"But my principal!" gasped Wolffman. "The lady who is paying me----"
"To ruin Dr. Bruce," Isidore said, as coolly as if a great light had not suddenly broken in upon him. "So your friend is in London?"
Wolffman wriggled uneasily. He wanted to lie badly, but with those eyes upon him he could not do so.
"Ah, then, you must dissemble with her. Tell her any lie you like so long as you let Dr. Bruce alone. I guessed there was some scheme on hand when I heard that you had written to the Doctor. Goodbye, Wolffman, and recollect that your ruin or otherwise depends upon yourself."
Isidore went out smiling blandly. He had made a great discovery.
"The Countess again," he murmured. "She's in this, as I thought. And so she is still in London, after all. How interested Prout will be!"
Prout was not surprised to receive the information that his quarry was still in London; indeed, he would have been astonished to know the contrary. Every port and every outgoing vessel had been carefully watched. Still, the woman had accomplices somewhere. It was absurd to believe that in the simple guise of a maid she could have found a hiding place where she would be safe from the grip of the law.
"Find Balmayne, and you'll find her," Prout said. "If we get on the track this week we shall catch her, if not, she may get away. Vigilance is bound to be relaxed sooner or later. That is why delay is on the side of the prisoner."
"And if she does get away?" Isidore asked.
"Then she will go to some of her earlier haunts on the Continent," said Prout. "They always do. We can count upon that with absolute certainty."
"And you know all about her early haunts?"
Prout confessed that up to the present he had but the sketchiest idea of the past of the brilliant adventuress who called herself Countess Lalage. He was just a little piqued that he should have been so easily gulled, especially as the case was exciting so ominous an amount of public attention. From all parts of the Continent stories were coming in telling of this and that swindled capitalist. The woman had flaunted for years with the money she had obtained by fraud. It was calculated that besides her debts she had got away with nearly a million of money.
It seemed incredible, but there it was, and there it will be again so long as human cupidity and human greed exist. Maitrank was the only man who was silent over his losses. He had been a fool, but the money was gone, and there was no reason why he should betray his folly aloud to the world.