She slipped a ring from her hand and pa.s.sed it to De Morbihan.
There followed silence for an instant, then an exclamation from the Frenchman:
"But it is superb! Accept, mademoiselle, my compliments. It is worthy even of you."
She flushed prettily as she nodded smiling acknowledgement.
"Ah, you Americans!" De Morbihan sighed. "You fill us with envy: you have the souls of poets and the wealth of princes!"
"But we must come to Paris to find beautiful things for our women-folk!"
"Take care, though, lest you go too far, Monsieur Bannon."
"How so--too far?"
"You might attract the attention of the Lone Wolf. They say he"s on the prowl once more."
The American laughed a trace contemptuously. Lanyard"s fingers tightened on his knife and fork; otherwise he made no sign. A sidelong glance into a mirror at his elbow showed Roddy still absorbed in the Daily Mail.
The girl bent forward with a look of eager interest.
"The Lone Wolf? Who is that?"
"You don"t know him in America, mademoiselle?"
"No...."
"The Lone Wolf, my dear Lucia," the valetudinarian explained in a dryly humourous tone, "is the sobriquet fastened by some imaginative French reporter upon a celebrated criminal who seems to have made himself something of a pest over here, these last few years. n.o.body knows anything definite about him, apparently, but he operates in a most individual way and keeps the police busy trying to guess where he"ll strike next."
The girl breathed an incredulous exclamation.
"But I a.s.sure you!" De Morbihan protested. "The rogue has had a wonderfully successful career, thanks to his dispensing with confederates and confining his depredations to jewels and similar valuables, portable and easy to convert into cash. Yet," he added, nodding sagely, "one isn"t afraid to predict his race is almost run."
"You don"t tell me!" the older man exclaimed. "Have they picked up the scent--at last?"
"The man is known," De Morbihan affirmed.
By now the conversation had caught the interest of several loitering waiters, who were listening open-mouthed. Even Roddy seemed a bit startled, and for once forgot to make business with his newspaper; but his wondering stare was exclusively for De Morbihan.
Lanyard put down knife and fork, swallowed a final mouthful of Haut Brion, and lighted a cigarette with the hand of a man who knew not the meaning of nerves.
"Garcon!" he called quietly; and ordered coffee and cigars, with a liqueur to follow....
"Known!" the American exclaimed. "They"ve caught him, eh?"
"I didn"t say that," De Morbihan laughed; "but the mystery is no more--in certain quarters."
"Who is he, then?"
"That--monsieur will pardon me--I"m not yet free to state. Indeed, I may be indiscreet in saying as much as I do. Yet, among friends..."
His shrug implied that, as far as _he_ was concerned, waiters were unhuman and the other guests of the establishment non-existent.
"But," the American persisted, "perhaps you can tell us how they got on his track?"
"It wasn"t difficult," said De Morbihan: "indeed, quite simple. This tone of depreciation is becoming, for it was my part to suggest the solution to my friend, the Chief of the Surete. He had been annoyed and distressed, had even spoken of handing in his resignation because of his inability to cope with this gentleman, the Lone Wolf. And since he is my friend, I too was distressed on his behalf, and badgered my poor wits until they chanced upon an idea which led us to the light."
"You won"t tell us?" the girl protested, with a little moue of disappointment, as the Frenchman paused provokingly.
"Perhaps I shouldn"t. And yet--why not? As I say, it was elementary reasoning--a mere matter of logical deduction and elimination. One made up one"s mind the Lone Wolf must be a certain sort of man; the rest was simply sifting France for the man to fit the theory, and then watching him until he gave himself away."
"You don"t imagine we"re going to let you stop there?" The American demanded in an aggrieved tone.
"No? I must continue? Very well: I confess to some little pride. It was a feat. He is cunning, that one!"
De Morbihan paused and shifted sideways in his chair, grinning like a mischievous child.
By this manoeuvre, thanks to the arrangement of mirrors lining the walls, he commanded an indirect view of Lanyard; a fact of which the latter was not unaware, though his expression remained unchanged as he sat--with a corner of his eye reserved for Roddy--speculating whether De Morbihan were telling the truth or only boasting for his own glorification.
"Do go on--please!" the girl begged prettily.
"I can deny you nothing, mademoiselle.... Well, then! From what little was known of this mysterious creature, one readily inferred he must be a bachelor, with no close friends. That is clear, I trust?"
"Too deep for me, my friend," the elderly man confessed.
"Impenetrable reticence," the Count expounded, sententious--and enjoying himself hugely--"isn"t possible in the human relations. Sooner or later one is doomed to share one"s secrets, however reluctantly, even unconsciously, with a wife, a mistress, a child, or with some trusted friend. And a secret between two is--a prolific breeder of plat.i.tudes! Granted this line of reasoning, the Lone Wolf is of necessity not only unmarried but practically friendless. Other attributes of his will obviously comprise youth, courage, imagination, a rather high order of intelligence, and a social position--let us say, rather, an ostensible business--enabling him to travel at will hither and yon without exciting comment. So far, good! My friend the Chief of the Surete forthwith commissioned his agents to seek such an one, and by this means several fine fish were enmeshed in the net of suspicion, carefully scrutinized, and one by one let go--all except one, the veritable man. Him they sedulously watched, shadowing him across Europe and back again. He was in Berlin at the time of the famous Rheinart robbery, though he compa.s.sed that coup without detection; he was in Vienna when the British emba.s.sy there was looted, but escaped by a clever ruse and managed to dispose of his plunder before the agents of the Surete could lay hands on him; recently he has been in London, and there he made love to, and ran away with, the diamonds of a certain lady of some eminence. You have heard of Madame Omber, eh?" Now by Roddy"s expression it was plain that, if Madame Omber"s name wasn"t strange in his hearing, at least he found this news about her most surprising. He was frankly staring, with a slackened jaw and with stupefaction in his blank blue eyes.
Lanyard gently pinched the small end of a cigar, dipped it into his coffee, and lighted it with not so much as a suspicion of tremor. His brain, however, was working rapidly in effort to determine whether De Morbihan meant this for warning, or was simply narrating an amusing yarn founded on advance information and amplified by an ingenious imagination. For by now the news of the Omber affair must have thrilled many a Continental telegraph-wire....
"Madame Omber--of course!" the American agreed thoughtfully. "Everyone has heard of her wonderful jewels. The real marvel is that the Lone Wolf neglected so shining a mark as long as he did."
"But truly so, monsieur!"
"And they caught him at it, eh?"
"Not precisely: but he left a clue--and London, to boot--with such haste as would seem to indicate he knew his cunning hand had, for once, slipped."
"Then they"ll nab him soon?"
"Ah, monsieur, one must say no more!" De Morbihan protested. "Rest a.s.sured the Chief of the Surete has laid his plans: his web is spun, and so artfully that I think our unsociable outlaw will soon be making friends in the Prison of the Sante.... But now we must adjourn. One is sorry. It has been so very pleasant...."
A waiter conjured the bill from some recess of his waistcoat and served it on a clean plate to the American. Another ran bawling for the vestiaire. Roddy glued his gaze afresh to the Daily Mail. The party rose.
Lanyard noticed that the American signed instead of settling the bill with cash, indicating that he resided at Troyon"s as well as dined there. And the adventurer found time to reflect that it was odd for such as he to seek that particular establishment in preference to the palatial modern hostelries of the Rive Droit--before De Morbihan, ostensibly for the first time espying Lanyard, plunged across the room with both hands outstretched and a cry of joyous surprise not really justified by their rather slight acquaintanceship.
"Ah! Ah!" he clamoured vivaciously. "It is Monsieur Lanyard, who knows all about paintings! But this is delightful, my friend--one grand pleasure! You must know my friends.... But come!"
And seizing Lanyard"s hands, when that one somewhat reluctantly rose in response to this surprisingly over-exuberant greeting, he dragged him w.i.l.l.y-nilly from behind his table.
"And you are American, too. Certainly you must know one another.