“Ah!” said Moreno. Then it was not on account of this transaction that Rossett had broken off his relations with the pretty widow. The cause was no doubt to be sought in Isobel Clandon.
“I pretended that a Spaniard whom I had known in my youth was ready to turn traitor for a handsome consideration. He had confided these notes to me, and I had taken them down from his dictation. Of course, I ought to have done as you said. I was so eager for the money that I did not stop to think.”
“And you are quite sure that Rossett did not suspect you of being a member of the brotherhood?”
“Positive. He is not naturally a suspicious man, not like yourself, for instance. I pretended that this man, the imaginary man, was an old friend of my father’s, that he hated the whole business and wanted to get out of it.”
Moreno pondered a little. In spite of her physical attraction for him, she was a pretty bad character on her own admissions. She had owned her great obligations to Jaques, who, rascal that he was, had been her benefactor. And yet she was ready to sell Jaques and the Cause he held so dear at heart for ready money. Was it possible a woman with this unscrupulous and predatory temperament could ever become a reformed character? And, if so, was he a likely man to bring about the miracle? Passionate love might work wonders, but was she not a little past the age of passionate love?
“Let us come to the point,” he said abruptly. “I take it you no longer desire what we politely term the ‘removal’ of Guy Rossett.”
“Certainly not. I don’t know that I ever really desired it.”
Moreno raised his hand. “Don’t forget that night at the flat in Mount Street.”
“I know, I remember perfectly. I gave you a very bad impression of myself. I was angry, humiliated, bitterly jealous of a younger woman who had taken him from me.”
Moreno thought he understood. “And the Spanish side came uppermost then. You could have run a dagger into the pair of them at the moment, and perhaps after you had done it, sat down and wept because you had killed the man. I don’t suppose you would have shed a tear over the woman—she would have deserved her fate.”