“I hardly believe that,” I replied incredulously. “My friend cannot be the accomplice of my enemies. You are acquainted with Reckitt and with Pennington—the men implicated in the recent theft of the diamonds of the Archduchess Marie Louise!”
He started and looked at me quickly.
“What do you know of that?” he inquired, with rather undue eagerness.
“I know more concerning you than you think,” was my firm reply. “And I give you an alternative, Monsieur Guertin. Either you will reveal to me the whole truth concerning those men Reckitt and Forbes and my wife’s connection with them, or I shall telephone to the police, and have you arrested as a member of the gang.”
“My dear monsieur,” he replied, with a good-humoured smile, “I can’t tell you facts of which I possess no knowledge. I am here to make inquiry of you—to——”
“To mislead me further!” I cried angrily. “You and your friends may be extremely clever—you have succeeded in enticing my wife away from her home, and you expect to befool me further. Remember that I nearly lost my life in that grim house in Bayswater. Therefore at least I can secure the arrest of one member of the gang.”
“And you would arrest me—eh?” he asked, looking me straight in the face, suddenly growing serious.
“Yes, I intend to,” I replied, whipping out my revolver from my hip pocket.
“Put that thing away,” he urged. “Be reasonable. What would you profit by arresting me?”