shows he was prepared to use violence if he did not find Christina open to suggestion.'
`Well, can you think of any better plan?'
`Not for the moment. I feel sure that it was Christina being overlooked that enabled the Canon to discover her first hiding place so quickly. For that reason I don't think it would help if you took her off to Lyons or Genoa. He would soon locate her and offer some local gang the thousand quid to do a snatch. Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, and we do know the de Grasses; so I think it would be wiser to keep her down here. I was only pointing out the sort of thing you and John may find yourselves up against while acting as her guardians.'
`How about pretending she has had a nervous breakdown and putting her temporarily into a private mental home?' John suggested. `The nurses and porters in such places would never allow a patient to walk out in the middle of the night.'
C. B. shook his head: `You are wrong there, John. We could not tell them that we had put her there to prevent her being kidnapped; so it would be easy to distract their attention. Our unknown enemy would have her out of a place like that in no time.'
`I could have solved the problem for you had the war
still been on,' smiled Malouet. `At times, when the pace was getting too hot for some key man in the Resistance, we used to pretend to mistake him for an habitual criminal, pick him up under the criminal's name, fake a charge against him and pop him inside. The Boches never got wise to our using the prisons as hiding places, and as soon as the hue and cry died down we let our friend escape. If only we could put Mademoiselle behind bars for a few days, neither the de Grasses nor a score of Satanists would be able to get her out. But unfortunately for our present business, it is no longer possible to commit a person on a false charge.'
John was sitting beside Christina. He gave her a swift glance, then took Upson's pistol from his pocket and showed it to her under the table. She nodded; so he said to Malouet:
`What would happen, Monsieur, if I had shot somebody
through the shoulder last night, and now surrendered my
self at a police station, confessing what I had done?' `They would take you into custody pending an enquiry.' `And then?'
`Presumably the person you had shot would come forward and charge you with having caused him grievous bodily harm.'
`Say that for his own reasons he preferred not to bring a charge and denied that anything of the kind had happened?'
`Then you would be discharged as a harmless lunatic.'
`Say he did bring a charge? I take it that in spite of my confession I should still be entitled to plead that I shot my man in self defence?'
`Certainly; and if you could bring a reliable witness to swear to that, or even sound circumstantial evidence in support of your plea, the probability is that a verdict would be given in your favour. That, too, would be rendered all the more likely through your having surrendered yourself in the first place.'
Again John looked at Christina, and again she nodded. He laid the pistol on the table, and said, `Then Christina and I propose that she should give herself up for having shot the Marquis de Grasse with that soon after half past three this morning.'
His announcement created quite a stir. At first the others would not believe that it was Christina who had used the weapon; but John gave them the true version of the fight in the chateau, and Christina filled in some of its more lurid details herself. Their account was so vivid that it carried conviction, and when they had done Molly exclaimed, with an envious glance at Christina
`Oh, you lucky girl! What wouldn't I give to have had such an experience.'
`Her luck is that she didn't kill him,' commented C. B. grimly. `If she had, she could not possibly escape being tried for murder; and as she went on the yacht willingly, even a plea of self defence might not have saved her from a nasty sentence for manslaughter.'
`Nevertheless, I congratulate Mademoiselle on her courage.' Old Malouet made her a courtly little bow. `And I am sure this will enable me to arrange matters. We will not, I think, make use of our friend Sergeant Bouvet at St. Tropez. It will be better if I take you in to Nice, as I am more intimate with many of the officials there; so can make certain that you have every comfort that is allowed during your stay in prison.'
`Thank you,' said Christina. `You are very kind. Going to prison is a far from pleasant prospect, but it certainly seems the best idea for my protection, and I am sure you will do your utmost to make it as little disagreeable for me as possible. How long do you think they will keep me there?'
'To day is Thursday, the 4th. Should M. le Marquis decide to charge you, the case could not come up for a first hearing before Monday. You would then be remanded while the lawyer we should find for you prepared your defence, and we could get you out on bail if that was thought desirable until you had to come up for trial. But, as I have already said, I think it very unlikely that the de Grasses will wish to have their affairs gone into in open court. Should M. le Marquis say that you shot him by accident and fled in panic afterwards, as he probably will, you will be released; but again, not before Monday, as once having been taken into custody you must be formally discharged by a magistrate. So in either case you will remain in prison over the weekend. And that is the important thing, for Saturday the 6th appears to be the critical date by which your enemies wish to get you to England.'
Christina gave a rueful smile. `My birthdays have never meant very much to me, but all the same it seems a bit hard that I should have to spend my twenty first in prison.'
`What's that?' exclaimed C. B. `D'you mean that you will be twenty one on the 6th? If so, that may be very important. Why didn't you tell us so before?'
`I'm sorry,' Molly put in. `Christina did tell me the first time I talked to her. I ought to have told you, but there has been no mention of it since, and it entirely slipped my memory when I was telling you her history last night.'
`Why may it be important?' Christina asked.
`Because it is the principal landmark in anyone's life. In addition the three sevens have a special magical property. As it is Satanists who are after you, that would explain why they are so anxious to get hold of you by that particular date. It looks now as if they are planning some special ritual at which the presence of an unmarried girl of twenty one is required. To make use of her on her actual birthday would, of course, enormously increase the potency of the conjuration. In fact, that is probably essential to the success of the whole business.!
'If that is so, and we can protect her over Saturday, she will be out of the wood then?' John put in eagerly.
C. B. nodded. `Yes, if we can do that I think the worst danger to her will have been averted. But we should still have to get her freed from this spell, or whatever it is, that causes her personality to become evil at night. Her father must hold the key to that; so putting her in prison will not affect my decision to go and demand his help.'
John looked at his mother. `If Christina is to be put behind bars there will be nothing that I can do here; so, if you don't mind, Mumsie, I think I'll go with C. B. to England. Should Christina's father resent C.B.’s interference, I could justify it by telling him that I am her fiance. That might make him more willing to co operate.'
`Yes, that's true. Then go by all means, dear.
'If you do, and her old man thinks you would make a good husband for her, this fake engagement of yours may land you in for a breach of promise case,' C. B. grinned.
`Not a bit of it.' John laughed. `If she jilts me, it is I who will bring the action. You've forgotten that she is an heiress.'
Christina coloured slightly, but joined in the general laughter.
After a glance at his watch, C. B. said, `It is half past ten; so if John and I are to get to England to day, we ought to be moving. I wonder which is the best bet for an aircraft, Nice or Marseilles.'
`Nice is some thirty kilometres nearer,' replied Malouet, `and there is a plane that leaves at one o'clock for London. Even if you cannot get places on it, a lot of air traffic passes through Nice now; so you should be able to get an Air France or some other line by which you could go via Paris.'
`Going by Nice has the additional advantage that you could collect your things at the villa on the way,' Molly added.
`Come on, then.' C. B. stood up. `I'll pay the bill while one of you telephone the .local garage for a car.'
Malouet did the telephoning, and ten minutes later an ancient but comfortable car arrived from the village to
