“You asked me in Maraquito’s salon.  Clancy and Hale were about.”

“Humph!” said Jennings, “you see the various parts of the puzzle are fitting together excellently.  Probably one of those two overheard.”

“Probably.  That Hale looks a sly creature and capable of much.  I wonder if he is related to the Saul family.  He has the same nose.”

“And the same eyebrows meeting over the nose,” said Jennings.  “Mrs. Herne has a similar mark.  I am sure she is a relative of Maraquito’s.”

“If she is her aunt, I give you leave to call me a fool,” said Caranby, rising.  “I know that Emilia told me she had no sister.  What will you do next, Jennings?”

“I shall see this man who fired the house and try to get at the truth.  Then I am having Mrs. Herne watched—­”

“And Maraquito?”

“She can’t move from her couch, so there is no danger of her escaping.  But now that the coining factory is destroyed, I shall find it difficult to bring home the crime to anyone.  I wish Cuthbert would come.”

“Do you expect him?”

“Yes.  Listen, Lord Caranby,” and Jennings related the episode of the knife, and how he had brought Mallow and Juliet together.  “And it seems to me,” went on the detective, “that Cuthbert learned something from Miss Saxon which he does not wish to tell me.”

“Something to do with Mrs. Octagon.”

“Why with her?” demanded Jennings suddenly.

“Oh, because I think Isabella capable of much.  She is a fatal woman!”

“What do you mean by that phrase?”

“Isabella exercised a bad influence on my life.  But for her I should have married Selina and should not have fallen in with Emilia Saul.  I should have been happy, and probably Selina would not have met with her tragic death.”

“Do you think the sister has anything to do with it?”

“I can’t say.  All I know is that whomsoever Isabella came into contact with had trouble.  I do well to call her a fatal woman.”

“Humph!” said Jennings, “I would rather call Maraquito a fatal woman, as I believe she brought about the death in some way for the double purpose of silencing Miss Loach regarding the factory of coins and of stopping the marriage of her rival with Cuthbert.”

Curiously enough, Cuthbert was shown into the room at this moment.  So interested had Caranby and Jennings been in their conversation that they had not heard the bell.  Mallow looked in good health, but his face wore a worried expression.  Without preamble, and after greeting his uncle, he walked up to his friend.

“Jennings,” he said calmly, “I have seen Juliet, and she agrees with me that this case should not be gone on with.”

“Ah! does she, and on what grounds?”

“Because she has consented to marry me.  She intends, at my request, to make over Miss Loach’s money to her mother.  We have had quite enough dabbling in crime, and we are both sick of it.”