“You’re smarter than I thought, Jake, but I suppose you think I don’t know why you meddled!  It wasn’t for your partner’s sake, though I soon guessed that Daly was getting after him; Featherstone has a sister, and you have fallen in love with her.  Well, she can have you with pleasure if she has any use for you, and before long you’ll make her deadly tired.  You’d bore a live woman crazy in a week; you’ll never be rich, because you’re afraid of touching a dollar you don’t earn, and you’ve got the morals of a convent-school girl!” She gasped and resumed in a scream:  “Why don’t you go before I throw something at you?”

Foster left and was glad when he shut the door.  Carmen was obviously beside herself and had gone further than she meant.  If it was any comfort to insult him, he did not grudge it her, but thought he saw where her remarks led.  He had been rather fond of Carmen, as she no doubt knew, before he understood her, and their friendship might have ripened until——.  Well, he was sorry for her, but it looked as if she was not the only person who had had an escape.

When he got outside, he went to the factory and found Hulton alone in the president’s room.  The man looked worn, but greeted Foster with a reserved smile and gave him a cigar.

“You haven’t been away very long,” he remarked.  “Didn’t your visit turn out as pleasant as you expected?”

“In one way, it did not.  But why did you send the British police after me?”

“As a matter of fact, I let them know you were all right, but my agent had to go to them, and thought it might be better if they kept a watch on you.  You’d got busy about some mysterious business.  What was it?”

“I can’t tell you,” said Foster bluntly.  “It only concerns me and Featherstone, but it led to something else; I’ll come to that later.  What about the man I helped on the train?  If he got through all right, why didn’t he send me word?”

“As the fellows who attacked you had got on the wrong track, we thought we’d let them follow it, but they were smarter than we reckoned and we lost them.”

“Then you made use of me, at my risk, as the Scottish police did afterwards?” Foster rejoined.  “I don’t know that I’ve much to thank you for, since it led to my being thrown off the Montreal express and chased across the Border bogs.”

“I must allow that we did something of the kind,” Hulton owned with a smile.  “But we’ll let that go.  What have you found out?”

Foster handed him Graham’s letter and the check on the American bank, but not the circular check for Daly.  Hulton’s face showed stern satisfaction and he gave Foster a very grateful look.

“I owe you much for this and am not going to forget the service.  These papers prove conspiracy and robbery, and clear my boy.  But how did you get them?”

Foster supplied a garbled account of his interview with Graham, and Hulton looked at him thoughtfully.