“Who.”
“His name is Castelli....”
“No!”
“Yes. They got him two days ago, but they have been watching him for weeks. Some very sharp person on the Casino detective staff noticed that he seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of louis. That put them on the track. They’ve expelled him from the Principality. Well, that’s one worry off their shoulders. Their other one is your old friend, the professor. There they’ve got a tough nut to crack, I fear.”
“Do you think they’ll crack it?”
“Think! I know. A word in your ear. You tell the old chap to get out. Get him away in a car, far and fast. They’ve simply got to get that system, to get him. You understand. If they wish to save themselves from ruin, neither he nor his system must continue to exist. They’re only waiting now to make sure he’s got them. They can’t buy him off. They can’t let him escape. I say, I wouldn’t be in that old man’s shoes for all the money he’s made. Sounds melodramatic, I know. You think I exaggerate. You don’t know this place. Get him away, I say. Lose no time. Don’t laugh. I know.”
Hugh was so disturbed that he knocked that night on the old man’s door.
“Who’s there?”
“Your neighbour.”
There was a turning of locks and the professor appeared. He had been working out his play for the next day.