Part 19

"Look here, Mr. Garfield," he said in a changed voice. "This is beyond a joke. You now tell me that I presented you with five thousand pounds."

"I do--and I repeat it."

"But why should I give you this sum?"

"Because I assisted you in the commission of a crime."

"That's a lie!" he declared vehemently. "Forgive me for saying so, but I can only think that you are not quite in your right mind."

"I have not been in my right mind for a month or more--thanks to your deep plotting," I retorted sharply. "Further, I am telling the truth--as I shall later on tell it before a court of law. I intend to solve the mystery of the death of Gabrielle Engledue."

"Well--I will not hinder you," he laughed grimly.

"You mean that you will not assist me?"

"I mean that I have no knowledge of any such person; nor have I any knowledge of you," he said. "A perfect stranger, you come here, present your card, and at once start a series of most serious allegations against me, the chief of them being that I gave you five thousand pounds for some assistance which you refuse to describe."

"If I tell you, you will only deny it, Mr. De Gex," I exclaimed bitterly. "So what is the use?"

"None. In fact I don't see that any object is to be gained in prolonging this interview," was his quick retort. "If, as you say, I gave you five thousand--which I certainly never did--then what more can you want? I however, suspect that the five thousand exists only in your own imagination."

"But I have the sum intact--in a drawer at my home in London."

"It would be of interest to see it. Are they the same notes which you say I gave you?"

"The same," I answered, and then I went on to tell him how I had awakened to find myself in St. Malo, and how the French police had taken possession of the money found upon me.

"Ah!" he exclaimed at last. "It all seems quite clear now. You've had a bad illness, my dear fellow! Your brain has become unbalanced, and you are now subject to hallucinations. I regret my hard words, Mr. Garfield," he added in a kindly tone. "I also regret that your mental state is what it is."

"I desire no sympathy!" I protested, raising my voice angrily. "All I want to know is the truth."

"I have already told you that, as far as I am personally concerned."

"No. You have denied everything, and now you try to treat me as one demented!" I declared in a fury. "The existence of the bank notes you gave me are sufficient evidence against you."

"I think not. First, I doubt if they exist anywhere save in your imagination; secondly, if they do, then someone else may have given them to you."

"You did. I would recognize you among ten thousand men. On the night in question you wore a dinner jacket, and now you are in grey. That is all the difference."

"Well, have it your own way," he replied smiling, though I could see that he had become palpably perturbed by my allegations. Whatever had been administered to me--some dope or other, no doubt--it had been intended that I should be cast adrift on the Continent as a semi-imbecile.

It was that fact which maddened me. The poor girl might not have been his niece, of course, but whoever she had been, this man had had some very strange and distinct motive in getting rid of her.

What it was I had vowed to discover.

It was apparent that De Gex was anxious to get rid of me. Indeed, as we stood together in that fine old room, across the marble floor of which strayed long beams of sunlight, the door opened and a pretty woman came in. She was dressed to go out, and asked:

"Will you be long, dear?"

It was the beautiful Mrs. De Gex! In an instant I recognized her by the many photographs I had seen in the picture papers.

"No. I'll be with you in a minute, dear. Is the car there?" he asked.

"It's been there a quarter of an hour, and if we don't go now we shall be late in meeting Hylda at the station," she said, glancing at me with undisguised annoyance.