“Where does he live?”
She smiled, recollecting that even though she had quarrelled with Hugh, the strange old fellow had been his best friend. She remembered how the White Cavalier had been sent by him with messages to reassure her.
“I refuse to give away the secrets of my friends,” she responded a trifle haughtily.
“Then you prefer to shield the master criminal of Europe?”
“I have no knowledge that The Sparrow is a criminal.”
“Ask the police of any city in Europe. They will tell you that they have for years been endeavouring to capture Il Passero. Yet so cleverly is his gang organized that never once has he been betrayed. All his friends are so loyal to him.”
“Yet you want me to betray him!”
“You are not a member of the gang of criminals, Miss Ranscomb,” replied Shrimpton.
“Whether I am or not, I refuse to say a word concerning anyone who has been of service to me,” was her stubborn reply. And with that the man from the Criminal Investigation Department had to be content.
Even then, Dorise was not quite certain whether she had misjudged the man who loved her so well, but who was beneath a cloud. She had acted hastily in writing that letter, she felt. Yet she had successfully warned him of his peril, and he had been able to extricate himself from the net spread for him.