thief doesn t consider the sen 
 timental side. But there were other things to be 
 considered in this job, principally myself." 
 
 Ivan stared at me for a moment in silence. His 
 face was set and he tugged at the waxed end of his 
 black moustache. 
 
 " What makes you think that I managed the af 
 fair? " he asked. 
 
 I made a tired gesture. 
 
 " That s too easy," said I. " You took out Miss 
 Dalghren at the Billings dinner. You probably 
 doped her drink. Then you set Chu-Chu on the job. 
 I m not altogether a fool." 
 
 Ivan s handsome face relaxed. His eyes were 
 clouded and he rubbed the point of his chin. Then 
 he reached for an inner pocket, hauled out a package 
 in white tissue paper, and tossed it into my lap. 
 
 " Here," said he, " take them, Mr. Clamart 
 You are quite right. It was a rotten business. I 
 hated it from the start." 
 
 " Thank you," said I. " To tell you the truth I 
 was pretty sure that it wasn t your idea. Leontine 
 
92 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 put you up to it. She wanted to save me from a 
 hideous life of honesty." 
 
 Ivan laughed, then shot me a curious look. 
 
 " Did you think that I d give them back? " he 
 asked. 
 
 " I was sure of it," I answered. 
 
 His face cleared, then clouded again. " I ll have 
 a bad time with Leontine," he said, " and worse with 
 Chu-Chu. But Chu-Chu can go to the devil. I ve 
 had nearly enough of Chu-Chu. He wanted to go 
 after the other string Mrs. Cuttynge s. But I 
 flatly forbade that. I knew that Chu-Chu would 
 never go out of the house without killing somebody. 
 An unusual man, Mr. Clamart. He is purely crim 
 inal, with absolutely no saving grace of soul. He 
 would rather kill than not. It is a pity, because he 
 is the most able operator that I have ever known. 
 But between. you and me, I distrust Chu-Chu. There 
 was a job I worked up some time ago and Chu-Chu 
 carried it off brilliantly, but I have since had reason 
 to suspect that he held back some of the loot. If I 
 could be sure of this, Chu-Chu would never get an 
 other piece of work from me. Look here, Mr. 
 Clamart, have you absolutely decided to quit the 
 field? I ve got a big thing for next week. Is it 
 true that you are no longer one of us? " 
 True as gospel," said I. 
 
 That s subject to error. What is the matter? 
 In love with Miss Dalghren? " 
 
 " No. We don t even get on well. It s merely 
 that I have passed my word." 
 
 His face clouded. " It s a pity," said he. " You 
 and I could do big things together. But perhaps 
 
LEONTINE SHOWS HER TEETH 93 
 
 you are right. What are you doing now? Auto 
 mobiles? Leontine told me something of the sort. 
 Well, I ll buy a car from you some day." 
 
 We both laughed and I got up to go. He saw 
 me downstairs and we shook hands at the door. 
 
 As soon as I got back to my rooms I wrote a 
 pneumatique to Leontine telling her of my success 
 with Ivan and asking her to say nothing about our 
 interview, as I wished Ivan to believe that I had 
 counted entirely on his sense of fairness. This 
 would suit Leontine, I thought, as she would not care 
 to have Ivan know, if it could be helped, that after 
 persuading him to steal the pearls she would turn 
 around and give them back again. 
 
 I slept well that night and went to the office the 
 next morning with a light heart. John was coming 
 in at eleven to go with me to take out a prospective 
 client. But at ten, as I was busy writing in the pri 
 vate office, the door burst suddenly open and in came 
 John. His face was pale and pasty and there were 
 heavy puffs under his eyes. He looked like a man 
 half-drunk, and for that matter there was a reek of 
 liquor in his breath. 
 
 " You re early," said I, wondering what had 
 fetched him out at this hour. 
 
 John closed the door, then lurched into a chair, 
 where he sat staring at me with a curious, sodden 
 look. 
 
 " What s the matter? " I asked. 
 
 " Matter enough ! " he growled. " Edith s pearls 
 are gone, too ! " 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 "WILL YOU WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 
 
 MY friend, now what do you think of that? Just 
 before John came into my office I doubt if there was 
 a happier man in Paris than I. The minute after, 
 I don t believe there was a more miserable one, or a 
 madder. For quick as a flash I guessed at what had 
 happened, and I cursed myself for a fool not to have 
 thought of it before. 
 
 As soon as I could speak I asked: 
 
 " When did you find this out? " 
 
 " This morning," said John, in a dull voice. 
 " Edith opened the safe to get some money and 
 found that the pearls were gone." 
 
 " Where were you both last night? " I asked. 
 
 " I was at the Automobile Club and didn t get 
 in until late. Edith and Mary spent the evening 
 in the studio and didn t go to bed until about mid 
 night" 
 
 " Were any of the servants about? " 
 
 " No. When she went out to the studio after 
 dinner Edith told them they might turn in as soon as 
 they had finished their work." 
 
 I ripped out a savage curse. It was as plain to 
 me as a pock-marked Hottentot. That accursed 
 Chu-Chu had gone back the second night on his own 
 account and opened the safe. A little box like 
 that would be a nursery puzzle to an expert like 
 Chu-Chu. No doubt he considered this job his own 
 
 94 
 
"WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 95 
 
 private affair, but it was barely possible that he might 
 have turned over the string to Ivan. 
 
 I thought hard for a moment, then said to John: 
 
 " This is certainly rotten. Here I have gone and 
 got Miss Dalghren s pearls, and now you come and 
 spring it on me that Edith s have been stolen." 
 
 " What? " cried John, rousing up. You ve got 
 Mary s pearls? " 
 
 " Here they are," said I, and threw the packet 
 on the table. " For Heaven s sake put them in the 
 safe deposit now, and tell her to get a reconstructed 
 string. If these confounded women wouldn t in 
 sist on wearing fortunes on their bodies the prisons 
 wouldn t be so crowded." I tell you, my friend, I 
 was hot. 
 
 John sat and stared at the packet in a surly sort 
 of way. Then he picked it up, dropped it into his 
 pocket, and gave me a look that didn t help my 
 temper any. 
 
 " Well," says he, heavily, " since you ve managed 
 to get this string, no doubt you may be able to find 
 the other." 
 
 " Oh, you think so, do you? " said I. " Well, if 
 you d been there to see how easy it was for me to get 
 the first string you might not find it such a cinch to 
 get the second." 
 
 "How is that?" he asked. "Don t you think 
 that they were probably both stolen by the same per 
 son? " 
 
 "Yes," I answered; "I do. But the first was 
 stolen more for spite and to get me back to graft than 
 for the money value. But this second job looks 
 more like theft for its own sake." 
 
96 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Just the same," growled John, " it isn t the mo 
 tive so much as the fact that counts. If you were 
 able to make em choke up Mary s pearls, why can t 
 you use the same methods to get back Edith s? " 
 
 " Oh, because," I answered, wearily, " the first 
 was an official, what you might call syndicate, job. 
 The second is a little private enterprise on the part 
 of the operator. Or, at least, it looks to me like 
 that. However, I ll do my best. You d better go 
 back to the house and give Miss Dalghren her pearls, 
 and tell her for Heaven s sake to put em in a safe 
 place. It s all my fault, I know. I should have 
 cleared out, like I wanted to, and all of this wouldn t 
 have happened." 
 
 John leaned over and dropped his hand on my, 
 knee. 
 
 " At any rate, Frank," says he, " you know that 
 we all have perfect confidence in you, old chap." 
 
 He tried to make his voice hearty, but somehow 
 it fell flat. 
 
 " Thanks," said I. " That s not what s worrying 
 me just now." 
 
 ; What is?" he asked. 
 
 " Oh, nothing," I answered. 
 
 " Look here, Frank," says John. " Is there any 
 actual er, risk to you in looking for these pearls ? " 
 
 " Oh, not a bit," I answered. " It s just like 
 picking daisies." 
 
 John looked worried. Says he, " If there s any 
 physical danger about it just chuck the whole thing. 
 Edith wouldn t wish it and neither do I. Tell me 
 the truth, old man." 
 
 " I can t tell you what I don t know," I answered. 
 
"WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 97 
 
 " If Edith s pearls are turned in at headquarters the 
 chief will be just as much surprised as I and hand 
 them over without a word. He s not the man to do 
 things by halves. But if the thief has held back 
 the pearls the chances are that that s the last we ll 
 ever see of them. The string would be so broken up 
 as to make it almost impossible to trace. Anyway, 
 considering what you have done in getting me off, 
 the police would hardly take up the case. Your 
 friend the prefect would shrug his shoulders and ask 
 what the deuce you expected." 
 
 John s face cleared a little. His solicitude for my 
 personal safety rather touched me. 
 
 " I ll leave it all to you, Frank," he said, " but 
 mind you, you re not to run any physical danger. 
 It s not worth it, and Edith would be heart-broken 
 if you were to come to any harm. So would I. 
 Now I ll be off. Good luck to you, and don t do 
 anything rash. You can t tell, maybe it s some en 
 tirely outside person." 
 
 He got up, and, giving me a nod, went out. 
 But I didn t like the way his eyes avoided mine, and 
 I wondered if perhaps, deep down, he might not be 
 less sure of me than he was willing to show. 
 
 When he had gone I sat for a few minutes think 
 ing hard. Then I opened the drawer of my desk, 
 took out an automatic pistol that I kept there, loaded 
 it and slipped it into the side pocket of my coat. 
 
 " Look after the office while I am gone," I said 
 to Gustave, my little mecanicien, and went out and 
 hopped into a taxi giving Ivan s address. 
 
 Ivan was at home, and as I was shown into his 
 bureau he looked up sharply. I didn t waste any 
 
98 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 time in getting to the point. As soon as the door 
 closed I said: 
 
 " Count, I am sorry to trouble you again, but there 
 is a fresh complication. Mr. Cuttynge has just been 
 to the office with the pleasing news that his wife s 
 pearls have been stolen also." 
 
 Ivan s face was not pleasant to see. 
 
 " Indeed? " said he, " what are the particulars? " 
 
 " Before I say more," I answered, " permit me to 
 assure you that I have no doubt whatever but that 
 this is the first news you have received of this latter 
 theft." 
 
 Ivan bowed with a sort of satirical smile on his 
 thin lips. 
 
 Thank you," said he. " I would scarcely have 
 given you the first string if I had meant to keep the 
 other." 
 
 I told him what I had just learned from John. 
 Ivan s face darkened. 
 
 " What is your theory? " he asked. 
 
 " I suspect Chu-Chu," said I. " To my mind 
 there is no doubt of it. I think that he went back 
 last night and collared Mrs. Cuttynge s pearls while 
 she and Miss Dalghren were in the studio. He 
 knew that their hands were tied. No doubt he con 
 sidered his obligation to you discharged when he 
 handed over the others." 
 
 Ivan frowned and shook his head. " No," said 
 he; " Chu-Chu is one of my regular workers, and 
 not at liberty to do anything on the outside. Or, 
 at least, if he should attempt anything on his own 
 account, he is bound by our agreement to turn the 
 proceeds in to me. Only in this case his percentage 
 
ROSALIE CAUGHT MY DRIFT AND BEGAN TO 
 GESTICULATE (page 199) 
 
"WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 99 
 
 is doubled. In return for this he has the protection 
 of our circle, and when times are bad he can always 
 draw money for personal expenses." 
 
 I had heard of this sort of thing, although an in 
 dependent man myself. 
 
 Ivan glanced at the clock. " If Chu-Chu got the 
 pearls," said he, " I may look for him before noon. 
 It is now half after ten. Do you care to wait? " 
 
 " Suppose he does bring them? " I asked. 
 
 Ivan made an impatient gesture with his hand. 
 " It is all of the same piece," he snapped. " On 
 your account, that house is exempt from our affairs. 
 If Chu-Chu has stolen those pearls he has disobeyed 
 orders, and in that case he may take his choice be 
 tween handing over the pearls to you or severing all 
 connection with me. He will probably prefer the 
 former. My organisation is worth more to him 
 than even so valuable a necklace of pearls. But if 
 by any chance he should decide on the latter, then, 
 my dear Mr. Clamart, you will have to arrange mat 
 ters with Chu-Chu. I am not given to half-meas 
 ures, and having decided on my course of action I 
 will carry it out. But there is a limit to my author 
 ity. If you care to wait I will show you into the 
 library, and if Chu-Chu comes here you may talk to 
 him yourself. He is coming this morning as I have 
 some other matters to discuss with him." 
 
 " Thank you," said I; " then I ll wait." 
 
 Ivan showed me into a small but handsomely fur 
 nished room, the walls lined with bookshelves which 
 were filled with volumes. I selected a work on 
 modern sculpture and sank into a big leather-covered 
 chair. 
 
ioo THE CLOSING NET 
 
 But I did not read. What Ivan had just said 
 left me with plenty of intellectual food. It was 
 possible, I thought, that he might suspect me of hav 
 ing other ammunition in my magazine than a mere 
 appeal to his sense of fair-dealing, and it occurred to 
 me that if this suspicion bordered on the conviction 
 that I might threaten to expose the gang, the odds 
 were against my getting out of his house alive. 
 
 This danger was one that would be increased a 
 thousand times by the arrival of Chu-Chu. Chu- 
 Chu le Tondeur, or M. de Maxeville, as he called 
 himself, was known to the Under-World as being 
 the ablest thief in Europe. His specialty was bank 
 work, usually in the provinces, and his safe opening 
 skill was something marvellous. The most intricate 
 combinations in his sensitive fingers were about as 
 difficult as a game of diabolo. Personally, I de 
 tested everything about the man. He was a con 
 stitutional assassin. Chu-Chu, the odds being even, 
 would rather kill than not. His favourite weapon 
 was the slung-shot, but he was said to be a man of 
 terrific strength and not long before had killed an 
 agent by a blow on the head with a coup de poing 
 Americain, as they call brass knuckles in France, 
 where, as a matter of fact, they are ten times as much 
 in use as at home. Chu-Chu left a trail of blood 
 behind him wherever he worked. The man had the 
 ingenuity of a Yankee, the cold courage of an Anglo- 
 Saxon, the stealth of a Frenchman, and the remorse- 
 lessness of a Spaniard. I doubt if there lived a more 
 dangerous enemy to Society. He was a well-edu 
 cated man, handsome, polished, a brilliant conver 
 sationalist, absolutely abstemious in his habits. His 
 
"WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 101 
 
 reputation with his pals was bad, however, and not 
 many thieves cared to work with him. 
 
 From what Ivan had told me, I doubted that he 
 trusted Chu-Chu. But Chu-Chu was too valuable 
 to lose, if it could be helped, and too dangerous to 
 quarrel with. I did not give Ivan himself the credit 
 for a high-grade physical pluck. No doubt he was 
 dangerous enough in his way, but it would not be his 
 own hand that struck. 
 
 As the case stood, Ivan had played his game 
 cleverly. Whether he suspected me of daring to lay 
 evidence with the police or not, he had avoided 
 bringing things to a crisis by giving me Miss Dal- 
 jghren s pearls on my simple protest. But in dis 
 claiming all knowledge of the theft of Edith s pearls 
 and promising to restore them if possible, he had 
 passed the affair up to Chu-Chu. I felt sure that 
 Chu-Chu would deny all knowledge of the matter and 
 that Ivan would, also. But I felt equally sure that 
 the pearls were at that very moment in Chu-Chu s 
 possession. In this case, he had flatly disobeyed the 
 orders of the Chief. 
 
 Now, if Ivan were to say nothing about my having 
 charged Chu-Chu with the job, but waited for Chu- 
 Chu to bring up the subject himself, I felt pretty sure 
 that he would have to wait a long time. If, on the 
 contrary, he brought up the subject at once, Chu- 
 Chu might either deny everything or else admit hav 
 ing stolen the pearls and hand them over. Ivan 
 had no wish to quarrel with Chu-Chu. He might 
 want to break with him, but he would prefer to do 
 this peacefully. If he were to get the pearls I 
 thought it very possible that he would deny the fact 
 
102 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to me just the same, rather than risk an open quarrel 
 with Chu-Chu. Then, feeling that I might take the 
 matter to the prefect of police, it was very possible 
 that he would feel himself unfortunately compelled 
 to put me out of permanent action. And I knew 
 that in this he would find an enthusiastic ally in Chu- 
 Chu. 
 
 Therefore, as the thing framed up, it appeared 
 that I stood no chance of getting the pearls, whether 
 Chu-Chu owned up or not, but I did stand a good 
 chance of losing my life. Then why didn t I get 
 out of the house while there was still time? For 
 the simple reason that I had gone there after the 
 pearls, and I meant to have them. 
 
 Now, it may not look so at first glance, but as a 
 matter of fact the odds were a bit with me. How? 
 It s easy enough. Ivan might know what Chu-Chu 
 would do and Chu-Chu might know what Ivan would 
 do, and I had a darn good idea of what both of them 
 would do. But neither of them knew what / was 
 going to do, and / did. It would never have oc 
 curred to their European minds. Your American 
 crook would have thought of it first jump; not that 
 he s keener, but because my plan was the American 
 plan. This was merely to hold them both up before 
 they had a chance to guess at what was coming. 
 
 Perhaps that sounds too easy to you, because you 
 are American yourself. But let me explain. Every 
 race has its own method of violence. The Oriental 
 loves poison and slaves behind arras and all that sort 
 of thing in settling misunderstandings. The Teu 
 ton likes a duel, the Latin races a knife or stiletto 
 all good enough in their way and plenty efficient, but 
 
"WALK INTO MY PARLOUR?" 103 
 
 all, if you observe, requiring time. Whether to 
 gloat or to sneer or to think it over, all of these older 
 races want a little time before killing. And that is 
 exactly what your Anglo-Saxon hates. He is apt 
 to kill right off the bat or let it go. A word, a blow, 
 bang and there you are. 
 
 The difference is that Europeans and Orientals, 
 while they like the killing well enough, dislike the 
 violence. They shrink from the rough word, the 
 crudeness of the caveman. They want art, and for 
 that reason a sudden outburst on the part of the 
 Westerner always comes to the Easterner with a sort 
 of shock of surprise. In that atmosphere of luxury 
 and refinement I could feel it myself. Sitting there 
 in Ivan s handsome library and looking at his fine 
 old vellum and Louis XVI chairs and Bokhara rugs 
 it seemed like a hideously rough and impolite play 
 on my part to walk into the next room and stick up 
 those two cultured and refined gentlemen, the one 
 titled and the other decorated. But I made up my 
 mind to do it, just the same; yes, and to turn that 
 Empire-furnished bureau de travail into an Arizona 
 bar-room shambles at the first shady move, adding 
 the maitre d hotel to the bull-pit and any other loose 
 jokers that saw fit to bulge in. It really was simple 
 enough. I can shoot quick and straight and I had 
 nothing much to fear from the result. When it 
 came to a show down my friend the prefect would be 
 only too glad that I d taken the job off his hands. 
 Chu-Chu s working name was known all over France, 
 and his performances hadn t added a whole lot of 
 lustre to the records of the Police Department. Be 
 sides, European thugs have a way of following up 
 
io 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 old scores owed by their deceased members, especially 
 with the minions of the law. 
 
 So I sat there, all taut and drawing, and before 
 long I heard the front door open and a bass voice 
 that I recognised as M. de Maxeville s. He went 
 straight up to Ivan s office, and for an hour I heard 
 the low rumble of conversation. 
 
 Then, as I waited, there came the sound of Ivan s 
 quick, nervous step in the corridor outside. I got up 
 out of the big chair and stood, slipping my left hand 
 into the pocket of my coat. I m just as accurate with 
 the left, and it leaves the right to shake hands with. 
 
 " Chu M. de Maxeville is here," said Ivan. 
 " He denies all knowledge of Mrs. Cuttynge s 
 pearls. In fact, he has managed to convince me that 
 he is telling the truth. As it is, he is very angry be 
 cause I gave back the other string to you. I have 
 told him that you are here and he insists that you 
 come in and make your charges yourself. Do you 
 care to do so? " 
 
 " Yes," said I, " if it s all the same to you." 
 
 Then come," said Ivan, and led the way to the 
 office. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 AMERICAN METHODS 
 
 CHU-CHU LE TONDEUR, alias M. de Maxeville, was 
 a distinguished-looking man of medium height, but 
 very broad and compactly made. In his long black 
 redingote and narrow French trousers one would 
 never have guessed the heavy bone and muscle under 
 neath. His face, though scarcely to be called hand 
 some, was intelligent, and, in a way, attractive, being 
 forceful and wearing an habitually pleasant expres 
 sion. Indeed, one of his nicknames was " I homme 
 qui sourit." Chu-Chu was usually smiling. He 
 went about the streets with the hint of a smile on his 
 face. He may have trained himself to wear 
 this pleased expression, which is, after all, a fairly 
 good mask. One hardly looks for a recent 
 murderer going about with a pleasant smile on his 
 lips. 
 
 Chu-Chu s forehead was very broad and high, his 
 eyes small, of a curious slaty brown and set well 
 apart; he had a long nose and a black moustache and 
 imperial. His jaws, very prominent at the angles, 
 and the heavy cheekbones suggested a Spanish strain. 
 His hands were beautifully shaped and usually rest 
 less. 
 
 Chu-Chu dressed with the quiet elegance which 
 might be expected of a senator, and when he spoke 
 his bass voice was slow, quiet and pleasingly modu 
 lated. He had a curious, precise way of dragging 
 
 105 
 
io6 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 out the ends of his words, adding almost a whole 
 syllable to consonant endings, and this gave his con 
 versation a hint of pedantry. He had told me at 
 Leontine s dinner-party that his favourite recreation 
 was big-game hunting, and that he had once, while in 
 the Nguru country, taken part in a Masai lion hunt. 
 You know the sport. The natives, armed with 
 shield and spear surround the lion and then close in 
 on him in a small circle; when he. springs the hunter 
 receives him on his assegai. 
 
 Such a man was Chu-Chu le Tondeur. As I en 
 tered the room he bowed; I did the same. Ivan 
 offered me a chair, then seated himself behind his 
 desk. 
 
 Chu-Chu opened the conversation by compliment 
 ing me upon my escape, then expressed his regret 
 that so accomplished a colleague should quit the pro 
 fessional field, hinting at the same time that I would 
 probably return to it when tired of the banality of 
 legitimate business. He spoke in fairly good Eng 
 lish, but with the effort of one who has learned -a 
 language by study and translates from his own 
 tongue. 
 
 " M. le Comte tells me," he said, presently, " that 
 you are not content with our little affair of the night 
 before last." 
 
 " To be frank," I answered, " it impressed me as 
 a poor return for my own behaviour on the occasion 
 when we last met." 
 
 Chu-Chu shrugged. " We are criminals," says 
 he, " and business is business, as they say in your 
 country. Besides, my dear Mr. Clamart, once a man 
 has given up his profession he can hardly expect to 
 
AMERICAN METHODS 107 
 
 receive professional courtesies from his former col 
 leagues." 
 
 There is a difference," I answered, " between, 
 professional courtesy and appreciation for a service 
 rendered. However, that incident is closed. What 
 I am now protesting against is the stealing of the 
 string of pearls belonging to Madame Cuttynge." 
 
 Chu-Chu s slaty eyes hardened. 
 That is a matter," said he, " of which I have 
 just heard for the first time. Whatever my views in 
 regard to yourself, Mr. Clamart, I should never 
 think of breaking my faith with our respected Chief. * 
 He bowed to Ivan. 
 
 ; Far be it from me," I answered, " to accuse M. 
 de Maxeville of any such intention as that. When 
 it reaches a point where those of us who are outside 
 the law can no longer trust one another, a man might 
 better retire from the field." 
 
 " Precisely my own idea," said Chu-Chu. " Of 
 course, so far as you are concerned, Mr. Clamart, 
 the situation is very different. One would never 
 think of playing pranks upon a colleague. But, as 
 I see it, the minute you gave up your profession you 
 lost the right to expect or demand any other treat 
 ment than that of an outsider. As for the service 
 which you claim to have rendered us in grappling 
 with the agent, I, for my part, fail to acknowledge 
 any obligation unless it be on the part of the 
 agent, whose life you assuredly saved. If you had 
 not grappled with him I would have killed him my 
 self." His slaty eyes rested on mine with a cold 
 glitter. " I think," said he, " that our Chief is in 
 clined to over-value your performance. Personally, 
 
IDS THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Mr. Clamart, at the present moment or later, I would 
 not feel the slightest compunction at robbing you, 
 yourself. I marvel at your effrontery in coming here 
 to demand those pearls from the Chief, and I marvel 
 still more at his so far yielding to an unwarranted 
 sentiment as to give them up. If anybody has been 
 wronged it seems to me that I am that person. As 
 for the other pearls, I very deeply regret that some 
 body else should have got them. I had hoped to do 
 that job myself." 
 
 I glanced at Ivan. His face was pale and his eyes 
 lurid. It flashed across my mind that Chu-Chu 
 might have found some difficulty in obtaining his con 
 sent to my murder, and that for the purpose of prov 
 ing that I was a serious danger to the band, Chu- 
 Chu was now deliberately trying to anger me and 
 make me show my hand. He was trying to tempt 
 me to a threat. He wanted to make me say that if 
 all ties between us were broken I would consider my 
 self free to use offensive action. He saw the disbe 
 lief in my face and knew that I was convinced in my 
 own mind that he had stolen Edith s pearls and that 
 they were at that moment either in his or Ivan s pos 
 session. Once I made such a threat the end would 
 come quickly. That was to be the signal for my 
 death. It was possible that Ivan had refused to be 
 lieve that I would do this, and failing to get any 
 satisfaction, would let the matter drop. Ivan did 
 not want my life, if it could be avoided, but if it came 
 to a choice between that and exposure, he would no 
 doubt act with deadly suddenness. He was sitting, 
 as I have said, behind his desk, and the lower half 
 of his body was hid from me. I had but little doubt 
 
AMERICAN METHODS 109 
 
 but that there was a pistol in one of the hands rest 
 ing in his lap, and as this crossed my mind I heard 
 a rustle on the other side of the closed door. 
 
 My left thumb was hooked carelessly in the side 
 pocket of my coat, and I doubted that I could get 
 my weapon and shoot as quickly as could Ivan. 
 Also, there was probably an armed servant behind 
 the door. The odds were too heavy. In order to 
 carry out my plan I would have to get Ivan out 
 from behind his desk and without arousing his sus 
 picion. 
 
 All of this went through my head in a flash. I 
 leaned back in my chair with a troubled face. Then, 
 turning to Ivan, I said: 
 
 " One cannot deny the truth of M. de Maxeville s 
 remarks. Of course, I am deeply disappointed. 
 My only hope now is that after hearing what M. de 
 Maxeville has said, you do not regret your gener 
 osity in giving back Miss Dalghren s pearls. Not 
 one man in a thousand would have done it and you 
 may be sure that I appreciate the act and feel very 
 deeply grateful. M. de Maxeville has presented, 
 the matter in quite a different light. If I had seen 
 it in that way myself I would hardly have had the 
 cheek to come here with the request. It is the first 
 time .that I have ever asked a favour of anybody. 
 As for this other string of pearls, there seems to be 
 no remedy. Owing to my peculiar position the Cut- 
 tynges cannot, of course, take the matter to the 
 police. One can never tell; it is even possible that 
 Cuttynge himself might have stolen his own wife s 
 jewels. Such things have happened. I know that 
 he has been playing baccarat and has had some 
 
no THE CLOSING NET 
 
 heavy losses, and it is possible that he might have 
 been tempted to the act, knowing that the blame will 
 be placed with my ex-associates." 
 
 " Or with yourself," growled Chu-Chu. 
 
 " Possibly," I muttered, looking dejectedly at the 
 floor. 
 
 I glanced up in time to intercept a swift look 
 which flashed between Chu-Chu and Ivan. Chu- 
 Chu, I guessed, was furious at being balked of his 
 prey, while Ivan was obviously relieved. The 
 colour was coming back into his cheeks. 
 
 " As far as the first string is concerned, Mr. Cla- 
 Tnart," said he, " I do not regret my act, in spite of 
 M. de Maxeville s views on the matter. I feel that 
 there was an obligation between us, and my act in 
 returning the pearls showed my good faith. It was 
 all Leontine s idea. As I told you, and as M. de 
 Maxeville will tell you, I was opposed to it from the 
 start. As to Mrs. Cuttynge s pearls, I am of pre 
 cisely the same mind, and I give you my word that 
 if I learn anything about the robbery I will do what 
 I can to assist you." 
 
 " Thank you," I said. " That is more than I 
 could reasonably ask. And now, all I can do is to 
 thank you both for your courtesy and apologise for 
 having taken so much of your time." 
 
 I got up, slowly. Ivan s hand went to the drawer 
 of the desk, and I guessed that he was slipping back 
 his weapon. He touched a bell, and again I heard 
 a rustle outside the door and guessed that the armed 
 servant was going down to show me out. Ivan 
 stepped out from behind his desk. 
 
 Chu-Chu also had risen and was standing across 
 
AMERICAN METHODS in 
 
 the room with an ugly look on his face, tugging at 
 his imperial. The two of them were nicely in line. 
 I stepped back behind my chair, then, with a quick 
 movement, I slipped my hand into my side pocket 
 and threw up the deadly, automatic arm. 
 
 " Hands up, both of you, and quick," I snarled. 
 
 My friend, it was worth the risk to see their faces. 
 Of course, I wasn t studying dramatic effects at the 
 time, and, as a matter of fact, I was almost on the 
 point of killing them both before they had recovered 
 from the shock enough to obey. Then up went 
 Ivan s hands and he lurched back against his desk, 
 actually pushed, as it seemed by the murderous force 
 projected out of me. Chu-Chu felt it, too, for al 
 though he was frozen into stone for an instant his 
 arms went up stiffly as his eyes met mine. 
 
 " Not a sound," I growled. " Not a motion, or 
 you re both dead men." 
 
 For an instant we stood so. Then I said to Ivan: 
 
 " Back over there by Chu-Chu. One shifty move 
 from either and you stop a soft-nosed bullet. Back 
 against the wall both of you." 
 
 Chu-Chu was gurgling like a trapped bear and the 
 veins stood out on his forehead. For the moment 
 I doubted that he d stand and was tempted to kill 
 them both. Then Ivan laughed. 
 
 " Check," said he. 
 
 " Shut up ! " I snarled. " Not a sound if you 
 love your life." 
 
 Both felt, I think, that for all their past interest 
 ing lives of crime neither had been quite so near the 
 ragged edge. Ivan s face was white but calm, but 
 Chu-Chu s was terrible. 
 
ii2 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Now then, M. de Comte," said I, " my opinion 
 is that Chu-Chu is lying to us both. Turn out his 
 pockets." 
 
 Chu-Chu s body shuddered. I took a step closer. 
 
 Remember, you brute," said I, " I d rather kill 
 you than not. The only reason that I don t is be 
 cause I believe Ivan to be playing fair and I owe him 
 something for those pearls. But as for you, M. de 
 Tondeur, there s a score to settle for those shoes 
 and the handkerchief and the cigarette. Stand fast, 
 or by G - I ll rip your heart out." I looked at 
 Ivan. " Turn out his pockets," I said. 
 
 Ivan obeyed. First came a wallet, then some 
 change. Ivan laid both on the corner of the desk. 
 Then gloves, a handkerchief, a gold pencil and pen 
 knife to match, and a few ordinary objects of the 
 sort that a man carries. I began to think that the 
 pearls were in Ivan s desk. Then, as Ivan turned 
 inside out a hip pocket there dropped on the rug a 
 little package of tissue-paper. It landed solidly. 
 A snarl was wrenched from Chu-Chu. 
 
 " Silence ! " I whispered, glad that we spoke in 
 English, for it was possible that a servant was listen 
 ing outside. " Pick that package up and open it," I 
 said to Ivan. 
 
 He did so, then his jaw dropped and his eyes 
 opened wide. There was no doubt of his amaze 
 ment. 
 
 " Give it here," I said, and stepped forward, hold 
 ing out my hand, the gun muzzle almost against his 
 body. His eyes met mine with a curious expression 
 as he dropped into my outstretched hand three great 
 gems. 
 
AMERICAN METHODS 113 
 
 My friend, they might have killed me at that 
 moment had they guessed their chance. There were 
 two great rubies and an emerald. Never have I 
 seen their like. 
 
 I scarcely looked at them and dropped them into 
 my pocket. 
 
 " So," said I, " and here is a little surprise. Unde 
 clared contraband, is it not, M. de Comte? " 
 
 Ivan nodded. His face had gone hard as stone. 
 
 " We will confiscate it as security against the 
 pearls," said I. These stones are easily worth 
 twice their value. It is no loss to you, M. de Comte, 
 as except for me you never would have known of 
 them. Now listen to me, both of you. I have said 
 that I was through with theft and I mean it. I 
 don t know where these gems came from and I care 
 less, but I am going to keep them as security until 
 you hand over the pearls. When you do that you 
 can have the stones. I am no longer a thief, but 
 neither am I a member of the police. Permit me to 
 restore to M. de Tondeur his other effects. Leave 
 them on the desk. The search has gone far 
 enough." I looked at Ivan. " I consider that I 
 have done you a service, monsieur," said I. 
 
 His eyes narrowed but he did not answer. 
 
 The search had disclosed the fact that Chu-Chu 
 was unarmed. He had not even a knife. Keeping 
 them both covered I walked to Ivan s desk, where in 
 a half-opened drawer I found, as I had expected, a 
 pistol similar to my own. 
 
 " A mere precaution against my retreat," I said, 
 and took it out and slipped it into my pocket. 
 " Now, gentlemen, I will wish you a good morning. 
 
ii 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Needless to say I am delighted at the way in which 
 things have turned out, for everything goes to con 
 firm my confidence in the fair-dealing of M. le 
 Comte, if not in that of M. Chu-Chu. Since the 
 latter has held back these stones, there is no reason 
 to suppose that he has not done the same with the 
 pearls. As soon as the latter are restored to me I 
 will give up the gems." 
 
 Ivan had recovered his sang froid, but Chu-Chu s 
 face was purple and blotchy and his lips were blue. 
 He looked very sick. There is not the slightest 
 doubt in my mind that if he had possessed a weapon 
 of any kind he would have sprung at me and taken 
 the chance of my bullet, in which case he would cer 
 tainly have got himself killed, and probably Ivan 
 also. For I was by no means sure that the pearls 
 were not at that very moment in Ivan s desk. Then 
 why did I not go through it? For two reasons. 
 In the first place there was no need. Since I had 
 the stones I felt sure of getting the pearls. In the 
 second place I did not want to antagonise Ivan more 
 than was necessary. This may sound foolish, after 
 having held him up as I had done, but he would 
 realise that this was forced on me in order to search 
 Chu-Chu. Of the two Ivan would be the more 
 dangerous enemy, having all manner of sub-workers. 
 As things stood it seemed likely enough that he would 
 leave Chu-Chu and myself to settle our affair be 
 tween us. 
 
 " Now," I said, " I m going. Rush out after me 
 if you think it would be healthy. If you call down 
 to your servants I ll kill any man that raises a hand. 
 Gun play of this sort is my long suit. But if you re 
 
AMERICAN METHODS 115 
 
 wise you won t try to stop me. Good morning." 
 I backed to the door, opened it and slipped out, 
 slamming it shut behind me. Nobody was in the 
 hall. Down the stairs I went, the pistol in my fist, 
 hid by my Derby hat. At the foot of the stairs I 
 met the maitre d hotel. He opened the door to let 
 me out with a polite "bon jour, M sieu ." 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 HAWK AND RAVEN 
 
 LET me tell you, my friend, that as I walked away 
 from Ivan s house I was not singing paeans of praise. 
 I had got more than twice the value of what I went 
 after, it is true, but I had also got something else, 
 and that was the undying enmity of the most danger 
 ous criminal in Europe. 
 
 As long as Chu-Chu was alive my own life was 
 worth about two sous. From the moment that I 
 left Ivan s house Chu-Chu s immediate and pressing 
 business would be to settle his account with me. I 
 had not the slightest doubt that so far as his private 
 affairs were concerned everything would have to 
 wait while he gave himself to a sincere and painstak 
 ing stalk of myself. I had not only deprived him 
 of a fortune but I had disgraced and ruined him with 
 Ivan. In fact, I was not at all sure but that he 
 might kill Ivan with his naked hands before leaving 
 the house, merely because the Pole had witnessed 
 his humiliation. Thinking it over, I was sorry that 
 I had not left Ivan his pistol, as in that case he might 
 have disposed of Chu-Chu on his own account. You 
 see, Chu-Chu s quarrel with an outsider was a men 
 ace to the whole mob, as many men in my position 
 would have gone straight to the prefect of police and 
 furnished information which might have led to the 
 capture of Monsieur de Maxeville. 
 
 Why didn t I do that very thing? It is a little 
 116 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 117 
 
 hard to explain. In the first place, anybody who 
 has been for years a criminal hates the thought of 
 being mixed up with the police. There are too 
 many old crimes that may be brought to light. 
 Then, my release from the clutch of the law was ir 
 regular; an unofficial pardon that would hardly bear 
 the scrutiny of the public. Still again, I did not see 
 how I could impeach Chu-Chu without implicating 
 Ivan and his crowd, and I felt that if I was once 
 marked for the hereafter by that perfect organisa 
 tion I might just as well go down and hop off a 
 tbridge into the Seine. But last of all, I had made 
 up my mind that the best in fact, the only thing 
 for me to do was to turn all of my talent to kill 
 ing Chu-Chu before Chu-Chu killed me. I would 
 have killed him in Ivan s house if I had felt that it 
 was possible to do so without a general rumpus. As 
 it was, at the first shot the servants would have come 
 running in, armed, no doubt, for Ivan s servants 
 were all members of the gang. He had told me on 
 the night of Leontine s dinner that his entire house 
 hold belonged to his mob. 
 
 No, it was better as it was, dangerous as my posi 
 tion might be. As things now stood I felt pretty 
 sure that I had only Chu-Chu to reckon with. Ivan 
 would sit tight and offer up prayers that each of us 
 might kill the other. His work was merely execu 
 tive, and he detested violence as much as might the 
 big trust magnate who sits cool and respectable in 
 his office and robs from the masses. Only Ivan was 
 on rather a higher plane, as he confined himself to re 
 lieving the too-rich of their plethora of wealth. 
 
 If I had still been an active member of the Under- 
 
n8 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 World this feud with Chu-Chu would not have both 
 ered me a scrap. Although I had always managed 
 to keep on good terms with, my colleagues, such 
 blood-quarrels had come under my observation sev 
 eral times, and in most cases they had reached their 
 issue quietly and without " scandal," as one might say. 
 Chu-Chu and I turned loose in Paris on the warpath 
 for each other s scalps were on perfectly even terms; 
 in fact, the advantage was, if anything, with me, as 
 I could play a greater number of roles than he, and, 
 more important than that, I was not driven by sheer 
 hate and malignity. My game would be played 
 entirely with the head, while it was possible with Chu- 
 Chu that emotion might lead him into taking chances. 
 
 But the trouble was that Chu-Chu belonged to the 
 Under-World, which I had left. A man going about 
 his business in a respectable state of Society has 
 about as much chance of protecting himself against 
 the preformed attack of a dangerous criminal as a 
 stag in a deer-park would have of escaping a hunter 
 out for its head. I knew mighty well that if I wanted 
 to kill Chu-Chu before Chu-Chu got a chance to kill 
 me I would have to take a dive under the surface of 
 Society. Otherwise the odds would be those of a 
 man swimming against a tiger-shark. So I deter 
 mined to slip back into the Under-World long enough 
 to do for Chu-Chu. 
 
 This may sound cold-blooded and ferocious to 
 you, my friend, but you must remember that I had 
 been a criminal for all of my life. As I have told 
 you before, I was never one of those thugs who walk 
 into a house with a loaded gun, ready to take life if 
 interrupted. But I had never placed a very high 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 119 
 
 value on my own life, nor on that of any other crim 
 inal. As I saw it, the law was always " off " on 
 game of my breed. The law does not bother itself 
 very much when it stubs its toes on a dead thief, and 
 is generally quite content when crooks turn to and 
 slaughter each other. And the crooks have rather 
 accepted this liberal point of view. 
 
 Although it was known to only a few people in 
 the Under-World that M. de Maxeville and Chu- 
 Chu le Tondeur were the same, I thought it possible 
 that an inquest over his corpse would bring this to 
 light and prevent much investigation for his assassin. 
 Whether it did or not, I certainly did not intend to 
 sit down and twirl my thumbs and wait for Chu-Chu 
 to bag me. Although I had reformed, my principles 
 had not yet mounted to this lofty plane. 
 
 One thing was pretty sure, and that was that Chu- 
 Chu would make no attempt upon my life until he 
 had tried to swap his gems back for the pearls. At 
 least, I did not think that he would. Chu-Chu was 
 known to be an avaricious man and he knew that I 
 wanted that particular pearl necklace and would be 
 willing to sacrifice the added value of the gems to get 
 it. I had little doubt but that I would hear from 
 hirn in regard to the matter before the day was over. 
 
 Well, the game was on now and all that I could 
 do was to play it out. On leaving Ivan s house I 
 had turned down a street which led to the garage 
 where I stabled our six-cylinder show-car, for John 
 and I were to take out a client later. The garage 
 was a big, new establishment, near the Pare Mon- 
 ceau and accommodated two or three hundred cars. 
 When I got there I found that my tyres were a little 
 
120 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 soft and told a mecanicien to give me some air. He 
 was doing this, and I standing by waiting, when I 
 heard a voice that struck me as familiar. I looked 
 up over the top of the tonneau, then ducked down 
 again, for there, six paces away, stood Ivan s chauf 
 feur; the same man who had gone with us the night 
 that Leontine and I entered John s house, and at his 
 elbow, his back turned to me, was Chu-Chu. 
 
 The chauffeur was talking. I heard him say: 
 
 We will go by Pontoise, M sieu. It is less di 
 rect, but it saves the time that would be lost in cross 
 ing Paris and the road is better. From Pontoise 
 there is a little route to Beauvais which is now in 
 good condition and cuts off a good deal of distance. 
 After Beauvais we stick to the route nationale." 
 
 Chu-Chu growled something that I did not hear, 
 but there was no need. Pontoise, Beauvais, and 
 after that the route nationale. It was plain enough. 
 Chu-Chu was off for Boulogne or Calais. 
 
 The car came down that minute on one of the big 
 lifts and the two got aboard, I crouching down and 
 pretending to examine my chain. Out went the 
 other car, which I recognised as Ivan s 16-24 two- 
 seated road-car. Chu-Chu was driving. I looked 
 after it and took the number. 
 
 Thought I to myself, " Now what the deuce is he 
 up to? England?" I had never heard of Chu-Chu s 
 having done any work over there. Then it struck 
 me that his errand might have something to do with 
 Leontine. It was possible that he had given the 
 pearls that morning to Leontine, but this idea I put 
 out of my mind. Leontine would know where they 
 came from, and I did not believe that in the face of 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 121 
 
 my threat she would dare to dispose of them. It 
 must be something else. 
 
 I shoved the gauge into my fuel tank and found 
 that I had but fifteen litres, for big cars going on the 
 road buy their essence outside of Paris, as you know, 
 to save the octroi duty. 
 
 " Fill the reservoir," I said to the mecamcien. 
 " I am taking out some clients and do not want to 
 
 o 
 
 bother to stop outside." 
 
 While the man was getting the petrol I did some 
 rapid thinking. I did not believe that Chu-Chu was 
 going after the pearls. But, then, what was he up 
 to? 
 
 Another idea struck me. What if Chu-Chu s er 
 rand was not to get the pearls but to dispose of them ? 
 What if he had turned the pearls in to Ivan and the 
 two had come to an understanding and decided to 
 insist on Leontine s getting rid of them, taking the 
 chances on getting the gems from me later by 
 methods of their own? It was possible that they 
 might be confident that I would keep the gems on 
 my person, and even at that moment Ivan s blood 
 hounds might be on my trail. A moment s 
 thought and I was sure that this was the actual 
 situation. 
 
 I went quickly to the office of the garage. Prince 
 Kharkoff, I knew, lived near the Pare Monceau, and 
 it was most probable that he garaged in this same es 
 tablishment. 
 
 " What time did the car of M. le Prince Kharkoff 
 go out? " I asked. 
 
 " At ten o clock, M. Clamart," said the manager. 
 " M. le Prince is off for London." 
 
122 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Thank you," said I, and went back to hurry the 
 mecanicien. 
 
 For with this information it seemed to me that the 
 whole business was clear. Kharkoff s car was a big, 
 heavy, limousine affair, and not capable of much 
 speed. Kharkoff would probably stop at St. Ger 
 main for dejeuner, and this would consume an hour 
 and a half at least, for the Russian was a high-liver. 
 After dejeuner they would take the road to Bou 
 logne, probably stopping at Abbeville for tea, and 
 reaching Boulogne in good time to take the boat 
 which left for Folkestone at seven. Chu-Chu would 
 push right through, and contrive in some w r ay to get 
 a word with Leontine, handing over to her the pearls, 
 with strict instructions from Ivan that she dispose of 
 them. After that, he would return with all speed 
 to Paris and take up my trail. The game was being 
 undoubtedly played to the full limit and to win the 
 pearls, the gems and the life of a dangerous rene 
 gade. 
 
 All of this hit me, like a ton of brick, as the true 
 solution. I had been a fool, I thought, to figure for 
 a second on Chu-Chu s condescending to make a 
 dicker with a rank outsider who had handled him as 
 I had done. To begin with, no doubt his ferocious 
 hate was so intense that he would rather have lost 
 the gems and flung the pearls into the Seine than to 
 have had me square myself with the Cuttynges. 
 Ivan, too, had been humiliated in a manner impos 
 sible for his self-respect as the chief of a big criminal 
 system to endure. Neither one could stomach it, and 
 they had joined forces again to play the game out 
 to the bitter end. 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 123 
 
 All of this, my friend, had flashed through my 
 mind, even as I went to the office to learn when the 
 Prince s car had gone out. Sooner, in fact. The 
 problem and its possible solution had occurred to me 
 as Chu-Chu rolled out of the garage when I had 
 told the mecanicien to fill up my tank. In the 
 Under-World the odds are heavy on the man who 
 strikes first. So far this policy had won for me, and 
 I determined to stick to it. As matters stood I felt 
 that I was a doomed individual. If Ivan had marked 
 me for the morgue, I was a goner. But, at any rate, 
 I did not intend to mark time and wait for the blow 
 to fall. My word, but I was sorry that I hadn t 
 followed my play through, and sent them both to 
 glory when I had had the chance ! 
 
 But Chu-Chu had not yet pulled out of the woods. 
 My plan, at the moment, was nothing more nor 
 less than to catch and kill him on the road to 
 Boulogne. 
 
 Ivan s little car was a good one, but she was no 
 match for my big six. I decided to overhaul Chu- 
 Chu on the road somewhere beyond Amiens, and, as 
 I passed, to shoot him dead as he sat at the wheel. 
 If the mecanicien showed fight, I would kill him, too. 
 Sounds pretty thick, doesn t it? That s because we 
 are in peaceful old France. If it were Arizona 
 you d think nothing about it. 
 
 "All ready, m sieu," said the garage man; and I 
 came out of my trance. 
 
 I got my motoring ulster and a face-mask out of 
 the locker, then climbed into the car and rolled out, 
 turning toward the Avenue de la Grande Armee. 
 At the office I stopped and put the gems in the safe, 
 
i2 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 locking them up in an inner drawer, and putting the 
 key in my pocket. 
 
 " I ve got some business that may keep me out all 
 day," said I to Gustave. " If M. Cuttynge comes 
 up, tell him that I have just learned of something im 
 portant, and ask him to make another rendezvous 
 with M. Caldwell. If I have not returned by seven, 
 don t wait." 
 
 Out I went and jumped into the car and rolled off, 
 leaving Gustave to stare after me, disgusted that I 
 should go without a mccanicien. My mind was 
 working fast as I sped along. Plan after plan went 
 through my head. It struck me that perhaps the 
 best way would be to pass Chu-Chu when he was 
 travelling fast and crowd him into the ditch. This 
 would not be difficult with a big heavy car like mine; 
 and in such an " accident " the driver is usually killed 
 while the man beside him is apt to escape. If neither 
 was injured, I could always go back and finish Chu- 
 Chu with my pistol. Then I thought of even a bet 
 ter plan. Why not get on ahead, then lay my car 
 across the road so that they would have to stop, and 
 hold Chu-Chu up and go through him for the pearls? 
 Once having got them, I could rush back to Paris, 
 turn over the pearls and the gems to John, with in 
 structions to give the latter to the police, and get out 
 of the country as quick as possible. I did not be 
 lieve that Ivan or Chu-Chu would follow me up if I 
 went to America, though it was possible that Chu- 
 Chu might. 
 
 Sounds as if I began to weaken as I went along, 
 doesn t it? Well, perhaps I did. The odds against 
 me were too awful heavy, and life is sweet, after all. 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 125 
 
 The strain was beginning to tell, too, and I knew that 
 this would get steadily worse. A fight in the open 
 is all right; but to feel that you are being watched 
 and dogged and shadowed by a big human octopus, 
 to be struck down at the first unguarded moment, is 
 pretty awful. I don t pretend to any more nerve 
 than the average man who has lived the most of his 
 active life in the Under-World. Besides, I never 
 was a killer. 
 
 Out I went through St. Germain to avoid the 
 pavee, and turned off for Pontoise, taking a good 
 road gait but not pushing her any. It was a beauti 
 ful day in the early summer, and as I filled my lungs 
 with the sweet perfume of the forest it struck me as 
 being mighty rough that I should be crowded out 
 just when life seemed to be opening up all anew and 
 full of promise. If only they could have left me in 
 peace. I thought of Edith s sweet face and won 
 dered what she would say if she knew how things 
 had turned out. At any rate, living or dead, she 
 would know that I had stuck to my word and taken 
 the consequences without flinching, and this thought 
 did me a lot of good. After all, my life had been 
 lived at the expense of Society, and Society had a 
 right to collect her debt before taking me back. A 
 curious thing, this life. No act ever seems to go for 
 nothing, good or bad. I began to get mighty 
 thoughtful as I rolled along through that splendid 
 old forest of St. Germain. A deep sadness settled 
 on me. After all, I thought, what s the use of try 
 ing to escape your destiny. Very likely God made 
 thieves and murderers to prey on the rest of man 
 kind just as he made wolves and panthers to prey 
 
126 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 on deer. About half of the living creatures in the 
 world prey on the other half. It s hard to see the 
 use of a criminal, except to himself and others of 
 his class, but it struck me that maybe Chu-Chu had 
 run over the limit and that I was intended as an in 
 strument to put a check on him. That was a cheer 
 ful way to look at it, anyway. 
 
 I passed through Pontoise and held on for Beau- 
 vais by the little route that Ivan s man had spoken 
 of at the garage. It was a pity, I thought, that I 
 could not have caught them up here, for there was 
 nobody on the road. By this time I had my plan 
 all made. I determined to pass Chu-Chu at high 
 speed and literally crowd him off the road. This 
 would be dangerous to me, of course, as it s a risky 
 job to mix up the direction of a big car running at a 
 high speed, but I would be prepared and ought to 
 be able to stick to the track. As you know, these 
 French roads are drained by ditches at least a foot 
 deep and a foot wide, running off at right-angles and 
 spaced only ten or a dozen metres apart. Shoved 
 into one of those while running fast, Chu-Chu s 
 chances were all for getting piled up. What hap 
 pened after that would depend on circumstances. I 
 gave up the idea of stopping him by laying my own 
 car across the road. In the first place there was the 
 danger that he might recognise me, even in my mask 
 and ulster. Also, it was possible that somebody 
 might come along and interfere with the rest of the 
 game. 
 
 At Beauvais I struck the route nationale and hit 
 up my speed, and in a few minutes the big six was 
 tearing along like a comet. Very few people were 
 
HAWK AND RAVEN 127 
 
 on the road, but presently I sighted a cloud of dust 
 ahead and over-hauled a big limousine car with a 
 trunk on behind and a lot of small luggage on top. 
 
 " Kharkoff ! " I said to myself, and sure enough it 
 was. I cut loose the siren and the car swerved out 
 to the right, and as I tore past I caught a glimpse of 
 the Prince inside and Leontine. They could not 
 have recognised me, my face being covered with the 
 mask, but I hoped that Chu-Chu was far enough 
 ahead to enable me to finish my business with him be 
 fore they came up, and this seemed probable as the 
 little car was light and fast. 
 
 I passed through Amiens, then hit up the speed 
 again. Then, just outside the town I sighted a small 
 car spinning up a hill on ahead. Getting closer I 
 saw that there were two men aboard it. They were 
 travelling fast, but I slowed a bit, as the place was 
 too populated for my purpose. 
 
 Five kilometres spun past and we were in a big, 
 open country with a clear road and few houses, these 
 for the most part scattered farms, with here and 
 there some peasants working in the fields. I took a 
 long breath. 
 
 " Now for it," I said to myself. " I ll get him on 
 the next long down-grade." 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE FALCON STRIKES 
 
 I GLANCED at the watch in front of me and saw that 
 it was three o clock. It would take Kharkoff a good 
 twenty minutes to catch us up, I thought, and by that 
 time I ought to have the job done and be away, pro 
 vided I did not put my own car out of action. 
 Ahead of me, Chu-Chu had hit the top of the grade 
 and disappeared. I opened up the big six and she 
 went up that hill like a thirteen-inch shell. Then, 
 here was a cloud of dust ahead, and as I tore down 
 the slope on the other side I saw that it was a big 
 limousine touring-car full of people. She was chug 
 ging along like an old tugboat, rattling like a junk- 
 cart. I swore. The place was perfect for my plan, 
 and there was Chu-Chu going down the grade ahead 
 like a scared rabbit. 
 
 But the confounded old hearse behind her spoiled 
 everything, and I knew that at the gait we were 
 travelling we would mighty soon strike Abbeville. 
 So I decided to wait until after that place, which was 
 just as well, the country being wilder and bleaker be 
 yond. I slowed down so as to keep Chu-Chu s dust 
 in sight. 
 
 Soon we went through Abbeville and out on to the 
 big straight road beyond. That two-seater of Ivan s 
 could certainly get over the route and Chu-Chu was 
 a good driver. I realised that I must ditch him be 
 fore Montreuil, as after that the road is more fre- 
 
 128 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 129 
 
 quented, so I hit up my pace and began to draw in 
 on his heels. Then all at once there opened out a 
 splendid, long, soaring descent with one or two gentle 
 rises, for the country here is in great undulations, 
 like a big Pacific ground-swell. Better yet, there was 
 a row of poplars on either side of the road. 
 
 " If I can only manage to chuck him into one of 
 those," I thought, " I can see where the tide-water 
 clam gets a new lease of life." 
 
 The time had come. I gave the big six the accel 
 erator, then opened up the siren. " Wop wop 
 Wow-ow," she went. Chu-Chu s mecanicien looked 
 back, then said something to Chu-Chu. He swerved 
 out, never slackening his speed, which must have 
 been around sixty kilometres, while my gauge showed 
 ninety-six a mile a minute, just. We were soaring 
 down a long three per cent, grade, and the poplar 
 trunks flashing past like the palings of a fence. 
 
 " If he gets out of this alive the joke is certainly 
 on me," I thought, and gripped the wheel with all of 
 the strength that was in me. 
 
 Down I rushed like an angel of death, the silencer 
 open and the exhaust roaring like a gatling gun.. 
 Until almost up to him I kept well over to the left,, 
 then began to edge in. The mecanicien looked back 
 over his shoulder, and as he saw me crowding them, 
 yelled something in Chu-Chu s ear. Chu-Chu slid 
 over, getting dangerously off the crown of the road 
 and almost into the ditch. I followed him, working 
 closer. I saw the mecanicien s mouth open in a yell 
 and he flung out one arm. Ruthless as a greyhound 
 at the side of a hare, I closed in on him, forging al 
 ways ahead. My eyes never left the road, but I 
 
130 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 could feel my mudguard rubbing his. This time the 
 yell of the mecamcien reached me. It sounded like 
 the bleat of a sheep. 
 
 Then, evenly abreast and my foot nursing the 
 pedal, I shot ahead, giving the wheel the slightest 
 twist. I heard the grind of metal, then a crash as I 
 flirted the stern of my big car into the forward end 
 of the other. I did not dare take my eyes from the 
 road, and so slight was the jar that I thought that 
 I had missed. But a shriek pierced the roaring of 
 the exhaust and the next instant I heard from far be 
 hind me, as it seemed, a terrific crash. I cut off the 
 power and braked, gently. 
 
 The car slowed, then stopped and I looked back. 
 There was nothing on the road behind me. There 
 was nothing in the ditch, against the trees. I flung 
 up my mask. Lord of Life, but what was this, out 
 there in the standing wheat? The other car, as I 
 hope to live. The other car, both men still aboard 
 it, and still going. It looked like a western reaper, 
 out there in the waving grain. 
 
 I rubbed my eyes. What had happened? How 
 did he get out there intact? 
 
 Then suddenly I understood. Even as I closed 
 in on him, Chu-Chu had guessed what was afoot. 
 Perhaps he recognised me, mask and all, in one swift 
 sidelong glance. He saw my deadly intention and 
 his marvellous quick wit had leaped at the only pos 
 sible means of escape from annihilation. The shove 
 I gave him had aided his own design and he had 
 leaped the cross ditch, slipped between the trees, 
 crashed through the hedge and shot into the wheat- 
 field. 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 131 
 
 I stared at the line of poplars. At the foot of 
 one lay a heap of debris; mudguards and marchepied, 
 shorn off against a tree-trunk. Then I looked across 
 at the car. It was still in motion, crawling on first 
 speed through the grain and heading back for the 
 road. 
 
 At the same instant I heard the shriek of a siren 
 ahead. Down an opposite slope came a cloud of 
 dust. It reached the bottom of the descent and hit 
 the slight up-grade. Up it came, and at a distance 
 of several hundred metres the people aboard it 
 sighted Chu-Chu, out there in the wheat. The car 
 slowed, then stopped beside my own. 
 
 " What is that? " cried the mecanicien. " What 
 are those people doing out there? " 
 
 " I am afraid," I answered, " that the fault is 
 mine. I was trying this new car and, passing Mon 
 sieur at a high speed, crowded him too close. Fear 
 ing to be pushed into the ditch he ran out into the 
 field." 
 
 There were three people in the tonneau, two 
 women and a man. They cried out in wonder and 
 excitement. 
 
 " He has had a close call," said the chauffeur. 
 " See, he scraped off his mudguards on a tree." 
 And with that they all began to talk at once, and 
 from the trend of the conversation I saw that the 
 popular sympathy was not with me. 
 
 Then Chu-Chu did what must have impressed 
 them as an incomprehensible thing. He had made 
 a detour in the wheat and was approaching the road 
 below us, where there was an entrance in the field. 
 Reaching this he turned on to the route, when, with- 
 
132 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 out so much as a backward glance, he threw in his 
 speed and whirled off down the slope. 
 
 " But look," cried the chauffeur, " he is going 
 on!" 
 
 The others were silent from sheer amazement. 
 No recriminations, no abuse, no proces-verbal? It 
 was unheard of, astounding. They looked at me 
 for an explanation of such conduct. 
 
 " Monsieur," said I, " doubtless feels himself to 
 be in the wrong. As a matter of fact, there was 
 plenty of room. Perhaps he lost his head and is 
 angry and ashamed and feels that the less said the 
 better." 
 
 The tide of sympathy quickly turned. " That 
 must be the case," said the chauffeur. " As a mat 
 ter of fact there is room for three cars to pass abreast 
 on this road. A man who cannot keep his head 
 ought not to drive. It is to imperil his own life and 
 that of others." 
 
 I agreed with him, wondering what he would say 
 when he saw my tracks, farther up the slope. But 
 there was nothing more to discuss, so I bowed and 
 started ahead. I knew that they would stop to look 
 at the twisted remains of Chu-Chu s mudguards, 
 and I could imagine their fresh mystification at 
 his taking the matter so indifferently when they 
 noted the evidence of our relative tracks. I 
 doubted that I had left him the room for a man on 
 a bicycle. 
 
 On I went, slowly and thinking hard. Chu-Chu 
 had escaped by a miracle, aided by his own extra 
 ordinary coolness, skill and lightning thought. I 
 actually admired the man. But it was plain enough 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 133 
 
 that the scheme was not one to be tried a second time. 
 Chu-Chu and the mecanicien were both armed, no 
 doubt, and I could imagine the amiable state of their 
 emotions. 
 
 A kilometre along I stopped and got out to look at 
 my own damage, which amounted to no more than a 
 flattened mudguard, the heavy angle-irons having 
 taken all the strain and bent double. This was a 
 slight affair and could be repaired in a few minutes 
 at any wayside forge. 
 
 Well, that trick was played, and Chu-Chu had won 
 it. There was no sense in following him up now, so 
 I took the next cross-road and returned at a good 
 gait to Paris. 
 
 On the way back my mind was presented by a very 
 nasty consideration. The war with Chu-Chu was 
 now on, full blast, and it occurred to me that owing 
 to our remarkable resemblance John s life was in al 
 most as much danger as my own. Chu-Chu was not 
 the man to risk losing a chance through fear of get 
 ting the wrong person. John must be warned im 
 mediately, and persuaded, if possible, to leave the 
 country and remain away until the feud was settled. 
 So on reaching the garage I jumped into a taxi and 
 went immediately to his house. 
 
 The old maitre d hotel seemed rather disturbed 
 as he let me in, and a moment later I knew why. 
 Drunken snores were reverberating through the 
 ante-chambre. The old servant threw out his hands 
 with a shrug. 
 
 " Yes, it is M sieu ," says he. " M sieu has not 
 been himself to-day. He has consumed an entire 
 bottle of whisky." He said this as though speaking 
 
i 3 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 of potassium cyanide. " After dejeuner, M sieu 
 threw himself down upon the divan in the library and 
 went to sleep. Before long he began to snore. 
 For the sake of Madame I tried to persuade him to 
 go up to his room, but M sieu s temper was very 
 disagreeable. In fact, he threatened Frangois with 
 violence." 
 
 " Are the ladies at home? " I asked. 
 
 " Madame is reposing in her boudoir, but she left 
 orders that if M. Clamart were to call, he should 
 be shown up immediately. Miss Dalghren has gone 
 out." 
 
 He led the way to the stairs and I followed, paus 
 ing for a moment to glance into the library. There 
 was John stretched out on his back, snoring to 
 heaven and his face purple. He was not pretty. I 
 wondered if he often did that sort of thing, but did 
 not care to ask. 
 
 I followed the old man up the stairs. He 
 announced me at Edith s door, and I heard a 
 sweet, low-pitched voice reply: " Que Monsieur 
 entre." 
 
 I went in and closed the door gently behind me. 
 John s drunken snores were filling the whole house. 
 Edith w r as lying on a chaise-longue by the open win 
 dow. A thrush was singing in the garden and there 
 was the odour of lilacs. Edith did not rise, but 
 looked up at me with her sweet smile. She was pale, 
 and there were dark shadows under her eyes, but her 
 face was tranquil and the eyes themselves clear and 
 steady as always. 
 
 " Good afternoon, Frank," she said. " My 
 warmest congratulations on your success." 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 135 
 
 " My success? " I repeated. 
 
 " Yes, in getting Mary s pearls. I told them that, 
 you would." 
 
 " Oh," I answered, " I d almost forgotten that. 
 Truth is, Edith, I hoped to have yours this evening, 
 but things have gone a bit wrong." 
 
 " Can you tell me about it? " she asked. 
 
 " Only this. Miss Dalghren s necklace was stolen 
 to put me in a bad light." 
 
 " I know that," she interrupted. 
 
 "How?" I asked. 
 
 " John found the prints of your tennis shoes in 
 the flower-bed under the window. It is an unusual 
 pattern, and you wore those shoes one afternoon, 
 you remember, when you went with John to Chartres. 
 Then, Mary discovered one of your handkerchiefs in 
 her room. It was all plain enough." 
 
 I felt my face getting hot. " John might have 
 told me this," I growled. 
 
 Edith reached over and patted the back of my 
 hand. 
 
 ; Don t worry, Frank. We knew that it was all 
 a put-up job. That woman? " She raised her deli 
 cate eyebrows. 
 
 I nodded. 
 
 " She wanted to get you back," said Edith. ;< I 
 guessed that much." 
 
 " How about John and Miss Dalghren? " I asked. 
 
 "Did you see John when you came in?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " No. He was asleep." 
 
 Edith glanced out of the window. " John has 
 been drinking too much for a long time, and thinks 
 
136 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 "that I have not noticed it," said she, quietly. " I 
 hate the idea of nagging, Frank, so I have waited 
 .for a culmination which would make my protest un 
 avoidable. Now it has come. John is dead drunk 
 in his own drawing-room, for the first time in his life. 
 He cannot be awakened. He is a kind husband and 
 a very proud man, and I have no fear but that the 
 remorse which follows this will effect the result I 
 want. John will pass me his word . . . and 
 like yourself, Frank, he keeps his word. A family 
 trait." She smiled. 
 
 Now what do you think of that? Here were the 
 two string of pearls stolen and my tracks and hand 
 kerchief found. Yet this woman s faith in me was 
 as firm and unwavering as ever. And her own 
 pearls were still missing. For the moment I could 
 hardly speak. 
 
 " This has been hard on us all, Frank," Edith went 
 on. " It has been hard on John, because he is a 
 practical sort of person and inclined to look at mat 
 ters from their results. To be frank, I think that it 
 is the worry of these thefts which is accountable for 
 his condition." 
 
 " Does he suspect me? " I asked. 
 
 " No. He is very worried, though, over the 
 whole affair." 
 
 "And Miss Dalghren? " I asked. 
 
 " She is less charitable. She refuses to believe 
 that you are not in some way interested. When I 
 pointed out that nobody as adroit as yourself would 
 go tramping about a flower-bed with shoes having a 
 design stamped on the sole, or would have dropped 
 a handkerchief in her room, she said: I don t be- 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 137 
 
 lleve that he stole my necklace. She agreed with 
 me that that theft was a put-up job on the part of 
 your former confreres who used you as a scapegoat. 
 But she argued that inasmuch as this had occurred 
 you felt that there was no sense in having the name 
 without the game, and that you had come down the 
 next night and stolen mine." 
 
 " Miss Dalghren must have a beautiful idea of 
 my sense of gratitude," said I. 
 
 " She has had some bitter experiences where grati 
 tude was concerned, Frank," Edith answered. 
 " Besides, while a sweet and sympathetic girl, 
 she is not over bright. You see, Frank, I am not 
 holding back a single thing from you. It is better 
 that you should know exactly how you stand with 
 us." ^ 
 
 "And you, Edith?" I asked. 
 
 A warm flush came into her lovely face. " I 
 know that you are innocent of any wrong, Frank," 
 said she. 
 
 My friend, for a moment I could scarcely speak. 
 Something rose in my throat and choked me, and 
 there was a mist in my eyes. I reached for Edith s 
 hand and raised it to my lips. 
 
 " Thank you, Edith," was all I could manage to 
 say. 
 
 For a moment or two neither of us spoke. Edith 
 was looking at me questioningly. 
 
 "Is there anything that you can tell me?" she 
 asked. " I have no doubts, Frank, but I am curi 
 ous." She smiled. 
 
 For the instant I was tempted to tell her the whole 
 story. I felt that her quiet faith in me entitled her 
 
138 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to know. I wanted her to see what I had been 
 through what I was risking to clear myself and 
 restore her jewels. 
 
 But second thoughts prevented this. I knew that 
 the tale would prove too much for her. I was un 
 willing to expose her to the shock. More than that, 
 if Edith had known that I was holding stolen gems 
 as security for the return of her jewels she would 
 never have permitted it. So I said: 
 
 " I can t tell you anything just yet, Edith. All I 
 can say is that Miss Dalghren s pearls were stolen, 
 as you supposed, to drive me back to the old life. 
 The theft of yours was different. The same person 
 who had been detailed to do the first job for some 
 body else, came back and did the second on his own 
 account. But the hand is not yet played out. Give 
 me a little more time." 
 
 Soon after that I left her and went out of the 
 house. Half-way across the garden I saw the gate 
 open and Miss Dalghren came in. Her colour 
 changed on seeing me and for the moment she seemed 
 uncertain as to how she should act. Then she came 
 forward quickly. 
 
 u Mr. Clamart," said she, " may I speak a few 
 words to you? " 
 
 u Certainly, Miss Dalghren," I answered. 
 
 " Then come over here," said she, and led the way 
 to the summer-house. Inside the vine-covered bower 
 she motioned me to sit opposite. 
 
 " Mr. Clamart," said she, fastening her vivid, blue 
 eyes on mine. " First of all I want to thank you for 
 the recovery of my pearls." 
 
 I bowed. 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 139 
 
 " Have you succeeded in learning anything about 
 Edith s?" she asked. 
 
 " Not yet," I answered. 
 
 A shadow crossed her face. Her colour deepened. 
 
 "You have seen Edith?" 
 
 " I have just left her," said I. " She told me of 
 your suspicions. They are not the truth, but I don t 
 blame you for having them." 
 
 She made an impatient gesture with her hand. 
 
 " I should hardly describe them as suspicions, Mr. 
 Clamart," said she, and gave me a straight look. 
 " They are rather more than that." 
 
 " Indeed? " I answered. It struck me all of a 
 sudden that Chu-Chu must have left some more con 
 vincing evidence the second time than he did the 
 first. But I was rather beyond caring much about 
 that now. Edith believed in me and that was 
 enough. 
 
 Miss Dalghren s intent blue eyes never left mine. 
 I began to feel my patience squirming around a bit. 
 Thought I, this fool of a girl thinks that she knows 
 something and is trying to make me fess up. Even 
 if she were right, I wonder if she thinks her will is 
 stronger than mine? Does she take me for a Sun 
 day-school scholar? Or a pilfering valet-de-cham- 
 bre? I began to get angry. Miss Dalghren was 
 one of those noble, upright women who are so 
 straight that they bend over backward. For that 
 kind, all humanity is divided into two big classes; 
 good and bad. There is nothing between. Such 
 people have an unbounded faith in the militant 
 strength of virtue. Secure in their own they are 
 convinced that no sinful person can meet the power 
 
1 40 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 of their blameless eye, and they keep on thinking so 
 until some joker with an equally strong but more 
 supple will bamboozles them out of whatever it is 
 that they value most. I have always hated that 
 breed of unconscious " oh, come, sinning brother, and 
 sin no more" pharisee. They do a lot of harm; 
 much more, in fact, than others with a lot less virtue 
 and a little more tolerance. This girl was convinced 
 that I had stolen Edith s pearls, and nothing was 
 going to unconvince her. I wasn t. She made me 
 tired. 
 
 Miss Dalghren may have seen my face harden up, 
 for her eyes began to blaze. At least, there was 
 plenty of fight in her, and no fear at all. 
 
 " Mr. Clamart," says she, " have you no sense of 
 gratitude? No scruple nor respect for your given 
 word? Just think what these people did for you. 
 Think of the penal servitude from which they res 
 cued you and the opportunity which they have of 
 fered you for reconstructing your life. And see the 
 suffering that you have brought into their home. 
 There is John 
 
 " He s not suffering much at the present moment," 
 I interrupted. 
 
 Her teeth came together with a click and she 
 clenched her fists. 
 
 "How can you sneer like that?" she cried. 
 " John is lying there in the library, dead drunk. 
 And why? Because of the shame and remorse that 
 has resulted from your cruelty. John suspects you. 
 So far, he merely suspects; he has not the absolute 
 knowledge that I have." 
 
 " Absolute knowledge of what? " I asked. 
 
THE FALCON STRIKES 141 
 
 That you stole Edith s pearls," says she, pushing 
 out her square little chin. 
 
 " So much the better for John," I remarked. 
 
 A spasm of anger went across her face. 
 
 " Yes," she answered, " so much the better for 
 John, perhaps. But it is not so much the better for 
 you, Mr. Clamart. Now listen to me. I don t 
 like to make threats, but I will not stand quietly by 
 and see the happiness of my friends wrecked by such 
 a man as you. I felt from the first that this experi 
 ment was foolish and dangerous, but I did think that 
 you would at least spare your benefactors. But 
 since you appear to be dead to all sense of finer 
 feeling, I mean to act. If those pearls are not re 
 stored within forty-eight hours, I will tell what I 
 know." 
 
 " And what is that? " I asked. 
 
 She gave her handsome head a toss. " It is quite 
 enough," she answered; and turning on her heel, 
 walked out of the summer-house and took the path 
 to the house. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 ROSENTHAL 
 
 WHEN I went to bed that night I moved a chair 
 against the bolted door and balanced the water- 
 pitcher so that it would fall at the least jar. I also 
 rigged a simple but effective burglar alarm on the 
 windows, then went to sleep with the pistol under my 
 pillow. My dreams were not pleasant. 
 
 When the garcon brought me the newspaper with 
 my coffee at eight in the morning, here on the first 
 page, in big scare-heads, was the following news: 
 
 " DARING ROBBERY ON CHANNEL STEAMER. 
 Jewels worth 12,000 stolen on Dover-Calais Pass 
 age. Victim, Hon. Mrs. Allerton-Staire May Die. 
 No trace of Thief." 
 
 So this was Chu-Chu s errand to Boulogne. With 
 out reading farther, I laid down the paper to think. 
 
 Chu-Chu s business then had nothing to do with 
 the pearls. He had bigger game afoot. I saw 
 Ivan s hand in this job. Chu-Chu had probably 
 taken the boat which left Boulogne at seven, crossed 
 to Folkestone, then gone to Dover, where he had 
 awaited the train which left London at nine. 
 
 I picked up the paper and ran quickly through the 
 account. The victim, it appeared, was on her way 
 to Paris, accompanied by her maid. She carried her 
 jewels in a small valise, which she never permitted to 
 leave her hand in travelling. The crossing had been 
 
 142 
 
ROSENTHAL 143 
 
 rough, and the maid had immediately succumbed to 
 sea-sickness and gone into her mistress s state-room 
 to lie down. Mrs. Allerton-Staire had walked for 
 a few minutes on deck, then seated herself in a deck- 
 chair. Growing suddenly ill she had gone to her 
 cabin, assisted by a gentleman who had been sitting 
 next her. She had the satchel containing the jewels 
 in her hand at the time. Immediately on reaching 
 her state-room she had fallen in a syncope from 
 which she could not be roused on reaching Calais. 
 It was then discovered that the bottom of the satchel 
 had a long incision, the jewel-case being gone. Sus 
 picion was at once directed against the man who had 
 been sitting beside the unfortunate woman on deck, 
 and who was described as a gentlemanly looking per 
 son with a square black beard. In assisting the lady 
 he had been heard to remark that he was a physician. 
 It was supposed that he had given her some power 
 ful hypnotic, probably asserting it to be a remedy for 
 sea-sickness. This was, however, mere surmise, as 
 the victim was still unconscious and in a very low 
 condition. When the theft was discovered, this man 
 was not to be found, either aboard the boat nor in 
 Calais, where a thorough search was made for him 
 by the police. It was thought that he had left the 
 town in an automobile and there was the usual 
 amount of speculation, and theories. 
 
 Reading the article through I regretted more than 
 ever my failure of the afternoon before. It was 
 really unnecessary to poison the poor woman, and I 
 could think of nobody but Chu-Chu who would have 
 been apt to do so. The doctors, however, hoped 
 for her recovery. 
 
144 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Well, Chu-Chu had pulled off his job and was 
 probably at the present moment in Paris, where he 
 would turn his immediate attention to squaring his 
 account with me. He had now a double reason for 
 doing this, because my attempt of the day before 
 would have shown him that I had no intention of 
 waiting to be killed. 
 
 There was no time to be lost. First of all, John 
 must be warned and persuaded to get out of Paris at 
 once. I dressed hurriedly and went around to the 
 office, where I found a note from Edith saying that 
 he was ill in bed and asking me to call at the house 
 at noon as John wished to have a talk with me, and 
 hoped that by that time he would be fit for an inter 
 view. 
 
 There was nothing in particular to do at the office, 
 so at about eleven I ran down to the Automobile 
 Club, hoping to find our client of the day before and 
 apologise for having disappointed him. He was not 
 in the lounge, but over in the corner, smoking a huge 
 cigar, I saw an old acquaintance. This was none 
 other than the Baron Isidor Rosenthal, of Buda Pest 
 and Hayti. 
 
 Perhaps you know Rosenthal. Everybody knows 
 him. No? Well, my friend, a part of your educa 
 tion has been lacking. Rosenthal is a big brawny 
 giant of a Jew who has amassed an enormous for 
 tune in all sorts of adventurous promoting schemes, 
 principally in the financing of revolutions. Some 
 time ago he was created a Papal Baron. That 
 sounds funny for a Jew, but Rosenthal had fairly 
 earned his title by saving the lives of a whole com 
 munity of Bulgarian Christians during the raid of a 
 
ROSENTHAL 145 
 
 fanatical Moslem outfit which was on a jehad, or 
 holy war. Rosenthal had stood off this outfit at 
 the cost of great personal danger and considerable 
 financial expense. He had stopped a bullet for his 
 pains, but this had not stopped Rosenthal. The 
 Vatican had made him a baron and the French 
 had created him an officer of the Legion d Hon- 
 neur. 
 
 Rosenthal was a man of big heart and big ideas. 
 I had known him quite well in Buenos Ayres, and he 
 had stood my friend in a nasty business which might 
 otherwise have cost me dear. This he had done out 
 of sheer kind-heartedness and a personal liking that 
 he had conceived for me. I had not seen him since, 
 so I crossed the room to pass the time o day. 
 
 When he saw me his big, bushy eyebrows went up 
 with surprise. 
 
 " How do you do, Baron? " I said, and held out 
 my hand. 
 
 Rosenthal flung down his morning paper and, 
 without rising, held out his great, hairy paw. 
 
 " Py Chingo," says he, " it is Fr rank. Veil, veil. 
 And how do you do, and whom? The last time we 
 met vas in Buenos Ayres. And how haf you been, 
 my yoong frendt? " 
 
 I told him that I had been very well and was now 
 in the motor-car business. 
 
 "Goot!" says he. "That is a better business 
 than you were in down there in South America." 
 He grinned. " I am glad to learn that you have 
 taken to more honest vor rk alt ough the last man 
 who sold me a car vas a t ief. He r robbed me 
 oh, my fr rendt und it vas not der last time." 
 
i 4 6 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 His big sardonic face lengthened and he gave a groan 
 like a dying horse. " I have been r robbed again. 
 It is terrible. I am sick from it." He pulled out 
 a handkerchief and mopped his face, and for the 
 moment he actually looked sick. " I haf been 
 r robbed of gems vort twenty t ousand pounds." 
 "What!" I cried. 
 
 Yes. I am sick from it very sick. I cannot 
 -eat nor dr rink. It seems there is an epidemic of 
 r robbery. Yoost now I r read in der paper of this 
 dirty Channel business. Mein Gott! " 
 
 " What! " I cried again. " Did those jewels be 
 long to you? " 
 
 " Dose jewels? No. But I haf lost some of my 
 own vort twenty t ousand pounds"; he brought 
 the figure out with a gasp. " Two great rubies and 
 an emerald." 
 
 There are times, my friend, when even the train 
 ing of one s whole life is scarcely enough to enable 
 a man to keep his face. My grip tightened on the 
 arms of the big leathern chair and I felt the blood 
 leaving my face. But my expression exactly coin 
 cided with the baron s feelings, and he did not notice 
 anything amiss. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " it is terrible, is it not? Efery 
 year ven I go home I take a pr resent to my dear vife 
 in Pest. This time I got vat I have been long look 
 ing for. I found a goot bargain. Nefer haf I 
 seen such stones in pr rivate hands. But I vas a 
 fool. I carried t em about in my pocket. It is a 
 bad habit of mine. Der odder day I vent to der 
 races und dere my pocket vas picked. It is that vich 
 so hurts. Isidor Rosenthal to haf his pocket picked 
 
ROSENTHAL 147 
 
 like any fool of a tourist avay from home for der 
 feerst time." 
 
 " That is horrible, Baron," said I. " What have 
 you done about it. Notified the police? " 
 
 " Yes. Und I haf had descriptions of t ose gems 
 sent to all der lapidaries. But I haf not much hope." 
 And he mopped his big satanic face again, for the 
 thought of his loss brought out the sweat. 
 
 " It is rough on Madame la Baronne," I muttered. 
 
 " It s awful. But, of course, she vill nefer know. 
 I meant to gif her a surprise. Now I haf bought 
 somet ing else. It vas der best I could do, and I 
 found anot er bargain. Do you know anyt ing about 
 pearls? Dese are very fine." 
 
 He hauled a packet from an inner pocket, opened 
 it and laid upon the little table Edith s string of 
 pearls. 
 
 Lord o life ! but two such shocks in ten minutes 
 are bad for a man ! It ain t good for his heart. 
 This time Rosenthal s keen, mottled eyes saw the 
 wild look in my face, and the big, bushy eyebrows 
 went up again. 
 
 " Vat s der matter? " he asked. 
 
 I did not answer. My mouth felt dry. To 
 most people one string of pearls looks very like an 
 other, but to an expert like myself they have as much 
 individual expression as a horse to a racing man, 
 or a boat to a sailor. I had noticed Edith s pearls 
 minutely, and the moment my eyes rested on them 
 there was no more doubt than a mother has when she 
 looks into the face of her babe. 
 
 * Veil? " inquired Rosenthal, " you don t answer." 
 
 " I m too much jolted," said I. " Baron, that 
 
148 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 string of pearls was stolen two nights ago from the 
 wife of my half-brother, Mrs. Cuttynge." 
 
 Rosenthal pushed himself back in his chair and 
 stared at me. His eyes, which were of a light hazel 
 colour, slightly bulging and curiously mottled with 
 dark-brown spots, opened until they looked like the 
 glass ones you see in opticians. His tufty, grizzled 
 eyebrows went up, and his jaw dropped. Then he 
 burst into his big, raucous laugh. 
 
 "What is this you are singing me?" he cried. 
 " But no. You are mistaken, my fr rent. Stolen 
 pearls? That is goot. That cannot be. I bought 
 t em from a man I haf traded wit for many years. 
 He is a careful man. He knows der history of all 
 he buys." 
 
 " Nevertheless, these are Mrs. Cuttynge s pearls," 
 I answered. " I am a bit of a connoisseur myself, 
 and I sat for three hours behind these at the opera. 
 There can be no doubt. They were stolen the night 
 before last. The worst of it is, I am in some meas 
 ure suspected of the theft." 
 
 Rosenthal stared for an instant, then burst out: 
 
 " Py Chingo, but ve vill soon know." He gath 
 ered up the pearls, wrapped them hastily in the cot 
 ton and paper, and shoved them into his pocket. 
 
 " Come, my fr rendt," says he; " ve vill yoomp in 
 a taxi and go right down. Py Chingo, vas efery- 
 body stealing jewels? Come! " 
 
 So out we went. It didn t take us long to get 
 down to the place where Rosenthal had bought the 
 pearls. The house was a buyer and seller of pre 
 cious stones, he told me, and had been established 
 for over fifty years. 
 
ROSENTHAL 149 
 
 " It is impossible," said the baron, " that this 
 man vould buy pearls he did not know all about. I 
 haf been a good client for fery many years." 
 
 Rosenthal was a connoisseur of jewels, and usually 
 had a few gems sprinkled about his person. I had 
 heard it said in Buenos Ayres that the big Jew was 
 usually to be found about the gambling places with 
 hard cash to pay for a ring or scarf-pin in case any 
 unfortunate gambler wanted to get the price to con 
 tinue the game. This was a sort of fad of Rosen- 
 thal s, and when he found anything particularly fine 
 it usually went to add to the collection of his wife in 
 Buda Pest. 
 
 " Here ve are," said the baron, and flung open the 
 door of the taxi. 
 
 The shop was quiet and unassuming, and unlike 
 the pretentious places on the Rue de la Paix, with 
 scarcely any of its wares in evidence. The pro 
 prietor, a middle-aged man of genteel appearance, 
 came forward from a room in the rear, and on catch 
 ing sight of Rosenthal, smiled affably. 
 
 " Bon jour, M. le Baron," he began, then shot a 
 look at me. His smile vanished, and in its place 
 there came an expression that was more like fright 
 than anything else. 
 
 " Bon jour, M. Cuttynge," says he, nervously. 
 
 Rosenthal gave me a swift look. As for my part, 
 let me tell you, my friend, that of the series of jolts 
 I had received in the last forty-eight hours, that 
 " M. Cuttynge " was perhaps the hardest to sit 
 tight under. 
 
 Rosenthal, keen-witted old adventurer that he 
 was, had not missed the dealer s frightened look and 
 
150 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the " M. Cuttynge." What he thought I could not 
 guess. But he went ahead warily. 
 
 " About those pearls you sold me this morning, 
 my dear Delmas," said he, in his harsh voice. 
 
 The man s nervousness increased. He glanced at 
 me. 
 
 " Will you give yourselves the trouble to enter 
 my private room," says he, and led the way into a 
 sort of office, richly furnished in Louis XIV. In 
 the centre stood a heavy table with a few chairs about 
 it, and a studio window let in the light from over 
 head. There were a couple of large hand-lenses 
 and some different coloured stuffs against which to 
 show the jewels. 
 
 As we entered the room Rosenthal gave me a bit 
 of a nudge, which I took to mean that I was to leave 
 the talking to him. We seated ourselves the 
 Baron and I on one side of the table, the dealer op 
 posite us. 
 
 " About this little purchase of mine," said Rosen- 
 thai, taking out the pearls and laying them on the 
 table. " My friend is not quite content. He is in 
 clined to doubt your right to sell them." 
 
 The dealer looked very much upset. 
 
 " Mr. Cuttynge is right," said he, in an agitated 
 voice. We were speaking in French. " It is true 
 that when he sold me the pearls it was understood 
 between us that I was not to sell them for a year. 
 I also assured M. Cuttynge that I would not sell 
 the string exactly as it was when worn by Madame 
 Cuttynge, but would make certain substitutions which 
 should render it impossible to recognise the string. 
 I am overwhelmed with regret and remorse." 
 
ROSENTHAL 151 
 
 Rosenthal turned to me. There was a curious, 
 baffled look in his mottled eyes, but he said noth 
 ing. I also remained silent. The dealer looked 
 from one to the other of us with a pale, agi 
 tated face. 
 
 " Of course," said he, " when a lady is unfor 
 tunately compelled to part with her jewels, she does 
 not care to have them recognised elsewhere. I quite 
 understood this, and although I bought the pearls 
 outright, I had no intention of not keeping my 
 verbal agreement. But when I came to make the 
 substitution, I found that I had nothing available 
 with which to replace a few of the larger pearls, 
 which are uncommonly fine. Nevertheless, I should 
 have held strictly to my word had the purchaser been 
 any other than Baron Rosenthal." He turned to 
 me with a look of entreaty. " M. le Baron," said 
 he, " is one of my most valued customers. When 
 he assured me that the rope was for his wife and 
 that he was leaving to-night for Buda Pest, I was so 
 weak as to sell the string as it was. It was very 
 wrong of me and I am desolated. If there is any 
 thing that I can do in the way of making amends, 
 rest assured, M. Cuttynge, I will do it, even at a 
 considerable personal sacrifice." 
 
 He paused and took out his handkerchief. 
 Rosenthal sat heavy and immobile. I said 
 nothing, but drummed on the table with my fin 
 gers. 
 
 The dealer looked from one to the other of us.. 
 Being French, he did not wait for us to speak, feel 
 ing, perhaps, that it would only be to hear something; 
 disagreeable. 
 
iS2 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " I assure you, Messieurs," said he, " this is the 
 first time that I have ever allowed myself to be 
 placed in so embarrassing a position." 
 
 Rosenthal threw me a swift look. I gave my 
 shoulders a slight shrug. My friend, although I 
 looked impassive enough, I was all in a turmoil. 
 So John was the thief. John had stolen his wife s 
 pearls, brought them to this man Delmas, and sold 
 them outright on Delmas verbal agreement that he 
 would not dispose of them for twelve months, and 
 then only after making such changes as would render 
 it impossible to recognise the string. 
 
 As this went through my head, the first emotion 
 was a hot, furious rage against my thieving sot of a 
 half-brother. It was for this that I had bearded 
 Ivan in his den and tried to assassinate Chu-Chu. 
 It was for this that my life must hang in the bal 
 ance until I should either kill or be killed. Now 
 that I knew I wanted to get out of the place and 
 mentally digest the situation. 
 
 The dealer saw the blood surging into my face. 
 Perhaps he saw the fury behind my eyes, for he 
 began to renew his apologies and regrets and offers 
 to make what amends he could for having broken 
 his given word. I had no doubt that he was a fairly 
 honest man. But he had lacked the force to resist 
 Rosenthal s insistence. He reasoned that since he 
 had bought the pearls outright and was under no 
 written bond, and as the pearls were going to Buda 
 Pest to adorn the large person of such a be-jewelled 
 woman as he knew the Baroness Rosenthal to be, 
 their non-recognition would be practically assured. 
 John, I thought, had probably sold the pearls out- 
 
ROSENTHAL 153 
 
 right because he was in need of every bit of money 
 that he could get. 
 
 As for Rosenthal, he had been quick to appreciate 
 the perfection of the string and had no doubt made 
 Delmas a good offer. With a profit of perhaps ten 
 or twenty thousand francs before his eyes, and being 
 bound only by his verbal agreement, the dealer had 
 decided to take a chance. 
 
 The Baron had pushed back his chair and was 
 staring up at the ceiling. The big Jew was sadly 
 puzzled. Knowing nothing of the striking resem 
 blance between John and myself, he had no solution 
 to the mystery. There was no way of his guessing 
 that the dealer had taken me for Mr. Cuttynge, and 
 Rosenthal was at a loss to understand why it was 
 that when I had apparently stolen the jewels and 
 then sold them, as " Mr. Cuttynge," I should lug 
 him down there to row the dealer. But he felt that 
 there was something behind it all, so he merely 
 sat tight and kept his mouth shut and waited for the 
 mystery to clear. 
 
 There was nothing I cared to say to the dealer 
 just then, so I merely remarked: "Well, M. Del 
 mas, as you say, you have not acted properly in this 
 matter. A man with such a reputation as yours 
 ought to stick to his word. It is because of that 
 reputation that the people having business with you 
 do not demand written agreements. I must think 
 over this affair. As a matter of fact, since you 
 bought the pearls certain events have occurred which 
 would enable Mrs. Cuttynge to buy them back. It 
 is possible that Baron Rosenthal and I may be able 
 to arrange the matter between ourselves." 
 
i 5 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " In that case," said the dealer, eagerly, " you 
 may count upon me to forego my own profit in the 
 transaction." 
 
 That is all that one could ask," I answered, 
 " and your offer is accepted in the same spirit as are 
 your apologies. We will inform you later as to the 
 upshot of the affair." 
 
 I arose. The Baron followed my example, and 
 with M. Delmas still pattering his apologies behind 
 us, we went out and got into our taxi. I told the 
 chauffeur to go first to my office. 
 
 As soon as we were seated, Rosenthal broke into 
 his harsh, discordant laugh. 
 
 " Herr Gott ! " he rumbled, "I am not a fool, 
 but belief me, I can make neither head nor tail of 
 this affair." 
 
 " It will become more clear," said I, " when I tell 
 you that Mr. Cuttynge is my half-brother, and 
 that we are almost as alike, outwardly, as a pair of 
 twins." 
 
 For a moment he stared. Then I saw the light 
 of understanding glow out of his mottled eyes. He 
 burst again into his great, harsh laugh. 
 
 " Py Chingo," says he, " Vat a business vat a 
 business. It vas this man Cuttynge that stole his 
 vife s pearls. Himmel." 
 
 For a while he chewed on this idea in silence. 
 Presently he said: 
 
 " Fere ve going now? " 
 
 " We will pass my office," said I, " and then re 
 turn to the Club. There is a lot I want to say to 
 you, and a taxi is no place to talk. Can you give 
 me an interview, my dear Baron?" 
 
ROSENTHAL 155 
 
 " Sure," said he, and lighted a big cigar. 
 
 When we reached the office I scribbled a brief 
 note to John, saying that I was engaged but would 
 get in to see him at three. Then, going to our little 
 safe, I got Rosenthal s gems and dropped them into 
 my pocket. 
 
 We spun back to the Club, neither of us saying 
 more than commonplaces on the way. I paid off the 
 cab and sent the note to John by one of the Club s 
 chasseurs. It was then about one o clock, and 
 Rosenthal asked me to lunch with him, suggesting 
 that we have our talk afterward. Knowing him 
 for a man who took the care of his body as se 
 riously in civilisation as he did lightly when on 
 the trail, I agreed, and we spent a pleasant 
 hour over our dejeuner, talking of various un 
 important things. The repast over, the Baron 
 said: 
 
 " I am putting up in this place. Come up to 
 my r rooms. There ve may talk in no danger of 
 disturbance." 
 
 So up we went, and when we had settled ourselves 
 and Rosenthal had set fire to the end of one of his 
 mainyard cigars, I said: 
 
 " Now, my dear Baron, you are going to get the 
 surprise of your life. So prepare yourself for a 
 jolt." 
 
 His eyes flashed at mine and I saw the big muscles 
 of jaw and temple harden. 
 
 "Veil?" says he, harshly, and rolled his huge 
 cigar between his lips. 
 
 I reached in my pocket, drew out the packet which 
 contained his gems, unfolded the paper and held out 
 
156 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to him in the hollow of my hand his two great rubies 
 and the emerald. 
 
 " Here you are," said I. " Don t ever say again 
 that a kind act does not meet with its reward not 
 but what I d given them to you, anyway," said I. 
 
 Rosenthal froze into a colossus in stone. The 
 rosy, after-eating glow faded from his face, leaving 
 it an ivory yellow. The big, bushy eyebrows went 
 up at least three inches and he cocked his 
 head to one side, while the staring, mottled 
 eyes bulged at the gems. Then, back came the 
 colour into the big, heavy-lined face. His thick 
 tongue wagged like the tongue of a parrot, but only 
 gurgles came. He reached for the cognac which 
 had been served with our coffee and took a gulp 
 straight from the decanter. 
 
 " Sapristi! " he rumbled, " sapristl! " 
 
 Suddenly he reached for the stones and turned 
 them lovingly in his huge hand. 
 
 " It is too much," he muttered. " It is a leetle 
 too mooch for Isidor Rosenthal." 
 
 " When you have recovered from your shock, 
 Baron," said I, " let me tell you a story." 
 
 " Go on," he growled. " Dis is not the kind of a 
 shock to injure the health . I am mooch more 
 knocked aback dan ven I lost der stones, but I am 
 not at all sick." He gave a ferocious grin. 
 
 " One usually looks to be robbed," said I, " but 
 you don t often think of restitution." 
 
 " No," says he. " Now let us haf der story." 
 
 So without any more preliminary I started in and 
 gave him the whole yarn from the very start, holding 
 back neither facts nor names. Rosenthal leaned 
 
ROSENTHAL 157 
 
 back in his big chair and rolled the huge cigar in his 
 thick lips and listened, giving me now and again a 
 quick glance from his keen eyes, which were almost 
 hid under the down-drawn bushy eyebrows and folds 
 of leathery skin. 
 
 Only at the start did he make the slightest sign of 
 emotion, and that was when I told him frankly that 
 I was an ex-cracksman. This information he re 
 ceived with a sudden opening of his eyes, then closing 
 them again. Rosenthal had previously regarded me 
 as a sort of gentleman adventurer, not over-scrupu 
 lous, perhaps, in the matter of business, but a gentle 
 man born, well-bred, and not fudamentally dishonest. 
 He himself was absolutely honest in his personal af 
 fairs, but had a wide margin of ethics when it came 
 to a really big commercial deal. His world-wide rep 
 utation was that a man would be safe in placing any 
 amount of cold cash in his hands without asking for a 
 receipt, but if anybody sat in a game of high finance 
 with him, he needed to play mighty close to his belt. 
 Rosenthal would plunder the coffers of a country with 
 the same ruthlessness that a cracksman would go 
 through a safe. I remarked a little while ago that 
 for men there were no half-measures of honesty; 
 that a man was either honest or dishonest. Per 
 haps I should amend that statement by adding, " with 
 himself." Rosenthal was absolutely honest with 
 himself. He had his own peculiar code and he was 
 true to it. Moreover, the Jew was a big man and 
 a man of heart. He was generous and liberal, and 
 his motto was, " live and let live." I knew that my 
 story was as safe with him as though sealed in a 
 leaden casket and dropped into the sea. 
 
158 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 So I told him everything, talking slowly and with 
 care, while Rosenthal leaned back and smoked and 
 listened without interrupting the narrative by so 
 much as a " Sapristi." When I had finished, he sat 
 for several minutes in silence, blowing the smoke 
 from his thick lips. 
 
 Suddenly he leaned over and laid his hand on my 
 knee. 
 
 " My fr riendt," says he, " this is a wicked vorld, 
 and there are many wicked people in it. But there 
 are some good ones, too. As a man gets older he 
 appreciates these. There are not so many people 
 whom I am proud to know. I could count t em 
 on the fingers of von hand, and haf left der 
 thumb. Dr. Leyden is von, and Mallock is von, 
 und dere is anodder now in pr rison, serving a life 
 sentence for a fr riendt. You also are von, und 
 if you efer need a fr riendt, call on Isidor Rosen- 
 thai." 
 
 Thank you, Baron," said I. " One always 
 needs a good friend. I am going to take you at your 
 word. Now listen : John Cuttynge must redeem 
 those pearls. His wife must never know what he 
 has done. It would kill her. I don t know how he 
 stands financially; pretty badly, I suppose, or he 
 would never have stolen the pearls. Now, I am 
 going to ask you to turn over those pearls to me, tak 
 ing my note for what you paid and letting us pay it 
 off as we are able." 
 
 Rosenthal struck his big chest a thump with his 
 fist. 
 
 " I vill do it," says he. " Und I vill char rge you 
 no interest. Besides, you are entitled to a reward 
 
ROSENTHAL 159 
 
 for getting me my rubies und emerald. I vill figure 
 that in." 
 
 I thanked him again. Rosenthal knit his big 
 brows. 
 
 " Your life is in gr reat danger," he said. 
 
 " It sure is," I answered. " So is Chu-Chu s." 
 
 He raised his brows. " You intend to kill him? " 
 he asked. 
 
 " I intend to try." 
 
 He nodded. " Dere is not ing else to do," says 
 he. " How about dis Ivan und his gang? " 
 
 " Ivan will stand pat, I think," said I. " To tell 
 the truth, he would probably be quite content to have 
 Chu-Chu removed. Between you and me, I think 
 that Ivan is afraid of him. A man like that is a 
 constant source of danger to the organisation. I 
 am going to see Ivan and tell him how things stand 
 and ask him to keep out of it." 
 
 Rosenthal looked at me, thoughtfully. 
 
 " Py Chingo," says he, " I belief you are r right." 
 He poured himself another glass of cognac. " Herr 
 Gott! vat a vorld! vat a vorld! " 
 
 I got up out of my chair. Rosenthal stared at me 
 for a moment, then reached in his pocket, drew out 
 the package containing the pearls and tossed it to 
 me. 
 
 Tell your haf-brudder to come and see me," he 
 said. " I vill gif him some advice. You are a goot 
 boy, Fr rank." 
 
 I thanked him and took the pearls. We shook 
 hands. 
 
 " And now," said I, " for a bad quarter-hour with 
 Mr. Cuttynge." 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 AN HEROIC LIE 
 
 IT was by this time almost three o clock, so I went 
 immediately down to John s house. As I was wait 
 ing in the ante-chambre for the mditre d hotel to an 
 nounce me, Miss Dalghren came out of the library. 
 I bowed and she gave me a cold nod. 
 
 " You will be glad to learn, Miss Dalghren," said 
 I, " that I have recovered Mrs. Cuttynge s pearls. 
 They are in my pocket." 
 
 The colour flamed in her face. 
 
 " I thought that you would," she answered. 
 
 11 Permit me to suggest," said I, " that hereafter 
 both of you ladies keep your jewels in a safe place 
 where they will not be a temptation to weak vessels 
 like myself." 
 
 Her face hardened. " Mine are now in the safe 
 deposit," says she, " and there is no doubt that John 
 will do the same with Edith s," and without so much 
 as a nod she passed on through the dining-room por 
 tieres. 
 
 The maitre d hotel returned at this moment to ask 
 me to go right up. I found John in bed. He 
 looked very badly. 
 
 " Shut the door and lock it, Frank," said he, in a 
 querulous voice. " Pull up a chair by the bed. I 
 want to talk to you." 
 
 I did as he directed. As soon as I was seated 
 John turned to me, raising himself on one elbow. 
 
 160 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 161 
 
 His face was ghastly and his lips trembled before he 
 spoke. 
 
 ; Frank," says he, " it was I who stole Edith s 
 pearls." 
 
 " I know it," I answered. 
 
 His eyes got wild. " What? " he cried. " How 
 how does anybody else know it? How did 
 you find out? " 
 
 " Lie down," said I, " and keep quiet. I ll give 
 you the whole yarn." 
 
 John sank back against his pillows with a groan. I 
 started in with the story, telling him everything except 
 the names of Leontine and Ivan. Before I had fin 
 ished, John s face changed for the better. The dull 
 look had gone out of his eyes and they had grown 
 hard and bright. There was a tinge of colour in 
 his cheeks and his jaw was set. When I had fin 
 ished he reached out one hand and gave me a grip 
 that hurt. 
 
 " My word ! " he muttered, " what a man you 
 are," and added a lot of truck unnecessary to re 
 peat. For several minutes he lay there, soaking in 
 what I had told him. Then says he: 
 
 You must get out of the country right off, Frank. 
 Your life is in danger every minute here." 
 
 " I m leaving this evening," said I, for I had de 
 cided not to tell him about my plan for stalking Chu- 
 Chu. If anything were to go wrong he would al 
 ways look upon himself as my murderer. " You 
 must clear out for awhile yourself, John. We look 
 too much alike for your safety." 
 
 " No," says he, " I ll stop here " ; and his jaw stiff 
 ened again. 
 
162 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 I did my best to persuade him to go, if only for 
 the sake of Edith, but he was set as solid as the pyra 
 mid of Cheops. 
 
 " I ve brought all of this mess on both of us," 
 says he. " I ll take the consequences. Besides, this 
 thug knows about me and won t run any unnecessary 
 bother and risk. I m in no great danger." 
 
 Well, sir, there was no budging him, and that 
 made me all the more impatient to get on the war 
 path after Chu-Chu. It was now not only a meas 
 ure of self-preservation, but an imperative duty. 
 
 Finally, says John, in a dull voice: 
 
 " Edith must know the truth." 
 
 " Edith must know nothing of the sort," I cried 
 fiercely. " Man, it would kill her and you know 
 it." 
 
 A shiver went through John. " I owe it to 
 you " he began. 
 
 " You owe nothing to me," said I. " You saved 
 me a life sentence. We are quits with each other 
 but we both owe everything to Edith. Besides, 
 what s the use? She doesn t suspect me." 
 
 " She does now," said John, in a hollow voice. 
 
 " What? " I cried. " She does? Since when? " 
 
 " Since this morning. Mary Dalghren saw me 
 slipping out of the house just after I stole the pearls. 
 She came over from the studio to get something in 
 the house. She took me for you. When I came in 
 at three of the morning she was waiting up. She 
 told me what she had seen and I begged her to say 
 nothing about it to Edith. But this morning she 
 told her. I couldn t stand that. I thought that 
 they would lay the robbery to your old gang, not to 
 you." 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 163 
 
 I got up and walked to the window. Chu-Chu, 
 John, the danger to my life all of this was noth 
 ing. Edith thought that I had broken my word to 
 her. Edith thought that I had stolen her pearls. 
 
 My friend, have you ever been tempted? Not 
 tempted by gold, or a woman or the lust for revenge 
 but by something that is far deeper than life or 
 death, or the hope of heaven? Have you ever been 
 tempted until your very soul is wrung and tortured 
 and screaming in pain? Mere death is a joke to this; 
 the love of life is the longing of a child for a stick 
 of candy in comparison. Edith to lose faith in me? 
 The idea wrenched a groan from the very core of 
 my whole conscious being. It was too much. Had 
 I not done my part? Played the game honestly and 
 fair? 
 
 But hot on the heels of this rank selfishness came 
 the thought of Edith. It was of Edith that I must 
 think. It was for Edith that I must suffer and 
 the knowledge that I might bear her burden of sor 
 row and shame took away all of the sting. Edith 
 loved John. In John lay her whole life s happiness. 
 Edith could not live in the knowledge that her hus 
 band had been tempted to theft and had succumbed. 
 As for myself, her faith in me and in the goodness 
 of mankind would suffer to the point of causing her 
 infinite pain, but this pain would be an abstract 
 quality. It would be a wound from which she would 
 recover. But to feel that her loved husband had 
 stolen, had committed the meanest of thefts rather 
 than to come to her in his trouble, would be a stiletto 
 through her pure heart. 
 
 I drew a deep breath, then turned and went back 
 to John s bedside. He was lying face downward, 
 
1 64 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 his head in his strong arms. Sitting at his side I 
 told him, very gently, the thing as I saw it. 
 
 " We must think of Edith, old chap," said I. " It 
 is hard for us both but we are men." 
 
 You are," he moaned. 
 
 " And so must you be," I answered. 
 
 He writhed as he lay. " My God, my God! " he 
 moaned. ; What a fool! what a fool! It was my 
 only way out, Frank. I was cornered, trapped, half 
 mad and half drunk. I was carrying a lot of stock 
 and was knocked galleywest in this flurry. Another 
 day and I would have been all right. My brokers 
 were howling like wolves for margin. I tried to get 
 it over the baccarat table and lost. To have got 
 sold out would have meant ruin. And it was Edith s 
 money. The sale of the pearls was barely enough to 
 tide me over. I sold them outright to get more 
 money and because I did not see how I could restore 
 them what story I could tell. I have just had a 
 telegram; the market is up again." 
 
 " So much the better," said I, briskly. " Now set 
 tle up, John. Sell out, then settle with Rosenthal. 
 Don t bother about my part of it. Think of the 
 debt I owe to Edith. I ought to welcome the chance 
 of squaring it. It will hurt her to think that I broke 
 rny word but I can say something to cheer her. 
 I will let her think that I am morally lacking con 
 stitutionally wrong. Brace up, old man." 
 
 I talked to him for half an hour. Finally, I 
 said: 
 
 " See here, John, I m not going to let you off 
 scot-free. I want a promise from you. If you will 
 give it, I ll be actually glad of the whole business." 
 

 WHAT IF I WERE TO TELL YOU THAT 
 YOU WERE TALKING TO A CROOK?" 
 
 218) 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 165 
 
 John raised his head. " Well? " he asked. 
 
 I leaned over and laid my hands on his shoulder. 
 
 You are to promise me to chuck drinking and 
 gambling, John. No more spirits not a drop. 
 And nothing bigger than a game of bridge or 
 schoolboy poker. Is it a go? " 
 
 He choked back a sob. " I ll pledge my word, 
 Frank," he said. 
 
 " Shake," said I. He shoved out his hand. 
 
 " Now," said I, " let me say a few words to Edith 
 and then I m off." 
 
 " Where are you going? " he asked. 
 
 " To get under cover somewhere. I haven t de 
 cided." 
 
 " How are you off for money? " 
 
 " I ve got enough. If I need more I may write 
 to you." 
 
 John raised up in his bed. His eyes were shining 
 through his tears. He said a good many things 
 that have nothing to do with the yarn. Finally he 
 said: 
 
 " Look here, Frank, why not hand over all of this 
 to the police? " 
 
 " I ve thought of that," I answered. " It 
 wouldn t do. I d get the enmity of a powerful crim 
 inal organisation and wouldn t live twenty-four 
 hours. But there are other ways. I know the 
 Under-World and its antidotes. There are unof 
 ficial means of checkmating this desperado a se 
 cret service. There is no time to explain, as I ve got 
 a lot to do. But I hope to have this Chu-Chu per 
 son checkmated before many days. You leave it to 
 me. But remember one thing; if Edith ever gets a 
 
i66 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 suspicion of the true facts, all of my work and danger 
 go for nothing. You understand." 
 
 " I understand," he said, and the tears gushed 
 out of his eyes. 
 
 I gave his hand a grip and went out. 
 
 I walked to Edith s door and rapped. There was 
 no time to fuss with being announced. I meant to 
 see her, whether she wished it or not. 
 
 " It is Frank Clamart," I said, for I heard a rustle 
 within. 
 
 " Come in, Frank," said a low, sweet voice. I 
 entered. Edith was lying as I had seen her last, on 
 the chaise longue by the open window. She was 
 very pale and her eyes were like great jewels. 
 
 " I have brought back your pearls," I said, and 
 laid them on the table. 
 
 " Thank you, Frank." 
 
 " I stole them," said I, looking at the floor. 
 
 "Why did you do that, Frank? " she asked, and 
 her rich voice quivered the faintest trifle. 
 
 " You wouldn t understand," I muttered. " It s 
 in the blood, I guess. They haunted me." 
 
 " But you have brought them back," said Edith, 
 in a tremulous voice. I felt her eyes burning into 
 me and did not dare look up. 
 
 " Yes," I said, and tried to put bitterness in my 
 tone. " I brought them back when I learned that 
 I had been detected." 
 
 Edith caught her breath. " Look at me, Frank," 
 she cried. 
 
 I raised guilty eyes just for a second, then let 
 them fall again. Edith burst into a storm of weep 
 ing. 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 167 
 
 "Frank, Frank," she cried. "Try again try 
 again." 
 
 I couldn t stand it. " Good-bye." I choked, 
 and turned to the door. On the stairs I met Miss 
 Dalghren. She drew her skirts aside as I passed. 
 
 Out of the house I rushed and hurried up to the 
 office. I seemed to see Chu-Chu in every face I 
 passed, and I hungered for him. Arrived at the 
 office I wrote a note to Ivan, asking him to come at 
 once to my address on a matter of the most vital im 
 portance. This I sent around to his house by a taxi, 
 telling the driver to bring back an answer. 
 
 Half an hour later Ivan arrived. He smiled 
 when he saw me and followed me into the private 
 room without the slightest hesitation. When we 
 were seated, I said: 
 
 " Count, before I go on permit me to apologise for 
 two things. The first is for having made a scene 
 the other day in your bureau." 
 
 Ivan smiled again. 
 
 " I have already forgiven you that offence," says 
 he, " because you furnished me with some very valu 
 able information." 
 
 " I am glad of that," I answered. " The second 
 thing for which I wish to apologise is for having 
 caused a certain amount of damage to your motor 
 car." 
 
 Ivan laughed outright. 
 
 " Pray don t mention it," he cried, still laugh 
 ing, and added, more seriously; "you are a very 
 daring man, Mr. Clamart." 
 
 " Needs must when Chu-Chu drives," I said. 
 
 " I should have much regretted the loss of my 
 
i68 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 mecanlclen" says Ivan. " He is a useful man. 
 Also, you came very near spoiling a good piece of 
 work for me, although I could wish that you had if 
 that unfortunate woman dies." A scowl crossed his 
 handsome face. That Chu-Chu is the very devil, 
 Mr. Clamart. There was absolutely no need for 
 him to poison his victim. I know what he gave her. 
 She would have been dead when the boat reached 
 Calais if it had not been for her mal-de-mer. After 
 your revelations in my office I would have broken with 
 Chu-Chu had it not been that there was no one im 
 mediately available to put on the job. I am not a 
 murderer, Mr. Clamart. To tell the truth, I am a 
 bit of an artist, and promiscuous killing disgusts me. 
 I have had enough of Chu-Chu. The pig never 
 mentioned those gems that you took from him or 
 that I did," he smiled. 
 
 The gems belonged to Baron Rosenthal," 
 said I. 
 
 To Rosenthal?" Ivan sprang up in his chair. 
 " So much the worse." 
 
 " It is all right now," said I, " he has got them 
 back." 
 
 11 What? " cried Ivan, startled out of his self-con 
 trol. 
 
 " I gave them back to him," said I. " You see, 
 my dear Count, I do not boast when I say that I am 
 a man of my word. Meeting Rosenthal in the Auto 
 mobile Club he told me of his loss. He is an old 
 friend of mine, and once saved me from a South 
 American prison. They are not pleasant places. I 
 told him that I had been for many years a profes 
 sional thief and that in a quarrel with a confrere on a 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 169 
 
 personal matter I had come into possession of the 
 gems. Learning that they were his, I wished to re 
 store them. The Baron asked no questions." 
 
 Ivan shook his fine head. " Either you are a 
 madman, Mr. Clamart," says he, " or else you are 
 something much more rare; an honest one." 
 
 " I am neither," I answered. " I am merely a 
 man of my word." 
 
 Ivan shot me a curious look. " You are apt very 
 soon to be a dead man," said he. 
 
 That," said I, " brings me to the main point. 
 Do you, my dear Count, wish that I were a dead 
 man? Because if you do, I feel that I might just 
 as well save you the trouble and blow my brains out. 
 This would also save my nervous system a lot of 
 wear and tear." 
 
 Ivan twisted the waxed tip of his moustache. He 
 glanced at me once or twice, then slowly shook his 
 head. 
 
 " No," said he, slowly. " Personally I wish you 
 no ill. I like and admire you, Mr. Clamart. As 
 you remarked yesterday, a man may be a criminal 
 and yet have a certain code of ethics. I, myself, 
 am not what Society would call a purely bad man. I 
 steal from the rich, and sometimes, indirectly, as in 
 the case of a bank, from the poor. Many respect 
 able financiers do as much. But I give liberally to 
 certain charities. It might surprise you to know 
 that I am the sole supporter of an institution for 
 tuberculous children. A child of my own once died 
 of tuberculosis and my own early boyhood was men 
 aced by the same disease." 
 
 " Your charity does not surprise me in the least," 
 
170 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 said I. In fact, it shows me that I was correct in 
 my estimate of your character. If I had not felt 
 this quality in you I would never have given myself 
 the trouble to go to you and ask for Miss Dalghren s 
 pearls. We have much in common, Count. We 
 are both gentlemen born and to some extent the vic 
 tims of circumstance. My own career as a criminal 
 was cut short because it conflicted with my personal 
 honour. Now, my career as an honest man is apt 
 to be cut short because it conflicts with my former 
 career as a criminal. Chu-Chu will certainly kill me 
 unless I am so fortunate as to kill Chu-Chu first. 
 What are your own sympathies in this feud? " 
 
 Ivan gave me a straight look. 
 
 They depend," said he, " on my own interests. 
 Will you give me your word of honour that what 
 ever happens you will never lay information that 
 may injure me? " 
 
 I leaned forward and looked him in the eyes. 
 
 " Count," I said, " after our painful interview of 
 yesterday morning, I determined to write a full state 
 ment which would incriminate you and your gang, 
 and place it in the hands of some person with direc 
 tions to put it in the hands of the police if I should 
 suddenly be found murdered or mysteriously dis 
 appear. Then I thought that I would write to you 
 and tell you what I had done, thus making you, in a 
 way, my guardian angel. But I did not do this. I 
 had met with straight dealing and good faith at your 
 hands and I knew that as much as you might wish 
 to do so, nothing on your part would ever prevent 
 Chu-Chu from trying to settle his account with me. 
 The man is a blood-maniac. This afternoon Cut- 
 
AN HEROIC LIE 171 
 
 tynge confessed to me that he had stolen his wife s 
 pearls." 
 
 Ivan, whose lustrous eyes had never left mine, 
 made an involuntary gesture, then controlled himself. 
 
 " Yes," said I, " Cuttynge was pressed by certain 
 obligations and stole the pearls. He sold them out 
 right, knowing that he could never explain their re 
 turn. His confession proved beyond the shadow of 
 a doubt that your dealings with me had been fair 
 and generous. Now, my dear Count, you could 
 have me assassinated at any time that suited your 
 convenience, and no one would be the wiser. I 
 have always detested the idea of a man s turning 
 honest and then betraying his old pals to save his 
 pelt. I won t do it. I wouldn t do it living, nor 
 would I do it dead. As for your asking me for my 
 word that I will never place any information in 
 jurious to you, it is not necessary. But since you 
 ask for it, I give it. As long as you do not inter 
 fere in my feud with Chu-Chu I will never betray 
 you." 
 
 Ivan bowed. 
 
 That s quite enough, Mr. Clamart," said he. 
 " You have nothing to fear from me. Fight it out 
 with Chu-Chu. I hope you kill him." He scowled 
 again, and his handsome face underwent a lightning 
 change from that of the polite man of the world to 
 that of the criminal, which lies so near the surface in 
 every professional thief. 
 
 I have had enough of Chu-Chu," he snarled. 
 
 Then why not back my own play? " I asked 
 quickly. 
 
 " No. That could not be done. It would be bad 
 
172 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 for the organisation. You are, after all, an out 
 sider, and Chu-Chu is one of us. He has no friends, 
 but a great many admirers. Few men will work 
 with him after having had the opportunity to observe 
 his methods. Not long ago, when on a bank job in 
 the south, he strangled the watchman whom he had 
 previously corrupted and offered a share for hold 
 ing his tongue. One of my younger men who as 
 sisted him protested. What does it matter? asked 
 Chu-Chu. It is cheaper than paying him, and the 
 fellow is not one of our crowd. He is only an ama 
 teur. Myself, I respect only the professionals. 
 That is Chu-Chu. He would rather kill than not. 
 Some day he will spoil everything. I have had 
 enough of him. I hope that you manage to kill 
 him, Mr. Clamart. He is no longer to be trusted, 
 and it is even possible that if caught he might turn 
 State s Evidence. He is an egoist a rank egoist." 
 
 Then you will stand neutral yourself? " I asked. 
 
 " Absolutely. I will do more than that. If op 
 portunity offers I might even give you a little unof 
 ficial help. Now I must go. I wish you good luck. 
 You will need it. And a word in your ear; look out 
 for an Oriental-looking person with one nostril much 
 larger than the other. He is Chu-Chu s servant. 
 Some say he is Chu-Chu s brain. Now I must go. 
 Au revoir and the best of luck." 
 
 And out he went and jumped into his taxi and 
 whirled off. 
 
PART TWO 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 UNDER COVER 
 
 LET me tell you, my friend, that when I started out 
 on my stalk for Chu-Chu le Tondeur, or Chu-Chu 
 the Shearer as his name would be in English, I was 
 about the most discouraged man in France. To 
 have to slip back into the underworld just when I 
 had begun to make good at earning a clean, honest 
 living was bad enough, but what took the heart clean 
 out of me was the knowledge that the woman who 
 had saved me from penal servitude and started in to 
 make a man of me should think that I had broken 
 my word to her and gone back to the old graft. 
 
 This was what really hurt, though I must say it 
 was this that put an edge on me, too. I don t say 
 that I should have felt any scruples at the idea of as 
 sassinating Chu-Chu after what had happened be 
 tween us, but I doubt if I should have had the same 
 savage impatience to do for him if it hadn t been 
 for Edith. Although I had been a thief for thirty 
 years I had never been a danger to society except 
 where its pocketbook was concerned. I had always 
 worked unarmed, and had never hurt anybody ex 
 cept for a few bruises, perhaps, in a scuffle to get 
 away. In the same way I had always managed to 
 keep clear of trouble with people in the underworld, 
 and even when I escaped from Cayenne I had spared 
 a couple of devilish guards that I had every reason 
 
 175 
 
176 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 of killing and might just as well as not have settled. 
 No sir; I was never a bloodthirsty man. 
 
 But Chu-Chu was. Chu-Chu was wolf or weasel, 
 snake or tiger, according to the hunting-ground and 
 the game he was out for. He had seldom pulled off 
 a big job without leaving blood in his wake, and his 
 reputation as a killer was so bad that even the swells 
 of his own mob were afraid of him, and he usually 
 had to work alone. In Ivan s big organisation of 
 European thieves there were a good many hard, 
 desperate people, yet I do not believe that there was 
 a single one who would have dared to hold Chu-Chu 
 up at the point of a gun in the presence of Ivan him 
 self, as I had done, and prove him a liar to his chief, 
 to say nothing of depriving him of gems worth a 
 fortune. That alone was plenty to set Chu-Chu on 
 my trail, to say nothing of my having tried to kill 
 him in his motor on the road to Boulogne. 
 
 So here we were, each out for the other s pelt. 
 The odds were a bit with me, I thought, and for a 
 variety of reasons. In the first place, I was more 
 of a cosmopolitan and less of a pronounced type, and 
 therefore able to play easily the role of Frenchman, 
 Englishman, or American. Then I had no little 
 mannerisms, while Chu-Chu was known to his as 
 sociates as " the man who smiles," and had a trick 
 of smiling slightly to himself. His figure was aver 
 age, as far as one could see through his clothes, and 
 his physical strength was said to be phenomenal, 
 while his face was an uncommon one for its promi 
 nent bony structures. Chu-Chu s features suggested 
 a Spanish or possibly Basque origin, with high cheek 
 bones, red-lipped mouth, the upper lip dropping to a 
 
UNDER COVER 177 
 
 point in the middle, and suggesting to me the beak 
 of a snapping turtle, while his nose was long and 
 acquisitive a nose like the late King Leopold s. 
 
 Another thing in my favour was the fact that there 
 was little danger of my being drawn into impru 
 dence by such a hatred as Chu-Chu must have felt 
 for me. There are certain human beings who are 
 affected by the sight of an enemy just as you might 
 expect a wild bull to be. It sends the blood to their 
 heads and makes them a bit crazy, and even if they 
 are able to control their actions their looks are apt 
 to give them away. Chu-Chu was rather of this 
 sort, I was inclined to think, and though he could be 
 as acute as a fox when on the job, it wasn t unlikely 
 that he d make some sort of a break once he thought 
 that I was in his neighbourhood. 
 
 But what seemed to me by long odds the best card 
 in my fist was the tip that Ivan had given me as we 
 parted. Said Ivan: "Look out for an Oriental 
 type of person with one nostril larger than the other. 
 He is Chu-Chu s familiar. Some people say that he 
 is Chu-Chu s brain." 
 
 Well, the stalk was on, and here I was out in the 
 forest of St. Germain hidden in a clump of bay and 
 laurel, rigging myself out like a predicateur, or wan 
 dering preacher. I knew the part to perfection, for 
 there had been one of these chaps doing missionary 
 work at Cayenne, and several times I had talked 
 with him and learned all about the fraternity. The 
 costume, as well as the role, was ideal for my busi 
 ness. A man might wear anything under the long 
 black soutane, and the round black hat had a wide 
 brim that shielded the face by the least bend of the 
 
178 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 head. Another thing that helped was the fact that 
 these preachers often wear shaded goggles, having 
 formed the habit out in the colonies. It s a great 
 point in favour of a man disguised to have his eyes 
 screened. There are fine subtle lines of expression 
 around a man s eyes that are almost impossible to 
 control at all times. 
 
 Well, sir, I stuck a little hand-mirror in the crotch 
 of a bush and got to work. The skin was brown 
 enough as a consequence of the Cayenne health re 
 sort and of being so much on the road in motors. 
 Then I ran the clippers over my head. 
 
 All rigged out, and with a tweed knickerbocker 
 suit underneath the long black soutane, a grimy 
 black valise in one hand and a big cotton umbrella 
 in the other, I walked over to St. Germain and 
 bought a third-class ticket for Paris. My plan was 
 to get a little room up in Passy, giving it out to 
 any neighbours who might be curious that I was 
 studying English. Then as soon as I was settled I 
 would get to work to locate Chu-Chu ; and this might 
 be a hard job, or, again, it might not, depending 
 on how much he was afraid of me. 
 
 It was possible that Chu-Chu, trusting to his repu 
 tation as the most dangerous man in Europe when it 
 came to the settling of a score, might think that I 
 had lost my nerve and skipped the country. But, 
 considering the fact that I had made such a good 
 try for him on the road to Boulogne, the chances 
 were that he would be convinced that my heart was 
 in my work, and would get under cover himself. 
 
 It might seem on the face of it like a pretty hope 
 less sort of job, combing a big city for a man whom 
 
UNDER COVER 179 
 
 I d only seen three times in my life, and who was 
 pretty sure to be in some sort of disguise. But 
 there was one thing that I thought would help me 
 out. Chu-Chu knew that Leontine Petrovski had 
 taken a fancy to me, and he would never believe that 
 any such woman as Leontine would have to call twice 
 to a man. Her looks and the wonderful alluring- 
 ness of her were the talk of Paris, and when Leon- 
 tine walked into a swell restaurant even the musicians 
 got mixed in their notes. Chu-Chu would be pretty 
 sure that I would be hanging about Leontine, and it 
 was somewhere in her neighbourhood that he would 
 try to pick up my trail; and it was while he was try 
 ing to nose it out that I counted on crossing his. 
 
 It was a funny situation, each of us shadowing 
 Leontine s house, trying to get wind of the other. 
 But the more I turned it over in my mind the more 
 convinced I grew that the quickest way to find my 
 man would be to keep a constant watch on the little 
 house in Passy. There was also the chance of fall 
 ing on Chu-Chu possibly going to see Leontine on 
 professional business. 
 
 All this being so, I took a room in a little hotel 
 just off the Rue de Passy, telling the patronne that 
 I was perfecting my English in one of the many 
 schools in the neighbourhood. There was a little 
 cafe almost opposite Leontine s house, and I found 
 that by sitting back in a particular corner I could look 
 out under the low awning in front and keep a con 
 stant watch without being observed from the street. 
 So there I went every day at noon, for it would have 
 attracted attention if I had spent the entire day 
 there, and after a very good little lunch I would get 
 
i8o THE CLOSING NET 
 
 out a copy of Dickens and a pocket dictionary and 
 spend the most of the afternoon reading and looking 
 out of the window. The personnel of the establish 
 ment used to hold me up to the other clients as a 
 very model of industry and perseverance. 
 
 Most of these other clients were cabmen, fiacre 
 and taxi drivers. Like all of that class of French 
 working people, they were quiet, orderly, good- 
 natured fellows, full of good-humoured banter and 
 amusing stories in connection with their trade. The 
 second day that I was having dejeuner there one of 
 the taxi drivers, who had just finished his meal, and 
 was about to crank his motor, was hailed by Leon- 
 tine s butler. I saw Leontine, more superb-looking 
 than ever, come out, get in, and whirl away. 
 
 It occurred to me, of course, that for all I knew 
 she might be going even then to keep a rendezvous 
 with Chu-Chu; and it occurred to me also that if the 
 Shearer came to Leontine s house even while I was 
 on the look-out it might not do me a particle of 
 good, as he would be pretty sure to come and go 
 in a taxi, probably cleverly disguised. A good many 
 people came to and went from Leontine s some 
 in handsome private limousines, others in taxi-autos, 
 and still others in taxicabs or afoot. In the first 
 week of my watching I recognised several members 
 of Ivan s mob, and once Ivan himself. 
 
 But for all the folk that came and went I was 
 convinced, at the end of two weeks watching, that 
 Chu-Chu had not got past me. For all I knew he 
 might be, and very likely was, watching the house 
 from some point not far from where I was stationed. 
 I began to be afraid that we might be alternating 
 
UNDER COVER 181 
 
 watches, he perhaps going on duty at night. I did a 
 good deal of night work myself, dining at the same 
 little restaurant and sitting behind the screen of dwarf 
 orange-trees in tubs, usually to see Leontine and 
 Kharkoff roll away at about half-past seven in the 
 big six-cylinder car that I myself had sold to the 
 Prince. They dined out and went to the play or the 
 opera almost every night, although it was now mid 
 summer, and most of the chic people were at the 
 springs or beaches. 
 
 It was tiresome work watching there for a sign 
 of Chu-Chu, but the two proverbs or maxims of 
 which I have always most admired the truth are 
 " It s dogged as does it," and " Everything comes to 
 him who waits." Personally I believe that there is 
 some sort of compelling, cohesive force given off 
 from the person or animal that sits down and quietly 
 waits and wishes for his prey. That force goes out 
 in time to draw the desired object, especially when 
 the wishing is done conscientiously and without any 
 let-up. So I sat there and waited and watched and 
 read " Pickwick Papers " and " Oliver Twist " and 
 " Dombey and Son," and picked up the dictionary 
 when I happened to think of it. Most of the cab 
 drivers said a word to me when they came in, and I 
 had the general reputation of being an inoffensive 
 and deeply erudite young preacher. 
 
 Then one hot day, when the little " terrace " as 
 they call the strip of sidewalk enclosed by dwarf 
 oranges was crowded, and even the inner room 
 was well filled, a freshly-painted, saucy little auto- 
 taxi drew up to the curb, and down from the driver s 
 seat stepped a very pretty, smartly-costumed chauf- 
 
i8z THE CLOSING NET 
 
 feuse. Just at this time the Prefecture had decided 
 to issue permits to women, and quite a number of en 
 terprising young persons started in to compete with 
 the men. They have since practically disappeared, 
 the profession not being adapted to the sex, due per 
 haps to the ladies insisting on the feminine preroga 
 tive of changing their minds when meeting some 
 body on the road. 
 
 There was nothing indecisive about this good- 
 looking chauffeuse. The lunching drivers were 
 watching her, and I heard a murmur run through 
 the room : " Look, there she is the Countess Ro 
 salie!" 
 
 The Countess Rosalie? " I asked of a chauffeur 
 at a table opposite. " That is her sobriquet? " 
 
 " Not at all," he answered. " The title is her 
 own. She met with misfortune, and preferred to 
 support herself driving a taxi to pinning feathers 
 on hats. Everybody knows her. Between us, she 
 is the only woman in Paris who can really drive." 
 
 Whatever else may have been said about her, the 
 Countess Rosalie was nice to look at. Her glossy 
 chestnut hair was coifed as snugly as she could twist 
 it under her little visored cap, and the trim, pretty 
 figure, mature yet with supple, girlish lines, was dis 
 played charmingly and modestly in the costume of 
 light Indian khaki. The skirt was short, and showed 
 her small, gracefully rounded ankles and dainty feet, 
 which told of good blood somewhere, and as she 
 came across the sidewalk she began to draw off her 
 little kid gauntlets, smiling, red-lipped, bright hazel 
 eyes dancing as she replied with a charming mixture 
 of friendliness and sauciness to the good-natured 
 
UNDER COVER 183 
 
 greetings from the crowd at dejeuner. It may be 
 true that some of the remarks were a bit free but 
 not one was the least bit offensive so far as any 
 deeper intention went. All hands " tutoyed " her, 
 I noticed, which was quite permissible, as here in 
 France there is a sort of esprit de corps between 
 members of the same craft of manual labour, who 
 use between themselves the familiar " thee and 
 " thou." 
 
 Nobody scored anything on the Countess Rosalie. 
 She gave them all as good as they sent, and was a 
 pretty sight doing it, with her red cheeks, even white 
 teeth, and saucy pouting lips. She was not a little 
 woman, but her daintiness gave one that impression. 
 I noticed, though, that when one of the older chauf 
 feurs got up to look at the carburetter of her car, 
 which she said was flooding all the time, she was 
 rather the taller of the two, although he looked a 
 fair-sized man. 
 
 The tables outside were filled, so she came inside, 
 where the seat opposite me appealed to her as the 
 most desirable because it was next to the window. 
 
 "Monsieur will permit me to sit here?" she 
 asked, with a smile and about as keen a look as I 
 ever got from any pair of eyes. It wasn t a hard 
 look, but just to size me up and form an idea of how 
 much of a fool or knave lived under that black sou 
 tane. 
 
 " Pray do so, madame," I answered. " It is not 
 too hot here by the window." 
 
 She thanked me, and sat down. I picked up my 
 book, and I could feel her bright eyes searching me 
 as I read. French is like a mother-tongue to me, 
 
1 84 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 having spoken scarcely any English until my old 
 nurse, Tante Fi-F5, died, and I was sent to the asylum. 
 Besides, I had done a good deal of work in France 
 not housebreaking, you understand, but con graft 
 at the big resorts like Aix-les-Bains and Dinard and 
 Trouville. For all of his acuteness at home there 
 is no such sucker as the travelling American, 
 especially if you strike him when he s a bit lonely and 
 has had his leg pulled by Europeans, and thinks 
 that the American language with an Ohio accent is a 
 guarantee of good faith. Mind you, I d never done 
 any mean little tricks like nicking his leather with his 
 letter of credit and a few hundred francs, or accept 
 ing his invitation to do Montmartre at his expense 
 and then going through him when he was filled up 
 with the mixture of wormwood, logwood, and car 
 bonated white wine called champagne. But I had 
 once sold an American millionaire an original Rem 
 brandt, which an Italian acquaintance of mine 
 painted during the week that I was showing my 
 friend the Louvre and a few other places. Even the 
 United States Customs let him pay duty on it as an 
 original, and the picture is now the pride of his part 
 of the State. My Venetian friend and I shared up a 
 hundred thousand francs between us, and all hands 
 were satisfied. 
 
 But making an American think that I was the last 
 living descendant of the Conde family and convin 
 cing an alert Parisienne that I was an Alsatian pre- 
 dicateur were two very different things. So I kept 
 on reading, while my pretty companion ordered her 
 dejeuner and went ahead with her meal. But all the 
 time I could feel her bright, curious eyes fixed on 
 
UNDER COVER 185 
 
 me, investigating every detail of my face and cos 
 tume. 
 
 Presently from across the street I heard a motor 
 slowing down, and glanced across to see a taxi pull 
 ing up in front of Leontine s house. A slender, 
 well-dressed man, with black hair and a thin black 
 moustache, stepped quickly out, rang the bell of the 
 garden door, and was let in a moment later by Leon- 
 tine s maitrc d hotel. But I scarcely noticed him, 
 for something had caught my eyes and drawn them 
 to the driver of the taxi. 
 
 This chauffeur was apparently a man past middle 
 age, and seemed altogether of the new type that has 
 now become so common to this class. He looked 
 to be of medium size and weight, was costumed in 
 the usual uniform, and wore a closely-cropped mous 
 tache of iron-grey. His face was rather high-fea 
 tured, the nose aquiline, and the eyes dark and over 
 hung by bushy, grizzled eyebrows. 
 
 There was absolutely nothing about the fellow to 
 hold my attention, but for some reason I was un 
 able to take my eyes off him. He reminded me of 
 somebody quite impossible for me to place, and as I 
 stared through the window at him I had that dis 
 agreeable sensation of being utterly baffled in mem 
 ory. Almost as if he felt the force of the mental 
 effort I was making, he shot a quick look in my 
 direction, but the awning was low, and I was sitting 
 back in the shadow, and all that he could see was 
 the crowded tables on the terrace. Yet something 
 in that sudden glance of his had set my heart to 
 thumping in a way that was mighty disagreeable. 
 But it was no use. I couldn t for the life of me 
 
186 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 place him, so I picked up my book again. As I did 
 so my eyes fell on the pretty face opposite. The 
 Countess Rosalie s fork was poised half-way between 
 her plate and her red lips, and the piece of melon on 
 it was quite forgotten. Her face had a look of in 
 tense and startled curiosity. Seeing that I had no* 
 ticed it, she recovered herself, popped the melon 
 into her pink mouth, and looked down at her plate. 
 
 I leaned forward. " Madame was about to say 
 something?" I asked suavely; for I knew that my 
 face must have startled her, and I did not care to 
 have it leak out that I was spying on the little house 
 in the garden. 
 
 " Oh, no, monsieur! " she answered, slightly con 
 fused. 
 
 We missionaries," said I, with a smile, " some 
 times carry in our minds the pictures of things that 
 one would wish to forget. Now and then some 
 passing thought or something we may read recalls 
 them, and at such moments the emotion awakened 
 may reveal itself. You were startled at the expres 
 sion of my face? " 
 
 She nodded. " That is true," she admitted. 
 When I sat down opposite you your look was that 
 of a studious priest. Then all at once you laid down 
 the book and looked through the window with the 
 mouth and eyes of an apache about to strike. Oh, 
 monsieur! " 
 
 She drew back, checking a little frightened gasp. 
 While she was speaking I had looked through the 
 window again, and as I did so the chauffeur in the 
 taxi across the street leaned forward as if to ex 
 amine something at his feet. In that second I 
 
UNDER COVER 187 
 
 recognised him for Chu-Chu le Tondeur; the con 
 tour of the bony outline of the face, the poise of 
 the head on the body, the tightening of the sleeve 
 over the muscular arm. There could be no doubt. 
 
 And yet it was an amazing thing, and the instant 
 that he had recovered his upright position I could 
 have sworn that my vision had played me a trick, 
 due perhaps to my one constant idea. Chu-Chu s 
 brows were thin and straight and black, his nose 
 was long but low-bridged, his eyes were rather light 
 in shade, his chin pointed. Also he was a more 
 trimly-built man, less full in the paunch. I was al 
 most baffled. 
 
 But the woman opposite was looking at me as if 
 she wanted to get up and bolt, and that would never 
 do. I smiled at her and wondered at the fascinated 
 look in her eyes. But I didn t wonder long, for in 
 my business I couldn t afford to miss a single trick. 
 The glimpse that the Countess Rosalie had got of 
 the criminal, the assassin, looking out of the eyes of 
 the studious young preacher, had frightened and 
 startled her, but it had aroused her curiosity. I saw 
 the chance of securing a valuable pal. 
 
 " Madame," said I, with a reassuring smile, 
 " what was it that you thought you saw in my 
 face?" 
 
 She gave a nervous little laugh. " Something 
 terrible," she answered, and glanced over her 
 shoulder at the sun-flooded street. There was noth 
 ing but the gardens and shuttered houses opposite, 
 and the grizzled taxi driver drowsing on his seat. 
 
 You are right," I answered with another smile 
 and a little shrug. " It was something terrible, be- 
 
i88 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 cause it was jealousy. There is nothing more terri 
 ble than jealousy, you know." 
 
 Her eyes opened very wide. " But you are a 
 priest," she said. 
 
 " I will tell you something," I said, leaning toward 
 her and dropping my voice. You have surprised 
 a secret while sitting here, and I do not want you 
 to say to any of these others that you caught me 
 glaring at that house in the garden across the street. 
 But it is because of the woman who lives there that I 
 have become a predicateur" 
 
 The interest that every Frenchwoman always 
 lends to a love story flamed up in her face. 
 
 " And the man for whom the taxi is waiting is 
 your enemy? " she half-whispered. 
 
 " I wish him no ill," I answered, " but I must 
 find out where he goes after leaving here. You 
 have almost finished your dejeuner, have you 
 not? May I engage your services for the after 
 noon? " 
 
 She hesitated for an instant, then nodded. 
 
 You want me to follow him? " 
 
 Yes, but without his discovering that he is being 
 followed. That may be difficult, as it is very pos 
 sible that he will be on the look-out." 
 
 " But why should he be on the look-out? " asked 
 the Countess Rosalie. Her pretty face was flushed 
 and eager, and as she spoke she beckoned to the 
 garqon and settled her bill. I had already paid my 
 own. We both looked out of the window at the 
 taxi diagonally opposite. The top was up, as was 
 the case with most of the others, for the sun was 
 directly overhead and very hot. Chu-Chu had 
 
UNDER COVER 189 
 
 pulled a newspaper from his pocket and appeared to 
 be reading. 
 
 " He may expect to be followed," I answered, 
 " because the woman whom he is visiting is suspected 
 of being a Nihilist. So far the police have never 
 disturbed her because she is under the protection of 
 Prince Kharkoff " 
 
 "It is Leontine Petrovski? " she asked breath 
 lessly. 
 
 " Yes," I answered. 
 
 " And she is the woman whom you love? " 
 
 " I love her no longer." 
 
 " But you are jealous of her. It comes to the 
 same thing. I understand. You wish to be re 
 venged, and so you want to find out more about this 
 man. Isn t that true? " 
 
 " To some extent," I answered. " But I will tell 
 you another thing. The chauffeur is a friend of 
 the man who is in La Petrovski s house. I could 
 learn more, perhaps, from watching him than from 
 watching the other. If you are free 
 
 " Look! " she interrupted, and dropped her hand 
 on my sleeve. 
 
 For Leontine s garden door had swung open, and 
 out came Leontine herself, followed by the dark 
 man whom I recognised from Ivan s description as 
 Chu-Chu s manservant, or pal, or whatever he was. 
 Chu-Chu, with a quick sidelong glance, got down to 
 start his motor. 
 
 " Come, then," said the Countess Rosalie, loud 
 enough for those about us to hear. " I will set you 
 on your way." 
 
 " You are very kind.," I answered, and followed 
 
190 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 her to the door. Under the awning I waited for an 
 instant while she said a word of thanks to the man 
 who had regulated her carburetter. The pause gave 
 Chu-Chu time to turn and start down the street to 
 ward the Chaussee de la Muette. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 
 
 ONE of the coffee-drinking chauffeurs got up and 
 cranked our motor, with some joke about a pretty 
 woman s need of a strong arm. I stepped inside 
 and we started, Chu-Chu being by that time near the 
 end of the street. 
 
 My titled chauffeuse certainly knew her work. 
 As soon as Chu-Chu was around the corner she 
 darted ahead, lagging back when he came in 
 sight again. As it was very hot and the hour for 
 dejeuner, there was but little traffic, but unless they 
 led us a chase of some length I did not think that 
 they would suspect they were being followed. It 
 is nothing unusual for two taxicabs to be running 
 the same course at about the same speed; in fact, 
 many chauffeurs drop into the habit of gauging 
 speed by the chap ahead, as this simplifies traffic and 
 tends to an evenly moving procession. 
 
 We spun out through the Chaussee de la Muette 
 and into the Bois, past the Auteuil racecourse and, 
 striking the boulevard that leads to the Boulogne 
 gate, followed it straight out. Here Rosalie let 
 Chu-Chu get so far ahead that I was worried. 
 
 "Don t lose him," said I through the tube; for 
 the Countess cab was fitted out with all the modern 
 conveniences, even to flowers and cigar holder and 
 a little red electric light. Chic was the word for it, 
 inside and out. 
 
 191 
 
192 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " I want to give him time to pass the octroi," 
 she answered, brisk as a robin redbreast. 
 
 " All right," I answered, " you know best." 
 
 But Chu-Chu, instead of going through the Bou 
 logne gate, held on around past the Longchamps 
 racecourse, and at such a clip that Rosalie got anx 
 ious and turned on all the power she had. As we 
 passed the Porte de Boulogne I saw an agent raise 
 his whistle to his lips and thought it was all up with 
 us, but Rosalie blew him a kiss and he lowered it 
 with a sheepish grin and a warning shake of his 
 head. Although I did not know it at the time, 
 Rosalie was quite a well-known figure, and had even 
 been interviewed for several of the papers. Being 
 in automobile circles myself, I should have known 
 all about her, but did not, simply on account of the 
 pressure of my own affairs. 
 
 But I was learning about her fast enough now. 
 Under the impression that Chu-Chu was going right 
 around Longchamps she closed in, and when he sud 
 denly darted off to the left and pulled up at the 
 St. Cloud gate we were only about a hundred 
 metres behind him. It was a big surprise for Rosa 
 lie, but she wasn t feazed a particle. If she had 
 kept on around we might have lost him, and if we 
 had slowed down and waited for him to declare 
 his essence it might have attracted attention, so up 
 comes Rosaline full bore, brakes down at the gate, 
 coming to a stop just behind Chu-Chu, and hops 
 out to get her ticket. 
 
 As for me I had put on my tinted goggles and 
 and whipped out a little breviary, and was reading 
 away with my head ducked a trifle. Under the 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 193 
 
 rim of the flat hat I watched Chu-Chu as he made 
 his declaration, took his ticket, and stepped back 
 to his car. He shot a quick glance at Rosalie, half- 
 curious and half-amused, at which she shoved out 
 her little chin and passed him with a pout. The 
 octroi men tried to give her a little guff, and I was 
 frightened for a minute as Chu-Chu was going off 
 at a good clip; but Rosaline snatched her ticket out 
 of the official s hand and came back laughing. She 
 had left the motor running, of course, and the next 
 second we were off along the bank of the Seine 
 after Chu-Chu. 
 
 " Your Leontine is a beauty," said Rosalie 
 through the tube. " I don t wonder you re jealous. 
 But that chauffeur has the eyes of a wolf. He 
 looks as if he might be Chu-Chu le Tondeur." 
 
 " What do you know about Chu-Chu le Ton 
 deur? " I asked. 
 
 " Oh, everybody knows about him. For myself 
 I doubt that there is such a person. Every time 
 there is a murder and robbery people say Chu-Chu 
 le Tondeur. 
 
 I wondered what she would think if she knew 
 that the gentleman with the wolfish eyes was actu 
 ally none other than the celebrated criminal whose 
 performances had sent shivers down the spine of 
 many a respectable bourgeois or lonely chatelaine 
 in her gloomy country house hidden in the trees. 
 It might also startle her, I thought, if she were to 
 discover that the studious preacher in her cab was, 
 even as Chu-Chu walked from the octroi station to 
 his motor, wondering if it might not be possible 
 to hit him with a shot from an automatic pis- 
 
194 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 tol and escape in the confusion that would follow. 
 
 For precisely this idea had gone through my head. 
 Nowadays when one hears a sharp report the first 
 thing that crosses the mind is the thought that it is 
 a burst tire or a back fire from a motor. As Chu- 
 Chu walked past the window of Rosalie s taxi I 
 was almost on the point of shooting, then jumping 
 out, picking him up and, while the octroi officials 
 were tearing about and the crowd was gathering, 
 slipping oft into the bushes and shedding my round 
 hat, goggles and soutane. Underneath I wore a 
 tweed knickerbocker suit and russet shoes, and I had 
 in my pocket a tweed tourist s cap to match the suit, 
 and a Paris Baedeker. It would have taken me 
 just about two seconds to have made the change 
 from a wandering Alsatian French predicateur to 
 the most harmless of British tourists. 
 
 Then why didn t I? It is rather hard to say. 
 I had nothing to fear from Leontine or from Chu- 
 Chu s man. Leontine would have guessed in a 
 flash what had happened, and probably would have 
 helped me if the opportunity offered. Chu-Chu s 
 pal would have been principally interested in doing 
 his own get-away before it was discovered that Chu- 
 Chu s face was skilfully made up. I had noticed 
 when he passed that his nose got its aristocratic 
 bridge from shadow-lines carefully laid on; and his 
 eyes, really light, were made to look dark by the 
 blackening of the lower lashes and perhaps a little 
 atropin. His moustache was faked by the glueing 
 in of white hairs among the black ones already 
 there. 
 
 I think that I could have pulled the job off all 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 195 
 
 right. Honestly, my chief reason for not taking 
 the chance was the Countess Rosalie I didn t 
 want to mix her up in it. She had been a little 
 trump, and the French police are always ready to 
 grab a scapegoat. There s a bit of the Chinese 
 theory about French criminal procedure. Some 
 body ought to suffer, if only to preserve the reputa 
 tion of the police. Punish the guilty by preference, 
 but punish somebody. As a matter of fact, the 
 guilty party, or supposedly guilty party, usually 
 gets off in the end unless he s a fairly honest sort of 
 cove; but there s a lot of trouble about it all the 
 same, and I didn t want to chuck it on my bright- 
 eyed Rosalie. I was getting rather keen about 
 Rosalie. 
 
 Anyway, Chu-Chu walked past me unhurt, and 
 maybe he felt that th?re was a heap of trouble in 
 the atmosphere, for his little smile showed the white 
 of two fangs that might be useful to a collie, and 
 his eyes were dancing. He may have looked at me; 
 I don t know, because when he got close my own 
 eyes were frozen on an Ave Maria. One spark 
 would have blown up the magazine, and I wasn t 
 taking any more chances than were strictly neces 
 sary. Something told me that from the moment 
 that Chu-Chu s eyes and mine actually met any dis 
 guise under heaven would be about as effective as 
 a tulle gown in front of an X-ray machine. 
 
 Off we went again, Chu-Chu well in the lead and 
 a car or two between us. He was across the bridge 
 at St. Cloud before we had reached it, but we caught 
 a glimpse of him as he swung round the corner to 
 start up the hill on the road to Versailles. At the 
 
196 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 first turn, which, as you remember, is mighty sud 
 den, and with a good nine per cent, grade, we caught 
 up to him, which we certainly should not have done 
 if he hadn t purposely slowed. The man with 
 Leontine was looking back, and as he sighted Rosa 
 lie he said something to Chu-Chu, who went from 
 his first to his second speed. 
 
 It was plain enough that they were a bit suspi 
 cious, although the chances were about ten to one 
 that any car coming out of that gate of the Bois 
 would stick to the Versailles road. Nevertheless, 
 at the top of the hill Chu-Chu still kept on his 
 second speed, and Rosalie was obliged to take her 
 choice of passing him or appearing to slow down 
 purposely. Being a quick-witted girl she did the 
 former, and skipped past in a sort of triumphant 
 way, as if pleased at having overtaken him. 
 
 Apparently Chu-Chu was satisfied and came to 
 the conclusion that there was no harm in us, for 
 when Rosalie purposely slowed down on the incline 
 farther along he swept past without so much as a 
 glance. 
 
 All of this time I had been trying to study out 
 their game, but without any success. The relations 
 between Chu-Chu and Leontine had always been 
 strictly professional, with Ivan as intermediary. 
 That is to say, when Chu-Chu managed to collar 
 stones or pearls he turned them over, or was sup 
 posed to turn them over, to Ivan, who gave them 
 to Leontine to dispose of. Why Chu-Chu should 
 be lugging her off into the country I couldn t imag 
 ine, unless there was some game going that had 
 nothing to do with me. 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 197 
 
 Chu-Chu s taxi was of precisely the same make 
 and model as Rosalie s, the sort most in use in 
 Paris. But from the way he passed us I could see 
 that he was getting a good deal more out of his 
 motor than we were and this was not surprising 
 when you come to remember that Chu-Chu was a 
 star driver, with a beautiful sense for any sort of 
 machinery, whereas Rosalie was more or less of a 
 novice. Besides, her carburetter was working ir 
 regularly, and she was always too impatient about 
 going into the speed ahead. I was afraid that as 
 soon as we struck the fast part of the road beyond 
 St. Cloud Chu-Chu might dig out and leave us 
 wondering. There was also the chance of his be 
 coming suspicious of us if at the end of several kilo 
 metres he found us still on his trail. Rosalie s 
 taxi looked like any other taxi, but Rosalie herself 
 did not look like any other taxi driver, and what had 
 been at first an advantage for Chu-Chu would 
 never suspect me of picking out the most conspicu 
 ous driver in Paris to hound him might easily 
 spoil the whole business. 
 
 So I picked up the speaking tube. We were 
 working up the last easy part of the grade. 
 
 " Madame Rosalie," I said. 
 
 " Eh, well? " she answered. 
 
 " I m afraid he smells a rat. He is going to try 
 to leave us once we get past the railroad crossing." 
 
 " Don t be afraid," she answered tartly. 
 " There isn t a taxi in Paris that can make this one 
 feel lonely. Besides, he is carrying one more per 
 son." 
 
 " But how about your carburetter? " 
 
198 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Don t bother about the carburetter. It s all 
 right." 
 
 Thank you," said I, and hung up the tube. 
 
 Evidently the Countess Rosalie was touchy about 
 her car. Or perhaps she felt that some slight com 
 pliment was due her, rather than impending doubts. 
 As if she wanted to show what she could do when 
 she really tried she brushed the arm of a bicyclist 
 with her mudguard, then swept past a stone-cart 
 on the wrong side of the road, and got a stream 
 of bad talk from the carter, to say nothing of a nar 
 row escape from knocking the head off the leader, 
 which swung to the right from instinct at the sound 
 of the motor. 
 
 It was a wasted effort of hers though, for Chu- 
 Chu fooled us again. Instead of turning sharply 
 to the left at the crossroads he held straight on, 
 slowing a bit to let the stream of cars go past. 
 The result was that we drew up right behind him, 
 and he looked back and saw us. After we had fol 
 lowed him across the big road from Suresnes to 
 Versailles he looked back again, then slowed down. 
 
 " Keep right on," said I sharply to Rosalie. 
 
 " I am not a fool! " she answered, and gave her 
 speed-lever a vicious little jerk. I could feel the 
 three pairs of eyes on us as we passed. It was a 
 pretty serious moment, and we were in danger of 
 spoiling everything, for we had taken a big, unnec 
 essary detour from Paris to go to any point where 
 that road would take us. There was only one thing 
 to do, and I did it. Leaning out of the window, I 
 called to Rosalie to stop. She cut off the gas and 
 braked viciously. 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 199 
 
 " Pretend to be arguing about the route," I said 
 quickly. 
 
 Rosalie caught my drift and began to gesticulate; 
 I did the same. Chu-Chu was coming up slowly 
 behind. 
 
 Turn round and start back," said I, and jerked 
 my head back into the cab. Rosalie stuck out a 
 gauntleted arm, then hauled to the side of the road. 
 Chu-Chu swept past in a cloud of dust. He turned 
 a corner and disappeared. 
 
 "What now?" asked Rosalie, turning round. 
 
 Wait a minute," I answered; "he suspects. 
 We ve got to change places." 
 
 I slipped off the soutane and round black hat and 
 stepped out into the road in my knickers. Rosalie 
 stared at me with her lips like a big red " O." 
 
 "Quick, madame," said I; "you must let me 
 drive." 
 
 " But why? " she gasped. 
 
 " Don t ask questions; I am a chief of the secret 
 service. Do you know who that chauffeur is? 
 You said his name not long ago." 
 
 "Not Chu-Chu?" 
 
 " Perfectly. Jump inside and let me run the car. 
 Don t be afraid. I shall not hurt your motor." 
 
 Rosalie obeyed without a word. I stepped up 
 and took the wheel, and we were off. 
 
 Just as I had feared, once given a little start on a 
 fairly good road, Chu-Chu was hard to catch. The 
 dust hanging in the air showed that he was not far 
 ahead, and I might have overhauled him if it hadn t 
 been for our carburetter, which kept on flooding 
 when I cut off the gas on curves and down grades, 
 
200 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 so that when we started to climb the mixture was 
 too rich and we were smothered. The only way 
 to keep any speed was to throw out the clutch and 
 let the motor spin going down hill, and this practice 
 is not the best in the world for the motor. Pres 
 ently I heard from Rosalie on the subject. 
 
 You ll soon heat up if you keep on doing that," 
 said she through the tube, " Reach down and cut 
 off the essence from the reservoir when you go. 
 down hill." 
 
 That was sound doctrine, and I acted on it, 
 though from this point on the road mounts pretty 
 steadily until you get to Rocquencourt. As we 
 passed the old soldiers home I noticed that it was 
 about five minutes to one. Rather to my surprise 
 we found more motors on this road than before we 
 had reached the crossroads. Three handsome cars 
 had passed us, and presently a fourth a big, 
 heavy limousine went lumbering by. 
 
 " That was Orelovna, the Russian dancer," said 
 Rosalie s voice in the tube at my ear. " The man 
 with her was the Grand Duke Alexander. Those 
 people in the torpilleiir that passed a moment ago 
 were of the Comedie Francaise at least I recog 
 nised Martet, and I think the man driving was 
 Parodi." 
 
 That was all I needed to know. The whole mys 
 tery was cleared up in a flash. Just before you get 
 to Rocquencourt, as you may remember, the road 
 passes between two big estates surrounded by heavy 
 walls that inclose park, chasse and farms. One of 
 these, I remembered, had been rented by a retired 
 millionaire banker of Frankfort, a Baron von 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 201 
 
 Hertzfeld, who was a prominent figure in the 
 theatre and cafe life of Paris, and who was prob 
 ably giving a big dejeuner. 
 
 Leontine was no doubt on her way to this func 
 tion, and very possibly Chu-Chu s associate was also 
 an invited guest. Chu-Chu, in his character of 
 Monsieur de Maxeville, had very likely received an 
 invitation, as I had several times seen him with Von 
 Hertzfeld and his little group of intimates, for out 
 side of Ivan s mob Baron Rosenthal and I were the 
 only ones who knew that Monsieur de Maxeville 
 was other than a clubman of sufficient fortune, an 
 excellent companion and a devotee of outdoor 
 sports. 
 
 But Chu-Chu, knowing that I might even at that 
 moment be hot on his trail, had not cared to run 
 the risk of sticking his head above the surface. On 
 the other hand, he must have some definite reason 
 for wishing to be on the Hertzfeld premises during 
 the luncheon party. Either there was some work 
 in hand another string of pearls perhaps, for 
 some of the women guests would be sure to be 
 decked out in wonders or else he might want to 
 have a look at the house and its surroundings. He 
 would be kept waiting until Leontine s return, and 
 as a brave garcon of a taxi driver it is not probable 
 that in an establishment as lavish as Hertzfeld s 
 he would be neglected by the butler s department. 
 Hertzfeld was a man who handed out hundred- 
 franc notes as a tip for opening the door of his lim 
 ousine. 
 
 There was no room for any doubt. Leontine 
 was bound for Baron von Hertzfeld s, and the taxi 
 
202 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 would, of course, wait inside, so there seemed 
 nothing for me to do but hang around outside until 
 the party was over, which would probably be late 
 in the afternoon. It was to be an elaborate affair, 
 as two more big cars swept past us, also a couple of 
 taxis. 
 
 Sure enough, when we reached the estate the big 
 iron gates were wide open, and a footman was 
 stationed on either side to salute the guests as they 
 entered. I held straight on and pulled up in the 
 shade around the first bend. Here I stopped the 
 motor and, getting down, opened the door. 
 
 "Eh, well?" asked Rosalie a little sharply. I 
 don t think she cared much for being a passenger in 
 her own taxicab. 
 
 I jerked my head toward the corner of the big 
 wall. That s where they are," I answered, " at 
 Baron von Hertzfeld s luncheon party." 
 
 "Oh! So that is his estate? I had heard that 
 he lived out this way. What do you want to do 
 now?" 
 
 14 I want to keep them in view," I answered, 
 " especially Chu-Chu. But I don t exactly see how 
 I m to do it. If we wait in front of the gates we 
 shall be too conspicuous, and if we wait here we shall 
 not be able to see them come out." 
 
 Rosalie threw me a peculiar look. She gave her 
 pretty shoulders the slightest shrug. 
 
 " What s the matter? " I asked. 
 
 That s what I am asking myself," said she with 
 a little smile. " To tell the truth, there are some 
 things about this affair that strike me as funny. 
 First you say you are jealous of la belle Leontine; 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 203 
 
 then you say that the affair is all over and done with 
 and that you are pushed along by a desire for re 
 venge. That is easy to understand. It is not dif 
 ficult to believe, also, that you have become a mis 
 sionary and a predicateur on her account. Then, 
 while we are following her you step suddenly out 
 of my taxi as a comme II faut English milord, tell 
 ing me that you are an officer of the secret service 
 and that the driver of the taxi we are following is 
 Chu-Chu le Tondeur. That is startling to hear, 
 but possible to believe. But now what I do not 
 understand is, if you are an officer of the secret serv 
 ice and the driver of that taxi is Chu-Chu, why 
 don t you go in and arrest him? If you do not care 
 to attempt it alone there is a station of the gendar 
 merie nationale not very far away." 
 
 " Madame Rosalie," I answered, " there is but 
 one way to arrest Chu-Chu, and that way requires 
 but one person and no assistants. Such a person as 
 our friend Chu-Chu should be shot first and arrested 
 afterward. But this is something that one dislikes 
 to undertake in a crowd." 
 
 She gave me that peculiar look that had already 
 puzzled me. 
 
 " And is it for that that you are following him? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " I wish to take him single-handed," I answered. 
 " Of course, if he resists - I shrugged. 
 
 " But," I added, " I want to do it as quietly as pos 
 sible. It is a very bad thing for everybody when 
 the taking of a notorious criminal is attended with 
 a lot of noise." 
 
 " And makes it necessary to divide the credit of 
 
204 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 his capture," said Rosalie, giving me one of her in 
 telligent looks. " You would like to arrest him 
 without any help from outside, but are not quite 
 sure that you could manage it. Well, then " 
 she turned away and began to unfasten the hood of 
 the motor " while you are trying to make up your 
 mind let us see if we can t do something to correct 
 the trouble in the carburetter." 
 
 I stepped over to lend a hand, for there was no 
 hurry, and I liked being with Rosalie. It wasn t 
 hard to guess at what she thought. She had me 
 sized up as a jealous lover of Leontine s. She 
 thought that I had been giving her a lot of guff, 
 and was really a theatrical sort of fool who had put 
 on a priest s hat and a soutane over my outing 
 clothes, and had sat down in the cafe opposite Leon- 
 tine s house to watch for whatever might happen. 
 
 But what did puzzle her, as I could see from her 
 attitude toward me, was to determine whether I was 
 a gentleman or merely some cheap imitation. You 
 see, though the blood in me is about as good as 
 you ll find, even if it never paid duty, my early edu 
 cation was a queer one; and though I can act the 
 part of swell, and often have, to the point of mak 
 ing it mighty expensive for a critical audience, it s 
 usually a part that I m playing. Then my speech 
 puzzled Rosalie, for I can talk the most affected 
 society Parisian or the toughest La Villette argot 
 and never change my gait. Tante Fi-Fi started me 
 with pure French, and I d perfected it later work 
 ing society graft, and Tante Fi-Fi had been a swell in 
 her day; the second was a sort of post-graduate 
 course in the University of Cayenne, to which I 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 205 
 
 earned a scholarship from the French Government 
 by getting nabbed while trying to lift Kharkov s 
 wad at Auteuil a couple of years before. 
 
 So it wasn t surprising that Rosalie had some 
 trouble to place me, or that she began to get a little 
 suspicious and resentful about the way I had com 
 mandeered her motor and herself. She seemed a 
 little sulky as we leaned together over the carbu 
 retter, but it wasn t in her nature to wear a grouch 
 for long, and when I had located the trouble in the 
 feed-pipe and got it cleaned out and flowing 
 properly again her smile had come back, and we 
 seemed to be getting to be friends again. 
 
 There was no hurry about anything for the pres 
 ent, as Leontine would be at Hertzfeld s for the 
 n.ext three hours or so, and I was pretty sure that 
 Chu-Chu would wait to take her home. Besides, a 
 plan was buzzing round in my head, and I wanted 
 to study it out a bit. This was a scheme for com 
 ing to grips with Chu-Chu by letting him spot me 
 and do the stalking himself. It was a scheme that 
 I felt pretty sure would work, and was rather like 
 hunting a tiger by ramming round through the 
 jungle at night, pretending to be a sheep or a kid. 
 
 But to work it right I needed Rosalie s help, and 
 although I could not see how she would be in any 
 danger herself, I wanted her to know and believe 
 just what I was up against. So as soon as we had 
 finished with the carburetter I said: 
 
 " Madame, I am afraid that you don t believe 
 what I have told you about this affair. Some of 
 the things I have said were true and some were not. 
 I have now formed a plan, but before going ahead 
 
206 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 with it I wish to tell you more about the situation, 
 and I will ask you to believe me, as I shall tell you 
 nothing but the truth. After hearing it, if you 
 would prefer not to be mixed up in the business you 
 have only to say so, when I will pay you for your 
 services up to this point, and you may return to 
 Paris." 
 
 Rosalie gave me one of her bright, searching 
 looks. 
 
 " Monsieur is fond of romance," said she. 
 " Well, then, so am I. Tell me the story, if you 
 please. Are you D Artagnan, and is La Petrovski 
 Milady? And if I help you what is to be my re 
 ward?" 
 
 She seated herself on the cool, shaded bank, 
 clasped her hands in front of her knees, and looked 
 up at me with a mocking little smile. I flung my 
 self down beside her, for the day was hot and the 
 grass sweet and cool. 
 
 " In the first place," said I, " let me tell you that 
 the man who drove La Petrovski s taxi is certainly 
 Chu-Chu le Tondeur. Of that there can be no 
 doubt." 
 
 Rosalie raised her eyebrows. She looked in 
 credulous yet startled. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how I happen to know him," 
 I went on, " but I have every reason to think that 
 Chu-Chu has sworn to take my life. It is, in fact, 
 on that account that he is in disguise, for I will tell 
 you another thing that many people suspect but 
 few know for a certainty. This clever thief and 
 murderer called Chu-Chu le Tondeur is actually a 
 man very well known and well received in Paris 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 207 
 
 society. If I were to tell you his name you would 
 probably know at once who he is." 
 
 Rosalie s red lips parted and her breath came 
 faster. 
 
 " Some time ago," I continued, " I discovered 
 Chu-Chu s identity. We have also quarrelled, and 
 there is not the slightest doubt in my mind that he 
 has put aside all other interests to try to find and 
 murder me. It is on this account that I shaved my 
 head, put on goggles and a soutane, and took to 
 watching Leontine s house from the Bon Cocher. 
 In his life of man-about-town Chu-Chu knew that 
 I had been attentive to La Petrovski, and has 
 probably been hanging about there with his taxicab 
 either in the hope of my taking him for a course or 
 perhaps merely to locate me. You see, as soon as 
 I learned of my danger I gave it out that I had left 
 the country, then disguised myself and set out to 
 watch Chu-Chu." 
 
 Rosalie s pretty face was pale with excitement, 
 and her eyes sparkled. 
 
 "You are really serious?" she cried, plead 
 ingly. 
 
 " I wish that I were not." 
 
 "And are you yourself of the police?" 
 
 No; I told you that when I slipped off my 
 preacher s rig so that you would not make any dif 
 ficulty about going on. I am a private citizen and 
 in the motor business. All that I ask is to be left 
 in peace, but Chu-Chu will not do that, for two 
 reasons. In the first place, he hates me for having 
 spoiled a good job of his; in the second, he considers 
 my assassination necessary to his own safety." 
 
208 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " But if this is so, and you can identify him as 
 Chu-Chu le Tondeur, why do you not go to the 
 police and have him taken? " 
 
 " Because," I answered slowly, " Chu-Chu is the 
 leading light of a very powerful criminal organisa 
 tion. To denounce Chu-Chu would be to involve 
 others, and in that case I probably should not live 
 long enough to drink a petit verre. But Chu-Chu 
 himself is not in very good favour with the gang, 
 and nobody would hold it against me if I were to 
 settle my affair with him quietly." 
 
 You wish ?" gasped Rosalie. 
 
 " I wish to protect myself." 
 
 She glanced at my face, then drew back a little, 
 pale and her breath coming quickly. But the fas 
 cinated look I had observed in the cafe was there 
 again. 
 
 "What do you want to do?" she asked almost 
 in a whisper; and her hazel eyes never left my face. 
 "And what do you want me to do?" She moist 
 ened her lips with her tongue. 
 
 " My plan is this: In about an hour, or, say, an 
 hour and a half, I want you to drive me, dressed as 
 I am now, into the Hertzfeld place. I will tell the 
 maitre d hotel that I am a journalist, a correspond 
 ent of some English paper, and ask to be favoured 
 with a list of the guests, the menu, and, if possible, 
 a few words with the Baron. This ought not to 
 be difficult, as he is nouveau riche and his title a re 
 cently purchased one, and he likes notoriety. 
 While in there I will contrive to let Chu-Chu get a 
 glimpse of me. He will recognise me at once, but 
 I shall pretend not to have seen him. Chu-Chu 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 209 
 
 will think that I have come in the hope of a word 
 with Leontine, whose house I might be afraid to 
 visit. Then, unless I am very much mistaken, when 
 we leave Chu-Chu will follow us." 
 
 "To learn where you live?" 
 
 " Yes, and possibly even to make an attack on 
 the road. That is what we must avoid." 
 
 " Mon Dleu! But how?" 
 
 " We must not let him catch us until we reach 
 the forest of Marly. It begins less than a kilo 
 metre from here. We shall have a sufficient start 
 to keep ahead for that distance. Once in the wood 
 I shall jump out and walk into the trees. If Chu- 
 Chu follows me we will settle our difficulties then 
 and there." 
 
 Poor Rosalie looked scared to death. I waited 
 for a minute, expecting to hear her say that she 
 wanted nothing to do with the whole business. In 
 stead of that, after a minute of reflection: 
 
 " Do you think that he will believe that I know? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " If I thought that for a single second," said I, 
 quickly, " I should walk into that place and shoot 
 him off the seat of his taxi before I would permit 
 you to have any hand in it. No; Chu-Chu will 
 believe that I chose you either by chance or because 
 I should naturally expect him to think that the last 
 person I would choose should be the most easily 
 traced taxi in Paris. He would never for a second 
 dream that I had taken you into my confidence. 
 Besides, he would never believe that if you knew 
 what was going on you would dare tackle it." 
 
 She dropped her hands at her sides, straightened 
 
210 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 out her pretty limbs, and took a deep breath. I 
 looked at her admiringly, for it was plain that she 
 was frightened and was making a plucky fight to 
 get the upper hand of her scare. Lithe as a cat, 
 she twisted over presently on one hip, dropped her 
 chin on her knuckles, her elbow on the sward, and 
 began to pluck at the grass. Neither of us said 
 anything. Her long reflection made me begin to 
 believe that she was wondering, perhaps, what there 
 was going to be in it for her in mixing up with such 
 an ugly business. That idea was in my own mind, 
 and I had decided to offer her a thousand francs 
 for the afternoon s work and four thousand more to 
 be paid later if the business turned out all right for 
 me. I really did not see how Rosalie ran any risk, 
 especially as I should be taking good care not to 
 let Chu-Chu haul up very close to us. And, any 
 way, she was free to turn the proposition down if 
 she chose. 
 
 Rosalie rolled back, put a stem of grass between 
 her lips, and turned to me with the colour in her 
 cheeks again. I expected to hear her ask: 
 " What do I get? " or words to that effect. Instead 
 she asked: 
 
 " You are well armed? " 
 
 I grinned, and nodded. A few minutes before 
 she had been advising me rather sarcastically to get 
 a troop or two of the gendarmerie nationale to help 
 me out; now she was worrying about my arma 
 ment. 
 
 " Don t you bother about me," I answered. 
 " Think about yourself a little. After all, you 
 aren t in the motor business for your health." 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 211 
 
 We were speaking in French, of course. I had no 
 earthly reason for suspecting Rosalie of knowing 
 any other language, as, for all her title, she had 
 nothing of the grande dame about her, and might 
 have been a farmer s daughter or run a decent little 
 restaurant, so far as distinction went. But when 
 I said, " You re not in the motor business for your 
 health," I translated the American slang literally. 
 Now, as a matter of fact, most slang translates 
 literally from one language to another, and it has 
 often surprised me when I ve been in the States to 
 hear some local mug that had never got farther 
 from his alley than the first full gutter, spouting 
 what was considered the very latest hot talk, and 
 what I ve recognised straight off as good old moth- 
 eaten, fly-bitten Montmartre or La Villette. If 
 some person with a lot of time on his hands wanted 
 to take the trouble he could dig up an old English 
 or old German or old French gag for the bulk of 
 American slang. I can only think of a few this 
 minute. For instance, " to have a good front," 
 avoir du front; " chippy," chiple; the word French 
 crooks have for prison, couloir corridor and, 
 in American, "the cooler"; or to get right down 
 to recent American slang, not over five years old, 
 " gink/ The apache French for that, and old as 
 the hills, too, is ging, and comes from the word 
 ginguet, which means a soft, easy mark. So, mind 
 you, what I said to Rosalie about not running a 
 taxi for her health might have been said in French 
 slang in exactly the same way. Maybe my way 
 of putting it was the American one, for she 
 stared at me for a second, then answered in per- 
 
212 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 fectly good American: "Not on your life!" 
 
 I felt like a fool. Some years before I d worked 
 Kansas City until I thought that the ground needed 
 to lie fallow for a while, and I was on to the accent. 
 I d been a " distinguished foreign guest," and the 
 leading citizens trimmed me at poker while I was 
 making myself popular and finding out w r here they 
 kept it. When I was all fed up with the place I 
 worked a couple of banks, then ran over to Monte 
 to give it away to the Prince of Monaco, for you 
 mustn t forget that the greatest rest for the grafter 
 is to become a happy, idle sucker for a while. That 
 is the reason why so many American millionaires 
 go to Europe for their vacations. 
 
 So when Rosalie came back at me with that " Not 
 on your life!" and no mistake about the " your- 
 r-r-r," I was about as startled as if Chu-Chu had 
 stuck his head over the wall behind us which 
 belonged, I believe, to Prince Marat. No French 
 woman could have got that accent, any more than 
 an American woman could ever hope to pronounce 
 the simple French word for " king." 
 
 Rosalie threw back her head and laughed. She 
 was mighty inviting to look at when she laughed, 
 and I got an impression of soft throat, moist red 
 mouth, and her tantalising eyes looking down half- 
 closed over her cheeks. I must have looked like a 
 fool, because she laughed harder than ever; in fact, 
 she laughed too hard for just ordinary amusement. 
 
 Suddenly she straightened up and wiped her eyes. 
 She had laughed so hard that she had slipped down 
 the bank, and her short skirt was drawn up over her 
 knees, and this and the dimpled face made her look 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 213 
 
 like a little girl hot and flushed after some frolic. 
 " Well," said I, as she straightened her skirt and 
 pushed back her hair, " that s one on me all right. 
 I ve taken the elementary courses in human nature 
 and knocked around the world a bit, but I ll be 
 hanged if I could ever have spotted you for an 
 American ! " 
 
 " Wichita," said she. 
 
 "The rest wasn t hard to guess," I answered; 
 " but how did you manage to spot me for an Ameri 
 can?" 
 
 " I had my doubts from the first," she answered. 
 " Your telling me that you were Alsatian put me 
 off ; then I thought you were English. I knew 
 you weren t French French." 
 
 " What gave you the clue finally? " I asked. 
 " Your business methods." 
 "My what?" 
 
 Your scheme for drawing Chu-Chu off into the 
 forest of Marly and having it out with your guns 
 or knives, or whatever comes handy. That 
 doesn t match up with the local colour. What s 
 your State? Arizona?" 
 
 I ve been there," I answered; " but never mind 
 about me. I wish you d tell me how it happens that 
 a Wichita girl should be driving a Paris taxicab 
 and speaking French like a Parisienne de Paris. 
 Then you are titled, too." 
 
 Rosalie gave a little mock sigh. " Such is 
 fame," says she. " Now, if you ever read the 
 Matin and the Kansas City Star you d know all 
 about me. Not that there s such an awful lot to 
 know. My father was Mr. Michael O Rourke, 
 
2i 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 and he emigrated from Ireland to Chicago, where 
 he started in business driving a cab. You see, it s 
 a sort of inherited gift. Pretty soon he owned 
 most of the cabs, and then he owned a street-car 
 line and a good bit of the city, and a lot of the peo 
 ple in it. But he stayed Mike O Rourke, and when 
 he married my mother there was an awful row from 
 all the old snobs. Mother was proud, and asked 
 odds of nobody, but a few years later they went to 
 Wichita, where I was born. Mother never forgave 
 the people who turned her down for marrying be 
 neath her, so as soon as I was old enough she sent 
 me to a French convent, saying that she wasn t 
 going to have me grow up a snob. The last year 
 that I was in the convent mother and father were 
 both killed in a railway collision " Rosalie 
 blinked a few times " and I went home and found 
 myself a mighty lonesome heiress. Then my 
 mother s sister came over for the winter and 
 brought me with her, and while we were away her 
 husband took such good care of my estate that in 
 a few months there was nothing left of it but enough 
 to give me a fairly decent dot. To compensate for 
 what her husband had done my aunt made what she 
 considered a very good match for me with the 
 Comte de Brignolles. Of course, being convent- 
 bred, it never occurred to me to object, so we were 
 married, and started off on our honeymoon, and 
 and " Rosalie s face got crimson " and five 
 minutes after we had left my aunt s I found that I 
 loathed him, so I stopped the motor and got out 
 and jumped into a taxi, and went straight to where 
 the Mother Superior lived; for the convent had been 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 215 
 
 closed by this beautiful Government, and the nuns 
 driven away. I stopped with Soeur Anne Marie, 
 and my aunt was furious, and wouldn t see me, and 
 the Comte got a separation and my dot. A year 
 ago he died, and his lawyers kindly gave me back 
 what he hadn t gambled away about fifteen thou 
 sand francs. It wasn t enough to go on long, and 
 about that time the Prefecture decided to issue per 
 mits for women taxi drivers, so I bought my little 
 car and, went to work. You see, I d learned to 
 drive after leaving the convent, and I liked it, and 
 I must say I haven t done so badly." She looked at 
 me and smiled. 
 
 You re a wonder," said I. " Now let me tell 
 you something. I m going to square up with you 
 for our promenade, and then I want you to get into 
 that little taxi of yours and spin back to Soeur Anne 
 Marie as fast as God will let you. You still live 
 with her, I hope? " 
 
 Rosalie shoved out her little chin. That is 
 none of your affair," says she. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," I answered. " I said it 
 out of pure friendly interest. You see, a girl in 
 your position is like a pheasant in the hunting sea 
 son, and I d like to feel that you had a high fence 
 that you could fly over and be unmolested if you had 
 need." 
 
 Her face softened. " Well, then," says she, " I 
 don t mind telling you that I have taken a little 
 apartment for Soeur Anne Marie and myself, and 
 I go straight there as soon as ever my work is over. 
 I m my own mistress and can do as I please, but 
 sometimes it s hard to finish up and go home. You 
 
216 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 can wait for an hour or so on a stand, then get a 
 little twenty-sou fare and start home, and the 
 chances are that if you re very tired and your lamps 
 need filling, and you re not quite sure about one of 
 your envelopes, and the bougie is full of burned oil, 
 and a little grease has got into the clutch and is 
 making it slip, and Socur Anne Marie is waiting for 
 you to come in and make the omelette, that is just 
 the time that you ll be hailed by three or four Ameri 
 can college boys who want to run out to Versailles 
 ci Fontainebleau for dinner. And you can t re 
 fuse." 
 
 "Why not?" I asked. 
 
 " Because, for one thing, I can t afford to. Be 
 sides, they make me homesick. I always have a 
 fight to keep them from digging into their jeans and 
 giving me all the money they ve got. Of course, I 
 never let them guess that I m American, too. Only 
 last week a youngster sat beside me coming in from 
 Chantilly. He offered me a hundred francs for a 
 good-night kiss. I told him that he could have the 
 kiss for nothing if he d promise to go straight home 
 and go to bed. What do you think he did? " 
 
 " I don t like to say," I answered; and maybe my 
 voice was a bit nasty, for somehow or other I 
 wasn t very keen at the thought of this nice little 
 girl being mauled and jollied by a batch of cub col 
 legians. 
 
 Rosalie pushed out her lips and chin. " You 
 needn t be afraid," she said. " He thanked me 
 very nicely, and when we got to the Champs Elysees 
 he said: I ll claim my forfeit now. Stop at the 
 Carlton. I was awfully upset, because, you see, 
 
THE COUNTESS ROSALIE 217 
 
 he d called my bluff, and I didn t like to cheapen 
 myself before the concierges and chauffeurs. But 
 I had to make good, so I turned in under the mar 
 quise to let him out. Instead of trying to kiss me 
 he got down, walked round to my side and kissed 
 my hand, or my glove. Then he went in and went 
 to bed." 
 
 " And the next day? " I asked. 
 
 Rosalie s colour was like a big crimson dahlia. 
 
 " He had less sense when he was sober than when 
 he was drunk," she answered, and laughed; "but 
 he s safely on the way to his fiancee in Newport 
 now, so it s all right. He ll always think of the 
 little French chauffeuse who gave him such good ad 
 vice, and asked no more than what was indicated 
 on the clock, as those boys called it." 
 
 Rosalie stopped talking and looked thoughtful. 
 I was a bit thoughtful myself. 
 
 " Well," said I, " suppose you look at the clock 
 and tell me what time it is in louis. It s time that 
 you were getting back to Soeur Anne Marie and 
 that I was getting on the job." 
 
 Rosalie looked at me with her queer little smile. 
 
 " You engaged me for the afternoon," said she. 
 " I m no quitter, as they say in Wichita." 
 
 " That s plain enough," I answered, " but I am. 
 How much do I owe you?" 
 
 " A little straight talk," she answered. 
 
 " You re right there," I answered, " and you shall 
 have it." Perhaps it was the strain of the last 
 week or two, or perhaps it was the knowledge that 
 things were coming to a focus. Maybe Rosalie had 
 something to do with it. Anyway, said I : 
 
218 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 What if I were to tell you that you were talk 
 ing to a crook? " 
 
 Rosalie gave me a steady look. 
 
 " I wouldn t believe you," she answered. " But 
 if you were to tell me that I was talking to a man 
 that was settling off old scores" she smiled "I 
 think I m on," says she, " and I stand pat." 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FIRST ROUND 
 
 THERE was no use in trying to send Rosalie back 
 to Paris. She wouldn t go. The girl was no fool; 
 and, totting up what she d seen and what I d told 
 her, and making a good fore-and-aft guess at the 
 rest, she came pretty near piping down the situa 
 tion. 
 
 " As I dope it out," says she, sitting there on the 
 edge of the bank with her round knees cuddled 
 under her clasped hands, " there s a feud between 
 you and this Chu-Chu person and it s coming to 
 a head. Now let me tell you something; there s 
 been only one time in my life when I ve started 
 something that I couldn t finish, and that was 
 my marriage to De Brignolles, I don t know 
 whether you re what they call a grafter over there 
 at home, or whether you re a sort of Arsene Lupin 
 or Sherlock Holmes, or what you are. At first I 
 thought you were a jealous lover; then I thought 
 you were a secret service man; then I thought 
 you were a liar." Rosalie looked at me sort of 
 doubtfully. 
 
 " What do you think I am now? " I asked. 
 
 She smiled a little and shook her head. 
 
 " I don t know," she answered, " and I don t care 
 very much; but you re an American, and you re up 
 against something that is very difficult, and I m not 
 going to scud off and save myself." 
 
 219 
 
220 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Let me tell you, my friend, I wanted to reach over 
 and gather the girl in and kiss her. She was a 
 little brick. Here she was, a girl who had spent 
 two-thirds of her life in France and had her ups and 
 downs in both countries, yet had never been 
 smirched you had only to look at her to see that 
 and had kept ideals. 
 
 " Look here, Rosalie," said I, " you re the best 
 little girl in all the world, and I feel that I m going 
 to be a better man for having known that there 
 really are some like you. I ve only been up against 
 one in my life, and she thinks I m all wrong and 
 I don t blame her. Now it ain t included in my 
 route-card to bring trouble to the only two really 
 unselfish women that I ever met; so you and I are 
 due to part immediatement. You said a minute or 
 two ago, That s all you get for being famous ; 
 so there s no kick coming if you don t recognise 
 me when I tell you one or two of my old business 
 names. Until a month or so ago, when I went on 
 the level for my own good reasons, I was about as 
 slick a thief as ever tried to collect what he thought 
 the world owed him. The police in New York and 
 Chicago, and London and Frankfort and even 
 way off there in St. Louis, where they love a thief 
 until he s pinched almost as much as they do here 
 in Paris would feel real broken up if they knew 
 I d chucked graft. Maybe you never heard of 
 Frank Clamart, alias the Tide-water Clam, alias 
 The Swell, alias Sir Frankie, and a few 
 others? " 
 
 Rosalie looked embarrassed. 
 
 " No," says she. " I never had a chance to see 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 221 
 
 the papers in the convent." She looked at me and 
 laughed outright. " That squares us, doesn t it? 
 So it was an old score, just as I thought." 
 
 " No," I answered, " it s not an old score. It s 
 a brand-new one. It all happened after I d chucked 
 graft and passed my word to to " 
 
 "Leontine?" 
 
 "Faugh!" said I. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," says Rosalie, and the smile 
 had clean gone out of her face. 
 
 " Look here, little girl," said I, quick as a flash; 
 " don t think for a second that I m pretending to be 
 in love again. I m not. The woman I passed my 
 word to is the wife of my half-brother, and she s 
 not like the rest of us down here." 
 
 " Hush ! " says Rosalie. " You needn t shout. 
 I understand. Soeur Anne Marie is that kind. 
 Just knowing them makes the rest of us who have 
 naughty thoughts and too many feelings and a cer 
 tain amount of honesty feel that, after all, it s worth 
 while to kick along. Don t you think so? " 
 
 Yes," I answered. " You re on, my dear. 
 And now, after what I have told you, I fancy you 
 won t mind climbing up on that seat and twisting 
 your little waggon back to Paris. If you start right 
 now you ll just about get to the Champs Elysees in 
 time to take some of the boys to a different bar. 
 Will a hundred francs cover our account?" 
 
 I spoke roughly on purpose, because I wanted her 
 to flare up and clear. Here was a nice little 
 woman, and an American at that, who had had 
 troubles enough of her own; so I spoke to her as if 
 what I said could have only one possible answer. 
 
222 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Instead of acting up as I had counted, however, 
 she gave me a quiet little smile and answered: 
 
 " Do I strike you as the sort to file away and 
 leave a fellow American in a bad corner? Not 
 much ! You ve engaged me for the whole after 
 noon, and it s not yet two o clock. What you are 
 after, as I dope it out, is to draw the fire of this 
 Chu-Chu person. You want to make sure that he 
 means business, and you think that, if he does, the 
 sooner you liquidate the better. Well, the forest 
 of Marly is just the place for two people with your 
 trouble. And" she glanced at me and a sort of 
 warmth came into her eyes " I m not worrying 
 myself to death over the result. You look as if you 
 could manage to take care of yourself." 
 
 I shook my head. 
 
 " It won t do, Rosalie," I answered. " If Chu- 
 Chu should happen to know that you were an 
 American he would suspect you of working with me 
 or trying to help. He s as revengeful as a Pathan, 
 and there s no telling what he might do to you after 
 ward. Besides, he s seen you once to-day, and if 
 he were to catch sight of you again he might get 
 suspicious. I ll manage some other way. I ve got 
 a little scheme. It may not work, but there s no 
 great harm in trying it. If you re interested to 
 know how it pans out drop into the Bon Cocher at 
 about noon to-morrow." 
 
 She saw that I meant it, so she gave in; and I 
 thanked her and squared up. Rosalie would let 
 me pay her only the regular amount and the regular 
 tip for an out-of-town course. Then we shook 
 hands and she stepped up to her seat when I 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 223 
 
 cranked the motor; and she moved slowly off in the 
 direction of Paris. I had made a bundle of 
 my predicateur costume and carried it under my 
 arm. 
 
 So back down the road I went and in through the 
 big gates, which had been left open though, the 
 guests having all arrived, the footmen had gone up 
 to the house. The place was a very handsome one, 
 with a big park and straight alleys cut through the 
 trees, with grottoes and fountains and statues all 
 very stately and well kept. Beyond the house one 
 caught a glimpse of a jardin d agrement, with a 
 bank of crimson dahlias all in bloom and a sort of 
 temple d amour at the far end. 
 
 As I drew near the house I discovered that the 
 stables were off to the left, and some distance in the 
 rear, the waiting motors, both private cars and taxis, 
 being parked out on the shady terrace. Some of 
 the servants had brought out a couple of tables, and 
 the chauffeurs were partaking of the refreshment of 
 fered. There was a good deal of tobacco smoke 
 and the distant murmur of talk and laughter, but 
 the house itself was silent, as if deserted; and this 
 was explained by a file of waiters going in a double 
 stream, like ants, down one of the paths which led 
 off into the park. Apparently the dejeuner was 
 being served al fresco some distance from the house. 
 I stopped to listen, and heard the faint ripple of 
 women s voices, then a silvery laugh. 
 
 Not a soul was in sight about the front of the 
 chateau. Such servants as were not occupied in help 
 ing to serve were hobnobbing with the chauffeurs or 
 on duty in the kitchen. Even the dogs were assist- 
 
224 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ing at the banquet, for I could hear intermittent yap 
 pings, and once a sharp ki-yi ! 
 
 At the foot of the big stone steps I paused and 
 looked about for somebody to hail, wishing that I 
 had rung at the gate; but I had never counted on 
 finding the place deserted, and had thought that 
 once inside the better my chance of success would 
 be. 
 
 For this was my plan and you can see, my 
 friend, that if the first was a sporting proposition, 
 this second, which I had fallen back on rather than 
 have Rosalie mixed up in the business, was almost 
 dangerous. I meant to go to the maitre d hotel 
 and explain to him that I was a reporter, and ask for 
 the names of Monsieur le Baron s guests. A five- 
 franc piece would get me all the information I might 
 seem to need. I would then explain that I had come 
 from Paris in a taxicab, which had broken down on 
 the road within about a kilometre; that I had walked 
 the remainder of the distance. And I would ask him 
 if he thought that one of the waiting taxis might not 
 set me over to Versailles, which was only about 
 three kilometres away. The maitre d hotel, I fan 
 cied, would tell me that I might go and ask them, 
 and this I would do, feeling sure that Chu-Chu would 
 immediately recognise me and volunteer, trusting to 
 his disguise. Once in the cab and on the way, he 
 would probably pick out the first unpeopled part of 
 the road to turn sharply on his seat and shoot into 
 me. And my particular business was to beat him 
 to it. 
 
 It was a nice little plan, and there seemed no 
 particular reason why it shouldn t work. Chu-Chu 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 225 
 
 would think I had come out in the hope of getting 
 a word with Leontine, and no doubt find nothing to 
 suspect in the story of my motor having broken 
 down. 
 
 So I stood at the bottom of the steps, looking 
 round for a servant; and, seeing no one but the dis 
 tant waiters carrying dishes, I was about to try the 
 side entrance when my ear was caught by a low 
 sound which had for me a peculiar significance. No 
 body but an ex-cracksman would have given it a 
 second s thought. On a lovely summer day, with 
 birdsongs all about, the distant sounds of careless 
 revelry, bursts of laughter, and the occasional squeal 
 of a maid coming from the direction of the stables, 
 and the big, sunny, wide-open country house, its front 
 shaded and silent, but the rear teeming with activity 
 let me tell you, it seemed the very last place in the 
 world for such a sound as fetched me up all stand 
 ing! 
 
 It was no more than the gentlest purr; and if I 
 had not been standing directly before the open door, 
 so that it came to me amplified through the vaulted 
 corridor within, I never could have heard it. As it 
 was, I recognised it instantly, and knew exactly what 
 was going on. 
 
 I took a quick look round. There was nobody in 
 sight for the instant, and I slipped like a cat up the 
 steps and through the front door. There I stopped 
 again to listen. It was cool and silent inside so 
 still that I could hear the ticking of a clock on the 
 floor above. The noise which had attracted me 
 came also from the floor above; and as I listened it 
 ceased for an instant, then changed in character, 
 
226 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 becoming more metallic and even more difficult to 
 hear. 
 
 There was no need for me to listen, however. 
 Chu-Chu was at work up there. I wondered that 
 he went to the trouble of blow-lamp and drill when 
 in his wonderfully sensitive hands the lock of a coun 
 try-house safe would have been a mere child s puzzle, 
 to be solved in a couple of minutes at most. I de 
 cided that the safe must be a very ancient one, with 
 a heavy, rusty old lock the meanest sort, by the 
 way, for the cracksman. 
 
 It made it all plain enough. Chu-Chu had run 
 out to look the house over with an idea to a future 
 job, but, finding the conditions so favourable, was 
 acting on the bird-in-the-hand principle. Chu-Chu 
 was an avaricious man, and loved his profession, and 
 he couldn t resist the opportunity. I doubted he d 
 find much in the safe; and no doubt he felt the same 
 way, but thought he might as well gather in what 
 there was. And, mind you, it was only about three 
 weeks earlier that he had stolen the Allerton-Stair 
 jewels on the Calais-Dover boat. Chu-Chu was cer 
 tainly a greedy hog! 
 
 I laid my bundle on a big Renaissance chest in 
 the hall and crossed, as silent as a weasel, to the 
 stairs. I was wearing felt-soled shoes these days, 
 and they made no more noise on the marble than the 
 pads of a wolf. Chu-Chu s merry little mill was 
 turning again as I stole up the stairs, and it stopped 
 just as I reached the first landing. 
 
 It was better to stalk him while he worked, so I 
 waited; and as I did so there came a squeal and a 
 giggle from somewhere in the rear of the house and 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 227 
 
 the sound of a ringing slap. Next, a throaty-voiced 
 but panting " Voyonsl ma belle! " half-re 
 proachful, half-indignant. Another squeal, another 
 slap, followed by the rustle of muslin skirts in swift 
 flight. This time the " Tiens, p titef " had a fierce 
 sort of ring to it, and there was the clatter of pursuit. 
 Out of the pantry they burst, through the salon and 
 s all e-a-m anger, where something got overturned and 
 came down with a crash. A lap or two round the 
 table, then out into the ante-chamber, and for a sec 
 ond I thought they were coming up the stairs; but 
 no, she dodged him at the foot of the stairs, and I 
 caught a glimpse of them and a mighty pretty, 
 healthy specimen of an eighteen-year-old poulette 
 she was, and he a trim young chauffeur in maroon 
 livery and gaiters. He chased her into the con 
 servatory, and there I think he caught her, for there 
 was the sound of a scuffle, a stifled squeal or two, 
 and a couple of flower-pots coming down. Then 
 silence, and I reached for my knife. 
 
 For it was knifework this job ahead. No 
 Fourteenth of July, Fall-of-the-Bastile celebration 
 for Chu-Chu and myself. Our work had to be quick 
 and silent; and I wondered what old Hertzfeld 
 would think when he saw a respectable-looking, mid 
 dle-aged chauffeur lying in a pool of blood in front 
 of his safe nothing touched and learned later 
 that the man was none other than the celebrated 
 Chu-Chu, who was commonly thought to be part 
 myth, I think. Chu-Chu had earned the name in 
 his youth, and was trying hard to live it down by 
 sincere and steady work of an unspectacular sort. 
 When he felt the need of murdering somebody he 
 
228 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 did it quietly and without any limelight, and for some 
 definite purpose usually a money one. I remem 
 ber that the night of Leontine s party Chu-Chu spoke 
 pretty bitterly about a play that had appeared at the 
 Grand Guignol under his name. 
 
 This sort of obituary notice of Chu-Chu was going 
 through my head while I waited for the scufflers in 
 the conservatory to come to terms and Chu-Chu to 
 start to work again; and pretty soon the house got 
 quiet, and I heard the little purr of the blow-lamp. 
 
 Up I went, knife in fist, impatient to be done with 
 the business and out into the bright sunlight, with 
 the perfume of the oleanders and the bird-songs. 
 That was what I wanted to be out in the bright 
 upperworld again, a free man, with no vampire from 
 the underworld dogging me in and out. Compunc 
 tion? I had no more of it than the man who blows 
 the head off a crocodile or sneaks out and poisons 
 a wolf. That sort of sentimentality was never my 
 trouble; and, between you and me, there s a lot of 
 nonsense about the sacredness of human life, any 
 way. Send em back where they came from, and 
 let em start fresh! Next time, maybe, they ll get 
 started on the right thread. As for the fairness or 
 lack of it in stabbing to death an unsuspecting man 
 well, this wasn t exactly a sporting event, like a prize 
 fight or a duel. It was just a plain feud. 
 
 At the top of the stairs I paused to listen. The 
 blow-lamp had stopped and the drill was at work 
 again, but I didn t hear it, as one of the chauffeurs 
 had started his motor for some reason, and the hum 
 of it filled the place. A couple of seconds later I 
 slipped down the hall and was looking through a 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 229 
 
 crack between the portieres and the door and 
 there was Chu-Chu, squatting on his knees and just 
 in the act of drawing out the drill. 
 
 The little room where he was at work was a sort 
 of boudoir, just off the Baron s bedroom probably, 
 and finished in English style Jacobean, with desk 
 and safe and writing table, and the walls hung with 
 English hunting prints. There was a big armoire, 
 one door half-open, and a goat coat hanging inside, 
 and a couple of golf sticks were lying on a Breton 
 chest. The place seemed a sort of little den part 
 writing-room, part cosey corner the sort of place 
 that the man who lives there usually takes more com 
 fort in than all the rest of the big house put to 
 gether. 
 
 Chu-Chu was squatting in front of the safe, which, 
 just as I had thought, was an old-fashioned affair, 
 clumsy and rusty, and, as a matter of fact, a hanged- 
 sight more burglar-proof than lots of your modern 
 contraptions. I once knew of an expert cracksman 
 losing his temper and making such a row getting into 
 an old-fashioned buffet after a drink that it got him 
 pinched. The first glimpse I got of Chu-Chu 
 showed him hot and angry as he pocketed his drill 
 and half turned to listen before going on with the 
 job. 
 
 My friend, I don t care what they say, there s cer 
 tainly such a thing as pure animal instinct that can 
 be developed in a man just as in a dog or wolf, to 
 warn him and put him on his guard when his human 
 senses tell him nothing. Chu-Chu could not pos 
 sibly have heard me. In the first place, the motor 
 in the rear of the house was buzzing away; and, in 
 
2 3 o THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the second, I had not made so much noise as a spider 
 walking across his web. He could not see me, as 
 the hall was darkened, and the slit between the por 
 tieres no wider than the cover of a book. But, all 
 the same, he felt danger and was on his feet like a 
 flash, his legs braced, his head dropped between his 
 shoulders, and a long blade flashed from somewhere 
 and lay in his hand as a man holds a foil. 
 
 I waited for a second, feeling that the alarm might 
 pass. Chu-Chu s eyes were on the portieres. His 
 hand went out to the oak chest and picked up some 
 thing lying there. I caught the glint of it and 
 whipped out my pistol, and even as I did so Chu- 
 Chu fired point blank straight into the portieres. 
 
 There was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and the 
 pistol flew out of my hand. I tore aside the por 
 tieres and leaped into the room. Chu-Chu fired 
 again, but I ducked under his arm, grabbed his wrist 
 and sent the knife home just under it. He squalled 
 like a cat, and struck at me with his knife, putting 
 the blade through my right forearm. Mad with 
 pain, I loosened my hold of the hilt and struck him 
 under the chin with my left fist. It was a solid, 
 short-arm blow, and keeled him over. At the same 
 instant somebody grabbed me from behind. I flung 
 back my head and writhed round like a cat. A 
 footman had me by the shoulders, but I got an arm 
 free and landed him one between the eyes that sent 
 him floundering across a chair. Then I turned and 
 darted out of the door, down the stairs, grabbed up 
 my bundle and dashed into the nearest thicket, a 
 mass of shrubs and flowers, and out into the more 
 open park behind. Back of the house there was a 
 
- 
 
 
 THERE WAS A SNARL OF RAGE IN MIS VOICE, 
 AND I BEGAN TO THINK THAT IVAN WAS 
 A MORE DANGEROUS MAN THAN I HAD 
 THOUGHT (page 273) 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 231 
 
 yelping like kennels at feeding-time, and two or three 
 of the waiters who were carrying dishes down the 
 path with the grass carpet caught sight of me as I 
 sped under the trees and raised a squall. Chu-Chu 
 had drilled me through the shoulder and sliced me 
 through the arm, and before I d gone fifty metres 
 my head began to swim. The shoulder didn t bother 
 me a bit, but the blood was welling out of my arm 
 rich and red, and I knew he d got an artery. So I 
 pulled up for a minute and tugged off my tie and 
 twisted it round a couple of times, tying it with ha,nd 
 and teeth; and hardly had I got it fast when things 
 began to get black and I had to stretch out on the 
 ground, knowing that unless I did I was pretty sure 
 to flop. 
 
 The faintness passed in a few moments, and I 
 shoved up my head to look and listen. I was lying 
 in a heavy clump of ivy that covered not only the 
 ground, but the trees and shrubs thereabout, and 
 made a splendid cover. Voices were shouting from 
 here and there, and the hum from the house was like 
 a beehive kicked over. Somebody was crashing 
 round in the underbrush not far away, but out of 
 sight from where I lay. You know how jungly and 
 overgrown these French places get, so different from 
 the spick-and-span English ones. 
 
 It was a bad look-out for me, as I knew that some 
 of the people would have run out into the road; but 
 all hands would be looking for a man in a tweed 
 knickerbocker suit, according to the descriptions of 
 the footman and the waiter who had sighted me as 
 I burst from the house. So as quickly as I could I 
 climbed into my long black soutane, round hat and 
 
232 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 goggles. Then, walking carefully and making as 
 little noise as possible, I stole through the under 
 brush toward the wall, where I fell on a path. 
 
 Nobody was in sight for the moment, but there 
 were shouts and cries coming from all over the place. 
 Then down the path in my direction came running 
 a couple of chauffeurs, both of them with very flushed 
 faces. At sight of me they paused for a second. 
 
 " Have you seen anybody? " asked one of them. 
 
 "Have I seen anybody?" I repeated. "I do 
 not understand. What has happened?" 
 
 There has been a thief in the house ! Where do 
 you come from, anyhow?" 
 
 " I am afraid you have had too much to drink," I 
 answered. Too much wine is a bad thing during 
 this hot weather." 
 
 " Come on ! " said the other impatiently. 
 " Don t stop to argue ! " And the two of them 
 started to run down the path. 
 
 The whole park was swarming, and from all sides 
 came the sound of crashing foliage and shouted ques 
 tions and answers. The dejeuner had been aban 
 doned, of course, and guests, waiters, cooks, chauf 
 feurs, stablemen and field-workers were scouring the 
 place some beating out the bushes, others patrol 
 ling the road outside on the look-out for the criminal 
 should he break for the wall. I came suddenly upon 
 an exquisitely-dressed gentleman and lady adventur 
 ing through the woods hand in hand. He was push 
 ing slightly in advance, armed with an enormous 
 carving knife, and glaring ferociously into the shaded 
 coverts. I recognised him at a glance as Martet, the 
 actor; and the woman I had seen in the restaurants 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 233 
 
 with her husband, a prominent playwright. She was 
 very pretty, and appeared frightened; and as I drew 
 near the actor turned and gave her an embrace that 
 ought to have reassured her, so far as the desperado 
 was concerned. Then, as he loosed her, she caught 
 sight of me and let out a little scream, at which 
 Martet gave a jump that might have taken him to the 
 top of the wall if it had been in the right direction. 
 Seeing what I was, he scowled ferociously, and picked 
 up the carving knife which he had dropped. 
 
 "Have you seen anything suspicious?" he de 
 manded in his sonorous stage voice. 
 
 I smiled, and made a little gesture with my hand. 
 
 " A slight indiscretion, monsieur," I answered. 
 " I have already forgotten it." 
 
 The lady giggled. The actor frowned, then burst 
 into a laugh. 
 
 " Touche mon ami! " he said. " I was, of course, 
 referring to this scoundrel of a burglar, not to a 
 slight touch of midsummer madness." 
 
 " Indeed," says my lady, raising her eyebrows. 
 " So it was that and the champagne perhaps." 
 
 I smiled, touched my hat and passed on, leaving 
 them to squabble and make it up. A little farther 
 on I saw a tall white figure moving toward me at 
 right angles. It disappeared behind some ever 
 greens; then out into the path in front of me stepped 
 Leontine. 
 
 I moved aside to let her pass, raising my hand to 
 the brim of my hat. She shot me a quick glance, and 
 seemed about to look away; then stared, and her 
 amber-coloured eyes darkened. Then she raised 
 her hand warningly, seemed to listen for an instant, 
 
234 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 and peered in a stealthy way under the low-hung 
 branches. 
 
 You re a wolf, Frank," she whispered. " How 
 did you manage it? Getting honest has turned you 
 preacher in not much but costume has it, my 
 friend? And" she turned her head aslant and 
 surveyed me with a critical smile " I must say you 
 look rather nice without your moustache." 
 
 : Is he dead?" I asked, and leaned against the 
 wall, for the tourniquet on my arm was hurting me 
 horribly. 
 
 "No; you ve missed again, my little boy. The 
 surgeon, Doctor Lemaitre who was lunching with 
 us, you know says the knife passed between the 
 ribs and the heavy muscles of the chest. He is pain 
 fully but not dangerously hurt." 
 
 " Do they guess who it is? " 
 
 " On the contrary, he is the hero of the moment. 
 He is the brave chauffeur who, while walking under 
 the trees, saw a man scale the wall, and followed 
 him to the house, where he surprised him at his work 
 and tried to take him single-handed. Hertzfeld is 
 going to give him a handsome present for having 
 prevented the robbery. There was in the safe a 
 diamond tiara for which our friend the Baron paid 
 two hundred thousand francs, and which he had in 
 tended to present to a certain young actress of his 
 acquaintance on her jour de fete, as a slight token of 
 his appreciation of her talent." 
 
 I whistled. 
 
 " Chu-Chu s chest is not the sorest part of him ! " 
 I observed. 
 
 " He is very vexed," said Leontine. " As he was 
 
THE FIRST ROUND 235 
 
 my taxi-driver, I have volunteered to look after him, 
 and shall take him to a maison de sante that I know 
 of. Don t try to kill him while he s laid up, Frank. 
 That would not be nice." 
 
 " All right," I answered. " By-the-way, Leon- 
 tine, where are your sympathies? Am I to count on 
 your help or not? " 
 
 " Neither, mon ami. My position is precisely 
 that of Ivan. Personally I sympathise with you, as 
 there is a great deal about Chu-Chu that I have never 
 liked; but he is one of us, and you are a renegade. 
 So, as the case stands, I am strictly neutral. Fight 
 it out, my little dogs, and may the best pup win ! 
 V\ 7 hat you did on the road to Calais set my blood on 
 fire. I would have given my jewels to have been in 
 the car with you. And what you have done to-day 
 was daring, too; and I like daring things. No; 
 you ve missed again : but perhaps you may catch it 
 on the third coup. I won t help you, Frank; but 
 I ll tell you what I will do I ll walk to the gate 
 with you and see you into the road, and if necessary 
 say that I know you. They might wonder what you 
 were doing in the park." 
 
 " I ll say that I was passing, and came in when I 
 heard the row." 
 
 " I don t think that it will be necessary to say 
 anything. The gendarmerie has not yet arrived, 
 and everybody is off his head. It was so funny, 
 Frank, to see the way the party broke up. Some 
 of the men got pale and some got red, and two or 
 three began to arm themselves with empty bottles 
 and some with full ones; and some ran to the 
 house " 
 
236 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " And some are spooning in the park," I inter 
 rupted. 
 
 "I don t doubt it What s the matter, 
 
 Frank? You are getting ghastly! " 
 
 " Chu-Chu pricked me in the arm." 
 
 "Here rest a minute! Sh-h-h ! somebody s 
 coming. Brace up, my dear! " 
 
 I managed to brace up after a moment or two, 
 and we started to walk to the gate. Fortunately it 
 wasn t far, and would you believe it? the first 
 person I saw was Rosalie, her taxi pulled up to the 
 curb, and she talking, with a very white face, to a 
 mottled-looking footman, armed with a billiard cue. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 SANCTUARY 
 
 WHEN Rosalie caught sight of me I thought she was 
 going to keel over, but she pulled herself together, 
 and her eyes fastened on Leontine in a hard little 
 stare. 
 
 There was quite a group round the gate. Every 
 body looked at us as we came out, and somebody 
 asked : 
 
 " The poor fellow is dead or dying? " 
 
 " No," answered Leontine. " He is in no danger. 
 Fortunately a priest was not needed after all." She 
 glanced about, and her eyes fell on Rosalie s taxi 
 and Rosalie herself standing beside it. 
 
 You are free, madame? " asked Leontine. 
 
 { Yes, madame," Rosalie answered. 
 
 Then will you take monsieur to Paris to prepare 
 them at the maison de sante to receive our brave 
 chauffeur? I cannot get the place on the telephone. 
 One can never get anybody at any time on the tele 
 phone in Paris or the suburbs." 
 
 " Perfectly, madame," answered Rosalie, and 
 stepped to crank the motor. 
 
 I lifted my hat to Leontine and walked to the 
 taxi; and as I passed the group at the gate I heard 
 somebody say in an undertone: 
 
 " He looks badly frightened, that predicateur" 
 
 As soon as we were clear of the gate I put my 
 lips to the tube. 
 
 237 
 
238 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 "Rosalie!" 
 
 Yes, m sieu ! " for we had both dropped into 
 French again. 
 
 There s a road just below here that leads off to 
 the right into the forest," said I. " Run in there, 
 please. I am wounded, and must look after myself 
 a little before we go into Paris." 
 
 Very well," said Rosalie, and accelerated her 
 speed. A few minutes later she slowed, then turned 
 sharply to the right and began to creep up a 
 little wood road. When presently it forked she 
 took the less used of the two, which was no more 
 than an alley cut for shooting, and presently came 
 to a stop in a tangle of dwarf oaks and briers. Ro 
 salie jumped down and opened the door. 
 
 " Are you badly hurt? " she asked anxiously, and 
 in English. 
 
 " I got a bullet through my shoulder and a knife 
 through my forearm," I answered. " The bullet 
 wound doesn t bother, but the knife cut an artery, 
 and I ve tied it up so tight that it s giving me the 
 devil. It will need a surgeon, I m afraid, and I 
 can t go to one in this soutane over a golf suit." 
 
 Rosalie knit her pretty brows and looked at me 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 " Let s see it," says she. " I know something 
 about wounds. I ve often helped Sister Anne 
 Marie. Let me see your arm." 
 
 The sleeve of the soutane was soaked; and, as 
 Rosalie began to pull it off, she looked at her hands 
 and gave a little scream. The tweed coat-sleeve was 
 a mess; and while I was working out of it things 
 began to grow dark again. As I began to get sensi- 
 
SANCTUARY 239 
 
 ble I noticed a bandage she had put on my arm, and 
 that the sun was rather low for so early in the after 
 noon, and wondered why. 
 
 " I m glad you re awake," said she tremulously. 
 " I was afraid you d gone to sleep for good. You 
 must have lost an awful lot of blood. I ve been 
 tying you up and trying to decide which was best for 
 you St. Lazare or a happy death." 
 
 I reached over, took her hand and kissed it sev 
 eral times. 
 
 " Neither," I answered. " I want life. I feel 
 as fresh as a daisy! The first thing," I an 
 swered, " is for me to get out of these tweeds and 
 back into my soutane. Now, if you ll kindly step 
 over there while I crawl out of these tourist s clothes. 
 Then we ll bury em and go to Paris. At the octroi 
 I ll get another cab and go to where I live." 
 
 " No you won t," said Rosalie, " I m going to 
 take you to Soeur Anne Marie." 
 
 " Jamais de la vie!" I answered. 
 
 "See here!" said Rosalie, with a little jerk of 
 her head. " I don t know what your name is, and 
 you tell me you ve been a crook; but you ve been 
 mighty square with me, and you are a countryman of 
 mine and are badly hurt, and I m not going to leave 
 you in such a fix as this. There s bound to be a 
 tremendous sensation over this thing, and every 
 wounded man in Paris is apt to be overhauled. Now 
 Sister Anne Marie and I have got a nice little apart 
 ment. So don t let s have any more nonsense! " 
 
 "But what would Soeur Anne Marie say?" I 
 asked, rather weakly. " And what are you going to 
 tell her?" 
 
2 4 o THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " Exactly what you ve told me. She s not the 
 kind to lie to. The neighbours can think that you 
 are a missionary who has come home ill a rela 
 tive of hers, or something of the sort. Soeur Anne 
 Marie was once a surgical nurse in one of the hos 
 pitals, and I d rather trust myself to her than to 
 most surgeons." 
 
 So at last I agreed and mighty thankfully, too, 
 you can bet; and I managed to get out of my sporty 
 knickerbockers and into the taxi. Rosalie made a 
 bundle of the tweeds and promised to go to the little 
 hotel the next day where I had been stopping and 
 square up for me and fetch away my things. Then 
 off we went, going in through Suresnes and the Bois, 
 down the Champs-Elysees and across the Alexandre 
 Trois Bridge, finally to pull up at the entrance of an 
 impasse on the Rue Vaugirard. 
 
 " It s not much to look at from the outside," said 
 Rosalie as I got out, " but it s not bad." 
 
 She nodded and smiled and said a few words to 
 some of the people sitting outside their little shops, 
 and they smiled and nodded back. It was plain 
 enough that Rosalie was a local favourite and quite 
 a celebrity in her quarter. I noticed, too, that the 
 manner of a couple of women she stopped to speak 
 to was mighty respectful. There was none of the 
 free-and-easy cheek of the cabmen. 
 
 My arm and shoulder were quite numb now and 
 felt as if turning to stone, and I guess I was pretty 
 white and pinched-looking. Rosalie led the way, 
 and I followed her into the Impasse, then across a 
 little paved court and up some dark, dilapidated 
 stairs; but the house was clean enough, and the peo- 
 
SANCTUARY 241 
 
 pie we met seemed to be of a very decent class. 
 
 We went to the top ; then - 
 
 " Here we are," said Rosalie, and whipped out a 
 key and opened the door. " Where are you, 
 mother? " she called. 
 
 " I am here, deary! " came a cheerful voice from 
 down the corridor. Rosalie turned to me. 
 
 " I will go and tell her. I won t be a minute. 
 Go right in, Mr. " She paused, smiling. 
 
 " Clamart," I answered " Frank Clamart." 
 
 " Thanks. I won t be long." She gave me a 
 nod and hurried off. 
 
 The room where she asked me to wait was a small 
 studio, high-ceilinged, with a skylight and a long win 
 dow that looked out on some fruit gardens. It is 
 amazing the amount of cultivated ground there is 
 behind the houses in all parts of Paris ! Some of 
 the sections between streets hold young farms. 
 
 These gardens belonged to some old mansion of 
 the nobility, and the family had probably grown 
 their fruit and vegetables there for several hundred 
 years. 
 
 Rosalie s was one of those little, old-fashioned 
 studio apartments of which there are so many in that 
 quarter. There was nothing of bourgeois about it, 
 for the few pieces of furniture were old and massive 
 and pure-style, and were the sort you might expect 
 to find in the residence of a prelate. There were 
 some big, richly-framed pictures, which appeared 
 to be old and valuable copies of some of the old 
 masters among them Murillo s " Virgin of the 
 Conception," after the one in the Louvre; Tin 
 toretto s " Crucifixion," and a small but very beauti- 
 
242 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ful copy of Michelangelo s " Kneeling Angel." 
 There were also some smaller paintings, two land 
 scapes, and a " Madonna." 
 
 The most valuable article in the studio was a 
 large and very handsome tapestry which looked to 
 me like a genuine Gobelin, though the colours were 
 of deeper and more neutral tints than you generally 
 find in this manufacture. I judged that Soeur Anne 
 Marie must have had at one time a little money, and 
 that when the church goods were confiscated she had 
 bought back in different sales some of the articles 
 which had grown dear to her. 
 
 Here and there Rosalie s touch brightened the 
 place. This was not always in keeping, but it was 
 cheerful, and it looked as if Soeur Anne Marie toler 
 ated the frivolous bits through her love for the girl. 
 On an ancient piano in one corner lay a violin; and 
 I hoped that the two played together, as I love 
 music. 
 
 Altogether, my friend, it was not a usual situation. 
 Here there were about to live for some days under 
 the same roof for I knew Soeur Anne Marie 
 would take me in a devout Mother Superior, who 
 was likely enough the daughter of some old and noble 
 family, an American girl from Wichita, Kansas, the 
 daughter of an Irish cab-driver and the divorcee of 
 a French count who had never so much as kissed 
 her, she now earning a good living as the chauffeuse 
 of a taxicab; myself, an ex-burglar and confidence 
 man, coming there red-handed from a sincere and 
 conscientious effort to kill an enemy, badly wounded, 
 and feeling on the verge of physical collapse. We 
 were an assorted trio, now, were we not? 
 
SANCTUARY 243 
 
 These thoughts were going through my head to 
 the accompaniment of a subdued but steady babble 
 of talk from what seemed to me an interminable 
 distance, for I had lost an awful lot of blood, and 
 there was a humming in my ears which seemed to 
 put other sounds way beyond. I was drowsy, too, 
 and horribly thirsty; and all that I wanted was a long 
 drink of water and to be allowed to sleep. I was 
 almost sorry I had come there, since there had to be 
 so much palaver; and then something tickled the 
 palm of my hand. I thought it was a fly, and 
 wriggled my fingers; but the tickling increased, and 
 I looked down and saw a thin stream of bright red 
 blood crawling like a wicked little snake from under 
 the rim of the bandage. I slapped my arm and 
 it was wet through. 
 
 Thought I, " Here I am, bleeding to death while 
 those women talk and talk and talk! " It would be 
 a mean trick on Rosalie to bleed to death in her 
 house, and I was just going to call out when the 
 curtains parted and there came into the room the 
 sweetest little lady, with those clear, wonderful eyes 
 that make you feel about six years old and glad that 
 you are still a child. Her face was very 
 smooth, with wonderfully few wrinkles, her cheeks 
 were a delicate pink, and her hair as silvery white as 
 moonlight on the snow. 
 
 I couldn t see her very clearly, nor was I quite 
 sure that she was real, as it seemed to me I d already 
 noticed two or three people come through those 
 curtains and one I thought was Tante Fi-Fi, until 
 she smiled at me and disappeared. Besides, I d 
 pictured Sceur Anne Marie as big, and full of that 
 
244 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 sort of goodness that seems to say: " Here is vir 
 tue enough for myself and all hands who happen to 
 need it; and most of you do." 
 
 Behind Sceur Anne Marie came Rosalie; and as 
 her eyes fell on my face she gave a gasp. 
 
 " Ma Mere! " she cried. " But look ! " 
 
 And then I fell asleep. 
 
 My friend, did you ever die and float round for 
 a while in that fleecy-clouded between-world, finally 
 to be dragged back to your troubles by the slack of 
 your angel pants? Most people have; and the 
 fleecy-cloud part is what most liquorists and dope- 
 drunkards aim at, but shoot low and light in the 
 slimy ooze, which feels like fleecy clouds up to a cer 
 tain stage of the astral flight. 
 
 A wounded hero, however, who has lost a lot of 
 red ink trying to assassinate an enemy, comes to 
 earth easier than either the garden souse or the hot 
 house dope; and I flittered back as lightly as M. 
 Paulhan to find myself in a sweet, cool bed, with a 
 sheet over me, some ruffles around the elbow of my 
 free arm, a cool breeze wafting in the window, and 
 a merle in a cage singing away from somewhere, 
 while from the distance came the bad blending of 
 shrill yelps which Paris makes, just as London makes 
 a baritone rumble and New York a bass growl. 
 
 I was all alone in a pretty little room with chintz 
 curtains and primrose wallpaper. There was an old 
 armoire, an enamelled washstand, and a little ivoire 
 table-de-nwt beside my bed, which was of enamelled 
 iron with brass knobs. I took a look at myself, and 
 judged that the fleecy-cloud effect might have been 
 suggested by the cambric nighty I was in, which I 
 
SANCTUARY 245 
 
 strongly suspected to be a part of Rosalie s trousseau 
 for which she had conceived a distaste. However, 
 it was just the thing for a wounded burglar. 
 
 When I stirred there came a rustle from the next 
 room, and there in the doorway stood Soeur Anne 
 Marie and Whistler could never have painted 
 her! She was looking at me with the least bit 
 of a smile on her lips, and there was something about 
 her face that struck me as so familiar that for a 
 moment I was almost startled. She saw the look, 
 I think, for the wonderful eyes gathered me in and 
 put me at my ease again; but I had already found 
 out why her face or her expression or whatever 
 it was about her had struck me as so familiar. It 
 was the same look that Edith had that " Don t be 
 afraid; it s not so bad as you think " look. Mothers 
 have it, I think, for their little boys. 
 
 "Rest tranquil, my son!" says she that s the 
 literal translation, and I don t know of anything that 
 so expresses it. 
 
 " I do, ma Mere," I answered. " I was startled 
 when you came in." 
 
 "And why should you be startled?" 
 
 " I took you for my other best friend. I think 
 that all good women must have the same look. Did 
 Rosalie tell you how I got hurt? " 
 
 " Yes. We will talk about that another time. 
 Now try to sleep again; but, first, drink this." 
 
 She gave me one of those wonderful slushy com 
 binations that modern doctors laugh at and that the 
 French are so fond of. There must have been 
 something good in it, for I felt better right off. 
 
 " Where is Madame Rosalie? " I asked. 
 
246 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " She is asleep. She was up all of last night, and 
 has had no sleep to-day. Just at present Paris is 
 full of Americans, and she is always in demand at 
 the big hotels; but you yourself must sleep now. 
 You have lost a great deal of blood." And after a 
 few motherly directions she left me, drawing a cur 
 tain to keep out the glare. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 QUICKSANDS 
 
 SOEUR ANNE MARIE, for all her sweet gentleness, 
 had the quiet finality of the angel with the Flaming 
 Sword. Not a wriggle or so much as a word out of 
 me were the orders for the next two days, not a 
 glimpse of Rosalie or even a bon jour through the 
 door; and as for a newspaper what horror! She 
 came in but little herself; so I did a Chinese rest 
 cure, with the result that the evening of the second 
 day my fever was gone, and Soeur Anne Marie said 
 there was no more danger. 
 
 The next morning, as I rolled over, clean slept 
 out, there came a little rustle at the door, and I 
 looked round to see Rosalie peeping in at me. 
 
 " Good morning," said I. " Is my sentence com 
 muted? " 
 
 " How do you feel? " she asked. 
 
 " Like a hundred horse-power racer. Whenever 
 you get tired holding that food 
 
 She laughed, and set down on my table de nuit 
 a bowl of cafe au lait, some toast and a roll of fresh 
 butter. 
 
 "And the arm and shoulder?" she asked. 
 
 " I ve forgot em ! " And I started for the petit 
 dejeuner in a way that made Rosalie smile. Wounds, 
 after all, are 1 nothing much to a man in perfect 
 health. The blood-letting had made me feel nice 
 and cool and relaxed. I always had too much blood; 
 
 247 
 
248 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 but what had knocked me over was getting it let out 
 of me too suddenly. Nature gives good fighting 
 men more blood than they really need. 
 
 Where is your angel companion? " I asked. 
 
 " She is visiting a woman who has a new baby. 
 Isn t she a dear? " 
 
 " She is more than that. I can t say what she 
 makes me feel. I d rather not try. Why can t all 
 children have mothers like that? The prisons would 
 all have steeples on em in ten years, and graft would 
 be as rare as cannibalism." 
 
 Rosalie nodded, looking rather thoughtful. " I 
 suppose God cultivates them, just as He does rare 
 flowers," said she. " When He thinks they re too 
 good for us He takes them to heaven, where they ll 
 be appreciated. There are actually people in the 
 quarter who are nasty to Soeur Anne Marie simply 
 because she is a nun." 
 
 " I d like to catch em at it! " I growled. 
 
 Rosalie gave me a pensive look. You are a 
 good deal of a savage, aren t you? " said she. 
 
 " My real nature is nearer the surface than most 
 people s," I answered. 
 
 She nodded. " I know. I m a bit that way my 
 self. I could live a thousand years in a convent or 
 work among the poor, or suffer, or enjoy, but I d 
 always be a bit of a savage. In spite of my convent 
 training and Soeur Anne Marie s influence, it blazes 
 out once in a while." 
 
 " How does it blaze out? " I asked. 
 
 Her colour deepened. Rosalie s skin was of that 
 clear sort that the weather seems to have no effect 
 upon, and the rich blood was always going and 
 
QUICKSANDS 249 
 
 coming in a way that was very pretty to see. Her 
 face was round rather than oval, and wore habitually 
 an expression partly alert, partly saucy. It was not 
 a beautiful face, nor was it by any means aristo 
 cratic in feature, the nose being small, turned up at 
 the end and rather low in the middle, while- her 
 upper lip was pulled up in an habitual pout which 
 showed the red, and the lower one was tucked in at 
 the corners, like a baby s. You see lots of faces 
 like Rosalie s in the front row of a pretty chorus, 
 with figures to match; but Rosalie s expression had 
 something which most of the show girls lack and 
 that was force and character, partly the result of a 
 resolute little chin and partly from a sort of childish 
 purity, such as you sometimes notice under the big 
 hood of a Sister of Charity. One felt instinctively 
 that she was a good girl; also that the person who 
 tried to make her otherwise stood a good chance of 
 getting hurt. Rosalie possessed the inherited virtue 
 of the Irish girls, who are as proverbially careful of 
 themselves as they are bountiful to the man with 
 whom they choose to mate. A Celtic trait that; 
 and French girls well brought up are very similar. 
 
 " I must go and start the dejeuner," said Rosalie. 
 " Here s the Matin and here s the Herald. Soeur 
 Anne Marie said you might see the papers if you 
 had no fever and you look cool enough." And 
 with a bright little nod she went out. 
 
 Just as I had expected, the papers were full of the 
 attempted robbery at Baron Hertzfeld s; and the 
 artistes who assisted at the luncheon party must 
 have thought they d struck a good vein of advertis 
 ing value. 
 
250 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Chu-Chu, who gave the name of Numas, was the 
 hero of the yarn. He told how he had seen the 
 thief climb over the wall and had followed him into 
 the house and up the stairs. Spying from the cur 
 tains, Numas had seen him start to work on the safe, 
 when he had waited for about five minutes hoping 
 that somebody might come and assist in the capture. 
 Numas had not wished to call or to go to look 
 for assistance, for fear the thief might escape, but 
 had finally determined to tackle him single-handed. 
 In the scuffle he had managed to disarm the ma 
 rauder, and had shot at him with his own revolver 
 and received a knife-thrust in return. Then another 
 chauffeur had come to his aid, but the burglar had 
 managed to overcome them both and make his es 
 cape. 
 
 The beautiful Princess Petrovski, who was such a 
 familiar figure in the theatres and fashionable res 
 taurants, and was so often to be seen at the races 
 with Prince Kharkoff the chap who had got me 
 deported, you know had taken the chauffeur for 
 the afternoon, her own car undergoing repairs. 
 Acting from a sentiment impossible to commend 
 sufficiently, she had ordered that the hero be sent 
 to a maison de sante in her own quarter, where she 
 might be able personally to superintend his nursing. 
 
 Then followed a lot of rot about the attempted 
 burglary and the heroism of the other chauffeur. I 
 had taken him for a wine-bibbing footman, but it 
 appears he was a large, fat, private chauffeur in a 
 fancy uniform. He described how he had first heard 
 a suspicious noise in the conservatory more 
 flower-pots knocked off the shelf, I suppose but, 
 
QUICKSANDS 251 
 
 on entering the house, the pistol-shot had rung out 
 and he had dashed up the stairs this last was 
 manifestly untrue, and in my private opinion he had 
 been taking a little snoop round on his own hook. 
 He had entered the boudoir to find his comrade, 
 Numas, grappling with the desperado, a broad- 
 shouldered man of prodigious strength. The chauf 
 feur had flung himself upon the marauder, in spite 
 of the fact that he was himself unarmed; but he was 
 not in time to save his colleague from being stabbed, 
 while he himself, though, as any one could see, a 
 powerful man, was flung aside as though he had 
 been a child, and dealt a blow upon the side of 
 the jaw which had stretched him senseless on the 
 floor. 
 
 The burglar was described as a man rather above 
 the average height, very broad of shoulder, and 
 dressed in ordinary street clothes, rather light in 
 colour. He was said to have had dark hair and a 
 black moustache and here I began to rub my eyes. 
 As you see, I am fairly tall, but I am by no means 
 heavily built and of medium colouring. I was 
 smooth-shaven, and wore tweed knickerbockers and 
 a Norfolk jacket. 
 
 A second s thought, however, showed me the 
 reason. Chu-Chu naturally did not want me to be 
 taken, so he had put them off as much as he could, 
 considering that one or two others might have caught 
 a glimpse of me. As for the fat chauffeur, he was a 
 fool; and had been so excited that if Chu-Chu had 
 described me as a red Indian in warpaint and 
 feathers he would never have denied it. 
 
 The funniest part of all, though, was that the 
 
252 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 article went on to say that, in the opinion of the 
 police and others, more or less an courant of the 
 criminal world, the daring burglar was none other 
 than the notorious Chu-Chu le Tondeur. Every 
 thing went to establish this identity the physical 
 appearance of the thief, his superhuman strength and 
 activity, and his cleverness in escaping unseen except 
 for a waiter, who caught a glimpse of him as he 
 plunged into the shrubbery; the speed and skill with 
 which he had done his work, for the door of the 
 strong-box was on the point of being pierced, though 
 Numas said that he had waited for only about five 
 minutes in the corridor before trying to seize him, 
 and had then made the attempt single-handed, as 
 he was afraid to cry out or to leave the spot in search 
 of help, fearing that the burglar might escape. 
 When, after what had seemed to him not over ten 
 minutes at the outside, he had decided to tackle the 
 thief single-handed, the hole into the lock was al 
 ready drilled. 
 
 The most significant fact, however, was that the 
 object of the robbery was to steal a valuable dia 
 mond tiara which had been purchased by Monsieur 
 le Baron von Hertzfeld a,s a gift for a friend. In 
 tercepting gems in this way was known to be a 
 specialty of le Tondeur s; and so on. 
 
 I laid the paper down, smiling to myself. Then 
 it struck me all at once that here I had interfered 
 with Ivan s schemes again, and I stopped smiling. 
 Yes, come to think of it, the grin had better be kept 
 for another time. Ivan was neutral so far as Chu- 
 Chu s and my feud went; but breaking up trade was 
 another business. Ivan had, no doubt, put Chu- 
 
QUICKSANDS 253 
 
 Chu on this job, Leontine to dispose of the loot 
 afterwards; so that, in jumping on Chu-Chu s back 
 at this particular moment, I had probably done the 
 concern out of at least a hundred thousand francs. 
 And, now that I come to think of it, Leontine her 
 self had looked rather sick when I met her in the 
 park. 
 
 This was mighty serious business more serious, 
 as a matter of fact, than my feud with Chu-Chu. 
 Ivan had squared things between us when he gave 
 me back Mary Dalghren s pearls, and he had acted 
 handsomely and on the level. Now, he might easily 
 say to himself: "Being neutral is one thing, but 
 standing pat while this virtuous young man inter 
 feres with my star worker, and takes the bread out 
 of the mouths of the lot of us, is another. I will 
 give orders that he be eliminated." 
 
 And I knew that, once such orders were issued 
 from headquarters, it would be all up with me. 
 Those ferrets of Ivan s would have been hanging 
 from my throat in a week s time, no matter how 
 deep I burrowed. The association was rooted in 
 Paris like a cancer, and there was no telling where 
 its fibres might penetrate. If Ivan made up his 
 mind that I was de trop I would probably never 
 know what finished me. The best thing, I thought, 
 would be to go to Ivan and tell him how the thing 
 had happened, and assure him that I had no inten 
 tion of interfering with his work, even if I had 
 chucked the game myself. Sounds a bit weak- 
 livered? Well, maybe so; but, after all, there are 
 limits to the nerve-strain a man can stand when it s 
 long-continued; also, I d like to state, it s the dash of 
 
254 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 caution with his courage that makes a man a master 
 and carries him the greatest distance. 
 
 I went ahead and finished the papers, and was glad 
 to see by the society column that Mr. and Mrs. John 
 Cuttynge were touring the Lake Country in their 
 sixty horse-power Franco-Helvetia, one of our new 
 cars. I hoped they would stay across the Channel 
 until I finished up my affair with Chu-Chu, as John 
 and I looked too much alike to make it safe for him 
 to knock about Paris. 
 
 Then Rosalie stuck her head in to tell me to be 
 good, and was off for the afternoon and maybe most 
 of the night. It struck me that if I had a wife I 
 wouldn t want her to be a chauffeuse. Rosalie was 
 well fitted for the job, because she had that peculiar 
 combination of cheek and good-natured repartee 
 which will take a woman almost anywhere, and can 
 turn a bad intention into a laugh. 
 
 I was getting a bit tired of myself when I heard 
 a little rustle and Sceur Anne Marie came in. She 
 gave me a quick, smiling look, then said: 
 
 There is no need to take your temperature, mon 
 ami. Another day of such good behaviour and you 
 can sit up. Now I will dress your arm." 
 
 So she went ahead, and I must say she was a 
 master hand at it. The wound, though a nasty one, 
 was so clean that Soeur Anne Marie was surprised. 
 
 " My son," said she, " if only your heart were as 
 clean as your blood and tissues you would be a strong 
 worker in God s garden." 
 
 " And what makes you think that it is not, ma 
 Mere? " I asked. 
 
 "I do not think so," she answered; "but from 
 
QUICKSANDS 255 
 
 what Rosalie tells me I fear that your soul is sick. 
 You told her that you had an enemy whom you were 
 seeking to destroy, did you not? " 
 
 "Yes," I answered. "That is quite true; but 
 this man is not only my enemy, but one to all so 
 ciety. It is Chu-Chu le Tondeur; and every year 
 of his life every month, one might almost say 
 adds its new list of thievery and murder. Besides, 
 if I do not manage to kill him, he will certainly kill 
 
 me." 
 
 Her great, intelligent eyes rested thoughtfully on 
 mine. 
 
 " It were perhaps better that he should destroy 
 you, my son," she answered, " than that you should 
 destroy your own soul. Will you tell me your story? 
 Perhaps I may be able to help you." 
 
 It seemed to me that I owed her this confidence, 
 so I told her all that had happened, holding back 
 only the names. When I had finished she sat for a 
 while, thinking deeply. Then she said: 
 
 " It is just as I thought when I first looked into 
 your eyes. Your soul is not one of those poor, un 
 fortunate, deformed ones. It has been ill, and now 
 it is beginning to recover. Your own strength must 
 make this recovery complete. My son, your duty is 
 very plain." 
 
 " Perhaps you mean," said I, " that I ought to 
 take the whole affair to the police? " 
 
 She nodded her silvery head. 
 
 " But that would be impossible," said I quickly. 
 " I passed my word to the Chief that I would not be 
 tray him or any of his crowd." 
 
 " There are times, mon ami," said Sceur Anne 
 
256 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Marie, " when it is necessary to break one s word 
 rather than cling to a wrong resolve." 
 
 " Don t tell me that ! " I cried. " My word s the 
 only god I ve got. It s the only thing that s never 
 failed me! " 
 
 Maybe my voice was rough, for she drew back a 
 little and seemed startled and a bit frightened. 
 Then she looked at me, and her eyes softened. 
 
 "And you have always kept your word?" she 
 asked. 
 
 " Always," I answered. " I don t give it lightly; 
 but, once given, I stick to it." 
 
 Then, in this case, I will not advise you to break 
 it, since to do so \vould be to break faith with your 
 self. But there is something else which has oc 
 curred to me. This man who is at the head of the 
 criminal organisation is, you tell me, so powerful that 
 if you were to incur his enmity you would feel as if 
 already dead? " 
 
 " That is true," I answered. 
 
 " And if he were to forbid you to destroy this 
 terrible criminal, Chu-Chu, you would not dare? " 
 
 " It would not be worth my while to try." 
 
 Then is it not possible that your enemy might 
 feel the same way that if he were forbidden by 
 this same Chief to murder you he would not dare? " 
 
 I hesitated. It had never occurred to me to ask 
 Ivan to call off Chu-Chu under pain of punishment 
 from headquarters. Yet, when I came to think of 
 it, I doubted that Chu-Chu would dare to go ahead 
 against Ivan s strict injunction any more than I 
 would. Soeur Anne Marie saw the hesitation in my 
 face, and went on quickly: 
 
QUICKSANDS 257 
 
 " You tell me you have twice attempted the life 
 of this man, and that he has narrowly escaped; that 
 you have been saved from being a murderer by a 
 miracle." (That was her way of looking at it.) 
 " Do you not think it possible your enemy would be 
 quite willing to obey the order for a truce if he knew 
 you would do the same especially since he would 
 hardly dare to disobey? Why do you not see this 
 Chief and suggest to him that he put a stop to the 
 feud?" 
 
 " Then you would advise me to discontinue my ef 
 forts to put an end to a dangerous enemy to so 
 ciety? " I muttered. 
 
 " No, my son. I have already advised you to 
 take the matter to the proper authorities, and you 
 have told me that this was something which 
 you could not do and remain true to yourself. 
 So I urge you next, since you cannot protect 
 society with due authority, at least to keep your 
 own hands clean of blood. Might not this be pos 
 sible?" 
 
 I thought hard for a moment. 
 
 " Ma Mere," I said finally, " I much doubt that 
 it could be done. This enemy of mine is a human 
 tiger, and I doubt if he knows what real fear is. In 
 this way the man is superhuman or, perhaps, less 
 than human. For another thing, I doubt if the 
 Chief himself would dare issue such an order; for le 
 Tondeur, after all, is still a member of the associa 
 tion, while I am a renegade and a foreigner. It 
 would be dangerous, I think, for the Chief to at 
 tempt such a thing. It might weaken his influence 
 with his followers; and, besides, Chu-Chu might kill 
 
258 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 him, secretly and without leaving any trace, if he 
 thought himself in danger." 
 
 She was silent for a moment, then asked: 
 
 " At any rate, could you not see the Chief and ask 
 his opinion? You tell me he has shown himself to 
 be friendly disposed to you. Could you not have 
 a talk with him? " 
 
 That is possible," I answered. 
 
 " And, until you have heard what he has to say," 
 she went on eagerly, " will you not promise me that 
 you will not raise your hand against your enemy? " 
 
 " Not even in self-defence? " I asked quickly. 
 
 " It will not be necessary. God will protect you, 
 and you shall go forth clothed in my prayers." 
 
 It occurred to me that the dear lady s prayers had 
 not saved her from being driven from the convent 
 and the institution broken up; but, of course, I did 
 not hint at such a thing. What she asked of me 
 was pretty stiff, as, for all I knew, Chu-Chu might be 
 at that moment on the stairs. A flesh wound in 
 the muscles of the chest isn t much, and the man had 
 the vitality of a gorilla or timber wolf. I hesitated. 
 
 " You do not realise what you ask of me, Sceur 
 Anne Marie," I said. " It is like sending a man 
 into the arena unarmed." 
 
 She looked at me sorrowfully. " It is a terrible 
 thing for a religieuse to nurse a man back to strength 
 in the knowledge that, so soon as he is healed, he 
 means to go forth to slay a fellowman," said she. 
 " But if you are unwilling, my son, I will not urge 
 you." 
 
 I raised myself on one elbow. " I will promise 
 you this," said I, " that until I have seen the Chief 
 
QUICKSANDS 259 
 
 and heard what he has to say I will take no offensive 
 action. I will strike only in self-defence and to save 
 my own life if I should get the chance. And I 
 will promise you, also, ma Mere, that if the matter 
 can be settled without bloodshed it shall be so." 
 
 The old lady leaned over and patted my shoulder. 
 
 " Thank you, my son," said she. " God will re 
 ward you ! " 
 
 A fortnight saw me practically sound again. The 
 bullet hole in my shoulder had been drilled clean and 
 closed up agarin without a drop of pus. The knife- 
 wound was also clean, though in healing it left the 
 outer side of my hand rather cold and numb. 
 
 Then came the time to say good-bye and it wasn t 
 easy; for I had grown mighty found of these two 
 sweet, brave women, each so different from the 
 other, yet in a way so much alike. They liked me 
 too that was plain enough from their actions; 
 and all three of us knew it was pretty uncertain when 
 and where we would meet again. Naturally I had 
 not stuck my head out of the door since the after 
 noon I came to the little studio apartment; and, 
 once I had left it, I did not intend to risk going 
 back. Neither would it do to meet either of them 
 outside. Once Chu-Chu discovered that they were 
 my friends, there was no telling what horrible thing 
 might happen. 
 
 I had decided to leave at midnight and go straight 
 to Ivan s house. Sceur Anne Marie was suffering 
 from a headache and at nine o clock I made her go 
 to bed. She gave me her blessing and made me 
 promise to send her a few words from time to time. 
 Rosalie was resting, for she had come in at about 
 
260 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 two, after an eighteen-hour trick, and was going out 
 again to get on the boulevards before the theatres 
 were over. 
 
 My plan was to leave a little after Rosalie and go 
 directly to Ivan s house, over by the Pare Monceau. 
 After looking the ground over carefully, I would go 
 in and try my luck with Ivan. It was very possible 
 that I might not get out alive, as Ivan might con 
 sider the opportunity of suppressing me too good 
 a one to let go by, and the armed weasels that were 
 his servants would make quick and quiet work of it. 
 I was getting rather tired of the whole filthy busi 
 ness, however, and asked nothing better than to have 
 it over with, one way or the other. I felt like the 
 old man whose wife had been a bedridden invalid 
 for five years, when he said to the physician: 
 " Wa al, doc, I do wish she d git better or 
 somethin ! " 
 
 A little before ten Rosalie came out, clad in a 
 kimono, her hair tumbled about her ears and her 
 eyes red-rimmed and tired. 
 
 "I couldn t sleep," said she; "so I thought I d 
 come out and talk to you. Oh! Isn t it all hor 
 rid?" 
 
 She caught her breath and covered her face with 
 her hands. She was pretty well used up, poor girl, 
 for the tourist crowd had kept her on the trot night 
 and day, and my own affair had got horribly on her 
 nerves. More than once I d cursed myself for a 
 fool for having let her take me home. 
 
 " Rosalie," said I, " you are all fagged out. 
 You ve been going it too strong. Can t you take 
 all night in and rest up a little? " 
 
QUICKSANDS 261 
 
 She turned and gave me a queer, sarcastic sort of 
 look. 
 
 "Rest up!" she echoed scornfully. "I d go 
 crazy and jump down into the plum trees." 
 
 " That s what comes of getting overtired," 
 said I. 
 
 "Oh!" snapped Rosalie " is it?" 
 
 She stood under the glow of the tall reading lamp, 
 nervously straightening the books and papers on the 
 centre table. Her chestnut hair, which was full of 
 natural waves, glowed and glistened like spun gold 
 as she moved her head. She turned her back to me, 
 and I couldn t help noticing how sweetly her pretty 
 little neck rose from the fold of the kimono. Her 
 restless hands stole in and out among the papers; 
 and then, as I watched her thoughtfully, the rounded 
 shoulders gave a little heave, there was the sound 
 of a smothered sob and her bare arms slipped up out 
 of the flowing sleeves as she covered her face with 
 both hands. 
 
 " Rosalie! " said I sharply, and sprang up from 
 the divan where I was sitting. 
 
 She turned away from me. The sobs came 
 quickly and noiselessly. 
 
 My friend, I ve seen some harrowing things in my 
 sinful life, but I don t know when I ve been so upset 
 as I was at the sight of that little girl, sobbing quietly 
 under the lamp. Even though it were no more than 
 a combination of heat and overwork and insufficient 
 sleep and the chance of losing a friend who had 
 grown companionable it was mighty pathetic. 
 Women or children in trouble always hit me hard; 
 and the next moment I was standing beside Rosalie, 
 
262 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 my arm behind her and my hand resting on her 
 shoulder. 
 
 " Rosalie," I said, " don t cry, little girl. There s 
 nothing to cry about. It s coming out all right 
 you wait and see." 
 
 She shook her head, her face still covered with 
 her hands and her body rocking back and forth. 
 Once or twice before, when she had been tired and 
 nervous, I d seen her on the edge of a breakdown; 
 but she d always managed to laugh and chatter it off. 
 This time, however, the storm had caught her aback, 
 and her body shook and shuddered under the strug 
 gle. Yet, game little girl that she was, she was as 
 silent as a wounded bird for fear of disturbing Soeur 
 Anne Marie. 
 
 I left her for a moment to close the door of the 
 corridor. Rosalie tottered to the divan and flung 
 herself down in the corner. Her sobs were almost 
 convulsions, and I got frightened. There s only one 
 thing to do when a woman gets to crying like that, 
 and that is to comfort her, no matter what comes of 
 it. So I sat down beside her on the divan, slid my 
 arm under her shoulders and transferred the chest 
 nut head and the round arms and all to my own 
 chest. She pulled back a little at first, but feebly - 
 then yielded; in fact, she went me one better, for her 
 pretty, round arms slipped out of the kimono and 
 went up round my neck and her tear-stained face 
 was buried under the rim of my jaw. 
 
 For several minutes I held her so; and it must 
 have been the best thing to do, because the sobs 
 slowed down and stopped and her breathing grew 
 quieter. To help the cure, I lifted her face and 
 
QUICKSANDS 263 
 
 kissed her eyes and lips. This was good for the 
 sobs if not for the breathing, and I could feel her 
 heart hammering against my chest. 
 
 Rosalie was fast coming to herself, however, and 
 pretty soon she stirred uneasily, drawing her arms 
 from round my neck and letting her head slip down 
 against my shoulder. 
 
 " Whatever must you think of me, Frank? " said 
 she. 
 
 "Just what I ve always thought that you re a 
 brave, warm-hearted darling, and as good as they 
 make em. After all, we re only human." 
 
 She caught her breath; then her laugh rippled out, 
 quavering and unsteady. 
 
 " Look in the glass, Frank. What a picture ! " 
 
 I looked across the room and saw the reflection of 
 a young priest in a long black cassock sitting on a 
 divan with his arms full of an uncommonly pretty 
 girl with very red cheeks, hair tumbled round her 
 ears, and a flowered kimono far enough open to 
 show a very demoralising throat. That part of it 
 was corrected while I looked in the glass and Rosalie 
 drew herself up, then turned and looked at me 
 thoughtfully. 
 
 That was a bad breakdown, Frank but I feel 
 better now. I was all in, as they say at home. 
 You are a sort of Rock of Refuge, aren t you? I 
 wonder how many men there are in this town to 
 whom a girl could cling and cry with safety?" 
 She stared at me, her eyes curious and alight. " You 
 may be an ex-burglar, Frank, but " 
 
 " But I never stole what I was trusted with," I 
 answered. " Now go wash your face, my dear, and 
 
264 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 put on your dinky business clothes, and we ll eat a 
 bite, and " 
 
 " Don t I " She held out her hand. 
 
 " But, Rosalie, it s not so terrible. Something 
 good will turn up, you see. And I ll write you 
 every day." 
 
 You might come into the Bon Cocher some 
 times." 
 
 " It s too dangerous for you, I mean." 
 
 ;( I m not afraid." 
 
 You weren t afraid a minute or two ago. 
 Somebody s got to be afraid sometimes." 
 
 She looked at me with eyes curious and alight. 
 Then she said: 
 
 You are right, my rock of refuge. I shall do 
 as you say. Now I ll go and put on my business 
 clothes and you can hook me up." She laughed 
 jgaily a little too gaily, it seemed to me. 
 
 So she got into her khakis and I hooked her up - 
 and dear old Soeur Anne Marie, who had put me in 
 the most dangerous position of all my life by ex 
 tracting the promise she had, resting and, I hope, 
 sleeping in a room close by, and never guessing at 
 the fierce little drama that had been played out right 
 alongside her! For, if I had sat tight and been a 
 rock of refuge and all that, let me tell you that it was 
 not because I wanted to, but because my soul wasn t 
 quite as sick as Soeur Anne Marie may have thought. 
 Or maybe she knew it quite well, and had a pretty 
 good idea of what might and did happen, and was 
 lying there loving us and blessing us, and putting out 
 prayers for us that governed the whole thing and 
 made the naughty little devils crawl under the divan 
 
QUICKSANDS 265 
 
 with their tails between their legs. I ve seen too 
 much of Bad not to know that Good can use a slung- 
 shot when need be. 
 
 Rosalie stirred up an omelet, and we ate it with a 
 bit of salad, some brioche and a bottle of beer. 
 You d have thought we were starting out for a joy 
 ride and to do the town ! 
 
 Then, our little supper finished and the clocks 
 striking the half-hour half-past eleven I got 
 up quickly. 
 
 " I m off ! " said I. " Au voir, my dear ! " 
 
 Rosalie s face went white. 
 
 "Not yet!" says she falteringly. 
 Time s up. Be a good girl, and don t get 
 nervous and blue." 
 
 She threw herself into my arms. I kissed her, 
 then turned to the door and went out and down the 
 dark stairs into the street. The last I saw of Ro 
 salie she was standing in the middle of the room, 
 staring with wide eyes and pale cheeks. 
 
 Once in the street, I m ashamed to say I soon for 
 got or, at least, put out of my mind Rosalie 
 sobbing on my shoulder and the look of her face 
 when the door closed between us. The street was 
 always a tonic for me just what drink is to some 
 and women to others, and the sea or the woods or 
 the road to still others. Whenever I ve been down 
 I ve slipped into the street, like an ash-cat, and there 
 I ve gradually bucked up and taken a fresh grip and 
 got a new interest in things. The look of the houses 
 and the guess at what s going on behind their walls, 
 and the glimpse at the faces that pass you let me 
 tell you, my friend, that s my wine ! It s to me what 
 
266 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 the jungle is to the hunter of big game, or the ice 
 floe to the arctic explorer, or the desert to the 
 Bedouin. My place is in the street that maze of 
 human purpose; it s my hunting ground or was. 
 And when the curiosity to know what was behind 
 those inscrutable walls got too strong, or was mixed 
 with the need of whatever there was to be found 
 there, I went in and had a look round, and I seldom 
 came out empty-handed. 
 
 Talk about crime ! Faugh ! I was a criminal, 
 just as we all are; only when I got crowded a little 
 I went after what I needed. I knew that if I made 
 a false step or blundered the least bit they d nab me 
 and tuck me away for years and years where there d 
 be no more street or jungle or sea or desert, or free 
 dom of any kind. And yet I risked it. Sometimes 
 I think that many criminals take these risks merely 
 because there is no other class that loves its liberty 
 so much. Criminals are all gamblers, more or less; 
 and, though I don t believe in such a thing as a 
 " criminal class," I do believe in a class of gamblers. 
 And I think that most of the real criminals mind 
 you, I m not speaking of those silly, pitiful, weak 
 honest folks who fall to a temptation because the 
 payment on the car is due and the wife has run up a 
 milliner s bill the real criminal, the wolf of so 
 ciety, loves to play with the trap. He loves it just 
 as another type, still higher in the scale of per 
 versity, loves to gamble with his life or another 
 man with his fortune. 
 
 Well, the street was my passion; and when you ve 
 got that city-prowling in your blood there s no such 
 place to gratify it as Paris or London. American 
 
QUICKSANDS 267 
 
 cities are laid out too much on the plan of a safe- 
 deposit vault or a model chicken farm. Everything 
 is squared and angled and numbered and tallied and 
 patrolled, and when a burglar wants to do a job he 
 doesn t go out and slip over a wall, with his little 
 kit swung from his shoulder, he turns lobbyist and 
 starts with the mayor, and works down until he 
 finds somebody whom he can " fix." That s not 
 sport it s business. No wonder American crooks 
 call burglary and pocket-picking and a bill through 
 the legislature all by the same name "graft"! 
 
 It s different in the Old World cities, however, 
 where a man goes about his job as a hunter might 
 but, there, I m forgetting that I d chucked all 
 that and was out for something even bigger than 
 cracking a safe my life and the right to live in 
 the open. And I was handicapped now, as a hunter 
 might be who had lost all his ammunition. I d 
 given Soeur Anne Marie my word not to strike ex 
 cept to save my life and if I d promised her to 
 roam round unarmed I d have felt more secure, but 
 this promise was good only until I d had my talk 
 with Ivan. So you see I was in some hurry to have 
 this over with. 
 
 If Ivan thought it would be worth his while to 
 call off the feud between Chu-Chu and myself, there 
 was the possibility that he might manage it through 
 Chu-Chu s avarice. Chu-Chu loved money even 
 more than he loved revenge, and he had found out 
 that he couldn t do much without Ivan. The 
 Shearer had wonderful cunning, ruthless methods 
 of getting rid of obstacles, the cautious but desper 
 ate courage of a wolf and a dexterity that was equal 
 
268 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 to that of any safe expert or prestidigitator; but his 
 lacking quality was imagination. Once given the 
 data and general directions, there was no living man 
 so capable of pulling off a job; but without these 
 Chu-Chu might easily have gone a year without 
 turning a single trick. He had no criminal initia 
 tive. He was like a trained hunting dog of mar 
 vellous scent and instinct; taken out by the master, 
 he could do his work and delight in it left alone, 
 he would have scratched his fleas round the house 
 through the whole hunting season. 
 
 Ivan was, in his way, as remarkable as Chu-Chu. 
 Through his underground system which, as a 
 matter of fact, was probably nine-tenths his own 
 imagination he always had a job on hand. Ivan 
 seemed to know in some clairvoyant way when valu 
 able jewels were about to make a journey, and 
 where; and how much gold was in such and such a 
 bank; and who had just bought a rope of pearls or 
 a tiara or a dog-collar, and when they were to be 
 delivered. Ivan had all of the data clear and dis 
 tinct for the man detailed for the job; and he would 
 let it pass unless he could see the whole business 
 from beginning to end. Chu-Chu was his star man 
 for this sort of work, and I had an idea that he 
 operated on half shares, though Ivan made the 
 bluff of paying only 15 per cent, for such jobs as 
 he himself outlined. 
 
 It seemed to me, therefore, that Ivan, having no 
 particular interest in the feud between us and having 
 as much use for Chu-Chu as Chu-Chu had for Ivan, 
 might persuade the Shearer that there was nothing 
 in it, and rig up a truce between us. Ivan did not 
 
QUICKSANDS 269 
 
 want me to kill Chu-Chu. When he told me to go 
 ahead I think he felt quite sure that Chu-Chu would 
 finish my affair within the week. On the other 
 hand, I doubted very much that he wanted Chu-Chu 
 to kill me. In spite of what I had said to him, Ivan 
 would not be quite sure that I had not made a con 
 fidant of some friend who might get up and do a 
 lot of talking if I were picked up somewhere with a 
 knife through my gizzard. Ivan s methods were 
 all for quiet and no scandal. He was, in his way, 
 just like the church-going head of a big, dishonest 
 corporation, and no doubt really felt himself a 
 person of worth and consequence. He supported a 
 charity for tuberculous children, and the devil 
 knows how many needy young women. Ivan, all 
 things being equal, would be quick to see the ad 
 vantage of a peace treaty between a man who might 
 yet bring him great profit and another who might 
 land him in the Andamans. The only question 
 was, Could he do it? And that s what I was going 
 to try to find out. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 TEMPTATION 
 
 IT was good to be out again, and I couldn t remem 
 ber when I had felt so fit. The night was soft, 
 very dark, and the air heavy and oppressive, with a 
 sort of tension to it that made me think there would 
 be a thunderstorm before morning. Everybody 
 seemed to be out, and the sidewalks in front of the 
 cafes were crowded. 
 
 It was different, however, when I got over in the 
 neighbourhood of the Pare Monceau, for this was a 
 rich quarter, and the residents were off touring or 
 at the springs and beaches. Most of the houses 
 were tightly shuttered and there was scarcely a cat 
 on the streets. I began to be afraid that Ivan 
 might be out of town himself, though it was not 
 often he left headquarters. 
 
 When I got to his house, sure enough, it was 
 closed up as tight as a box, with never a sign of 
 life. It was a pretty little Renaissance building, 
 with a small garden in front and a larger one behind 
 it, this running down to a high wall which was on 
 a small street that cut at an angle the street on 
 which the house faced. Another house, with a 
 garden of its own, occupied the sharp corner plot. 
 There was a small door in the back wall of Ivan s 
 garden, so that the house could be left or entered 
 from front or rear. The arrangement was the 
 
 270 
 
TEMPTATION 271 
 
 same in Leontine s house and is, in fact, a very 
 popular one in Paris. 
 
 I approached the house from the front and, after 
 a quick glance up and down the street, stopped in 
 front of the grilled iron gate and looked in. The 
 little path seemed to be littered with leaves and 
 twigs, and looked as if it had not been cleaned for 
 some time. This fact struck me as suspicious, for 
 it looked as if Ivan were trying to give the impres 
 sion that the house was closed. I did not believe 
 that he would leave it empty, even if he went away. 
 Still, it was possible; and feeling rather disap 
 pointed, I slipped round the corner to see if I could 
 discover any evidence that the back entrance was 
 being used. 
 
 The street was dark and silent. I walked noise 
 lessly to the little door and, after a quick look 
 round, dropped on my knees and examined the sill. 
 Sure enough, somebody had crossed it, and that re 
 cently, for there were light dustmarks on the darker 
 stone. 
 
 For a moment I hesitated, not knowing exactly 
 what to do. It was mighty important that I should 
 see Ivan, as I had promised Soeur Anne Marie to 
 let up on Chu-Chu until I had made the effort to fix 
 up a peace treaty. Chu-Chu hadn t promised any 
 body to let up on me, however; so, for the time 
 being, the odds were all with him, and that s bad 
 business when you re out to do a man up. 
 
 Well, there was only one way to find out if Ivan 
 was in the house, and that was to go in and see. 
 Naturally enough, he wouldn t want me hammering 
 at the door when he was trying to give out the idea 
 
272 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 that the shop was closed; so I reached up and 
 fumbled round in the ivy until my fingers got a grip 
 on the edge of the wall, then hove myself up and 
 lay for a moment stretched out at full length on the 
 top, well hidden by the heavy growth of ivy, listen 
 ing and watching. 
 
 My friend, if you want to find out something, let 
 me tell you there is nothing like quiet watching. 
 No matter where you watch, you always see some 
 thing. Animals understand this principle better 
 than humans, and the wilder an animal is, the more 
 patient he is about this watching game. I d learned 
 the lesson already; so now I just lay there with 
 every sense alert, waiting for something to turn up 
 and pretty soon it did. 
 
 The garden was perhaps about thirty metres long 
 by twenty wide, and was a sort of little terrace, com 
 pletely shaded by closely trimmed marronniers. I 
 had been perhaps ten minutes on the top of the wall 
 when I heard a door open softly and the sound of 
 light footfalls on the gravel. The trees were 
 trimmed a little higher than the wall, and, looking 
 under their low branches, I saw two figures coming 
 toward the door. As they drew near I was able to 
 make them out, even in the gloom, as Ivan and 
 Chu-Chu. 
 
 Straight up to where I lay they marched and 
 halted directly underneath. I could have reached 
 down and touched Chu-Chu s straw hat. He was 
 in the costume of an artisan a plumber or painter 
 and wore a long cotton blouse buttoned round his 
 wrists, and a black straw hat. 
 
 Apparently he and the Chief had disagreed about 
 
TEMPTATION 273 
 
 something, for Ivan said sharply, though in a very 
 soft voice: 
 
 "Then you will not undertake it? That is 
 final?" 
 
 " It is not worth my while," growled Chu-Chu. 
 After all, I am the one to risk my liberty not 
 you." 
 
 " You risk nothing if you carry out my directions 
 to the very foot of the letter," snapped Ivan. 
 
 Chu-Chu shrugged. " Perhaps," said he, " but 
 you must remember that I am the only man who 
 could do the job." 
 
 u It is very plain," said Ivan, in about as nasty 
 a tone as a man could use, " that you are suffering 
 from the malady of egoism, Monsieur Maxeville 
 - though why, I cannot imagine. One would have 
 thought that your recent misfortunes might have 
 taught you a little modesty. I could name a man 
 who could do this piece of work in a way to make 
 you look like a tyro ! " 
 
 "And who is that?" growled Chu-Chu. And 
 I wondered at Ivan s daring. I had sized him up 
 as the least bit afraid of his operator; but either 
 he was very angry, or else had more nerve than I 
 had given him credit for. 
 
 " That, my friend," Ivan answered, in a catty 
 voice, " is our American friend, Monsieur Clamart, 
 alias the Tidewater Clam, alias The Swell, alias 
 Sir Frank. Did you ever hear of him, you 
 Basque apprentice?" There was a snarl of rage 
 in his voice, and I began to think that Ivan was a 
 more dangerous man than I had thought. " He 
 stood you in a corner of my study while he took 
 
274 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 away from you the Baron Rosenthal s gems; he 
 ditched you on the road to Calais and would have 
 made you pay your dominoes then and there if your 
 sponsor the devil had not taken care of you; he cut 
 you up the other day and spoiled a job worth a 
 good sixty thousand francs and, for all you know, 
 he might land on your fat neck this moment. And 
 yet you have the toupefcto tell me that you are the 
 only man in Europe who can do this job which I 
 have more than three-quarters done already! " 
 
 Chu-Chu seemed actually a little cowed. As for 
 me, I could feel myself beginning to puff up until 
 I was afraid the bushy ivy might fail to hide me. 
 You can say what you like, a sincere worker is 
 bound to take a certain pride in the thing he s been 
 trained to honest or dishonest. I d chucked 
 " graft " and asked nothing better than to live and 
 work on the level; but somehow those words of 
 Ivan s cheered me up inside and gave me a sort 
 of homesick feeling. It was plain enough that he 
 had a deal on, and Chu-Chu was standing out for 
 the first squeeze of the press. 
 
 From the tone of Ivan s voice I could almost have 
 hoped that he was trying to pick a quarrel, and 
 that, with a little luck, my work might be done for 
 me, as I doubted that Ivan would have dared to 
 take that tone unless he had his mines of defence all 
 laid. No doubt his hand cuddled a pistol as he 
 spoke, and perhaps Chu-Chu may have known it. 
 At any rate, he probably thought that one feud on 
 his hands at a time was enough; nor do I believe 
 that he wanted to quarrel with the Chief, for he 
 said, in a surly sort of way: 
 
TEMPTATION 275 
 
 " You need to remember that you were making 
 a stork-leg at the same time, my dear Count; also 
 that both of the times this cursed American attacked 
 me I was at work on one of your jobs and giving my 
 whole attention to that. If I ve got to attend to 
 our joint business it seems to me that you might at 
 least give orders that this rcdeur be put out of busi 
 ness. If you will do that I will agree to take up 
 this job on your own terms." 
 
 Ivan shook his head. " No," says he, " that is 
 strictly your own affair. I don t want anything to 
 do with it." 
 
 Chu-Chu hesitated a minute, then he said: 
 " Chief, I will tell you what I ll do. If you will 
 rid me of the American I will consider that as my 
 share of the transaction and do the job gratuitously. 
 I can t do my work when I don t know what minute 
 I may get a knife under the shoulder-blade." 
 
 Here was high praise, let me tell you; Chu-Chu 
 asking for help. That was more than I had hoped 
 for; and, if it hadn t been for my promise to Soeur 
 Anne Marie, let me tell you that his cry for help 
 would have come too late. Did you ever see a bull- 
 terrier crouching in front of a badger s cage watch 
 ing, as silent and as still as a tombstone, barring 
 only the fine shiver rippling through him every few 
 minutes? That s the way I was watching Chu-Chu. 
 Maybe I was more like a cat, for there was no 
 shiver going through me only a sort of quiet, 
 deadly patience, for I knew that he was not for me 
 just yet. Perhaps the very fact of my not intend 
 ing to kill him was what kept him from sensing me 
 up there on the wall, though I was screened by the 
 
276 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 heavy foliage of the marronniers , to say nothing of 
 the ivy, while a street lamp at some distance lighted 
 the leaves overhead and put me in the shadow. 
 Just the same, nothing could persuade me that Chu- 
 Chu would have stayed long within my reach if I 
 had been meaning to kill him. That extra sense 
 would have made him restless. 
 
 If Ivan was tempted by this offer he failed to 
 show it. Perhaps, like myself, he was a man of 
 his word; or maybe he considered it beneath his 
 dignity as Chief to bargain. At any rate, he an 
 swered : 
 
 " As I told you before, I want nothing to do with 
 that affair. Never mind my motive that is my 
 own business. If you had dealt fairly with me in 
 the matter of the Rosenthal stones you would never 
 have got yourself in such an embarrassing posi 
 tion." 
 
 " But how many times have I got to say that I 
 was waiting only for the opportunity to tell you of 
 that job?" Chu-Chu snarled. 
 
 " It seems to me there was plenty of time," 
 snapped Ivan. " At any rate, you must admit that 
 you got us both made fools of. However, all this 
 is not what interests us now. About this other af 
 fair? Do you want to undertake it or not? You 
 may have until to-morrow forenoon to decide. 
 Come and tell me your decision at eleven. I am 
 going to lunch with Leontine at twelve-thirty. And 
 now I must wish you good-night, as it is indiscreet 
 for us to stand here talking." 
 
 Chu-Chu muttered something under his breath. 
 Ivan opened the door. Chu-Chu slipped out 
 
TEMPTATION 277 
 
 and I watched him hungrily; but there was my 
 promise to Soeur Anne Marie ! 
 
 Ivan closed the door softly and stood for a 
 moment as if in thought. Once he laid his hand on 
 the bolt, and I thought he was going to open the 
 door and call Chu-Chu back; but apparently he 
 thought better of it, for his hand dropped to his side 
 again while he twisted his black, wiry moustache 
 with the other. I guessed that he was hard put to 
 it, that he had a big job going and that Chu-Chu 
 was the only person he dared trust with it. If Chu- 
 Chu failed to come to terms the whole thing was 
 going begging. 
 
 Chu-Chu s heavy footsteps died away in the dis 
 tance, and still Ivan stood there twisting his mous 
 tache and thinking. Suddenly he swung on his heel 
 and started for the house, and as he did so I moved 
 my arm, rustling the ivy. 
 
 "Who is there?" asked Ivan in a low voice, 
 and I saw his hand slip into the side-pocket of his 
 coat. 
 
 " It is I Clamart," I answered softly. 
 
 Ivan stepped to the little door, opened it softly 
 and took a quick look up and down the street, then 
 closed the door again. 
 
 " Will you come down? " said he in a low voice. 
 
 I reached for the branch of a tree, swung silently 
 clear of the wall and dropped to the ground. Even 
 through the murk I could see the gleam of Ivan s 
 white teeth as he looked at me with his thin-lipped 
 smile. 
 
 " Let us go inside," said he. " I would like to 
 talk with you." 
 
278 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 I followed him up the path and into the house, 
 and as we entered I heard a rustle from an adjoin 
 ing room. 
 
 " It is all right, Pierre," said Ivan. 
 
 " Merci, m sieu ." 
 
 Ivan touched a button and the light streamed out. 
 
 II Let us go up to my bureau," said he. We 
 can be more comfortable there, and I have quite 
 a good deal to say to you." 
 
 So up we went to the handsome room, with its 
 stately Empire furniture, Oriental rugs and valu 
 able paintings, for Ivan was a connoisseur and col 
 lector. He seated himself behind his desk and 
 motioned me to a big fauteuil opposite. 
 
 " Let me compliment you upon your quick recov 
 ery of health," said Ivan, eying me keenly. " Chu- 
 Chu told me he shot you through the body and 
 ripped a hole through your arm with his knife. He 
 was unable to understand how you made your es 
 cape, and has been cursing modern high-velocity 
 pistols with small-calibre, steel-jacketed bullets ever 
 since. He is also inclined to suspect Leontine." 
 
 " He drilled me through the shoulder," I an 
 swered, " and the knife wound was nothing much. 
 For my part, I ve been cursing my own clumsiness." 
 
 Ivan gave that peculiar smile which might have 
 stood for amusement or malice. 
 
 " I wonder you didn t drop on his back just now," 
 said he. 
 
 There was no use in telling him of my promise to 
 Soeur Anne Marie, so I answered: 
 
 " I might have done so if it had been anywhere 
 else. Naturally I would not make a row on your 
 
TEMPTATION 279 
 
 premises. Besides, I gathered from your talk that 
 you had need of him, and I did not want to run 
 against your interests." 
 
 His eyes bored into me like gimlets. " You are 
 getting very considerate of my interests all at once, 
 Monsieur Clamart. You were less thoughtful the 
 other day at Baron von Hertzfeld s. That little 
 interference of yours cost me a good many thousand 
 francs; a sum of which I stand in considerable need 
 just at this moment." 
 
 " I am very sorry, Count," I answered; " but how 
 was I to know? When we last met you told me that 
 you were finished with Chu-Chu, and that I might 
 do what I liked to him for all you cared. I 
 supposed, of course, he was working on his own 
 hook." 
 
 Ivan leaned back in his chair twisting the waxed 
 end of his thin, black moustache, his pale, handsome 
 face clouded. For several moments he did not 
 speak, but his luminous eyes shot up at me from time 
 to time from under the long, black lashes. 
 
 Why have you come to see me to-night?" he 
 asked suddenly. 
 
 " Because," I answered, " it occurred to me that 
 perhaps I might be running counter to your interests, 
 after all, in hunting Chu-Chu, and I wanted to 
 make sure that it was all right. A man may carry 
 on a feud with another man, but there s no use try 
 ing to fight a whole organisation." 
 
 " But what made you think that I might be em 
 ploying Chu-Chu when, as you just said, you be 
 lieved that I had done with him? Whom have you 
 been talking to? Leontine?" 
 
280 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 His eyes were snapping now, and his delicate fea 
 tures as hard as steel. 
 
 " No," I answered. " Leontine has told me 
 nothing. Nobody has told me anything. It was 
 merely a surmise on my part and it appears that 
 I was right." 
 
 Ivan stared a second, then nodded. " Yes," 
 said he, " you were right confound it! I did not 
 expect to use Chu-Chu again, nor did I intend to, 
 but I was driven to it. I have recently lost two of 
 my best men, and there was nobody else to do the 
 work. There were two or three big jobs I wanted 
 to finish up, then leave France for a while. I do not 
 quite like the way things are going. To tell the 
 truth, I have a vague instinct that I am under obser 
 vation " - he gave me another of those ocular dag 
 ger thrusts " and that the Prefecture is beginning 
 to smell a rat. That is the reason why I closed up 
 the house and went to Trouville for a fortnight. I 
 wanted the secret-service men to make a search in 
 my absence, and I find they have done so. I left 
 everything prepared for them a few letters to 
 indicate that I am somewhat involved in a Balkan 
 conspiracy, and so on. Balkan conspiracies don t 
 interest them much, but they had to find something. 
 I just returned to-night, having got hold of a good 
 proposition, and wishing to see Chu-Chu. There 
 Is no one else. You heard the conclusion of my 
 conversation? " 
 
 "Yes," I answered; "and it made me feel 
 ashamed of myself for the trouble I ve made you. 
 I d never counted on your squareness to me result 
 ing in your own loss." 
 
TEMPTATION 281 
 
 Ivan gave his thin smile. " It has, though," he 
 answered. " First it was Miss Dalghren s rope of 
 pearls, which I gave back to you; then you came 
 within an ace of doing me out of that big Calais 
 boat haul; then you broke up the Hertzfeld job, and 
 now it looks as if you might spoil the best thing yet. 
 I won t say anything about the Rosenthal stones 
 that you took away from Chu-Chu, though he 
 swears that he would have turned them over and 
 was waiting only until the other business should 
 have been disposed of. Now, Monsieur Clamart, 
 I am, like yourself, a man of my word; but, after 
 all, there are limits to one s patience." He smiled 
 again. 
 
 Was he starting to threaten me? I could feel 
 the muscles of my jaw harden. It was one thing 
 to try to keep Ivan s good will and another to be 
 cowed. The blood started up my neck, and I think 
 that Ivan saw that he d taken the wrong tack, for 
 he went on smoothly: 
 
 " Don t misunderstand me. What I mean is 
 that keeping my word to you is proving more expen 
 sive than I can afford, and it seems to me there 
 exists some little obligation on your part. Don t 
 you agree with me? " 
 
 " I certainly do," I muttered. 
 
 " I have stretched some points for you," Ivan 
 went on; "and I don t mind telling you that, all 
 money loss aside, it has hurt my authority with the 
 association of which I am the head. Chu-Chu has 
 been intriguing." His face darkened and grew sin 
 ister. " He is accusing me of favouring a renegade 
 and traitor who has great influence at the Prefec- 
 
282 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ture. The mob knows your story; it knows that 
 you got caught while working the Cuttynge house, 
 and that for some miraculous reason you got oft 
 scot free. It s been hinted that you belong to the 
 police, and it s also been hinted that I am too well 
 disposed to you. Do you understand? Now one 
 good job on your part would remove that impres 
 sion and restore confidence in myself and enable me 
 to put Chu-Chu where he belongs." 
 
 " But, my dear Count I began, almost stam 
 mering; for now I saw what Ivan was after. He 
 interrupted me. 
 
 " Listen, Monsieur Clamart: It is true that you 
 passed your word to Mrs. Cuttynge never to steal 
 again; but I understand that she believes you to 
 have broken your faith, and that the circumstances 
 are such that she can never be undeceived. What 
 you wish most of all is that she should continue to 
 believe you guilty and her husband, the real thief, 
 innocent? Is that not so?" 
 
 "Yes," I stuttered; " but - 
 
 " Let me finish." Ivan leaned toward me across 
 the desk and projected the whole weight of his 
 powerful magnetism. " Mrs. Cuttynge, I take it, 
 is the only person whose faith in you you value, and 
 hers is irrevocably lost. She believes you have 
 dropped back into the underworld back to your 
 old trade; but if you were to re-emerge you could 
 resume your former position in your half-brother s 
 motor business, and his wife would gradually regain 
 her faith in you, and at the end of a certain time it 
 would be absolutely restored. Now what keeps 
 you from going back? Chu-Chu le Tondeur? I 
 
TEMPTATION 283 
 
 do not wish to tempt you, Monsieur Clamart, nor 
 shall I offer you a cent of money as inducement; 
 but I am going to appeal to your sense of obligation 
 to me and offer you the means of extricating your 
 self from your difficult position. I have a job on 
 hand which would be practically impossible to a 
 bungler, but presents no difficulties to the expert. 
 Moreover, the loss will fall upon a rich and dis 
 honest organisation. If you will undertake this 
 one bit of work and are able to carry it off success 
 fully, I will promise never to call upon you again, 
 and I will give you my assurance " - his face grew 
 hard as flint "that you need have no further 
 cause to be on your guard against Chu-Chu le Ton- 
 deur. And that part of my compact would be a 
 real pleasure to carry out." 
 
 The cold, deadly hate streamed out of Ivan s 
 burning eyes as he said these last words; and, let 
 me tell you, my friend, I had no fear of his not 
 " making good " on that part of the contract. For 
 the first time I realised how Ivan loathed and hated 
 the Shearer; but it showed me, also, how badly the 
 chief must be crowded, hating Chu-Chu as he did, 
 to put up with him. 
 
 Well, here was the proposition, as cold and square 
 as a flagstone in a prison yard. I could take it or 
 I could leave it. If I took it I broke my word to 
 Edith and what did that matter, when she would 
 live and die thinking that I had broken it anyway? 
 If I left it there was Chu-Chu and the thought of 
 him didn t bother me any, because, after all, he 
 wasn t much more than a bloodthirsty animal, with 
 an animal s cunning and Ivan. 
 
284 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 And let me tell you, my friend, that Ivan was a 
 very different sort of type to tackle. It was within 
 the range of human possibility that I could be afraid 
 of Ivan. He was a man of cool thought, acted on 
 impulsively. Ivan, I felt, could be swift and cruel 
 and terrible; and his acts would not be governed 
 by any principle, but purely by the emotion of the 
 moment. Personally he could never have fright 
 ened me; but a braver man than I might easily 
 dread that swift, cruel intelligence, directing such 
 ferrets as you catch sight of slipping in and out of 
 the shadows abqut the barrieres. Ivan had a pack 
 of these slinking, stealthy apaches at his disposal ; 
 and, though he had probably never so much as laid 
 eyes on one of them to recognise him, they were 
 nevertheless ready and waiting to do his will as 
 transmitted through one of his sub-lieutenants. 
 Once this cheerful horde was loosed on a victim, he 
 might as well try to fight a swarm of mosquitoes, of 
 which the sting of any might easily prove fatal. 
 They represented a disease rather than an enemy. 
 
 So here, on one side, was the promise of freedom 
 from the underworld and life in the open again, all 
 for a few hours exercise of the skill that had taken 
 me years and years to perfect. Just one theft 
 added to the many which I had done and gloried in 
 the doing of! It may seem strange to you that the 
 odd chance of making a fluke of it and getting 
 nabbed never entered into my head, except in a vague 
 sort of way, just as the thought of being taken with 
 cramp might occur to the strong, long-distance swim 
 mer. 
 
 No, I had no fear of getting caught; in fact, I 
 
TEMPTATION 285- 
 
 had and have still a supreme contempt for the Con 
 tinental police, and you can take it as a great truth 
 that the reason there are no more big robberies in 
 Europe is because people take better care of their 
 dust. When a Frenchman gets a bone he buries 
 it; he doesn t give it to some big dog to guard for 
 him, the way we do at home. And as for jewels 
 well, if folks knew how few of the sparklers they 
 see are the real thing they d stare at the moon in 
 stead. There s plenty of petty graft in Europe, be 
 cause the people are naturally suspicious and there 
 fore suckers, but there s never such an awful lot of 
 money in any one place; and when there is you re 
 apt to find a couple of dozen people guarding it. 
 
 I took so long to answer that Ivan must have 
 thought it was all fixed, for presently he said: 
 
 " I am glad to see that, though you are a straight 
 man in your dealings just as I am when personal 
 questions are involved you are not, nevertheless, 
 pigheaded. You kept your word at great sacrifice; 
 and now, when this sacrifice has proved futile, you 
 are quite at liberty to 
 
 To break my word? " I asked quietly. 
 
 Ivan gave me a startled look, then his eyes nar 
 rowed. 
 
 " So far as that goes," said he, " the person to 
 whom you gave it considers that you have already 
 broken it. To all practical purposes, Monsieur 
 Clamart, you have broken your word to Mrs. 
 Cuttynge." 
 
 "Perhaps," I answered; "but I have not yet 
 broken my word to myself." 
 
 Ivan smiled. " Perhaps when you come to try 
 
286 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 yourself before the tribunal of your own con 
 science," said he, " the court might find extenuating 
 circumstances " 
 
 I interrupted him impatiently. 
 
 " Count," said I, leaning forward, " there is no 
 use in our saying any more. Nothing would please 
 me more than to be able to pay my obligation to 
 you, while my own position is not one that I am in 
 any way keen about. If I could do what you sug 
 gest I would in a second; but I can t. I don t pre 
 tend to be a reformed character or anything of the 
 sort. It s simply that I ve passed my word and 
 can t go back on it without losing all my self-respect 
 and going all to pot generally. If I were to do this 
 one job do you suppose I d stop there. Not for 
 a second. I d pitch in again and make Chu-Chu 
 think he was the apprentice that you called him a 
 little while ago. It s not as though I d given my 
 word in a fit of uplifted ideas, or to please a woman, 
 or because I happened to feel noble for the moment 
 and wasn t in any particular want. I did it to 
 square a debt and, by God, I m going to stick to 
 it!" 
 
 Ivan started at me gloomily. I d rather ex 
 pected he would threaten or sneer or possibly, 
 because there were some fine streaks in his complex 
 nature, approve my stand. Instead, he sat and 
 tugged at his moustache and stared at me from time 
 to time in a sort of bored, despondent way, just as 
 a man might at being turned down in some business 
 proposition. 
 
 " Eh? Well," said he, suddenly arousing him 
 self, " I was afraid I might hear something of that 
 
TEMPTATION 287 
 
 sort. I know your sort, and I won t say you re 
 not right. Only it s apt to be a bit unfortunate for 
 both of us." 
 
 " You mean that I can no longer count on your 
 friendship? " I asked. 
 
 " No more than I can count on your help ! " he 
 snapped. " Mind you, I m not going to order your 
 assassination or anything of that sort; but, if you 
 decline to take up the work and Chu-Chu decides 
 to come to terms, I can t have him interfered with. 
 Naturally I ve got to protect my own man." 
 
 "What do you mean?" I asked. 
 Just this, Monsieur Clamart," said Ivan, look 
 ing me squarely in the eyes. " If you want to pro 
 long your life you will have to leave the country. 
 So long as you leave Chu-Chu alone all right and 
 good. I need him for my business." 
 
 Then order Chu-Chu to leave me alone," I an 
 swered. 
 
 " He wouldn t obey. Chu-Chu means to kill you 
 or have you killed; but, as for your killing him" 
 he lowered his head and looked at me fixedly 
 " take my advice, Monsieur Clamart," says he, 
 wagging his slender index finger at me, " and leave 
 Chu-Chu alone. That is all." 
 
 Well, it was enough. At least, he d put the case 
 plainly. So long as Chu-Chu was working for Ivan 
 I could hunt his scalp only at the risk of my own, 
 though Chu-Chu was perfectly free to murder me. 
 On the other hand, I had nothing to fear from Ivan 
 so long as I left Chu-Chu alone. It was all logical 
 enough. If I didn t like the situation I could 
 always get out of the country; but there was my 
 
288 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 business and the desire to make good, and oh, 
 there were many reasons why I did not want to 
 clear out! 
 
 Ivan reached over rather wearily and touched a 
 bell. His servant, Pierre, who looked rather like 
 a mink, came to the door. 
 
 " Get a bottle of champagne and some sand 
 wiches," said Ivan; then looked at me, and his thin 
 smile parted his lips again. " You ll join me in 
 some refreshment, won t you? " 
 
 So we drank a bottle of champagne between us 
 and ate some sandwiches, and talked about different 
 things. Ivan asked me no questions about my 
 stalk of Chu-Chu. The business seemed to bore 
 him. It was plain enough he was bothered by 
 troubles of his own; and once or twice, when there 
 came a step outside on the pavement, he stiffened 
 like a bird-dog that scents game. It was after two 
 when I got up to go, and Ivan went down with me 
 through the garden and let me out through the little 
 door in the wall. 
 
 " Some day, when we ve both retired and are liv 
 ing in the world where we belong, we may be good 
 friends, Monsieur Clamart," says he in a tired 
 voice. " But, meantime, business is business. 
 Take my advice and clear out for a while. If you 
 don t, Chu-Chu will surely get you, because, as I 
 said before, I need the man and can t have him in 
 terfered with. I ve offered you your chance, and 
 if you haven t chosen to profit by it you have only 
 yourself to blame if anything unpleasant happens." 
 
 " Is that a polite way of saying that if I scrag 
 
TEMPTATION 289 
 
 Chu-Chu I ll have the association down on my 
 back? " I asked. 
 
 " I m afraid that s about what it amounts to," 
 said Ivan; and he wished me good-night. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 BACK INTO THE WORLD 
 
 THE night seemed darker than ever when I went 
 into the street; but, let me tell you, it wasn t any 
 blacker than my own feelings. There seemed 
 mighty little left but to skip the country and to go 
 somewhere else and make a fresh start, this time 
 on the level; but the very thought of that was hate 
 ful. To begin with, I couldn t stomach the idea of 
 being chased out by Chu-Chu with a gang of Ivan s 
 apaches at his heels. Then, there was the business 
 that I d got so well started. And then there was 
 the biggest thing of all the wish to win back 
 what I d lost in Edith s eyes! Don t make the mis 
 take of thinking for a second that I was in love with 
 Edith my feeling toward her was the sort a 
 child might have for an angel. The distance be 
 tween us was too great to admit of anything else. 
 There were other reasons, too. I had an awful 
 warm spot inside me for Rosalie, and I wanted to 
 see her often and be free to be with her. The re 
 membrance of her bare arms round my neck and her 
 tear-stained face against mine set me all aglow. I 
 realised that I was on the verge of falling in love 
 with Rosalie. And there was my life in town, and 
 the clubs and theatres and cafes and spins over the 
 road no, sir; to tell the truth, I almost regretted 
 for an instant that I hadn t taken Ivan up on his 
 offer. I knew, however, that things would never 
 
 290 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 291 
 
 have been quite the same for me afterwards if I 
 had. It would have cost me my self-respect even 
 more than getting out of the country would; and 
 when a man of my stamp loses his self-respect there 
 ain t much left of him but his clothes. 
 
 So here I was, forbidden to hunt Chu-Chu 
 under pain of being exterminated by Ivan s rat-ter 
 riers, and Chu-Chu free to slip a knife into me the 
 first chance he got! It was a pretty exasperating 
 state of affairs, and the more I thought it over the 
 less good I was able to see in it until suddenly I 
 had an inspiration. 
 
 In the very beginning of my feud with Chu-Chu 
 I had asked Ivan if he had any objection to my kill 
 ing him, and Ivan had answered " No." He had! 
 told me that, so long as I did not furnish any in 
 formation which might be dangerous to the mob, I 
 could go ahead; and he had even given me a tip as 
 to Chu-Chu s familiar. At that time Ivan had de 
 cided to break off all relations with Chu-Chu. 
 Since then, however, he had come to need him again, 
 and, as a result, he had now forbidden me to inter 
 fere. 
 
 When I had given Ivan my promise not to fur 
 nish information to the police it had been with the 
 understanding that he was not to interfere with my 
 feud with Chu-Chu. And now he had done it 
 and his doing so let me out. Mind you, the last 
 thing in my mind was to turn State s evidence and 
 actually lay information against the mob. That s 
 a thing I ve always despised; and besides, there 
 were too many old, extraditable accounts against 
 me to make such a move healthy. As the girl said 
 
292 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 when her young man wanted to kiss her: u I m not 
 that kind of a girl and besides, mamma would 
 hear!" 
 
 At any rate, I could make the bluff and put Ivan 
 in a position of my guardian angel. And the min 
 ute that idea struck me I laid a course for an all- 
 night cafe on the Avenue Wagram, where I called 
 for writing material and scratched off a letter some 
 thing like this: 
 
 MY DEAR COUNT, I am preparing to-night a full state 
 ment which, by the time this has reached you, will be in the 
 custody of a trustee with instructions to place it at once in 
 the hands of the prefect of police should I happen to be the 
 victim of any accident of a violent character. 
 
 I would, therefore, advise that our mutual acquaintance be 
 issued instructions similar to my own. 
 
 In acting as I have, I am actuated solely by a sense of fair 
 play. As to my good faith, you may remember that when I 
 passed my word to make no revelations which might incrim 
 inate your associates or yourself it was done on your assurance 
 that I should not be interfered with in the carrying out of 
 my personal affairs. 
 
 To-morrow morning I shall return to my place of business 
 and resume the administration of my affairs as formerly, 
 trusting to your discretion to prevent aught of an unpleasant 
 character. 
 
 Please accept, monsieur, my most distinguished considera 
 tion. 
 
 FRANK CLAMART. 
 
 This note finished, I sealed and addressed it and 
 took it straight to Ivan s house. There I yanked at 
 the bell until finally Pierre came to answer it. I 
 handed him the note. 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 293 
 
 " Take this to your master," said I, " and tell 
 him it was brought by Monsieur Clamart himself." 
 
 Then I turned on my heel and went back to my 
 little hotel in Passy, with the feeling of a man who 
 has come to the surface after a deep dive. 
 
 It doesn t take long to step from the underworld 
 into the upper when you happen to be at home in 
 both. I paid my little hotel bill, walked out into 
 the Bois with my old black valise, found a thicket 
 over by the bicycle path and did a lightning-change 
 act from a goggled predicateur into a young man of 
 fashion, then walked over to the Pre Catelan, 
 picked up a taxi and went to my garconmere over 
 by the Ternes. 
 
 The concierge seemed glad to see me. I told 
 him I had been working up the car in England and 
 had run over for a few days to see if there was any 
 thing new. Naturally I d left the black valise in 
 the Bois, and my being without luggage meant 
 nothing, as he might have thought that I had left 
 it at the Cuttynges or the Automobile or Travel 
 lers clubs. Your Paris concierge is a past-master 
 in the art of never being surprised at anything; and 
 if you happen to be a foreigner the only thing that 
 could possibly surprise him would be the lack of 
 things to be surprised about. 
 
 I read a few letters and then walked over to the 
 office on the Avenue de la Grande Armee; and, let 
 me tell you, the luxury of that walk in the open was 
 greater than any I d ever enjoyed. Chu-Chu might 
 have walked up and shoved a knife into my solar 
 plexus and I d scarcely have tried to stop him. I 
 was enjoying my respectability just as a respectable 
 
294 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 person might enjoy a little dip into vice not be 
 cause it was vice, but because he was a bit fed up 
 on the other. 
 
 Gustave, our little mecanicien, was the only per 
 son at the office. He seemed very glad to see me 
 back, and said there had been practically no busi 
 ness at all since I had been away. He had taken 
 several people out to show the car, but did not know 
 that anything had come of it. He believed there 
 had been two sales from the Basle office and one 
 from the Geneva. 
 
 I next called up the Cuttynges and learned from 
 the butler that monsieur and madame were expected 
 home the following night, but only to stop over 
 twenty-four hours en route for Baden, as monsieur 
 had been suffering from his stomach. Gustave told 
 me that he had been forwarding all letters to Mon 
 sieur Cuttynge. 
 
 There was really nothing for me to do, and I was 
 about to lock up my desk and stroll down to the 
 Automobile Club, when Gustave brought in a note 
 that he said had just been left by a man who looked 
 like a valet de chambre. One glance at the envel 
 ope showed me that it was from Leontine. It 
 read: 
 
 " DEAR FRANK, Ivan has just called and showed me your 
 note. We both think that you have gone mad or else that 
 you must have a wild and exaggerated idea of Ivan s author 
 ity over our mutual friend. 
 
 " Let me warn you to get under cover at once. Ivan is 
 practically powerless, and you are doing him a great injustice 
 in the action you are taking. He has now gone to keep a 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 295 
 
 rendezvous with our friend. There are many urgent things 
 I wish to say to you, and I want you to lunch with me to-day 
 at noon, chez moi. It will be quite safe. 
 
 " L." 
 
 This note caused me no surprise. I had ex 
 pected something of the sort but from Ivan. 
 However, as Leontine might expect to be entangled 
 in the net of any general revelations and had no 
 idea how much I might have told in my statement, 
 she was naturally uneasy, and no doubt wanted the 
 chance to convince me that I was behaving fool 
 ishly and meanly. 
 
 There seemed no special reason for not comply 
 ing with her request, as, now that I had broken 
 cover, I was in no more danger in one place than 
 another. If Ivan dared he could have me assas 
 sinated when he liked and so might Chu-Chu. 
 Mind you, I wasn t feeling so dead safe, by any 
 means; what I was doing was simply the best of 
 several poor choices leaving the country, killing 
 Chu-Chu, and then taking a chance on Ivan s carry 
 ing out his threat, or skulking around in disguise 
 and waiting for something to turn up. I don t 
 count the possibility of going back to graft as a 
 choice, because I never for a second considered it. 
 
 A little after eleven a man whom I knew came in, 
 and the clocks were striking twelve when I jumped 
 into a taxi and started up to Leontine s. It seemed 
 nice to be going about the city openly and well 
 groomed again. After all, I thought, maybe it s 
 better to take a chance of being scragged like a 
 gentleman than to go slinking about like a street 
 cat. I ll keep my eyes open, and if he can get me 
 
296 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 let him go ahead and do it. As for Ivan and his 
 mob, they can go to the devil too. 
 
 It was in this frame of mind that I arrived at 
 Leontine s; and then, as I got out and turned to 
 pay the driver, I got a jolt that knocked all the 
 newborn impudence out of me for there on the 
 terrace, sitting at a table on the edge of the cleared 
 space leading up to the door, was Rosalie, watching 
 me intently; and at a table just abreast of her on the 
 other side of the opening was a man in an artisan s 
 blouse and a black straw hat, with one of the little 
 round carpetbags in which plumbers, locksmiths and 
 others carry their tools, on the pavement at his feet. 
 
 Bearded though he was, I knew him at a glance 
 for Chu-Chu. Even if I had not seen him vaguely 
 in the dark the night before, I think I would have 
 known him. Some instinct seemed to label him with 
 his true self, and the same instinct warned me to 
 let my eyes move absently past and to turn slowly 
 on my heel and reach for the bell of Leontine s 
 little door. 
 
 "Was it a trap?" I thought like a flash. Did 
 they mean to put me quickly and silently away and 
 take a chance on such revelations as might or might 
 not be produced? Was I a fool to go into the 
 spider s web like an innocent little fly? The but 
 ler s steps were coming down the path. Had I 
 better leave a verbal message and go away? I 
 could say that I had just got back to the office and 
 found the note and was sorry that I was engaged to 
 lunch in the Bois, and had stopped on my way to 
 make my excuses. All this went through my head 
 like a single thought. Then the door opened and 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 297 
 
 I entered in the most natural way in the world and 
 followed the maitre d hotel up the path into the 
 house. 
 
 Why did I do so? Was I fascinated by the 
 danger? Hypnotised? Hardly that. I d got 
 too used to danger to act like a silly song-sparrow 
 confronted by a blacksnake. My reason was one 
 which any American can understand in a second, but 
 which would be absolutely incomprehensible to 
 many older and more subtle nations. I was out of 
 patience. I wanted action, even in the smoke. I 
 was sick of dodging about and pined for a show 
 down. My morning as a free and independent 
 member of the upper class had soured me on stealth, 
 and the middle of the Champs-Elysees had spoiled 
 me for a niche in the wall of a back alley. I slipped 
 my hand into the side pocket of my coat, cuddled the 
 butt of my little automatic heavenly ticket-punch, 
 and walked into that house a sort of living murder 
 machine. Thought I : They ll think they ve got 
 mixed on their natural history and caught a hot- 
 ended hornet instead of a harmless fly in their 
 blooming net." Chu-Chu would come slipping over 
 directly to mend a lock or wipe the joint of a 
 waterpipe and there d be some quick curtain 
 work. Catch im alive-oh ! would be the password, 
 as fireworks were the last things on the programme; 
 then deflate him without noise and put him away. 
 
 I followed the sleek rascal ahead, with the 
 sparks fairly sizzling out of me; and when he 
 stepped aside to usher me into the darkened little 
 boudoir, which overlooked the garden in the rear, 
 my eyes were boring through the portieres, shining 
 
298 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 into shaded corners, and the tail of one of them 
 watching to see that the servant kept both his hands 
 in sight. The room was empty, however, and the 
 man bowed himself out, saying that mademoiselle 
 would be down immediately. 
 
 The picture of Rosalie s face was the next thing 
 that flashed through my mind the shock, aston 
 ishment, then the deep, burning flush that over 
 spread it as she realised that I was going into the 
 house of Leontine ! Poor girl, she little guessed 
 the fond, loverlike emotions which I did not have 
 as I stood there with my hackles on end, my teeth 
 bared, lips twitching ready to hand out wholesale 
 slaughter with gun and knife. I wondered if Rosa 
 lie had recognised Chu-Chu, and decided that she 
 could not have done so. His disguise was too clev 
 erly done. Only a blood enemy could have pierced 
 it and perhaps not even he unless forewarned. 
 
 I was pining to get to the front of the house to 
 have a look at the Bon Cocher, but there was no 
 time. There was the peculiar swish which seemed 
 so characteristic of Leontine when she moved, for 
 she had a way of switching her skirt as she walked; 
 and she stood in the doorway, ravishingly lovely in 
 a summer costume of old embroidered linen and 
 lace, pale cream in tint, over satin of a deeper and 
 luscious yellow. The colour was in perfect har 
 mony with her rich ivory skin and clear, dark amber 
 eyes. Her short, heavy curls were held as usual by 
 the golden fillet, with its great emerald. 
 
 It did not look like a costume that a woman would 
 be apt to put on to assist at the murder of a man; 
 nor did anything in her expression or the warmth of 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 299 
 
 her greeting suggest this idea. Her eyes fastened 
 on me with the avid look that I had seen there be 
 fore and her breath came quickly as she spoke. 
 
 " Oh, Frank! Frank! " she murmured, as I bent 
 over her hand. " What a lot of trouble you do 
 make us! " 
 
 " I m not altogether free from it myself," I an 
 swered. " But you must remember that you began 
 it all." 
 
 u And we are apt to end it unless you show a 
 little sense," she retorted, smiling. 
 
 There was a sound in the corridor, and I felt my 
 self harden up. Leontine noticed it and laughed. 
 
 "For shame, Frank! It s only Victor to an 
 nounce dejeuner. Surely you don t think I d set 
 traps for you in my own house? " 
 
 " The idea never entered my head," I answered, 
 " until I saw Chu-Chu sitting in front of the cafe 
 opposite. Considering that you had told me 
 
 "Chu-Chu!" she whispered; then was silent. 
 Victor announced that she was served and I fol 
 lowed her into the charming little dining-room. 
 There were places for three. 
 
 " Ivan said he would try to get in for an ice and 
 coffee," said Leontine. 
 
 Victor served us, then went out. 
 
 " Help yourself to wine, Frank," said Leontine. 
 
 That is Chablis by you and Chambertin in the 
 
 other decanter. Now tell me what you mean by 
 
 saying that Chu-Chu was in the cafe opposite. He 
 
 had a rendezvous with Ivan at this hour." 
 
 " Then he failed to keep it," I answered. 
 
 " How was he dressed? " 
 
300 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Workman s blouse, black straw hat, grizzled 
 beard." 
 
 Leontine knit her brows. I grew suspicious. 
 
 "May I help you to wine?" I asked. 
 
 " No, thanks. I never take it with dejeuner. 
 But help yourself, please." 
 
 Thanks. I also am abstemious," I answered. 
 
 Leontine shot me a swift look, then leaned over 
 and laid her hand on my sleeve. Her eyes were 
 positively melting and it seemed to me there was 
 the slightest quiver in her voice. 
 
 " Frank," she whispered, " is it possible that you 
 do not trust me?" The swift colour rose and 
 spread over her high, Slavic cheekbones, which were 
 soft and rounded, yet high and of a Cossack promi 
 nence that lent character and intensity to her pas 
 sionate face, though in no way diminishing its sen 
 suous beauty. il Don t you think me loyal, 
 Frank? " she pleaded. 
 
 " It s your loyalty that keeps my hand in my 
 pocket," I answered, with a sort of dry grin. " I 
 don t mind giving it to you straight, my girl, that 
 when I spotted Chu-Chu in front of Le Bon Cocher 
 I made up my mind that you and Ivan and a few 
 others had set a little trap for me over here." 
 
 Leontine s fresh caviar stopped halfway to her 
 expectant mouth and she looked at me with her 
 amber eyes wide open. tJsually you got only an 
 impression of them between a double fringe of long, 
 curved lashes black as ink. 
 
 " Then what made you come in here," she cried, 
 " if you thought me capable of treachery of that 
 sort to the man I I love? " she whispered hotly, 
 
I FIRED AGAIN AND BROUGHT A SNARL OUT 
 
 OF HIM (page 3 2 ?) 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 301 
 
 and leaned toward me, so that her bosom was 
 crushed against the polished table. 
 
 " I came in to bust up the trap," I answered, and 
 took a big bite of caviar and toast. Now that the 
 ice was broken, I was beginning to have a good 
 time; and I must say that, after living round in 
 punky little restaurants, that fresh Orsova caviar, 
 with eggs a pearly grey and as big as buckshot, 
 wasn t the least of it. Yes, my dear," said I, 
 " when I walked in here I was like a Fourth of July 
 pinwheel, just waiting for the match. And, though 
 I m having a splendid lunch, and admiring you more 
 than ever, I m none the less all organised for war. 
 Only, if there s to be rough-house, I wish you d hold 
 it off until I finish this caviar. Remember, Leon- 
 tine dear, I ve been acting and living up to the role 
 of a wandering preacher and I m hungry." 
 
 Leontine s eyes sparkled. " Do you know what 
 I really wish?" she cried. 
 
 "What?" I asked. 
 
 " I wish that I actually had about half a dozen 
 bravos hidden round the house just to see the 
 fun." 
 
 "And Chu-Chu " 
 
 " She shook her head with a little shudder. 
 "No," she answered "not Chu-Chu. I am too 
 fond of you, Frank! " And she laid her cheek on 
 my sleeve. A queer girl, Leontine. 
 
 Presently she looked up with a sad sort of smile. 
 
 ; Drink your wine if you like it, my dear," says 
 she. " I will take some with you if it will make 
 you feel any easier." 
 
 The blood poured into my face and without wait- 
 
302 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ing to serve her I dashed my glass half full of 
 Chablis and drank to her happiness. Her colour 
 deepened and she was about to say something, when 
 Victor came into the room. 
 
 There is a workman downstairs, m amselle," 
 said he. " I asked him what he wanted and he tells 
 me he has been sent by the proprietor of the house 
 to look over the plumbing." 
 
 Leontine threw me a swift look. " What sort 
 of a man is he in appearance? " she asked. 
 
 " He Is a respectable-looking person, m amselle 
 middle-aged, with an intelligent face and a beard 
 streaked with grey." 
 
 "And his costume?" Leontine interrupted. 
 
 " He wears a blouse and a black straw hat." 
 
 " I know that man," she interrupted fiercely. 
 "He is an impostor. You may go down and tell 
 him that mademoiselle knows all about him, and 
 that he has come to the wrong house and at the 
 wrong time. Tell him that I say he had better go to 
 the Pare Monceau, where he belongs. See that he 
 leaves the premises, Victor." 
 
 " Very good, mam selle." And the man slipped 
 out. 
 
 Leontine looked at me. I had dropped my 
 hand into my side pocket and was watching the 
 door. 
 
 " Frank," said she, " I swear to you that I knew 
 nothing of this. It only goes to show that Ivan 
 and I were right. Chu-Chu is not to be controlled. 
 No doubt he has been watching this house ever since 
 he left the maison de sanle, which was five days 
 ago." 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 303 
 
 I was on my feet, slipping toward the door, for 
 I had heard a step on the stair and had no intention 
 of being potted from behind the door-jamb. It 
 proved to be Victor, however, and he looked sur 
 prised and rather startled, I thought, to find me con 
 fronting him. 
 
 " Has that man gone? " I asked sharply. 
 
 " Om, m sieu." 
 
 "What did he say?" 
 
 " Nothing, m sieu , except that he thought it 
 probable that mam selle would regret not having 
 allowed him to do his work." 
 
 Leontine had risen from her chair and gone to 
 the window. I followed her and saw something 
 which puzzled and disturbed me. Directly opposite 
 stood Rosalie s taxicab and inside it was Chu-Chu. 
 Rosalie herself was in the act of cranking the motor, 
 and as we looked it started off and she stepped up 
 to take her seat. 
 
 The car started ahead and Rosalie made a turn 
 which brought her for a moment head on to the 
 house. Leontine had drawn aside the curtains and 
 we were standing side by side, looking out over the 
 top of the ivy-covered iron fence, for the dining- 
 room was in the entresol. As she turned, Rosalie 
 looked up and saw us standing there in the open 
 window; and, whether because she suspected some 
 thing and acted out of malice or whether from a sort 
 of bravado before Chu-Chu I don t know, but Leon- 
 tine flung her arm carelessly round my shoulder 
 almost round my neck. 
 
 I saw Rosalie s teeth come together and she 
 threw out her chin with a sort of contemptuous air; 
 
3 o 4 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 but Chu-Chu smiled wickedly and looked the other 
 way. 
 
 Leontine and I went back to the table, both of us 
 rather pensive. Presently she said: 
 
 That was the Countess Rosalie, who took you 
 out to Hertzfeld s the other day, then waited to bring 
 you back afterward." 
 
 " Quite so," I answered. 
 
 Leontine raised her eyebrows. " A conquest? " 
 she asked. 
 
 " Rather more than that a good, disinterested 
 friend." 
 
 Really? " Leontine toyed with her poulet-au- 
 riz. Her colour faded slightly. " Comparisons 
 are not polite, mon ami," she said. 
 
 " I wasn t making them. I never considered you 
 in the light of a conquest." 
 
 "What then?" 
 
 " Oh, merely a woman of uncommon beauty and 
 attainments, balked of a passing whim for the first 
 time in her life." 
 
 She laughed and seemed pleased. The cleverest 
 of women Leontine was scarcely that, being more 
 a creature of instinct than intellectuality are sel 
 dom immune from flattery. 
 
 " Does Chu-Chu know that she was driving me 
 that day? " I asked. 
 
 " Of course not." Leontine poured out a little 
 red wine and tasted it critically "Ugh!" she 
 gave a little shudder "the stuff has a blood fla 
 vour!" 
 
 "Leontine!" My voice was sharp, I think, be 
 cause she looked up in surprise and the high cheeks 
 began to grow dusky. 
 
BACK INTO THE WORLD 305 
 
 "What?" 
 
 " Does Chu-Chu know that Countess Rosalie is a 
 friend of mine? " 
 
 She dropped her eyes. " How should I know? " 
 she asked suddenly, and looked as sulky as a lioness 
 that refuses to perform. 
 
 I could feel that ugly, venomous, wild-beast anger 
 that I have been told is peculiar to the criminal start 
 ing to ferment inside me. There was something 
 going on here that I couldn t get the feel of, and the 
 strangeness and danger of it made me bristle like a 
 dog that smells the scent of a timber wolf for the 
 first time. What was up, anyway? Why should 
 Chu-Chu have come into the basement on a faked 
 errand, then go out, get into Rosalie s taxi and drive 
 off? Why should Victor have announced him and 
 Leontine have sent him about his business? What 
 the deuce was behind it all? and was Rosalie in 
 danger? That was the main thing. I chucked all 
 thought of my own position at the bare idea. Chu- 
 Chu, Ivan, Leontine blight em all, so far as I 
 was concerned; but where had Chu-Chu gone with 
 Rosalie? 
 
 The devils began to dance and I looked across at 
 Leontine through lids that were half shut and things 
 showing red between. She saw what was going on 
 and her eyes began to blaze. We were a nice young 
 pair of savages; and the Lord knows what might 
 have come of it if at that moment the bell had not 
 rung. 
 
 " Ivan," said Leontine quietly; and a moment later 
 Victor showed him in. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE PASSING OF IVAN 
 
 IVAN greeted Leontine in his usual polite and formal 
 manner, then bowed to me. He looked very badly; 
 with black shadows under his eyes, and the red- 
 rimmed, swollen lids told of lack of sleep. Yet the 
 eyes themselves were brighter than ever too 
 bright, I thought, as they rested on me. 
 
 The salad was being served when Ivan came in. 
 He declined to eat anything, but took a glass of the 
 Chablis, and directly the wine began to make itself 
 apparent in his face, for he seldom touched anything 
 alcoholic. 
 
 " You look badly," said Leontine, and shot a 
 glance at me. " Did your conference with Chu- 
 Chu go wrong? " 
 
 " Worse than that," said Ivan. " He failed to 
 keep the rendezvous. You can guess what that 
 means." 
 
 " Yes," she answered " especially as he was sit 
 ting in front of the cafe opposite when Frank ar 
 rived. That is what has been puzzling us, because 
 afterward he came into the house on the silly pretext 
 of having been sent by the proprietor to look over 
 the plumbing. Frank sounded general quarters and 
 proceeded to cast loose and provide. (I won 
 dered where she had picked up that man-o -war ex 
 pression.) " I told Victor to tell him he was wanted 
 on the Rue Monceau." 
 
 306 
 
THE PASSING OF IVAN 307 
 
 " What did he say to that? " Ivan asked. 
 
 " Nothing, except that he was afraid I would re 
 gret having refused his services. He went out and 
 we saw him drive off in the Countess Rosalie s taxi." 
 
 Ivan s head turned slowly in the high collar which 
 he invariably wore, and he gave me an owlish look. 
 
 " Is the Countess Rosalie a friend of Frank s?" 
 he asked; and I stiffened up a little at his free use of 
 my name. Ivan was always markedly formal. 
 There was something, however, in the tired, finished 
 look of the handsome face that prevented my taking 
 offence. 
 
 " Leontine asked me that question a while ago," I 
 answered. " I told her that Rosalie was merely a 
 good, disinterested friend of mine. I got acquainted 
 with her when I was hanging about the restaurant 
 opposite and watching the house for a glimpse of 
 Chu-Chu. I told her I was an Alsatian prcdica- 
 teur." 
 
 Ivan laughed softly. " As a matter of fact," said 
 he, " she is a compatriot of yours, though I never 
 would have guessed it if I hadn t heard her turn 
 loose a torrent of American slang on some rather 
 cheap clients in front of the Abbaye. But if she s 
 a friend it seems to me that in your case I d feel a 
 bit uneasy about her." 
 
 "Why?" I asked. "Do you think that Chu- 
 Chu suspected her of having worked with me? " 
 
 Ivan shrugged. " Who can tell? " he answered. 
 " If he did, however, he would be very apt to pay 
 off his score with her. He is a consistent man 
 not an ineffective like we three." 
 
 He reached for the Chablis and refilled his turn- 
 
308 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 bier, drank it and gave a little shudder. Leontine s 
 amber eyes flashed across to mine, carrying a double 
 question: " What is the matter with Ivan? What 
 is the matter with you? " 
 
 " Have you any idea of where Chu-Chu has 
 gone? " I asked Ivan. 
 
 " I could make a good guess," he answered; u in 
 fact, I wouldn t hesitate to trace Chu-Chu s man 
 oeuvres from the time you discovered him in the 
 cafe across the street." 
 
 Would you mind doing so? " I asked. 
 
 "Not in the least," he answered indifferently 
 " the more so as we three have so much in com 
 mon." 
 
 " In what way? " Leontine interrupted. 
 
 Ivan s lips parted in his thin smile. " We are 
 all three of us of the type incomplete criminal, " he 
 answered. We have been master thieves and 
 have risen high in our profession despite our defects; 
 but not one of us could ever attain a real success in 
 crime because we are all of us cursed with that pe 
 culiar hampering quality which is known as heart. 
 We have our decencies, our kindlinesses, our petty 
 nobilities, and no successful thief can permit himself 
 to wear such clogs as these. Leontine, for ex 
 ample " - he glanced at me " has the infirmity of 
 following only the dictates of her heart without ref 
 erence to her profit. You, Monsieur Clamart, have 
 the worm in your criminal core in your obsession for 
 keeping your promised word. As for me, I have 
 the weakness of abhorring physical pain, whether 
 for myself or others. My ancestors were, perhaps, 
 impaled by Hmelnitski, and no doubt I inherited the 
 
THE PASSING OF IVAN 309 
 
 awful reflection of their tortures. I could not bring 
 myself to thrust a knife into a man. I support a 
 charity at Berck for children whose spines and hips 
 are full of pain. I have watched these little doomed 
 children one was my own and the tears have 
 been wrung from my eyes ; so you see I am really very 
 weak. As criminals, as thieves, we are crass fail 
 ures, simply because we are often kind; and, let me 
 tell you, my fellow-failures, there is no such silly 
 thing as a kind-hearted thief. Call it what you will 
 -theft, brigandage, graft whatever is dishonest 
 is cruel and selfish and has no place with generous 
 traits. To steal, to trick a man, to take what be 
 longs to another person, is mean just mean, and 
 there is no getting round it. From the mythical 
 Robin Hood to our modern Arsene Lupin, the thief 
 and his jackal, the swindler, have been glorified and 
 admired; but there is no getting round the fact that 
 they are mean. A dog that behaved in a similar way 
 would be shot; and, though romance often surrounds 
 the thief with a false glamour, it will be found that 
 where he steals a thousand francs he gives about five 
 in charity, and the giving of that five writes him as a 
 failure." 
 
 Ivan sipped his Chablis. " We are failures, the 
 three of us," said he. " There is no good in us. 
 We are not even good thieves. Chu-Chu has us 
 beaten. He is a consistent criminal ruthless, self 
 ish, cruel. If he could murder all the world and be 
 left alone to enjoy their goods and lick his lips in fat 
 plenty, his success would be complete. He is a 
 tearer-down, a destroyer of the established social 
 balance. A man like myself, on the contrary, who 
 
310 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 vainly attempts to combine theft with a vague, mis 
 shapen sense of honour, is a fool. I am a fool and 
 a failure. Leontine is a failure because she thinks 
 to combine the wanton and the mother. Clamart is 
 a fool whom chance may see fit to save." He looked 
 at me with a bitter smile. 
 
 Leontine s maid came in with the ice: a luscious, 
 melting creation of peaches and cream, its spicy 
 odour permeating the room. 
 
 Where is Victor? " asked Leontine sharply. 
 
 " He has not returned, mam selle," replied the 
 pretty maid, and her eyes drifted to Ivan, then to 
 me. 
 
 That ice looks delicious," said Ivan. " I shall 
 change my mind and ask for some. My throat is 
 parched to-day." 
 
 Leontine smiled, helped herself and the dish was 
 passed to me; but I declined, disliking sweets. Ivan 
 helped himself abundantly. A yellow-striped wasp, 
 lured by the sweet, entangled himself in Leontine s 
 ice, and she watched its gluttonous struggles in a curi 
 ous, fascinated way, then rang for the maid to serve 
 her afresh. Ivan offered her his plate and, when 
 she smilingly declined, waited until she should 
 be served. Leontine rang again and when the 
 maid did not appear her face clouded with irrita 
 tion. 
 
 " What is the matter with my servants to-day? " 
 she demanded fiercely. " I have never been at 
 tended in this haphazard way before." 
 
 " There is no hurry," said Ivan dreamily. 
 " Eternity is before us." 
 
 " What is the matter with you, Count? " I asked. 
 
THE PASSING OF IVAN 311 
 
 You talk like a man who has reached the end of 
 his string." 
 
 " I have," he answered sombrely. 
 
 Leontine looked up quickly. In what way, 
 Ivan?" she asked. "If it is money don t forget 
 that you have rich and influential friends." 
 
 He smiled and let his beautifully shaped hand rest 
 for a moment on hers while he toyed with his spoon. 
 
 " Thank you, my dear. It is not altogether 
 money. I have still a bone or two buried under the 
 lilac-bush. But I have failed in my purpose, which 
 was to live ruthlessly and consistently at the expense 
 of a society which I despise. I have failed. I can 
 no longer hold my organisation the association 
 which I myself created. Chu-Chu has ousted me. 
 He has been working with the patient cunning of a 
 fox or wolf, and he has made himself the leader of 
 the pack." Ivan looked at me with a sardonic smile ; 
 and, impatient as I was to learn more of Chu-Chu s 
 present movements, something in the man s face held 
 me an attentive and fascinated listener. His voice, 
 too, had a queer lifelessness, the weary indifference 
 of a man on his death-bed, and his words contained 
 the accent of a valedictory. Leontine was watching 
 him closely, puzzled and disturbed. 
 
 " Chu-Chu has made himself the leader of the 
 pack," he answered. " My own life at this moment 
 is no more safe than Frank s; and as for my liberty, 
 that is less so." He looked at me and laughed. 
 That letter of yours making me the custodian of 
 your safety is a joke, my dear boy. I am about as 
 able to protect you at this moment as you are to pro 
 tect your little friend, the Countess Rosalie." 
 
312 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 I leaned forward, startled. "What s that?" I 
 asked sharply. "What makes you say that? 
 What do you know anyway? " 
 
 Leontine interrupted. " Eat your ice, Ivan," said 
 she impatiently " it is melting," And she pushed 
 her bell viciously. 
 
 I glanced at her and was puzzled at the sudden 
 hardening of her face or, I might better say, at 
 the ferocity of her face; for there was never the least 
 suggestion of either hardness or coarseness about the 
 Polish girl. She could be soft and melting, or hot 
 and fierce and passionate dangerous as a leopard 
 ess, but she hadn t a trace of that female brutality 
 sometimes to be found in the Anglo-Saxon. 
 
 It came into my head that they were playing with 
 me, that Ivan s pose was a clever and consummately 
 skilful bit of acting, that he knew nothing of Rosalie 
 and had lied about Chu-Chu, and that the table con 
 versation might wind up in one of two ways a 
 swift and silent attack, or possibly a request that for 
 the sake of others I should withdraw my statement, 
 since he, Ivan, was a beaten man and powerless 
 to protect me. 
 
 What Ivan said next put me off my reckoning 
 again. 
 
 " At this moment," said Ivan, " Chu-Chu is prob 
 ably at a little country house of his, near Meudon. 
 He has called a meeting of my malcontents and they 
 are planning to reorganise, with Chu-Chu as chief. 
 Things are to be run on a more consistent scheme 
 and operators are not to be forbidden to take life as 
 the occasion may arise. If the Countess Rosalie has 
 taken Chu-Chu all the way out there, I would say 
 
THE PASSING OF IVAN 313 
 
 that she is exposed to some personal danger. It is 
 a lonely place the house surrounded by a park, 
 hidden from the road; and the whole property is sur 
 rounded by a high wall. You may have noticed it in 
 passing; the gates are copied from those of Mal- 
 maison. It is the first big place on the road which 
 leads over the hill to enter the forest. Chu-Chu has 
 had it for some years under his name of Monsieur 
 de Maxeville. I have been out there several times. 
 The house is small, but handsomely furnished and 
 full of his hunting trophies lions from the Masai 
 country and some handsome specimens from the 
 French Congo. When he doesn t hunt men he re 
 creates himself by torturing animals. Just at this 
 moment you would probably find in the house about 
 as select an assortment of human wild beasts as 
 could be gathered together in the whole of Europe." 
 He changed his tone. " How hot it is ! I am going 
 to follow your directions, Leontine, and eat my ice. 
 It is delicious." He took a spoonful. Your chef 
 has been liberal with his peach-pits still, the bitter 
 flavour is rather tonic and refreshing." He took an 
 other spoonful of the pink, half-melted cream. 
 " Look, Leontine," said he, " that yellow-striped 
 wasp has made such a glutton of himself that he is 
 dead." 
 
 Leontine did not appear to be listening, however. 
 Her bare elbow was on the rim of the table, her chin 
 resting on the knuckles of her half-closed hand, and 
 her amber eyes were brooding and thoughtful. 
 
 " What do you think was Chu-Chu s object in 
 coming here? " she asked. 
 
 Ivan paused, with his spoon halfway to his lips. 
 
314 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 " It is plain enough," said he. " Chu-Chu hoped 
 to get within striking distance of Frank. When he 
 saw that he had been recognised he gave it up in dis 
 gust. Chu-Chu has been haunting the cafe opposite 
 since he recovered from his wound. Do take some 
 of this ice. It is delicious especially to-day, when 
 the atmosphere is so hot and heavy. One can hardly 
 get one s breath." 
 
 I was looking at Leontine and I saw her eyes open 
 wider and the colour fade in her cheeks. 
 
 "Ivan! " she cried. "Are you ill?" 
 
 "I--I do feel a little odd," he answered 
 in a stifled voice. I turned sharply to look at him, 
 and saw that his lips were blue and a curious mot 
 tled look was spreading over his face. He glanced 
 from one to the other of us, then stared at his plate. 
 His breath was coming in gasps and his face was 
 tense and wore a startled, frightened expression, 
 but even as I watched him this passed and he smiled. 
 
 " Ah! " he said quickly. " I begin to understand. 
 So that was Chu-Chu s errand here ! 
 
 And Victor? His head fell forward, but he 
 jerked it back. 
 
 Leontine sprang to her feet. Ivan s face was blue 
 and his eyes protruded. 
 
 "It s that ice! Don t touch it, my 
 friends ! That strong flavour of the peach-pits I 
 I ought to have known ! 
 
 Suddenly he pitched forward across the table. I 
 sprang to my feet and, lifting him in my arms, car 
 ried him to the divan, laid him down and tore open 
 his collar. His face was cyanosed, as the face of a 
 person under gas. 
 
THE PASSING OF IVAN 315 
 
 "That dead wasp!" he gasped. "I might 
 have guessed! " 
 
 His arm slipped off his chest and fell limply. 
 There were strangling noises in his throat. Then 
 the blue colour faded, leaving the beautifully chis 
 elled features of a marble pallor. I turned and 
 looked at Leontine, who was standing, half crouched, 
 both hands pressed against her temples. 
 
 " He is dead! " I told her gently. 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE NET CLOSES 
 
 LEONTINE had risen from her chair and was stand 
 ing with her body bent forward, her finger tips poised 
 on the table, her eyes wild with horror. When I 
 turned and told her that Ivan was dead she sprang 
 back, overturning her chair; then swept around the 
 table and dropped on her knees at the head of the 
 couch. Here was no acting, as one could plainly see ; 
 and, in fact, Ivan himself had solved the mystery in 
 his last words. 
 
 Leontine seemed daft with grief and dismay. 
 "Ivan!" she cried. "Oh, Ivan my dear! 
 Speak to me! Speak to me! " She stared back at 
 me over her shoulder. "Frank! Frank!" she 
 groaned. " Is there nothing we can do? " 
 
 It is too late," I answered. " The man is dead. 
 Chu-Chu poisoned the ice with prussic acid or some 
 of its deadly combinations. He bribed or coerced 
 Victor. You will never see the man again." 
 
 She buried her face in her arms, leaning against 
 the body. One might almost have thought that she 
 had loved Ivan, but I knew that was not so. She 
 liked and admired him, and the two had been not 
 only close associates in their criminal enterprises, 
 but staunch friends as well. More than that, I had 
 always suspected Ivan of a hopeless passion for 
 Leontine. I think, still, that he may have been the 
 only man who had ever loved her in a really clean 
 
 316 
 
THE NET CLOSES 317 
 
 and unselfish way, and I believe that he would have 
 tried to redeem her to a course of right living if the 
 scheme of their lives had been planned differently; 
 but I do not believe that Leontine could ever have 
 cared for Ivan other than as a sympathetic friend. 
 Chu-Chu himself would have stood a better chance. 
 Ivan was too gentle physically, and Leontine had 
 much of the savage in her composition. To win her 
 desire a man would have had first to dominate her, 
 mind and body. Women of the Leontine sort are 
 better wooed with a club and an oath than with 
 flowers and a song. 
 
 Yet there was plenty of savage tenderness in her, 
 as I now saw, and there was something beautiful and 
 touching in her grief over the dead criminal. Her 
 sorrow was generous and sincere, and unmindful of 
 the ugly position she was in. She was thinking only 
 of the brilliant, fascinating, and even lovable per 
 sonality blotted out in two brief minutes as he sat 
 at her hospitable board. 
 
 I was thinking of the other, however, if Leontine 
 was not; and it seemed to me there was a lot of 
 trouble ahead. I got up and shut the two doors and 
 locked them, then stepped to Leontine s side and 
 raised her from beside the divan and placed her in a 
 chair. 
 
 " We must decide on what steps to take, my dear," 
 I said firmly. " Here we have a dead man and a 
 bowlful of poisoned peach ice-cream, and no very 
 plausible explanation of the circumstances to offer. 
 What s to be done?" 
 
 Leontine pulled herself together with some effort. 
 
 " I don t know, Frank. I don t seem able t* 
 
3 i8 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 think " -she glanced at the clock " and Kharkoff 
 is coming at four." 
 
 The police suspected Ivan of something," said 
 I, " but have no positive proof that he belonged to a 
 criminal organisation. Let us see if he s got any 
 thing compromising about him now. If so, it would 
 make the statement that he was poisoned by Chu- 
 Chu more plausible." 
 
 I stepped to the divan, ran my hand through 
 Ivan s pockets and brought to light, besides the usual 
 small articles, a porte-monnaie and a letter sealed 
 and addressed, but not stamped. Turning it in my 
 hand, I was surprised to see that it was addressed 
 to Leontine. 
 
 The tears gushed to her eyes as she took it, broke 
 the seal, and quickly ran it through. Watching her 
 closely, I saw the colour come and go in her face, 
 while the tears flowed faster. The note was brief, 
 and, as she finished reading, Leontine flung the letter 
 toward me on the table, and, dropping her face in 
 her hands, wept silently. 
 
 I picked up the note, which was wet and tear- 
 stained, but written in Ivan s clear, regular hand. 
 It was in French, and read as follows: 
 
 " Leontine, my dear friend, this is but a word of farewell. 
 My tortuous course is sped my ill-spent life nearly at its 
 end. 
 
 " In this twilight of my soul I see but two bright stars 
 one whom I dearly loved and who has gone before, and who 
 perhaps may intercede for my mistakes before the Great 
 Tribunal. The other is a dear friend whom I leave behind, 
 and who will mourn me as one less evil than mistaken. 
 
 " Leontine, you are my dearest living friend, and I wish to 
 
THE NET CLOSES 319 
 
 be near you when I slip into the shadows. Will you for 
 give me, dear? 
 
 " Good-night, then, and God bless and keep you! 
 
 " IVAN." 
 
 I laid the note down and stared at Leontine. 
 
 " What does it mean? " I gasped. " Did he com 
 mit suicide? " 
 
 Leontine shook her head. "No, Frank at 
 least, I do not think so. Chu-Chu saved him that. 
 But Ivan plainly meant to kill himself. That is why 
 his manner was so strange so weary and final. 
 You know you said something about his talking like 
 a man at the end of his string and he answered that 
 he was. He meant to kill himself, either here or 
 not far away." 
 
 I nodded. " This note will clear you, Leontine. 
 But throw away the rest of that ice and wash out the 
 bowl. Do so at once." 
 
 Leontine nodded and removed the ice. When she 
 returned I said to her: 
 
 " Wait until I have been gone for about ten min 
 utes, then telephone for the police. The case will 
 appear sufficiently plain. Ivan came here to die near 
 you." 
 
 " But where are you going, Frank? " she asked. 
 
 " I am going to settle his account with Chu-Chu," 
 I answered " and my own! " 
 
 So I went into the hot street, caught a taxi at the 
 corner, and hurried to the Prefecture of Police. 
 The Prefect knew my early history, of course, just as 
 he knows that of many other former criminals who 
 are now honoured members of society. 
 
320 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 Where have you been? " he asked. " My men 
 had entirely lost sight of you, and I was beginning to 
 be afraid of a relapse." 
 
 " Monsieur need not have been anxious," I an 
 swered. " My disappearance was not for any crim 
 inal purpose. Quite the contrary. Monsieur le 
 Prefet may remember that when he was so lenient as 
 to pardon me, he tried to extract certain information 
 in regard to a suspected criminal organisation?" 
 
 " Quite so," answered the Prefect dryly, " and you 
 declined to furnish it on the ground that you had just 
 arrived from the other side of the Atlantic, and 
 knew nothing about our European thieves. Of 
 course, I did not believe you." 
 
 " At any rate," said I, " this defective knowledge 
 has since been remedied. I have reason to believe 
 that I can now take monsieur to a rendezvous of the 
 most important malefactors on this side of the ocean. 
 The chief of the band is none other than Chu-Chu 
 le Tondeur." 
 
 The Prefect s head shot forward, and he glared at 
 me across his desk. 
 
 "What! " he cried "you can lead me to Chu- 
 Chu and his gang? " 
 
 " I think so, monsieur." 
 
 "Where are they?" 
 
 " At Meudon." 
 
 He leaned still closer, his eyes like gimlets and his 
 jaw set. 
 
 "Is it" his voice was almost a whisper 
 " Monsieur de Maxeville? " 
 
 " Monsieur de Maxeville and Chu-Chu le Tondeur 
 are the same person." 
 
THE NET CLOSES 321 
 
 An unholy light blazed from his fierce old face. 
 " I knew it," he cried softly " or, at least, I sus 
 pected it. For a while my suspicion rested on an 
 other man, but I discovered a few days ago that he 
 was merely a political intrigant. So it had to be 
 Maxeville ! But the man had disappeared as though 
 the earth had swallowed him up. How many do 
 you think there are at this rendezvous? " 
 
 "Six or eight ten, perhaps. Chu-Chu is the 
 only one of whom I know anything personally or 
 would recognise by sight." 
 
 " My men will know the others." He touched a 
 bell, then, as the attendant entered, left the room to 
 make his arrangements for himself. These did not 
 take long and presently he returned. 
 
 " We will go out there immediately," said he. " I 
 shall conduct this affair myself. There are reasons 
 why I wish to have it managed as quietly as possible 
 political reasons, you understand. Even the 
 Press will be instructed to be discreet. As for your 
 self, Monsieur Clamart, if the business turns out suc 
 cessfully you may be assured of my most distin 
 guished consideration." 
 
 I thanked him, then asked how many men he was 
 taking to capture the gang. 
 
 " I am taking six," he answered, " and they will 
 go in plain clothes in two taxis. You and I will go 
 in my own private car. You can designate the place, 
 then wait for me in the car." 
 
 " Very well, monsieur," I answered, and wondered 
 what he would think if he could guess at my own lit 
 tle scheme. 
 
 The Prefect was a good policeman and it didn t 
 
322 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 take him long to operate. There was no noise or 
 fuss about it, either; and we went down into the court 
 and got into his car and slipped off down the right 
 bank of the Seine as if we were going for a little 
 airing. We took it easily, though, for the six plain- 
 clothes men were following us in taxis driven by 
 special police chauffeurs. 
 
 The Prefect was silent for a while, but I could tell 
 he was doing some hard thinking by the number of 
 white bristles he pulled out of his moustache. Pres 
 ently he said: 
 
 " What was your motive in giving me this infor 
 mation a desire to be of service to the State? " 
 
 " A desire to be of service to myself, monsieur," 
 I answered, and the Prefect cackled outright. He 
 himself loved the State about as much as any stiff- 
 necked old royalist could be expected to love a poorly 
 run republic. 
 
 " Perhaps Le Tondeur regards you as a renegade 
 and would like to be rid of you," he suggested. 
 
 " I doubt if he knows I am alive," I answered, 
 and with perfect truth. As a matter of fact, I think 
 Chu-Chu had been waiting in the Bon Cocher with 
 the idea of poisoning Ivan, who had probably told 
 him that he expected to lunch with Leontine after 
 their conference. My presence he no doubt re 
 garded as a direct act of friendship on the part of his 
 patron, the devil. No doubt he would have been 
 quite pleased to have gathered in the three of us, 
 knowing that Leontine would remain a partisan to 
 Ivan. The poison was not so quick that we might 
 not have gone all together if served at the same time. 
 Chu-Chu was rather adept with poisons. 
 
THE NET CLOSES 323 
 
 The Prefect was silent again, and made only one 
 or two remarks until we had almost reached Meu- 
 don. Then he said: 
 
 " Whatever your motive, my friend, you are not 
 to consider me inappreciative. If I can break up this 
 gang it will be a great triumph not only for me but 
 for my friends. Frankly, this wave of crime which 
 has submerged France for the past year has been 
 used against us and our party." 
 
 It was not very plain to me just what he was driv 
 ing at, but that did not much matter, as I was busy 
 studying out my own end of the business. I was con 
 fident that Chu-Chu would never be taken alive, and 
 my greatest fear was that he might get clean away. 
 That was what I was out to prevent, though I said 
 nothing about it to the Prefect. 
 
 We sped through Meudon, taking the road which 
 Ivan had described, and presently we came to the 
 corner of the ivy-covered wall that enclosed the en 
 tire property three or four hectares, I should say, 
 running from the road back down the hill to the 
 river the whole densely wooded, so that the house 
 was not visible from the road. The frontage was 
 rather narrow and I noticed that the ground was 
 fairly open on each side. 
 
 I suggested to the Prefect that he hadn t a very 
 big force to capture such a dangerous band, but he 
 shrugged. 
 
 " I am an old soldier," said he, " and count the 
 odds as four to one in a surprise. Besides, these are 
 picked men and not to be bluffed by a handful of 
 thieves." 
 
 We whirled past the front of the estate and I no- 
 
324 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 ticed that the entrance gates were copied, as Ivan 
 had said, from those of Malmaison. At a little 
 distance beyond the farther corner of the wall the 
 Prefect told his driver to stop, and a moment later 
 the two other taxis came up and the men got out. 
 They were a businesslike-looking outfit, two of them 
 old acquaintances of mine; and their eyes lightened 
 a little as we exchanged nods. 
 
 The Prefect lost no time about his plans. 
 
 " Leclerc, Dumas, Levoisin and Bourdet, go down 
 along the wall for about a hundred metres, 
 then climb over and surround the house. Wag 
 ner and De Lefferts, come with me. We will 
 enter by the front as soon as you others are inside. 
 You drivers, stay by your cars. Roux, take a 
 position similar to this on the other corner. 
 4 lions!" 
 
 " If I can be of service to Monsieur le Pre- 
 fet- I began, knowing well enough what the 
 answer would be. 
 
 " Mcrci" he snapped. " You had better stay 
 with the car. Now then, let s be off." 
 
 The four men detailed to surround the house 
 slipped into the bushes that fringed the wall and dis 
 appeared. Giving them a few moments start, the 
 Prefect and his two companions walked down to the 
 front gate, where one of them slipped over and 
 opened the small door for the others. The three 
 chauffeurs, agreeing to horn three times as a signal 
 of alarm, took up their positions, one of the taxis 
 going back down the road and the other remaining 
 with the Prefect s limousine. 
 
 As soon as the Prefect had disappeared I strolled 
 
THE NET CLOSES 325 
 
 casually into the thicket, following the direction 
 taken by the first four. 
 
 ; Where are you going?" called the Prefect s 
 chauffeur, himself a policeman. 
 
 " I am going to where I can listen in case they 
 need our help," I answered shortly, and kept on, 
 leaving him dissatisfied but not knowing just what 
 to do about it. Once out of sight I broke into a run, 
 skirting the wall until I came to where it turned at 
 right angles to enclose the lower extremity of the 
 park. This wall I followed along until I came to 
 what I was looking for, and that was a small door 
 in the rear, opening on a path which led down 
 through the woods to the bank of the Seine. 
 
 This was the way that Chu-Chu would certainly 
 come if he broke through the slight cordon. I no 
 more believed that the old Prefect and his six men 
 would be able to round up and capture Chu-Chu 
 than that they could have surrounded a wolf in a 
 patch of bruyere and caught him by the tail. Chu- 
 Chu was not the ordinary house-rat he was big 
 game a hunter and lion-killer, and his instincts 
 were those of a wild animal. Something told me 
 that when he broke from his lair it would be for the 
 thickest part of the park and toward the river; in 
 fact, there was no other way to go, as the open 
 highway was in front and the ground more or less 
 open on each side of the estate. 
 
 If the police managed to stop him, so much the 
 better, as in that case he would be dead. If he 
 broke through, then it was up to me to stop him my 
 self. And that is what I was there for. So, when 
 I came to the little door of oak and iron, I made a 
 
326 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 jump for the top of the wall and swarmed over, then 
 dropped on the other side and waited but not for 
 long. 
 
 The undergrowth right there was very thick and 
 had that tropical luxuriance which you find in the 
 Valley of the Seine in the late summer, especially 
 when the season has been warm and moist. There 
 was a little path that wound between thickets and 
 heavy masses of laurel, ivy and holly. One could 
 only see a few feet in any direction, but I had scarcely 
 struck the ground when I heard the noise of people 
 hurrying through the under-growth. 
 
 " Chu-Chu and his mob," I said to myself- " the 
 whole gang has got past the police! " 
 
 Let me tell you, my friend, that for a second I 
 wished I had not been quite so rash. I had counted 
 on tackling Chu-Chu, but had never thought of its 
 being necessary to take on the whole bunch. On the 
 contrary, it seemed more probable that Chu-Chu 
 would have used the others to cover his own retreat. 
 He was no coward, but he was a consistent thief, 
 and Ivan was right when he said that the first re 
 quirement for success in any line of graft is absolute 
 selfishness. Many an able thief has gone under due 
 to a flash of decent feeling, but that would never 
 have been the cause of Chu-Chu s finish. 
 
 Here came a gang of them, and they were coming 
 fast and as silently as they could through that tangle 
 a whole band, with Chu-Chu in the lead. I 
 looked over my shoulder at the wall and wished that 
 I were back on the other side. I had an automatic 
 pistol that held eleven cartridges, and there was a 
 handy knife in my belt, but the odds were too heavy. 
 
THE NET CLOSES 327 
 
 For the moment I was tempted to skin over that 
 wall like a cat. Then I thought of Ivan; and, as it 
 got hold of my mind that here was the mur 
 derous devil who had just tried to poison the three 
 of us and one a woman slipping up to me 
 through the bush, something stronger than the love 
 of life blazed up inside me. I whipped out the pis 
 tol and waited. 
 
 The crashing noise grew louder and I could hear 
 panting breaths. Then out of a tangle of laurel 
 not twenty feet in front of me burst Chu-Chu, and he 
 reminded me of a boar. He was still in his work 
 man s blouse, and he carried the black straw in his 
 hand. The sweat was pouring from his white face 
 and his lips were drawn back and showed the yellow 
 teeth. 
 
 At sight of me he never so much as paused. His 
 hand went to the V-shaped opening of his blouse, 
 and at the same instant I fired into him. Down he 
 went with a crash, then began to scramble on all 
 fours toward the foot of a chestnut tree a few metres 
 away. I fired again and brought a snarl out of him, 
 but he scrambled all the faster. Then a gun 
 cracked to the left of me and I felt the scorch of a 
 bullet across the chest. I spun round, and there 
 was Chu-Chu s mate, the man with one nostril wider 
 than the other. He was standing by the wall and as 
 I turned he fired again and so did another man who 
 had burst out behind Chu-Chu. Then Chu-Chu him 
 self opened up from the ground and I came down in 
 a heap. 
 
 It was only a broken shinbone, and from where I 
 lay I got the Oriental chap and another man who 
 
328 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 had made a jump for the wall. Yells and orders 
 were ringing out from up by the house and men were 
 crashing down the hill. Chu-Chu was somewhere in 
 the thicket, and I wanted him bad; so I started in on 
 hands and knees. His pistol cracked in front of me, 
 and the blood came pouring down into my eyes, but I 
 caught a glimpse of him huddled behind the chest 
 nut, ten feet in front of me, and I took a snapshot 
 and smashed his hand as it was shoved out, gripping 
 his weapon. He snarled like a cat, then came 
 bounding out from behind his tree; and, though my 
 gun went off against his body, it never stopped him, 
 and the next instant his grip was on my wrist and his 
 teeth in the muscles of my neck. I got my left arm 
 clear, however, and as we rolled over, lashing out 
 like a couple of wild beasts, I got the hilt of my 
 knife with my left hand, and, squirming up on top, 
 I let the life out of him. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 INTO THE LIGHT 
 
 YES, the whole business was kept mighty quiet. Lots 
 of people never really knew just my part in the affair. 
 The Prefect thought it better to hush up the outside 
 assistance and let it go in as a police job. It was all 
 the same to me, though, as Chu-Chu was dead and 
 his pal was dead and two others of the gang were 
 dead. None got away, and the ones taken were no 
 great shucks, and nothing to be afraid of in the fu 
 ture. Anyway, they d heard of me and asked noth 
 ing better than to try to forget me. 
 
 It was no such cinch as a couple of weeks in bed 
 this time. I was shot all to pieces, and was six 
 weeks on my back, and my leg in a box, with a 
 weight swinging from the foot; and the police sur 
 geon says that I ll limp for the rest of my life. The 
 Prefect took me to my own little garconniere and de 
 tailed his own doctor to fix me up. 
 
 John got back to Paris after his " cure," and came 
 in every day to see me. Edith never came. She 
 still thinks that I broke my word, and my honest hope 
 is that she will keep on thinking so to her dying day; 
 but she kept my room bright with flowers. John 
 knew the whole story, of course. He was a different 
 man, I thought, and a finer one; and he told me that 
 it only needed me on my feet again to make the motor 
 business a big success. And he was right. 
 
 Ivan s death made a big stir, but only for its ro- 
 
 329 
 
330 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 mantic interest and the fact that Ivan himself was so 
 well known and well liked round the town. The 
 case was so evidently one of suicide that not even 
 the most enterprising reporter tried to make a " mys 
 tery case " of it. Leontine came to see me several 
 times. Then she went away, and I learned after 
 ward that she had gone to Berck to look after Ivan s 
 charity for the tuberculous children. Ivan was not 
 quite square with Leontine; there was a lot more of 
 the mother in her than of the wanton. 
 
 I had been laid up about a fortnight when my 
 nurse came in one day, with a grin, to tell me that the 
 Countess Rosalie had called to see me. 
 
 " Show her in," I snapped, " and leave us alone. 
 She is an old friend of mine." 
 
 Rosalie looked pale, and her smile as she gave me 
 her hand was forced and tired. 
 
 " Sit down," said I in English. " There are a lot 
 of things I want to say to you." 
 
 She dropped in the chair at the head of my bed 
 and I took her hand. Rosalie did not try to draw it 
 away. 
 
 "Why haven t you been to see me?" I asked. 
 " You got my message? " 
 
 " Yes; but I thought you would be well enough 
 looked after without me." 
 
 " If you are thinking of La Petrovski," said I, 
 " let me tell you that there has never been anything 
 between us and never will be. She is not in love 
 with me nor I with her. The nearest I ever came 
 to being really in love with any woman was in a little 
 studio apartment on the Rue Vaugirard, where it 
 seemed to me that for the first time in my life I had 
 
INTO THE LIGHT 331 
 
 found the real thing without any alloy but I guess 
 I was wrong." 
 
 Rosalie grew rather pale, but did not answer. 
 
 " Were you in the house when that man killed 
 himself? " she asked. 
 
 " I will tell you all about that," I answered, " and 
 of what happened afterwards and why it 
 did." 
 
 So I gave her the whole yarn, speaking in English, 
 which nobody in the house understood. Rosalie 
 listened, scarcely breathing, and her colour came and 
 went like the draught on a red coal. 
 
 " So you see, little girl," I wound up, " you your 
 self were the immediate and direct cause of Chu- 
 Chu s finish." 
 
 " And I never for a moment suspected that it was 
 Chu-Chu ! " said she. " He told me when he took 
 me that he was a plumber who had just received a 
 telephone call to drop the job he was on and hurry 
 out to Meudon to stop a leak in a waterpipe that was 
 destroying the ceiling. I took him to the house and 
 he asked me to wait, but I could not do so because 
 I had an engagement with a regular client." She 
 looked at me with shining eyes. " And so you hur 
 ried out there on my account? " she asked. 
 
 " Yes," I answered. " I meant to put the police 
 on to Chu-Chu in any case, but I wouldn t have acted 
 so quickly if it hadn t been for you. Chu-Chu might 
 easily have served you some ugly trick throttled 
 you and thrown you into the ditch on the way home, 
 or some such pleasantry. He poisoned Ivan merely 
 because he was in the way. If anything had hap 
 pened to you, sweetheart, I should have wanted to 
 
332 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 kill first Chu-Chu and then myself." And I meant 
 it, too. I was really in love with Rosalie. 
 
 She said very little after that, and presently wished 
 me good-bye and went away; but she dropped a kiss 
 on my forehead before she went out. 
 
 From this time on, both Rosalie and Soeur Anne 
 Marie came often to see me. It took the little 
 Mother Superior some time to get over the effect of 
 the tale, which I had let Rosalie tell her; but Soeur 
 Anne Marie had served through the Franco-Prussian 
 War as a nurse and was no rabbit-heart. 
 
 Then one day she said to me: " Mon ami, you 
 must be careful. Our Rosalie is losing her heart." 
 
 " She already has mine, ma Mere," I answered, 
 " though it s not much of a bargain for her." 
 
 " I am not so sure," she answered. " Though 
 your life has been wrongly lived, I am convinced 
 that your heart is clean. Do you really love the 
 poor child? " 
 
 " I love her dearly," I answered, " and I would 
 ask her to marry me if I were sure we might never 
 have to reap some of my early sowing. A man with 
 such a past as mine can never be too confident of the 
 future. I speak only of my sins against the Eighth 
 Commandment, ma Mere." 
 
 She was silent and thoughtful for a little while, 
 then answered: 
 
 " Rosalie loves you, and I do not think she will 
 ever be happy without you. If, later on, some echo 
 from your past should come to bring pain to you 
 both, she will at least have had her hour and tasted 
 of the fulness of life." She smiled. " We re- 
 ligieusef are sometimes given the power to predicate 
 
INTO THE LIGHT 333 
 
 the lives of those dear to us and there is also much 
 in prayer. You will both be garmented in my 
 prayers, whether I am here or elsewhere; and, 
 so far, these prayers have not proved fruitless." 
 
 There was no denying this. I could quite imagine 
 the secret-service angel, detailed from divine head 
 quarters in response to the good woman s applica 
 tion, sitting beside Rosalie in her taxi and sending 
 her back from Meudon to Paris when Chu-Chu 
 wanted her to wait. The same angel might also 
 have whispered in my ear not to taste the peach ice 
 cream for politeness sake. And I m sure that he 
 sent me about my business the night I said good-bye 
 to Rosalie in her studio apartment. 
 
 My heart grew warm as I thought of Rosalie. I 
 knew that I loved her and wanted her for my wife 
 Rosalie, sweet and brave and true-hearted, and, so 
 far as that went, as physically perfect as a man could 
 wish. I thought again of the night when I had held 
 her in my arms, kissing and comforting her; and last 
 of all, though it should have been first, I thought of 
 how she had stood by me when, spent and bloodless, 
 I had lurched into her taxi at the gate of the Baron 
 von Hertzfeld. 
 
 Then, one day in the autumn, when I was begin 
 ning to get round a little, Rosalie came to me and 
 said: 
 
 " To-morrow will be Sunday, and we are going 
 for a little picnic just you and myself and Soeur 
 Anne Marie. We will take the car and run out to 
 the forest of Marly for luncheon in the woods. 
 Soeur Anne Marie is very worn from the heat of the 
 summer and it will do her good. You are strong 
 
334 THE CLOSING NET 
 
 enough to drive now, and I will take a day off and 
 wear a pretty gown and be grande dame." 
 
 So off we went the next day, the three of us in the 
 little car, which I drove down a long forest alley with 
 a Gothic roof of burnished bronze. We spread our 
 napkins in a little glade and had a wonderful de 
 jeuner of hors d oeuvres, all sorts, and poulet froid, 
 with salad and galantine, and game pates and pic 
 kled truffles and dessert. I looked after the wines 
 myself an old Amontillado and a very dry cham 
 pagne that was given me by a friend who owned 
 some hectares of vines near Epernay, and an old 
 Beaune with a wonderful bouquet; and afterwards 
 coffee which Rosalie made on a percolator, and some 
 liqueur. 
 
 After luncheon, Soeur Anne Marie informed us 
 that age possessed its privileges, and she proposed 
 also to show the bon Dleu her appreciation of the 
 good things she had eaten and drunk by withdrawing 
 a little while from the material world in a peaceful 
 nap. So we made her comfortable with a rug and a 
 cushion from the car, and Rosalie and I strolled off 
 under the ancient trees. We came to the top of a 
 high bank on the edge of the big route, and here we 
 seated ourselves on the edge of a laurel thicket to 
 talk and watch the big cars that kept whizzing by. 
 
 It was a perfect day in October, and the old-gold 
 canopy overhead screened a sky as blue as the eyes of 
 a little child. Rosalie looked at me and smiled. 
 Her cheeks were red to-day, and her eyes the colour 
 of the autumn leaves. She wore a tailor suit of 
 dark-blue serge and a pretty hat, and looked alto 
 gether the stylish femme du monde. Nobody could 
 
INTO THE LIGHT 335 
 
 ever have recognised her as the pretty, piquant chauf- 
 feuse so often to be seen perched behind her wheel 
 in front of the big hotels. 
 
 There was no trace of impudence about her this 
 day. Though happy, so far as one could see, she 
 was very quiet, and there was a hint of wistfulness 
 in her eyes. Poor little girl! Life had never 
 brought her much joy, and I wondered, as I often 
 had before, at her bright, brave heart, for the sum 
 mer had been a hard one and most women would 
 have been worn out and despondent; but Rosalie 
 possessed an elastic strength or fine mettle, one 
 might better say and the instant the strain was 
 relaxed she flew back as straight and tireless as be 
 fore. 
 
 Our eyes met and all at once I realised my 
 want of her and the deep, honest love I had come to 
 feel for her. Rosalie s hand was resting on her 
 knee, and I took it in mine and raised it to my lips. 
 
 " Rosalie, dear," I said, " I love you ! Will you 
 marry a reformed thief? " 
 
 She turned to me slowly, and one could see how 
 delicately the colour faded in her lovely face. Her 
 lips trembled, and the tears gushed into her eyes. 
 
 " Oh, Frank you are sure you want me? " she 
 said. "There is no one else? You are sure, 
 sure, sure? " 
 
 "Nobody else, sweetheart now or ever!" I 
 answered, and gathered her into my arms. 
 
 THE END 
 
Date: Tue^ 93 10: : 24 
 
 Subject: ij B pIe REQUEST 
 Deliver to : UCSD CENTRAL 
 Sh elvin 9 * A 000 073 071 3 
 
 Item Information 1874 _1933 
 
 " Henr, C. 
 
 487853MC 
 
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 i IU. - BORROWING 
 
A 000 073 071 3