“They’ve both gone out to Segovia to see the Countess de Chamartin. De Gex sent a wire early this morning and then, on receipt of a reply, they hired a car and drove out to keep the appointment.”
“Chamartin was a Spanish financier. De Gex is one of international fame—a millionaire,” I remarked. “The wits of De Gex are perhaps pitted against the widow and the executors of the dead man. Don’t you agree?”
“Entirely,” was Hambledon’s reply. “I follow the trend of your thoughts, Hugh. De Gex is the controlling influence of great events, but why should he seek to send you into an asylum for the insane?”
“With the same motive that he endeavoured to send into such an asylum poor Gabrielle Tennison,” I said bitterly.
“In law we have an old adage which says ‘discover the motive and you also discover the miscreant,’” Harry remarked.
I agreed, and, as much bewildered as he, exclaimed:
“Well, as far as we can discern there is something very underhand in this meeting. But the count’s widow is a cheery, easy-going person, despite her mournful black, and perhaps, after all, we may be upon a wrong scent.”
“Exactly. De Gex may be attracted by her handsome niece, the Señorita Carmen Florez—eh?”
“He may. But as the dead count was a great financier, Oswald De Gex may be working in the interests of the widow—or to the contrary.”