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 “You are not exactly blind, Alec, and can read between the lines,” he said. “Reluctance on the part of a man threatened with murder to communicate with the authorities must mean that he has got an ugly sort of secret himself.”

“You know his record, sir. Charles Hanbury was never anyone’s enemy but his own, and I expect the Duke of Beaumanoir is much the same,” replied Forsyth with a warmth which left the General quite unmoved. The old warrior reverted to his curios and spent a couple of minutes in balancing an Afghan dagger on his finger, till, apparently inspired by the performance, he laid the venomous blade aside.

“I agree with you in one aspect of the case,” he said. “An insurance company, knowing what we know, would be ill-advised to take a risk on his Grace’s life. The chances are in favor of his being a dead man within twenty-four hours of his quitting his present shelter. I presume that precautions have been taken against any more bogus detectives, or bogus anything else, gaining access to him during your absence?”

Forsyth replied that the Duke had promised