"That old rascal, Wildresse, it seems, is nothing but a paid informer. He forced this girl Philippa to engage in the same filthy business. She even admitted that old Wildresse had set her on me! No doubt he had decided to watch you himself. And do you know what I think?"
Halkett was very wide-awake now. He said:
"I believe I do know what you are thinking. And I believe you are pretty nearly right."
"That the assault on you was merely a local matter instigated by Wildresse?"
"It wouldn't surprise me."
"I think it was, too. Some of his thugs did it. He had made up his mind about you. But somebody must have tipped him off to watch you."
"Probably."
"I am sure of it. The three German-appearing men who tried to pick a quarrel with you over the Archduke's murder were not the men who tried to frisk you for your papers. They were 'provocative agents' in the pay of a foreign government—hired opportunists who were expected to pick something of value out of any confusion attending a general row fomented by themselves."
"Who told you that?"
"Philippa."