"No," said Nick, with a peculiar smile, "I don't believe he is."

"Well, then, Gaspard's a liar, and if he's lied here, he may have done
the same thing in Jones' case."

Nick looked shrewdly at his youthful assistant. He is very fond of this
bright boy, and gives him every chance to develop his theories in those
cases in which he is employed.

"Come, my lad," said the famous detective, "tell me what has set you
against Gaspard."

"He's going to skip."

"Is that so? Well, this is serious."

"It's a fact. I got it from one of the men in the restaurant. My man was
told of it by Corbut."

"Corbut?"

"Yes; and there's another suspicious circumstance. There's a Frenchwoman
who is going to give little old New York the shake at the same time as
Gaspard. They're going back to sunny France together.

"Now, nobody knows this but the man I talked with. Gaspard thinks that
Corbut was the only one who knew it.

"So it was for Gaspard's interest, in case he really did this job, and
lifted some valuable plunder off that woman, to get Corbut out of the