“Then you don’t believe it was by accident that cabinet was sent to Vantine?”

“By accident?  Not for an instant!  It was part of a plot—­and a splendid plot!”

“Can you explain that to me, too?” I queried, a little ironically, for I confess it seemed to me that Godfrey was permitting his imagination to run away with him.

He smiled good-naturedly at my tone.

“Of course, this is all mere romancing,” he admitted.  “I am the first to acknowledge that.  I was merely following out our theory to what seemed its logical conclusion.  But perhaps we are on the wrong track altogether.  Perhaps d’Aurelle, or whatever his name is, just blundered in, like a moth into a candle-flame.  As for the plot—­well, I can only guess at it.  But suppose you and I had pulled off some big robbery—­”

He stopped suddenly, and his face went white and then red.

“What is it, Godfrey?” I cried, for his look frightened me.

He lay back in his chair, his hands pressed over his eyes.  I could see how they were trembling—­how his whole body was trembling.

“Wait!” he said, hoarsely.  “Wait!” Then he sat upright, his face tense with anxiety.  “Lester!” he cried, his voice shrill with fear.  “The cabinet—­it isn’t guarded!”

“Yes, it is,” I said.  “At least I thought of that!”

And I told him of the precautions I had taken to keep it safe.  He heard me out with a sigh of relief.

“That’s better,” he said.  “Parks wouldn’t stand much show, I’m afraid, if worst came to worst; but I think the cabinet is safe—­for to-night.  And before another night, Lester, we will have a look for ourselves.”

“A look?”

“Yes; for the secret drawer!”

I stared at him fascinated, shrinking.

“And we shall find it!” he added.

“D’Aurelle and Vantine found it,” I muttered thickly.

“Well?”

“And they’re both dead!”

“It won’t kill us.  We will go about it armoured, Lester.  That poisoned fang may strike—­”

“Don’t!” I cried, and cowered back into my chair.  “I—­I can’t do it, Godfrey.  God knows, I’m no coward—­but not that!”

“You shall watch me do it!” he said.

“That would be even worse!”

“But I’ll be ready, Lester.  There will be no danger.  Come, man!  Why, it’s the chance of a lifetime—­to rifle the secret drawer of Madame de Montespan!  Yes!” he added, his eyes glowing, “and to match ourselves against the greatest criminal of modern times!”

His shrill laugh told how excited he was.

“And do you know what we shall find in that drawer, Lester?  But no —­it is only a guess—­the wildest sort of a guess—­but if it is right—­if it is right!”

He sprang from his chair, biting his lips, his whole frame quivering.  But he was calmer in a moment.

“Anyway, you will help me, Lester?  You will come?”

There was a wizardry in his manner not to be resisted.  Besides—­to rifle the secret drawer of Madame de Montespan!  To match oneself against the greatest criminal of modern times!  What an adventure!