“I can’t tell. If he did, I had no suspicion of it. And besides, not a soul except the Chief could have possibly obtained sight of that despatch. I saw it written, saw it sealed, and it never left my possession for a single instant.”
“She did not accompany you to London?” he asked half-suspiciously.
“Certainly not,” I said.
Then I told him all that occurred on that well-remembered night, and how I had wandered in the early morning over the country-side to the village inn where for a moment I saw the Italian.
“Then he evidently saw and recognised you there!” Kaye exclaimed quickly. “In all probability he followed you to London. That the copy of the despatch was transmitted to Paris by him is certain.”
“And with regard to the Ceuta incident?”
“In that, I believe, he made Yolande de Foville his agent. Undoubtedly it was through her ingenuity that Lord Barmouth’s instructions leaked out.”
“But how could she possibly have known them?” I demanded. “Remember, you have denounced her as a spy, but as yet have given me no proof whatever.”
“You have sufficient proof in the fact that she fled in alarm from Paris, I should think.”
“But I understood from you that she was in the German service. If so, she would certainly never ally herself with Bertini!”