"As to your character," said T. B. magnanimously, "we will not go into the question. So far as you are concerned, I shall take you into custody on a charge of obtaining property by false pretences," said T. B. calmly.
"Your name is Mary Brown, and I shall charge you with having obtained the sum of £350 by a trick from a West Indian gentleman at Barbadoes last March."
She sprang to her feet, her eyes blazing.
"You know that is false and ridiculous," she said steadily. "What is the meaning of it?"
"Would you prefer that I should charge 'La Belle Espagnole' with being an accessory to murder?" he asked, with a lift of his eyebrows.
"You could not prove it!" she challenged.
"Of that I am aware," he said. "I have taken the trouble to trace your movements. When these murders were committed you were fulfilling an engagement at the Philharmonic, but you knew of the murder, I'll swear--you are an agent of N.H.C."
"So it was you who found my handkerchief?"
"No; a discerning friend of mine is entitled to the discovery. Are you ready--Mary Brown?"
She stood plucking at her dress nervously. "What good can my arrest do to you?--tomorrow it will be known all over the world."
"To arrest me is to sign your death-warrant--you must know that--the Nine Men will strike----"
T. B.'s eyes were dancing with excitement.
"Nine men!" he repeated slowly. "_Neuf hommes_--N.H. What does the 'C.' stand for?"
"That much you will doubtless discover," she said coldly, "but they will strike surely and effectively."
The detective had regained his composure.
"I'm a bit of a striker myself," he said in English.
T. B. found the Chief Commissioner of Police at his club, and unfolded his plan.
"It might very easily lead to a horrible catastrophe if you carry that scheme into execution."
"It might very easily lead to a worse if I don't," said T. B. brutally. "I am too young to die. At the worst it can only be a 'police blunder,' such as you read about in every evening newspaper that's published," he urged, "and I look at the other side of the picture. If this woman communicates with her principals, nothing is more certain than that Thursday will see the blowing up of the Wady Semlik Barrage. These 'Nine Bears' are operating on the sure knowledge that Bronte's Bank is going to break. The stocks they are attacking are companies banking with Bronte, and it's ten chances to one they will kill Sir George Calliper in order to give an artistic finish to the failure."