"The girl Rose Mitchel."
"And who, pray, is the girl Rose Mitchel? The daughter of the murdered woman?"
"Perhaps. That is what I intend to discover. She passed however, as your daughter."
"Ah! Now can you prove that she is not?"
"No."
"Very good. Then, so far as your information goes, Rose Mitchel who passed as my daughter, was removed from a certain house, to a certain other house, to you unknown." He paused a moment as though to enjoy Mr. Barnes's discomfiture, then continued: "She was taken, so you suspect, but cannot prove, by Miss Remsen. Now, then, if Miss Remsen, my affianced wife, takes a girl who is my own child from one house to another, where is the abduction so long as I make no complaint?"
"Let us drop this nonsense, Mr. Mitchel. You know very well that that child was removed for a purpose, else she would not be hidden away. If Miss Remsen had a hand in this, she was aiding you to baffle detective investigation, and that was an illegal act. Therefore we have the right to watch her, in order to discover what we can."
"Very well, then we will grant you that privilege. Much good may it do you. But as to the removal of the child, that was done because your spy Lucette had discovered where she was, and I did not choose to have her annoyed."
"What makes you so certain that this Lucette was my spy, as you term it?"
"Well, I don't mind telling you that, though perhaps I am showing my hand a little. Let us go to the beginning. In the first place you knew about my bet, and I knew that you knew that much. From that starting-point what more natural than for me to suppose that you would begin by having me shadowed. To be sure of this, I made a few trips on the elevated road, a structure peculiarly applicable for such a test, with the result of course that I soon became pretty well acquainted with your assistant. Whenever I had nothing else to do, I would amuse myself getting away from him. You gave me occupation for several hours I assure you. But to come to Lucette. I guessed that the next step in your game would be to supply spy number two, who would take up the trail wherever spy number one would lose it. I began to look for this second man. See, I admit that I did not count upon a woman. You beat me there, or almost did. I don't suppose you told the girl to let me see her face, eh?" Mr. Barnes made no reply, though to himself he said, "Just as I told the fool." Mr. Mitchel went on: "At last one day, just as I was getting on a train, a smart-looking young woman came out of the waiting-room and followed me aboard. Purely from habit I walked through the train to the first coach. I ride in that because it is the coolest in summer and the least draughty in winter. Now there were several cross seats empty in the coaches through which I passed, and as the young woman behind me did not take one, but followed me through the train, I became suspicious. When she sat down opposite to me, of course I studied her face. I hardly ever forget a face after I have made a mental note of it. The rest was simple. She was sharp enough not to get off the train when I did, and I dismissed her from my mind. Thus I suppose she was enabled to follow me to the Irving Place house. But of course I recognized her at once when I saw her at Miss Remsen's."