THE CLUE OF THE TWISTED CANDLE

By Edgar Wallace

CHAPTER I

The 4. 15 from Victoria to Lewes had been held up at Three Bridges inconsequence of a derailment and, though John Lexman was fortunate enoughto catch a belated connection to Beston Tracey, the wagonette which wasthe sole communication between the village and the outside world hadgone. 

"If you can wait half an hour, Mr. Lexman, " said the station-master, "Iwill telephone up to the village and get Briggs to come down for you. "

John Lexman looked out upon the dripping landscape and shrugged hisshoulders. 

"I'll walk, " he said shortly and, leaving his bag in thestation-master's care and buttoning his mackintosh to his chin, hestepped forth resolutely into the rain to negotiate the two miles whichseparated the tiny railway station from Little Tracey. 

The downpour was incessant and likely to last through the night. The high hedges on either side of the narrow road were so many leafycascades; the road itself was in places ankle deep in mud. He stoppedunder the protecting cover of a big tree to fill and light his pipe andwith its bowl turned downwards continued his walk. But for thedriving rain which searched every crevice and found every chink in hiswaterproof armor, he preferred, indeed welcomed, the walk. 

The road from Beston Tracey to Little Beston was associated in his mindwith some of the finest situations in his novels. It was on this roadthat he had conceived "The Tilbury Mystery. " Between the station and thehouse he had woven the plot which had made "Gregory Standish" the mostpopular detective story of the year. For John Lexman was a maker ofcunning plots. 

If, in the literary world, he was regarded by superior persons as awriter of "shockers, " he had a large and increasing public who werefascinated by the wholesome and thrilling stories he wrote, and whoheld on breathlessly to the skein of mystery until they came to thedenouement he had planned. 

But no thought of books, or plots, or stories filled his troubled mindas he strode along the deserted road to Little Beston. He had had twointerviews in London, one of which under ordinary circumstances wouldhave filled him with joy: He had seen T. X. And "T. X. " was T. X. Meredith, who would one day be Chief of the Criminal InvestigationDepartment and was now an Assistant Commissioner of Police, engaged inthe more delicate work of that department. 

In his erratic, tempestuous way, T. X. Had suggested the greatest ideafor a plot that any author could desire. But it was not of T. X. ThatJohn Lexman thought as he breasted the hill, on the slope of which wasthe tiny habitation known by the somewhat magnificent title of BestonPriory. 

It was the interview he had had with the Greek on the previous day whichfilled his mind, and he frowned as he recalled it. He opened the littlewicket gate and went through the plantation to the house, doing hisbest to shake off the recollection of the remarkable and unedifyingdiscussion he had had with the moneylender. 

Beston Priory was little more than a cottage, though one of its wallswas an indubitable relic of that establishment which a pious Howard haderected in the thirteenth century. A small and unpretentious building, built in the Elizabethan style with quaint gables and high chimneys, its latticed windows and sunken gardens, its rosary and its tiny meadow, gave it a certain manorial completeness which was a source of greatpride to its owner. 

He passed under the thatched porch, and stood for a moment in the broadhallway as he stripped his drenching mackintosh. 

The hall was in darkness. Grace would probably be changing for dinner, and he decided that in his present mood he would not disturb her. Hepassed through the long passage which led to the big study at the backof the house. A fire burnt redly in the old-fashioned grate and the snugcomfort of the room brought a sense of ease and relief. He changed hisshoes, and lit the table lamp. 

The room was obviously a man's den. The leather-covered chairs, the bigand well-filled bookcase which covered one wall of the room, thehuge, solid-oak writing-desk, covered with books and half-finishedmanuscripts, spoke unmistakably of its owner's occupation. 

After he had changed his shoes, he refilled his pipe, walked over to thefire, and stood looking down into its glowing heart. 

He was a man a little above medium height, slimly built, with a breadthof shoulder which was suggestive of the athlete. He had indeed rowed 4in his boat, and had fought his way into the semi-finals of theamateur boxing championship of England. His face was strong, lean, yetwell-moulded. His eyes were grey and deep, his eyebrows straight and alittle forbidding. The clean-shaven mouth was big and generous, and thehealthy tan of his cheek told of a life lived in the open air. 

There was nothing of the recluse or the student in his appearance. Hewas in fact a typical, healthy-looking Britisher, very much like anyother man of his class whom one would meet in the mess-room of theBritish army, in the wardrooms of the fleet, or in the far-off posts ofthe Empire, where the administrative cogs of the great machine are to beseen at work. 

There was a little tap at the door, and before he could say "Come in" itwas pushed open and Grace Lexman entered. 

If you described her as brave and sweet you might secure from that briefdescription both her manner and her charm. He half crossed the room tomeet her, and kissed her tenderly. 

"I didn't know you were back until--" she said; linking her arm in his. 

"Until you saw the horrible mess my mackintosh has made, " he smiled. "Iknow your methods, Watson!"

She laughed, but became serious again. 

"I am very glad you've come back. We have a visitor, " she said. 

He raised his eyebrows. 

"A visitor? Whoever came down on a day like this?"

She looked at him a little strangely. 

"Mr. Kara, " she said. 

"Kara? How long has he been here?"

"He came at four. "

There was nothing enthusiastic in her tone. 

"I can't understand why you don't like old Kara, " rallied her husband. 

"There are very many reasons, " she replied, a little curtly for her. 

"Anyway, " said John Lexman, after a moment's thought, "his arrival israther opportune. Where is he?"

"He is in the drawing-room. "

The Priory drawing-room was a low-ceilinged, rambling apartment, "all old print and chrysanthemums, " to use Lexman's description. Cosyarmchairs, a grand piano, an almost medieval open grate, faced withdull-green tiles, a well-worn but cheerful carpet and two big silvercandelabras were the principal features which attracted the newcomer. 

There was in this room a harmony, a quiet order and a soothing qualitywhich made it a haven of rest to a literary man with jagged nerves. Twobig bronze bowls were filled with early violets, another blazed like apale sun with primroses, and the early woodland flowers filled the roomwith a faint fragrance. 

A man rose to his feet, as John Lexman entered and crossed the room withan easy carriage. He was a man possessed of singular beauty of face andof figure. Half a head taller than the author, he carried himself withsuch a grace as to conceal his height. 

"I missed you in town, " he said, "so I thought I'd run down on the offchance of seeing you. "

He spoke in the well-modulated tone of one who had had a longacquaintance with the public schools and universities of England. Therewas no trace of any foreign accent, yet Remington Kara was a Greek andhad been born and partly educated in the more turbulent area of Albania. 

The two men shook hands warmly. 

"You'll stay to dinner?"

Kara glanced round with a smile at Grace Lexman. She sat uncomfortablyupright, her hands loosely folded on her lap, her face devoid ofencouragement. 

"If Mrs. Lexman doesn't object, " said the Greek. 

"I should be pleased, if you would, " she said, almost mechanically; "itis a horrid night and you won't get anything worth eating this side ofLondon and I doubt very much, " she smiled a little, "if the meal I cangive you will be worthy of that description. "

"What you can give me will be more than sufficient, " he said, with alittle bow, and turned to her husband. 

In a few minutes they were deep in a discussion of books and places, andGrace seized the opportunity to make her escape. From books in generalto Lexman's books in particular the conversation flowed. 

"I've read every one of them, you know, " said Kara. 

John made a little face. "Poor devil, " he said sardonically. 

"On the contrary, " said Kara, "I am not to be pitied. There is a greatcriminal lost in you, Lexman. "

"Thank you, " said John. 

"I am not being uncomplimentary, am I?" smiled the Greek. "I am merelyreferring to the ingenuity of your plots. Sometimes your books baffleand annoy me. If I cannot see the solution of your mysteries before thebook is half through, it angers me a little. Of course in the majorityof cases I know the solution before I have reached the fifth chapter. "

John looked at him in surprise and was somewhat piqued. 

"I flatter myself it is impossible to tell how my stories will end untilthe last chapter, " he said. 

Kara nodded. 

"That would be so in the case of the average reader, but you forget thatI am a student. I follow every little thread of the clue which you leaveexposed. "

"You should meet T. X. , " said John, with a laugh, as he rose from hischair to poke the fire. 

"T. X. ?"

"T. X. Meredith. He is the most ingenious beggar you could meet. We wereat Caius together, and he is by way of being a great pal of mine. He isin the Criminal Investigation Department. "

Kara nodded. There was the light of interest in his eyes and he wouldhave pursued the discussion further, but at the moment dinner wasannounced. 

It was not a particularly cheerful meal because Grace did not as usualjoin in the conversation, and it was left to Kara and to her husbandto supply the deficiencies. She was experiencing a curious sense ofdepression, a premonition of evil which she could not define. Again andagain in the course of the dinner she took her mind back to the eventsof the day to discover the reason for her unease. 

Usually when she adopted this method she came upon the trivial causesin which apprehension was born, but now she was puzzled to find that asolution was denied her. Her letters of the morning had been pleasant, neither the house nor the servants had given her any trouble. She waswell herself, and though she knew John had a little money trouble, since his unfortunate speculation in Roumanian gold shares, and she halfsuspected that he had had to borrow money to make good his losses, yethis prospects were so excellent and the success of his last bookso promising that she, probably seeing with a clearer vision theunimportance of those money worries, was less concerned about theproblem than he. 

"You will have your coffee in the study, I suppose, " said Grace, "andI know you'll excuse me; I have to see Mrs. Chandler on the mundanesubject of laundry. "

She favoured Kara with a little nod as she left the room and touchedJohn's shoulder lightly with her hand in passing. 

Kara's eyes followed her graceful figure until she was out of view, then:

"I want to see you, Kara, " said John Lexman, "if you will give me fiveminutes. "

"You can have five hours, if you like, " said the other, easily. 

They went into the study together; the maid brought the coffeeand liqueur, and placed them on a little table near the fire anddisappeared. 

For a time the conversation was general. Kara, who was a frank admirerof the comfort of the room and who lamented his own inability to securewith money the cosiness which John had obtained at little cost, went ona foraging expedition whilst his host applied himself to a proof whichneeded correcting. 

"I suppose it is impossible for you to have electric light here, " Karaasked. 

"Quite, " replied the other. 

"Why?"

"I rather like the light of this lamp. "

"It isn't the lamp, " drawled the Greek and made a little grimace; "Ihate these candles. "

He waved his hand to the mantle-shelf where the six tall, white, waxencandles stood out from two wall sconces. 

"Why on earth do you hate candles?" asked the other in surprise. 

Kara made no reply for the moment, but shrugged his shoulders. Presentlyhe spoke. 

"If you were ever tied down to a chair and by the side of that chair wasa small keg of black powder and stuck in that powder was a small candlethat burnt lower and lower every minute--my God!"

John was amazed to see the perspiration stand upon the forehead of hisguest. 

"That sounds thrilling, " he said. 

The Greek wiped his forehead with a silk handkerchief and his hand shooka little. 

"It was something more than thrilling, " he said. 

"And when did this occur?" asked the author curiously. 

"In Albania, " replied the other; "it was many years ago, but the devilsare always sending me reminders of the fact. "

He did not attempt to explain who the devils were or under whatcircumstances he was brought to this unhappy pass, but changed thesubject definitely. 

Sauntering round the cosy room he followed the bookshelf which filledone wall and stopped now and again to examine some title. Presently hedrew forth a stout volume. 

"'Wild Brazil', " he read, "by George Gathercole-do you know Gathercole?"

John was filling his pipe from a big blue jar on his desk and nodded. 

"Met him once--a taciturn devil. Very short of speech and, like all menwho have seen and done things, less inclined to talk about himself thanany man I know. "

Kara looked at the book with a thoughtful pucker of brow and turned theleaves idly. 

"I've never seen him, " he said as he replaced the book, "yet, in asense, his new journey is on my behalf. "

The other man looked up. 

"On your behalf?"

"Yes--you know he has gone to Patagonia for me. He believes there isgold there--you will learn as much from his book on the mountain systemsof South America. I was interested in his theories and correspondedwith him. As a result of that correspondence he undertook to make ageological survey for me. I sent him money for his expenses, and he wentoff. "

"You never saw him?" asked John Lexman, surprised. 

Kara shook his head. 

"That was not--?" began his host. 

"Not like me, you were going to say. Frankly, it was not, but then Irealized that he was an unusual kind of man. I invited him to dine withme before he left London, and in reply received a wire from Southamptonintimating that he was already on his way. "

Lexman nodded. 

"It must be an awfully interesting kind of life, " he said. "I suppose hewill be away for quite a long time?"

"Three years, " said Kara, continuing his examination of the bookshelf. 

"I envy those fellows who run round the world writing books, " said John, puffing reflectively at his pipe. "They have all the best of it. "

Kara turned. He stood immediately behind the author and the othercould not see his face. There was, however, in his voice an unusualearnestness and an unusual quiet vehemence. 

"What have you to complain about!" he asked, with that little drawl ofhis. "You have your own creative work--the most fascinating branch oflabour that comes to a man. He, poor beggar, is bound to actualities. You have the full range of all the worlds which your imaginationgives to you. You can create men and destroy them, call into existencefascinating problems, mystify and baffle ten or twenty thousand people, and then, at a word, elucidate your mystery. "

John laughed. 

"There is something in that, " he said. 

"As for the rest of your life, " Kara went on in a lower voice, "I thinkyou have that which makes life worth living--an incomparable wife. "

Lexman swung round in his chair, and met the other's gaze, and there wassomething in the set of the other's handsome face which took his breathaway. 

"I do not see--" he began. 

Kara smiled. 

"That was an impertinence, wasn't it!" he said, banteringly. "But thenyou mustn't forget, my dear man, that I was very anxious to marry yourwife. I don't suppose it is secret. And when I lost her, I had ideasabout you which are not pleasant to recall. "

He had recovered his self-possession and had continued his aimlessstroll about the room. 

"You must remember I am a Greek, and the modern Greek is no philosopher. You must remember, too, that I am a petted child of fortune, and havehad everything I wanted since I was a baby. "

"You are a fortunate devil, " said the other, turning back to his desk, and taking up his pen. 

For a moment Kara did not speak, then he made as though he would saysomething, checked himself, and laughed. 

"I wonder if I am, " he said. 

And now he spoke with a sudden energy. 

"What is this trouble you are having with Vassalaro?"

John rose from his chair and walked over to the fire, stood gazing downinto its depths, his legs wide apart, his hands clasped behind him, andKara took his attitude to supply an answer to the question. 

"I warned you against Vassalaro, " he said, stooping by the other's sideto light his cigar with a spill of paper. "My dear Lexman, my fellowcountrymen are unpleasant people to deal with in certain moods. "

"He was so obliging at first, " said Lexman, half to himself. 

"And now he is so disobliging, " drawled Kara. "That is a way whichmoneylenders have, my dear man; you were very foolish to go to him atall. I could have lent you the money. "

"There were reasons why I should not borrow money from you, ", said John, quietly, "and I think you yourself have supplied the principal reasonwhen you told me just now, what I already knew, that you wanted to marryGrace. "

"How much is the amount?" asked Kara, examining his well-manicuredfinger-nails. 

"Two thousand five hundred pounds, " replied John, with a short laugh, "and I haven't two thousand five hundred shillings at this moment. "

"Will he wait?"

John Lexman shrugged his shoulders. 

"Look here, Kara, " he said, suddenly, "don't think I want to reproachyou, but it was through you that I met Vassalaro so that you know thekind of man he is. "

Kara nodded. 

"Well, I can tell you he has been very unpleasant indeed, " said John, with a frown, "I had an interview with him yesterday in London and itis clear that he is going to make a lot of trouble. I depended upon thesuccess of my play in town giving me enough to pay him off, and I veryfoolishly made a lot of promises of repayment which I have been unableto keep. "

"I see, " said Kara, and then, "does Mrs. Lexman know about this matter?"

"A little, " said the other. 

He paced restlessly up and down the room, his hands behind him and hischin upon his chest. 

"Naturally I have not told her the worst, or how beastly unpleasant theman has been. "

He stopped and turned. 

"Do you know he threatened to kill me?" he asked. 

Kara smiled. 

"I can tell you it was no laughing matter, " said the other, angrily, "I nearly took the little whippersnapper by the scruff of the neck andkicked him. "

Kara dropped his hand on the other's arm. 

"I am not laughing at you, " he said; "I am laughing at the thought ofVassalaro threatening to kill anybody. He is the biggest coward in theworld. What on earth induced him to take this drastic step?"

"He said he is being hard pushed for money, " said the other, moodily, "and it is possibly true. He was beside himself with anger and anxiety, otherwise I might have given the little blackguard the thrashing hedeserved. "

Kara who had continued his stroll came down the room and halted in frontof the fireplace looking at the young author with a paternal smile. 

"You don't understand Vassalaro, " he said; "I repeat he is the greatestcoward in the world. You will probably discover he is full of firearmsand threats of slaughter, but you have only to click a revolver to seehim collapse. Have you a revolver, by the way?"

"Oh, nonsense, " said the other, roughly, "I cannot engage myself in thatkind of melodrama. "

"It is not nonsense, " insisted the other, "when you are in Rome, etcetera, and when you have to deal with a low-class Greek you must usemethods which will at least impress him. If you thrash him, he willnever forgive you and will probably stick a knife into you or your wife. If you meet his melodrama with melodrama and at the psychological momentproduce your revolver; you will secure the effect you require. Have youa revolver?"

John went to his desk and, pulling open a drawer, took out a smallBrowning. 

"That is the extent of my armory, " he said, "it has never been fired andwas sent to me by an unknown admirer last Christmas. "

"A curious Christmas present, " said the other, examining the weapon. 

"I suppose the mistaken donor imagined from my books that I lived ina veritable museum of revolvers, sword sticks and noxious drugs, " saidLexman, recovering some of his good humour; "it was accompanied by acard. "

"Do you know how it works?" asked the other. 

"I have never troubled very much about it, " replied Lexman, "I know thatit is loaded by slipping back the cover, but as my admirer did not sendammunition, I never even practised with it. "

There was a knock at the door. 

"That is the post, " explained John. 

The maid had one letter on the salver and the author took it up with afrown. 

"From Vassalaro, " he said, when the girl had left the room. 

The Greek took the letter in his hand and examined it. 

"He writes a vile fist, " was his only comment as he handed it back toJohn. 

He slit open the thin, buff envelope and took out half a dozen sheets ofyellow paper, only a single sheet of which was written upon. The letterwas brief:

 "I must see you to-night without fail, " ran the scrawl; "meet me at the crossroads between Beston Tracey and the Eastbourne Road. I shall be there at eleven o'clock, and, if you want to preserve your life, you had better bring me a substantial instalment. "

It was signed "Vassalaro. "

John read the letter aloud. "He must be mad to write a letter likethat, " he said; "I'll meet the little devil and teach him such a lessonin politeness as he is never likely to forget. "

He handed the letter to the other and Kara read it in silence. 

"Better take your revolver, " he said as he handed it back. 

John Lexman looked at his watch. 

"I have an hour yet, but it will take me the best part of twenty minutesto reach the Eastbourne Road. "

"Will you see him?" asked Kara, in a tone of surprise. 

"Certainly, " Lexman replied emphatically: "I cannot have him coming upto the house and making a scene and that is certainly what the littlebeast will do. "

"Will you pay him?" asked Kara softly. 

John made no answer. There was probably 10 pounds in the house and acheque which was due on the morrow would bring him another 30 pounds. He looked at the letter again. It was written on paper of an unusualtexture. The surface was rough almost like blotting paper and in someplaces the ink absorbed by the porous surface had run. The blank sheetshad evidently been inserted by a man in so violent a hurry that he hadnot noticed the extravagance. 

"I shall keep this letter, " said John. 

"I think you are well advised. Vassalaro probably does not know that hetransgresses a law in writing threatening letters and that should be avery strong weapon in your hand in certain eventualities. "

There was a tiny safe in one corner of the study and this John openedwith a key which he took from his pocket. He pulled open one of thesteel drawers, took out the papers which were in it and put in theirplace the letter, pushed the drawer to, and locked it. 

All the time Kara was watching him intently as one who found more thanan ordinary amount of interest in the novelty of the procedure. 

He took his leave soon afterwards. 

"I would like to come with you to your interesting meeting, " he said, "but unfortunately I have business elsewhere. Let me enjoin you to takeyour revolver and at the first sign of any bloodthirsty intention on thepart of my admirable compatriot, produce it and click it once or twice, you won't have to do more. "

Grace rose from the piano as Kara entered the little drawing-room andmurmured a few conventional expressions of regret that the visitor'sstay had been so short. That there was no sincerity in that regret Kara, for one, had no doubt. He was a man singularly free from illusions. 

They stayed talking a little while. 

"I will see if your chauffeur is asleep, " said John, and went out of theroom. 

There was a little silence after he had gone. 

"I don't think you are very glad to see me, " said Kara. His franknesswas a little embarrassing to the girl and she flushed slightly. 

"I am always glad to see you, Mr. Kara, or any other of my husband'sfriends, " she said steadily. 

He inclined his head. 

"To be a friend of your husband is something, " he said, and then as ifremembering something, "I wanted to take a book away with me--I wonderif your husband would mind my getting it?"

"I will find it for you. "

"Don't let me bother you, " he protested, "I know my way. "

Without waiting for her permission he left the girl with the unpleasantfeeling that he was taking rather much for granted. He was gone lessthan a minute and returned with a book under his arm. 

"I have not asked Lexman's permission to take it, " he said, "but I amrather interested in the author. Oh, here you are, " he turned to Johnwho came in at that moment. "Might I take this book on Mexico?" heasked. "I will return it in the morning. "

They stood at the door, watching the tail light of the motor disappeardown the drive; and returned in silence to the drawing room. 

"You look worried, dear, " she said, laying her hand on his shoulder. 

He smiled faintly. 

"Is it the money?" she asked anxiously. 

For a moment he was tempted to tell her of the letter. He stifled thetemptation realizing that she would not consent to his going out if sheknew the truth. 

"It is nothing very much, " he said. "I have to go down to Beston Traceyto meet the last train. I am expecting some proofs down. "

He hated lying to her, and even an innocuous lie of this character wasrepugnant to him. 

"I'm afraid you have had a dull evening, " he said, "Kara was not veryamusing. "

She looked at him thoughtfully. 

"He has not changed very much, " she said slowly. 

"He's a wonderfully handsome chap, isn't he?" he asked in a tone ofadmiration. "I can't understand what you ever saw in a fellow like me, when you had a man who was not only rich, but possibly the best-lookingman in the world. "

She shivered a little. 

"I have seen a side of Mr. Kara that is not particularly beautiful, " shesaid. "Oh, John, I am afraid of that man!"

He looked at her in astonishment. 

"Afraid?" he asked. "Good heavens, Grace, what a thing to say! Why Ibelieve he'd do anything for you. "

"That is exactly what I am afraid of, " she said in a low voice. 

She had a reason which she did not reveal. She had first met RemingtonKara in Salonika two years before. She had been doing a tour through theBalkans with her father--it was the last tour the famous archeologistmade--and had met the man who was fated to have such an influence uponher life at a dinner given by the American Consul. 

Many were the stories which were told about this Greek with hisJove-like face, his handsome carriage and his limitless wealth. Itwas said that his mother was an American lady who had been captured byAlbanian brigands and was sold to one of the Albanian chiefs who fellin love with her, and for her sake became a Protestant. He had beeneducated at Yale and at Oxford, and was known to be the possessor ofvast wealth, and was virtually king of a hill district forty miles outof Durazzo. Here he reigned supreme, occupying a beautiful house whichhe had built by an Italian architect, and the fittings and appointmentsof which had been imported from the luxurious centres of the world. 

In Albania they called him "Kara Rumo, " which meant "The Black Roman, "for no particular reason so far as any one could judge, for his skin wasas fair as a Saxon's, and his close-cropped curls were almost golden. 

He had fallen in love with Grace Terrell. At first his attentions hadamused her, and then there came a time when they frightened her, for theman's fire and passion had been unmistakable. She had made it plain tohim that he could base no hopes upon her returning his love, and, in ascene which she even now shuddered to recall, he had revealed somethingof his wild and reckless nature. On the following day she did not seehim, but two days later, when returning through the Bazaar from a dancewhich had been given by the Governor General, her carriage was stopped, she was forcibly dragged from its interior, and her cries were stifledwith a cloth impregnated with a scent of a peculiar aromatic sweetness. Her assailants were about to thrust her into another carriage, when aparty of British bluejackets who had been on leave came upon the scene, and, without knowing anything of the nationality of the girl, hadrescued her. 

In her heart of hearts she did not doubt Kara's complicity in thismedieval attempt to gain a wife, but of this adventure she had toldher husband nothing. Until her marriage she was constantly receivingvaluable presents which she as constantly returned to the only addressshe knew--Kara's estate at Lemazo. A few months after her marriage shehad learned through the newspapers that this "leader of Greek society"had purchased a big house near Cadogan Square, and then, to heramazement and to her dismay, Kara had scraped an acquaintance with herhusband even before the honeymoon was over. 

His visits had been happily few, but the growing intimacy betweenJohn and this strange undisciplined man had been a source of constantdistress to her. 

Should she, at this, the eleventh hour, tell her husband all her fearsand her suspicions?

She debated the point for some time. And never was she nearer taking himinto her complete confidence than she was as he sat in the big armchairby the side of the piano, a little drawn of face, more than a littleabsorbed in his own meditations. Had he been less worried she might havespoken. As it was, she turned the conversation to his last work, thebig mystery story which, if it would not make his fortune, would mean aconsiderable increase to his income. 

At a quarter to eleven he looked at his watch, and rose. She helped himon with his coat. He stood for some time irresolutely. 

"Is there anything you have forgotten?" she asked. 

He asked himself whether he should follow Kara's advice. In anycircumstance it was not a pleasant thing to meet a ferocious littleman who had threatened his life, and to meet him unarmed was temptingProvidence. The whole thing was of course ridiculous, but it wasridiculous that he should have borrowed, and it was ridiculous that theborrowing should have been necessary, and yet he had speculated on thebest of advice--it was Kara's advice. 

The connection suddenly occurred to him, and yet Kara had not directlysuggested that he should buy Roumanian gold shares, but had merelyspoken glowingly of their prospects. He thought a moment, and thenwalked back slowly into the study, pulled open the drawer of his desk, took out the sinister little Browning, and slipped it into his pocket. 

"I shan't be long, dear, " he said, and kissing the girl he strode outinto the darkness. 

Kara sat back in the luxurious depths of his car, humming a little tune, as the driver picked his way cautiously over the uncertain road. Therain was still falling, and Kara had to rub the windows free of the mistwhich had gathered on them to discover where he was. From time to timehe looked out as though he expected to see somebody, and then with alittle smile he remembered that he had changed his original plan, andthat he had fixed the waiting room of Lewes junction as his rendezvous. 

Here it was that he found a little man muffled up to the ears in a bigtop coat, standing before the dying fire. He started as Kara entered andat a signal followed him from the room. 

The stranger was obviously not English. His face was sallow and peaked, his cheeks were hollow, and the beard he wore was irregular-almostunkempt. 

Kara led the way to the end of the dark platform, before he spoke. 

"You have carried out my instructions?" he asked brusquely. 

The language he spoke was Arabic, and the other answered him in thatlanguage. 

"Everything that you have ordered has been done, Effendi, " he saidhumbly. 

"You have a revolver?"

The man nodded and patted his pocket. 

"Loaded?"

"Excellency, " asked the other, in surprise, "what is the use of arevolver, if it is not loaded?"

"You understand, you are not to shoot this man, " said Kara. "You aremerely to present the pistol. To make sure, you had better unload itnow. "

Wonderingly the man obeyed, and clicked back the ejector. 

"I will take the cartridges, " said Kara, holding out his hand. 

He slipped the little cylinders into his pocket, and after examining theweapon returned it to its owner. 

"You will threaten him, " he went on. "Present the revolver straight athis heart. You need do nothing else. "

The man shuffled uneasily. 

"I will do as you say, Effendi, " he said. "But--"

"There are no 'buts, '" replied the other harshly. "You are to carry outmy instructions without any question. What will happen then you shallsee. I shall be at hand. That I have a reason for this play be assured. "

"But suppose he shoots?" persisted the other uneasily. 

"He will not shoot, " said Kara easily. "Besides, his revolver is notloaded. Now you may go. You have a long walk before you. You know theway?"

The man nodded. 

"I have been over it before, " he said confidently. 

Kara returned to the big limousine which had drawn up some distance fromthe station. He spoke a word or two to the chauffeur in Greek, and theman touched his hat. 

CHAPTER II

Assistant Commissioner of Police T. X. Meredith did not occupy officesin New Scotland Yard. It is the peculiarity of public offices that theyare planned with the idea of supplying the margin of space aboveall requirements and that on their completion they are found whollyinadequate to house the various departments which mysteriously come intoprogress coincident with the building operations. 

"T. X. , " as he was known by the police forces of the world, had a bigsuite of offices in Whitehall. The house was an old one facing the Boardof Trade and the inscription on the ancient door told passers-by thatthis was the "Public Prosecutor, Special Branch. "

The duties of T. X. Were multifarious. People said of him--and like mostpublic gossip, this was probably untrue--that he was the head of the"illegal" department of Scotland Yard. If by chance you lost the keys ofyour safe, T. X. Could supply you (so popular rumour ran) with a burglarwho would open that safe in half an hour. 

If there dwelt in England a notorious individual against whom the policecould collect no scintilla of evidence to justify a prosecution, and ifit was necessary for the good of the community that that person shouldbe deported, it was T. X. Who arrested the obnoxious person, hustledhim into a cab and did not loose his hold upon his victim until he hadlanded him on the indignant shores of an otherwise friendly power. 

It is very certain that when the minister of a tiny power which shall benameless was suddenly recalled by his government and brought to trialin his native land for putting into circulation spurious bonds, it wassomebody from the department which T. X. Controlled, who burgled HisExcellency's house, burnt the locks from his safe and secured thenecessary incriminating evidence. 

I say it is fairly certain and here I am merely voicing the opinion ofvery knowledgeable people indeed, heads of public departments who speakbehind their hands, mysterious under-secretaries of state who discussthings in whispers in the remote corners of their clubrooms and the morefrank views of American correspondents who had no hesitation in puttingthose views into print for the benefit of their readers. 

That T. X. Had a more legitimate occupation we know, for it was thatflippant man whose outrageous comment on the Home Office Administrationis popularly supposed to have sent one Home Secretary to his grave, whotraced the Deptford murderers through a labyrinth of perjury and whobrought to book Sir Julius Waglite though he had covered his trail ofdefalcation through the balance sheets of thirty-four companies. 

On the night of March 3rd, T. X. Sat in his inner office interviewing adisconsolate inspector of metropolitan police, named Mansus. 

In appearance T. X. Conveyed the impression of extreme youth, for hisface was almost boyish and it was only when you looked at him closelyand saw the little creases about his eyes, the setting of his straightmouth, that you guessed he was on the way to forty. In his early dayshe had been something of a poet, and had written a slight volumeof "Woodland Lyrics, " the mention of which at this later stage wassufficient to make him feel violently unhappy. 

In manner he was tactful but persistent, his language was at timesmarked by a violent extravagance and he had had the distinction ofhaving provoked, by certain correspondence which had seen the light, the comment of a former Home Secretary that "it was unfortunate thatMr. Meredith did not take his position with the seriousness which wasexpected from a public official. "

His language was, as I say, under great provocation, violent andunusual. He had a trick of using words which never were on land or sea, and illustrating his instruction or his admonition with the quaintestphraseology. 

Now he was tilted back in his office chair at an alarming angle, scowling at his distressed subordinate who sat on the edge of a chair atthe other side of his desk. 

"But, T. X. , " protested the Inspector, "there was nothing to be found. "

It was the outrageous practice of Mr. Meredith to insist upon hisassociates calling him by his initials, a practice which had earntdisapproval in the highest quarters. 

"Nothing is to be found!" he repeated wrathfully. "Curious Mike!"

He sat up with a suddenness which caused the police officer to startback in alarm. 

"Listen, " said T. X. , grasping an ivory paperknife savagely in his handand tapping his blotting-pad to emphasize his words, "you're a pie!"

"I'm a policeman, " said the other patiently. 

"A policeman!" exclaimed the exasperated T. X. "You're worse than a pie, you're a slud! I'm afraid I shall never make a detective of you, " heshook his head sorrowfully at the smiling Mansus who had been in thepolice force when T. X. Was a small boy at school, "you are neither Wisenor Wily; you combine the innocence of a Baby with the grubbiness of aCounty Parson--you ought to be in the choir. "

At this outrageous insult Mr. Mansus was silent; what he might havesaid, or what further provocation he might have received may be neverknown, for at that moment, the Chief himself walked in. 

The Chief of the Police in these days was a grey man, rather tired, witha hawk nose and deep eyes that glared under shaggy eyebrows and he was aterror to all men of his department save to T. X. Who respected nothingon earth and very little elsewhere. He nodded curtly to Mansus. 

"Well, T. X. , " he said, "what have you discovered about our friendKara?"

He turned from T. X. To the discomforted inspector. 

"Very little, " said T. X. "I've had Mansus on the job. "

"And you've found nothing, eh?" growled the Chief. 

"He has found all that it is possible to find, " said T. X. "We do notperform miracles in this department, Sir George, nor can we pick up thethreads of a case at five minutes' notice. "

Sir George Haley grunted. 

"Mansus has done his best, " the other went on easily, "but it is ratherabsurd to talk about one's best when you know so little of what youwant. "

Sir George dropped heavily into the arm-chair, and stretched out hislong thin legs. 

"What I want, " he said, looking up at the ceiling and putting his handstogether, "is to discover something about one Remington Kara, a wealthyGreek who has taken a house in Cadogan Square, who has no particularposition in London society and therefore has no reason for cominghere, who openly expresses his detestation of the climate, who hasa magnificent estate in some wild place in the Balkans, who is anexcellent horseman, a magnificent shot and a passable aviator. "

T. X. Nodded to Mansus and with something of gratitude in his eyes theinspector took his leave. 

"Now Mansus has departed, " said T. X. , sitting himself on the edge ofhis desk and selecting with great care a cigarette from the case he tookfrom his pocket, "let me know something of the reason for this suddeninterest in the great ones of the earth. "

Sir George smiled grimly. 

"I have the interest which is the interest of my department, " he said. "That is to say I want to know a great deal about abnormal people. Wehave had an application from him, " he went on, "which is rather unusual. Apparently he is in fear of his life from some cause or other and wantsto know if he can have a private telephone connection between his houseand the central office. We told him that he could always get the nearestPolice Station on the 'phone, but that doesn't satisfy him. He has madebad friends with some gentleman of his own country who sooner or later, he thinks, will cut his throat. "

T. X. Nodded. 

"All this I know, " he said patiently, "if you will further unfold thesecret dossier, Sir George, I am prepared to be thrilled. "

"There is nothing thrilling about it, " growled the older man, rising, "but I remember the Macedonian shooting case in South London and I don'twant a repetition of that sort of thing. If people want to have bloodfeuds, let them take them outside the metropolitan area. "

"By all means, " said T. X. , "let them. Personally, I don't care wherethey go. But if that is the extent of your information I can supplementit. He has had extensive alterations made to the house he bought inCadogan Square; the room in which he lives is practically a safe. "

Sir George raised his eyebrows. 

"A safe, " he repeated. 

T. X. Nodded. 

"A safe, " he said; "its walls are burglar proof, floor and roof arereinforced concrete, there is one door which in addition to its ordinarylock is closed by a sort of steel latch which he lets fall when heretires for the night and which he opens himself personally in themorning. The window is unreachable, there are no communicating doors, and altogether the room is planned to stand a siege. "

The Chief Commissioner was interested. 

"Any more?" he asked. 

"Let me think, " said T. X. , looking up at the ceiling. "Yes, theinterior of his room is plainly furnished, there is a big fireplace, rather an ornate bed, a steel safe built into the wall and visible fromits outer side to the policeman whose beat is in that neighborhood. "

"How do you know all this?" asked the Chief Commissioner. 

"Because I've been in the room, " said T. X. Simply, "having by anunderhand trick succeeded in gaining the misplaced confidence of Kara'shousekeeper, who by the way"--he turned round to his desk and scribbleda name on the blotting-pad--"will be discharged to-morrow and must befound a place. "

"Is there any--er--?" began the Chief. 

"Funny business?" interrupted T. X. , "not a bit. House and man are quitenormal save for these eccentricities. He has announced his intention ofspending three months of the year in England and nine months abroad. Heis very rich, has no relations, and has a passion for power. "

"Then he'll be hung, " said the Chief, rising. 

"I doubt it, " said the other, "people with lots of money seldom gethung. You only get hung for wanting money. "

"Then you're in some danger, T. X. , " smiled the Chief, "for according tomy account you're always more or less broke. "

"A genial libel, " said T. X. , "but talking about people being broke, Isaw John Lexman to-day--you know him!"

The Chief Commissioner nodded. 

"I've an idea he's rather hit for money. He was in that Roumanian goldswindle, and by his general gloom, which only comes to a man when he'sin love (and he can't possibly be in love since he's married) or whenhe's in debt, I fear that he is still feeling the effect of that rosyadventure. "

A telephone bell in the corner of the room rang sharply, and T. X. Picked up the receiver. He listened intently. 

"A trunk call, " he said over his shoulder to the departing commissioner, "it may be something interesting. "

A little pause; then a hoarse voice spoke to him. "Is that you, T. X. ?"

"That's me, " said the Assistant Commissioner, commonly. 

"It's John Lexman speaking. "

"I shouldn't have recognized your voice, " said T. X. , "what is wrongwith you, John, can't you get your plot to went?"

"I want you to come down here at once, " said the voice urgently, andeven over the telephone T. X. Recognized the distress. "I have shot aman, killed him!"

T. X. Gasped. 

"Good Lord, " he said, "you are a silly ass!"

CHAPTER III

In the early hours of the morning a tragic little party was assembled inthe study at Beston Priory. John Lexman, white and haggard, sat on thesofa with his wife by his side. Immediate authority as represented bya village constable was on duty in the passage outside, whilst T. X. Sitting at the table with a writing pad and a pencil was briefly notingthe evidence. 

The author had sketched the events of the day. He had described hisinterview with the money-lender the day before and the arrival of theletter. 

"You have the letter!" asked T. X. 

John Lexman nodded. 

"I am glad of that, " said the other with a sigh of relief, "that willsave you from a great deal of unpleasantness, my poor old chap. Tell mewhat happened afterward. "

"I reached the village, " said John Lexman, "and passed through it. Therewas nobody about, the rain was still falling very heavily and indeed Ididn't meet a single soul all the evening. I reached the place appointedabout five minutes before time. It was the corner of Eastbourne Roadon the station side and there I found Vassalaro waiting. I was ratherashamed of myself at meeting him at all under these conditions, but Iwas very keen on his not coming to the house for I was afraid it wouldupset Grace. What made it all the more ridiculous was this infernalpistol which was in my pocket banging against my side with every step Itook as though to nudge me to an understanding of my folly. "

"Where did you meet Vassalaro?" asked T. X. 

"He was on the other side of the Eastbourne Road and crossed the roadto meet me. At first he was very pleasant though a little agitated butafterward he began to behave in a most extraordinary manner as though hewas lashing himself up into a fury which he didn't feel. I promised hima substantial amount on account, but he grew worse and worse and then, suddenly, before I realised what he was doing, he was brandishing arevolver in my face and uttering the most extraordinary threats. Then itwas I remembered Kara's warning. "

"Kara, " said T. X. Quickly. 

"A man I know and who was responsible for introducing me to Vassalaro. He is immensely wealthy. "

"I see, " said T. X. , "go on. "

"I remembered this warning, " the other proceeded, "and I thought itworth while trying it out to see if it had any effect upon the littleman. I pulled the pistol from my pocket and pointed it at him, but thatonly seemed to make it--and then I pressed the trigger.... 

"To my horror four shots exploded before I could recover sufficientself-possession to loosen my hold of the butt. He fell without a word. I dropped the revolver and knelt by his side. I could tell he wasdangerously wounded, and indeed I knew at that moment that nothing wouldsave him. My pistol had been pointed in the region of his heart.... "

He shuddered, dropping his face in his hands, and the girl by his side, encircling his shoulder with a protecting arm, murmured something in hisear. Presently he recovered. 

"He wasn't quite dead. I heard him murmur something but I wasn't ableto distinguish what he said. I went straight to the village and told theconstable and had the body removed. "

T. X. Rose from the table and walked to the door and opened it. 

"Come in, constable, " he said, and when the man made his appearance, "I suppose you were very careful in removing this body, and you tookeverything which was lying about in the immediate ate vicinity'?"

"Yes, sir, " replied the man, "I took his hat and his walkingstick, ifthat's what you mean. "

"And the revolver!" asked T. X. 

The man shook his head. 

"There warn't any revolver, sir, except the pistol which Mr. Lexmanhad. "

He fumbled in his pocket and pulled it out gingerly, and T. X. Took itfrom him. 

"I'll look after your prisoner; you go down to the village, get any helpyou can and make a most careful search in the place where this manwas killed and bring me the revolver which you will discover. You'llprobably find it in a ditch by the side of the road. I'll give asovereign to the man who finds it. "

The constable touched his hat and went out. 

"It looks rather a weird case to me, " said T. X. , as he came back to thetable, "can't you see the unusual features yourself, Lexman! It isn'tunusual for you to owe money and it isn't unusual for the usurer todemand the return of that money, but in this case he is asking forit before it was due, and further than that he was demanding it withthreats. It is not the practice of the average money lender to go afterhis clients with a loaded revolver. Another peculiar thing is that if hewished to blackmail you, that is to say, bring you into contempt inthe eyes of your friends, why did he choose to meet you in a dark andunfrequented road, and not in your house where the moral pressure wouldbe greatest? Also, why did he write you a threatening letter which wouldcertainly bring him into the grip of the law and would have saved you agreat deal of unpleasantness if he had decided upon taking action!"

He tapped his white teeth with the end of his pencil and then suddenly, "I think I'll see that letter, " he said. 

John Lexman rose from the sofa, crossed to the safe, unlocked it andwas unlocking the steel drawer in which he had placed the incriminatingdocument. His hand was on the key when T. X. Noticed the look ofsurprise on his face. 

"What is it!" asked the detective suddenly. 

"This drawer feels very hot, " said John, --he looked round as though tomeasure the distance between the safe and the fire. 

T. X. Laid his hand upon the front of the drawer. It was indeed warm. 

"Open it, " said T. X. , and Lexman turned the key and pulled the draweropen. 

As he did so, the whole contents burst up in a quick blaze of flame. Itdied down immediately and left only a little coil of smoke that flowedfrom the safe into the room. 

"Don't touch anything inside, " said T. X. Quickly. 

He lifted the drawer carefully and placed it under the light. In thebottom was no more than a few crumpled white ashes and a blister ofpaint where the flame had caught the side. 

"I see, " said T. X. Slowly. 

He saw something more than that handful of ashes, he saw the deadlyperil in which his friend was standing. Here was one half of theevidence in Lexman's favour gone, irredeemably. 

"The letter was written on a paper which was specially prepared by achemical process which disintegrated the moment the paper was exposedto the air. Probably if you delayed putting the letter in the draweranother five minutes, you would have seen it burn before your eyes. Asit was, it was smouldering before you had turned the key of the box. Theenvelope!"

"Kara burnt it, " said Lexman in a low voice, "I remember seeing him takeit up from the table and throw it in the fire. "

T. X. Nodded. 

"There remains the other half of the evidence, " he said grimly, and whenan hour later, the village constable returned to report that in spiteof his most careful search he had failed to discover the dead man'srevolver, his anticipations were realized. 

The next morning John Lexman was lodged in Lewes gaol on a charge ofwilful murder. 

A telegram brought Mansus from London to Beston Tracey, and T. X. Received him in the library. 

"I sent for you, Mansus, because I suffer from the illusion that youhave more brains than most of the people in my department, and that'snot saying much. "

"I am very grateful to you, sir, for putting me right withCommissioner, " began Mansus, but T. X. Stopped him. 

"It is the duty of every head of departments, " he said oracularly, "toshield the incompetence of his subordinates. It is only by the adoptionof some such method that the decencies of the public life can beobserved. Now get down to this. " He gave a sketch of the case from startto finish in as brief a space of time as possible. 

"The evidence against Mr. Lexman is very heavy, " he said. "He borrowedmoney from this man, and on the man's body were found particulars of thevery Promissory Note which Lexman signed. Why he should have brought itwith him, I cannot say. Anyhow I doubt very much whether Mr. Lexman willget a jury to accept his version. Our only chance is to find the Greek'srevolver--I don't think there's any very great chance, but if we are tobe successful we must make a search at once. "

Before he went out he had an interview with Grace. The dark shadowsunder her eyes told of a sleepless night. She was unusually pale andsurprisingly calm. 

"I think there are one or two things I ought to tell you, " she said, asshe led the way into the drawing room, closing the door behind him. 

"And they concern Mr. Kara, I think, " said T. X. 

She looked at him startled. 

"How did you know that?"

"I know nothing. "

He hesitated on the brink of a flippant claim of omniscience, butrealizing in time the agony she must be suffering he checked his naturaldesire. 

"I really know nothing, " he continued, "but I guess a lot, " and that wasas near to the truth as you might expect T. X. To reach on the spur ofthe moment. 

She began without preliminary. 

"In the first place I must tell you that Mr. Kara once asked me to marryhim, and for reasons which I will give you, I am dreadfully afraid ofhim. "

She described without reserve the meeting at Salonika and Kara'sextravagant rage and told of the attempt which had been made upon her. 

"Does John know this?" asked T. X. 

She shook her head sadly. 

"I wish I had told him now, " she said. "Oh, how I wish I had!" She wrungher hands in an ecstasy of sorrow and remorse. 

T. X. Looked at her sympathetically. Then he asked, "Did Mr. Kara ever discuss your husband's financial position with you!"

"Never. "

"How did John Lexman happen to meet Vassalaro!"

"I can tell you that, " she answered, "the first time we met Mr. Karain England was when we were staying at Babbacombe on a summerholiday--which was really a prolongation of our honeymoon. Mr. Kara cameto stay at the same hotel. I think Mr. Vassalaro must have been therebefore; at any rate they knew one another and after Kara's introductionto my husband the rest was easy. 

"Can I do anything for John!" she asked piteously. 

T. X. Shook his head. 

"So far as your story is concerned, I don't think you will advantage himby telling it, " he said. "There is nothing whatever to connect Kara withthis business and you would only give your husband a great deal of pain. I'll do the best I can. "

He held out his hand and she grasped it and somehow at that momentthere came to T. X. Meredith a new courage, a new faith and a greaterdetermination than ever to solve this troublesome mystery. 

He found Mansus waiting for him in a car outside and in a few minutesthey were at the scene of the tragedy. A curious little knot ofspectators had gathered, looking with morbid interest at the place wherethe body had been found. There was a local policeman on duty and to himwas deputed the ungracious task of warning his fellow villagers to keeptheir distance. The ground had already been searched very carefully. Thetwo roads crossed almost at right angles and at the corner of the crossthus formed, the hedges were broken, admitting to a field which hadevidently been used as a pasture by an adjoining dairy farm. Some roughattempt had been made to close the gap with barbed wire, but it waspossible to step over the drooping strands with little or no difficulty. It was to this gap that T. X. Devoted his principal attention. All thefields had been carefully examined without result, the four drains whichwere merely the connecting pipes between ditches at the sides of thecrossroads had been swept out and only the broken hedge and its tangleof bushes behind offered any prospect of the new search being rewarded. 

"Hullo!" said Mansus, suddenly, and stooping down he picked up somethingfrom the ground. 

T. X. Took it in his hand. 

It was unmistakably a revolver cartridge. He marked the spot whereit had been found by jamming his walking stick into the ground andcontinued his search, but without success. 

"I am afraid we shall find nothing more here, " said T. X. , after halfan hour's further search. He stood with his chin in his hand, a frown onhis face. 

"Mansus, " he said, "suppose there were three people here, Lexman, themoney lender and a third witness. And suppose this third person for somereason unknown was interested in what took place between the two men andhe wanted to watch unobserved. Isn't it likely that if he, as I think, instigated the meeting, he would have chosen this place because thisparticular hedge gave him a chance of seeing without being seen?"

Mansus thought. 

"He could have seen just as well from either of the other hedges, withless chance of detection, " he said, after a long pause. 

T. X. Grinned. 

"You have the makings of a brain, " he said admiringly. "I agree withyou. Always remember that, Mansus. That there was one occasion in yourlife when T. X. Meredith and you thought alike. "

Mansus smiled a little feebly. 

"Of course from the point of view of the observer this was the worstplace possible, so whoever came here, if they did come here, droppingrevolver bullets about, must have chosen the spot because it wasget-at-able from another direction. Obviously he couldn't come down theroad and climb in without attracting the attention of the Greek who waswaiting for Mr. Lexman. We may suppose there is a gate farther along theroad, we may suppose that he entered that gate, came along the field bythe side of the hedge and that somewhere between here and the gate, hethrew away his cigar. "

"His cigar!" said Mansus in surprise. 

"His cigar, " repeated T. X. , "if he was alone, he would keep his cigaralight until the very last moment. "

"He might have thrown it into the road, " said Mansus. 

"Don't jibber, " said T. X. , and led the way along the hedge. From wherethey stood they could see the gate which led on to the road about ahundred yards further on. Within a dozen yards of that gate, T. X. Foundwhat he had been searching for, a half-smoked cigar. It was sodden withrain and he picked it up tenderly. 

"A good cigar, if I am any judge, " he said, "cut with a penknife, andsmoked through a holder. "

They reached the gate and passed through. Here they were on the roadagain and this they followed until they reached another cross road thatto the left inclining southward to the new Eastbourne Road and that tothe westward looking back to the Lewes-Eastbourne railway. The rain hadobliterated much that T. X. Was looking for, but presently he found afaint indication of a car wheel. 

"This is where she turned and backed, " he said, and walked slowly to theroad on the left, "and this is where she stood. There is the grease fromher engine. "

He stooped down and moved forward in the attitude of a Russian dancer, "And here are the wax matches which the chauffeur struck, " he counted, "one, two, three, four, five, six, allow three for each cigarette on aboisterous night like last night, that makes three cigarettes. Here isa cigarette end, Mansus, Gold Flake brand, " he said, as he examined itcarefully, "and a Gold Flake brand smokes for twelve minutes in normalweather, but about eight minutes in gusty weather. A car was here forabout twenty-four minutes--what do you think of that, Mansus?"

"A good bit of reasoning, T. X. , " said the other calmly, "if it happensto be the car you're looking for. "

"I am looking for any old car, " said T. X. 

He found no other trace of car wheels though he carefully followedup the little lane until it reached the main road. After that it washopeless to search because rain had fallen in the night and in the earlyhours of the morning. He drove his assistant to the railway station intime to catch the train at one o'clock to London. 

"You will go straight to Cadogan Square and arrest the chauffeur of Mr. Kara, " he said. 

"Upon what charge!" asked Mansus hurriedly. 

When it came to the step which T. X. Thought fit to take in thepursuance of his duty, Mansus was beyond surprise. 

"You can charge him with anything you like, " said T. X. , with finecarelessness, "probably something will occur to you on your way up totown. As a matter of fact the chauffeur has been called unexpectedlyaway to Greece and has probably left by this morning's train for theContinent. If that is so, we can do nothing, because the boat will haveleft Dover and will have landed him at Boulogne, but if by any luck youget him, keep him busy until I get back. "

T. X. Himself was a busy man that day, and it was not until night wasfalling that he again turned to Beston Tracey to find a telegram waitingfor him. He opened it and read, "Chauffeur's name, Goole. Formerly waiter English Club, Constantinople. Left for east by early train this morning, his mother being ill. "

"His mother ill, " said T. X. Contemptuously, "how very feeble, --I shouldhave thought Kara could have gone one better than that. "

He was in John Lexman's study as the door opened and the maid announced, "Mr. Remington Kara. "

CHAPTER IV

T. X. Folded the telegram very carefully and slipped it into hiswaistcoat pocket. 

He favoured the newcomer with a little bow and taking upon himself thehonours of the establishment, pushed a chair to his visitor. 

"I think you know my name, " said Kara easily, "I am a friend of poorLexman's. "

"So I am told, " said T. X. , "but don't let your friendship for Lexmanprevent your sitting down. "

For a moment the Greek was nonplussed and then, with a little smile andbow, he seated himself by the writing table. 

"I am very distressed at this happening, " he went on, "and I ammore distressed because I feel that as I introduced Lexman to thisunfortunate man, I am in a sense responsible. "

"If I were you, " said T. X. , leaning back in the chair and lookinghalf questioningly and half earnestly into the face of the other, "Ishouldn't let that fact keep me awake at night. Most people are murderedas a result of an introduction. The cases where people murder totalstrangers are singularly rare. That I think is due to the insularity ofour national character. "

Again the other was taken back and puzzled by the flippancy of the manfrom whom he had expected at least the official manner. 

"When did you see Mr. Vassalaro last?" asked T. X. Pleasantly. 

Kara raised his eyes as though considering. 

"I think it must have been nearly a week ago. "

"Think again, " said T. X. 

For a second the Greek started and again relaxed into a smile. 

"I am afraid, " he began. 

"Don't worry about that, " said T. X. , "but let me ask you this question. You were here last night when Mr. Lexman received a letter. That he didreceive a letter, there is considerable evidence, " he said as he sawthe other hesitate, "because we have the supporting statements of theservant and the postman. "

"I was here, " said the other, deliberately, "and I was present when Mr. Lexman received a letter. "

T. X. Nodded. 

"A letter written on some brownish paper and rather bulky, " hesuggested. 

Again there was that momentary hesitation. 

"I would not swear to the color of the paper or as to the bulk of theletter, " he said. 

"I should have thought you would, " suggested T. X. , "because you see, you burnt the envelope, and I presumed you would have noticed that. "

"I have no recollection of burning any envelope, " said the other easily. 

"At any rate, " T. X. Went on, "when Mr. Lexman read this letter out toyou... "

"To which letter are you referring?" asked the other, with a lift of hiseyebrows. 

"Mr. Lexman received a threatening letter, " repeated T. X. Patiently, "which he read out to you, and which was addressed to him by Vassalaro. This letter was handed to you and you also read it. Mr. Lexman to yourknowledge put the letter in his safe--in a steel drawer. "

The other shook his head, smiling gently. 

"I am afraid you've made a great mistake, " he said almostapologetically, "though I have a recollection of his receiving a letter, I did not read it, nor was it read to me. "

The eyes of T. X. Narrowed to the very slits and his voice becamemetallic and hard. 

"And if I put you into the box, will you swear, that you did not seethat letter, nor read it, nor have it read to you, and that you have noknowledge whatever of such a letter having been received by Mr. Lexman?"

"Most certainly, " said the other coolly. 

"Would you swear that you have not seen Vassalaro for a week?"

"Certainly, " smiled the Greek. 

"That you did not in fact see him last night, " persisted T. X. , "andinterview him on the station platform at Lewes, that you did not afterleaving him continue on your way to London and then turn your car andreturn to the neighbourhood of Beston Tracey?"

The Greek was white to the lips, but not a muscle of his face moved. 

"Will you also swear, " continued T. X. Inexorably, "that you did notstand at the corner of what is known as Mitre's Lot and re-enter a gatenear to the side where your car was, and that you did not watch thewhole tragedy?"

"I'd swear to that, " Kara's voice was strained and cracked. 

"Would you also swear as to the hour of your arrival in London?"

"Somewhere in the region of ten or eleven, " said the Greek. 

T. X. Smiled. 

"Would you swear that you did not go through Guilford at half-pasttwelve and pull up to replenish your petrol?"

The Greek had now recovered his self-possession and rose. 

"You are a very clever man, Mr. Meredith--I think that is your name?"

"That is my name, " said T. X. Calmly. "There has been, no need for me tochange it as often as you have found the necessity. "

He saw the fire blazing in the other's eyes and knew that his shot hadgone home. 

"I am afraid I must go, " said Kara. "I came here intending to see Mrs. Lexman, and I had no idea that I should meet a policeman. "

"My dear Mr. Kara, " said T. X. , rising and lighting a cigarette, "youwill go through life enduring that unhappy experience. "

"What do you mean?"

"Just what I say. You will always be expecting to meet one person, andmeeting another, and unless you are very fortunate indeed, that otherwill always be a policeman. "

His eyes twinkled for he had recovered from the gust of anger which hadswept through him. 

"There are two pieces of evidence I require to save Mr. Lexman from veryserious trouble, " he said, "the first of these is the letter which wasburnt, as you know. "

"Yes, " said Kara. 

T. X. Leant across the desk. 

"How did you know?" he snapped. 

"Somebody told me, I don't know who it was. "

"That's not true, " replied T. X. ; "nobody knows except myself and Mrs. Lexman. "

"But my dear good fellow, " said Kara, pulling on his gloves, "you havealready asked me whether I didn't burn the letter. "

"I said envelope, " said T. X. , with a little laugh. 

"And you were going to say something about the other clue?"

"The other is the revolver, " said T. X. 

"Mr. Lexman's revolver!" drawled the Greek. 

"That we have, " said T. X. Shortly. "What we want is the weapon whichthe Greek had when he threatened Mr. Lexman. "

"There, I'm afraid I cannot help you. "

Kara walked to the door and T. X. Followed. 

"I think I will see Mrs. Lexman. "

"I think not, " said T. X. 

The other turned with a sneer. 

"Have you arrested her, too?" he asked. 

"Pull yourself together!" said T. X. Coarsely. He escorted Kara to hiswaiting limousine. 

"You have a new chauffeur to-night, I observe, " he said. 

Kara towering with rage stepped daintily into the car. 

"If you are writing to the other you might give him my love, " said T. X. , "and make most tender enquiries after his mother. I particularly askthis. "

Kara said nothing until the car was out of earshot then he lay backon the down cushions and abandoned himself to a paroxysm of rage andblasphemy. 

CHAPTER V

Six months later T. X. Meredith was laboriously tracing an elusive linewhich occurred on an ordnance map of Sussex when the Chief Commissionerannounced himself. 

Sir George described T. X. As the most wholesome corrective a publicofficial could have, and never missed an opportunity of meeting hissubordinate (as he said) for this reason. 

"What are you doing there?" he growled. 

"The lesson this morning, " said T. X. Without looking up, "is maps. "

Sir George passed behind his assistant and looked over his shoulder. 

"That is a very old map you have got there, " he said. 

"1876. It shows the course of a number of interesting little streams inthis neighbourhood which have been lost sight of for one reason orthe other by the gentleman who made the survey at a later period. Iam perfectly sure that in one of these streams I shall find what I amseeking. "

"You haven't given up hope, then, in regard to Lexman?"

"I shall never give up hope, " said T. X. , "until I am dead, and possiblynot then. "

"Let me see, what did he get--fifteen years!"

"Fifteen years, " repeated T. X. , "and a very fortunate man to escapewith his life. "

Sir George walked to the window and stared out on to busy Whitehall. 

"I am told you are quite friendly with Kara again. "

T. X. Made a noise which might be taken to indicate his assent to thestatement. 

"I suppose you know that gentleman has made a very heroic attempt to getyou fired, " he said. 

"I shouldn't wonder, " said T. X. "I made as heroic an attempt to get himhung, and one good turn deserves another. What did he do? See ministersand people?"

"He did, " said Sir George. 

"He's a silly ass, " responded T. X. 

"I can understand all that"--the Chief Commissioner turned round--"butwhat I cannot understand is your apology to him. "

"There are so many things you don't understand, Sir George, " said T. X. Tartly, "that I despair of ever cataloguing them. "

"You are an insolent cub, " growled his Chief. "Come to lunch. "

"Where will you take me?" asked T. X. Cautiously. 

"To my club. "

"I'm sorry, " said the other, with elaborate politeness, "I have lunchedonce at your club. Need I say more?"

He smiled, as he worked after his Chief had gone, at the recollectionof Kara's profound astonishment and the gratification he strove sodesperately to disguise. 

Kara was a vain man, immensely conscious of his good looks, conscious ofhis wealth. He had behaved most handsomely, for not only had he acceptedthe apology, but he left nothing undone to show his desire to create agood impression upon the man who had so grossly insulted him. 

T. X. Had accepted an invitation to stay a weekend at Kara's "littleplace in the country, " and had found there assembled everything thatthe heart could desire in the way of fellowship, eminent politicianswho might conceivably be of service to an ambitious young AssistantCommissioner of Police, beautiful ladies to interest and amuse him. Karahad even gone to the length of engaging a theatrical company to play"Sweet Lavender, " and for this purpose the big ballroom at Hever Courthad been transformed into a theatre. 

As he was undressing for bed that night T. X. Remembered that he hadmentioned to Kara that "Sweet Lavender" was his favorite play, and herealized that the entertainment was got up especially for his benefit. 

In a score of other ways Kara had endeavoured to consolidate thefriendship. He gave the young Commissioner advice about a railwaycompany which was operating in Asia Minor, and the shares of which stooda little below par. T. X. Thanked him for the advice, and did not takeit, nor did he feel any regret when the shares rose 3 pounds in as manyweeks. 

T. X. Had superintended the disposal of Beston Priory. He had thefurniture removed to London, and had taken a flat for Grace Lexman. 

She had a small income of her own, and this, added to the largeroyalties which came to her (as she was bitterly conscious) inincreasing volume as the result of the publicity of the trial, placedher beyond fear of want. 

"Fifteen years, " murmured T. X. , as he worked and whistled. 

There had been no hope for John Lexman from the start. He was in debtto the man he killed. His story of threatening letters was notsubstantiated. The revolver which he said had been flourished at himhad never been found. Two people believed implicitly in the story, and asympathetic Home Secretary had assured T. X. Personally that if he couldfind the revolver and associate it with the murder beyond any doubt, John Lexman would be pardoned. 

Every stream in the neighbourhood had been dragged. In one case a smallriver had been dammed, and the bed had been carefully dried and sifted, but there was no trace of the weapon, and T. X. Had tried methods moreeffective and certainly less legal. 

A mysterious electrician had called at 456 Cadogan Square in Kara'sabsence, and he was armed with such indisputable authority that hewas permitted to penetrate to Kara's private room, in order to examinecertain fitments. 

Kara returning next day thought no more of the matter when it wasreported to him, until going to his safe that night he discovered thatit had been opened and ransacked. 

As it happened, most of Kara's valuable and confidential possessionswere at the bank. In a fret of panic and at considerable cost he hadthe safe removed and another put in its place of such potency that themakers offered to indemnify him against any loss from burglary. 

T. X. Finished his work, washed his hands, and was drying them whenMansus came bursting into the room. It was not usual for Mansus toburst into anywhere. He was a slow, methodical, painstaking man, with adeliberate and an official, manner. 

"What's the matter?" asked T. X. Quickly. 

"We didn't search Vassalaro's lodgings, " cried Mansus breathlessly. "Itjust occurred to me as I was coming over Westminster Bridge. I was ontop of a bus--"

"Wake up!" said T. X. "You're amongst friends and cut all that 'bus'stuff out. Of course we searched Vassalaro's lodgings!"

"No, we didn't, sir, " said the other triumphantly. "He lived in GreatJames Street. "

"He lived in the Adelphi, " corrected T. X. 

"There were two places where he lived, " said Mansus. 

"When did you learn this?" asked his Chief, dropping his flippancy. 

"This morning. I was on a bus coming across Westminster Bridge, andthere were two men in front of me, and I heard the word 'Vassalaro' andnaturally I pricked up my ears. "

"It was very unnatural, but proceed, " said T. X. 

"One of the men--a very respectable person--said, 'That chap Vassalaroused to lodge in my place, and I've still got a lot of his things. Whatdo you think I ought to do?'"

"And you said, " suggested the other. 

"I nearly frightened his life out of him, " said Mansus. "I said, 'I am apolice officer and I want you to come along with me. '"

"And of course he shut up and would not say another word, " said T. X. 

"That's true, sir, " said Mansus, "but after awhile I got him to talk. Vassalaro lived in Great James Street, 604, on the third floor. In fact, some of his furniture is there still. He had a good reason for keepingtwo addresses by all accounts. "

T. X. Nodded wisely. 

"What was her name?" he asked. 

"He had a wife, " said the other, "but she left him about four monthsbefore he was killed. He used the Adelphi address for business purposesand apparently he slept two or three nights of the week at Great JamesStreet. I have told the man to leave everything as it is, and that wewill come round. "

Ten minutes later the two officers were in the somewhat gloomyapartments which Vassalaro had occupied. 

The landlord explained that most of the furniture was his, but thatthere were certain articles which were the property of the deceasedman. He added, somewhat unnecessarily, that the late tenant owed him sixmonths' rent. 

The articles which had been the property of Vassalaro included a tintrunk, a small writing bureau, a secretaire bookcase and a few clothes. The secretaire was locked, as was the writing bureau. The tin box, whichhad little or nothing of interest, was unfastened. 

The other locks needed very little attention. Without any difficultyMansus opened both. The leaf of the bureau, when let down, formedthe desk, and piled up inside was a whole mass of letters opened andunopened, accounts, note-books and all the paraphernalia which an untidyman collects. 

Letter by letter, T. X. Went through the accumulation without findinganything to help him. Then his eye was attracted by a small tin casethrust into one of the oblong pigeon holes at the back of the desk. Thishe pulled out and opened and found a small wad of paper wrapped in tinfoil. 

"Hello, hello!" said T. X. , and he was pardonably exhilarated. 

CHAPTER VI

A Man stood in the speckless courtyard before the Governor's house atDartmoor gaol. He wore the ugly livery of shame which marks the convict. His head was clipped short, and there was two days' growth of beard uponhis haggard face. Standing with his hands behind him, he waited for themoment when he would be ordered to his work. 

John Lexman--A. O. 43--looked up at the blue sky as he had looked somany times from the exercise yard, and wondered what the day would bringforth. A day to him was the beginning and the end of an eternity. Hedare not let his mind dwell upon the long aching years ahead. He darenot think of the woman he left, or let his mind dwell upon the agonywhich she was enduring. He had disappeared from the world, the world heloved, and the world that knew him, and all that there was in life; allthat was worth while had been crushed and obliterated into the graniteof the Princetown quarries, and its wide horizon shrunken by the gauntmoorland with its menacing tors. 

New interests made up his existence. The quality of the food was one. The character of the book he would receive from the prison libraryanother. The future meant Sunday chapel; the present whatever task theyfound him. For the day he was to paint some doors and windows of anoutlying cottage. A cottage occupied by a warder who, for some reason, on the day previous, had spoken to him with a certain kindness and acertain respect which was unusual. 

"Face the wall, " growled a voice, and mechanically he turned, his handsstill behind him, and stood staring at the grey wall of the prisonstorehouse. 

He heard the shuffling feet of the quarry gang, his ears caught theclink of the chains which bound them together. They were desperate men, peculiarly interesting to him, and he had watched their faces furtivelyin the early period of his imprisonment. 

He had been sent to Dartmoor after spending three months in WormwoodScrubbs. Old hands had told him variously that he was fortunate orunlucky. It was usual to have twelve months at the Scrubbs beforetesting the life of a convict establishment. He believed there was sometalk of sending him to Parkhurst, and here he traced the influence whichT. X. Would exercise, for Parkhurst was a prisoner's paradise. 

He heard his warder's voice behind him. 

"Right turn, 43, quick march. "

He walked ahead of the armed guard, through the great and gloomy gatesof the prison, turned sharply to the right, and walked up the villagestreet toward the moors, beyond the village of Princetown, and on theTavistock Road where were two or three cottages which had been latelytaken by the prison staff; and it was to the decoration of one of thesethat A. O. 43 had been sent. 

The house was as yet without a tenant. 

A paper-hanger under the charge of another warder was waiting for thearrival of the painter. The two warders exchanged greetings, and thefirst went off leaving the other in charge of both men. 

For an hour they worked in silence under the eyes of the guard. Presently the warder went outside, and John Lexman had an opportunity ofexamining his fellow sufferer. 

He was a man of twenty-four or twenty-five, lithe and alert. By no meansbad looking, he lacked that indefinable suggestion of animalism whichdistinguished the majority of the inhabitants at Dartmoor. 

They waited until they heard the warder's step clear the passage, anduntil his iron-shod boots were tramping over the cobbled path which ledfrom the door, through the tiny garden to the road, before the secondman spoke. 

"What are you in for?" he asked, in a low voice. 

"Murder, " said John Lexman, laconically. 

He had answered the question before, and had noticed with a littleamusement the look of respect which came into the eyes of thequestioner. 

"What have you got!"

"Fifteen years, " said the other. 

"That means 11 years and 9 months, " said the first man. "You've neverbeen here before, I suppose?"

"Hardly, " said Lexman, drily. 

"I was here when I was a kid, " confessed the paper-hanger. "I am goingout next week. "

John Lexman looked at him enviously. Had the man told him that he hadinherited a great fortune and a greater title his envy would not havebeen so genuine. 

Going out!

The drive in the brake to the station, the ride to London in creased, but comfortable clothing, free as the air, at liberty to go to bed andrise when he liked, to choose his own dinner, to answer no call save thecall of his conscience, to see--he checked himself. 

"What are you in for?" he asked in self-defence. 

"Conspiracy and fraud, " said the other cheerfully. "I was put away bya woman after three of us had got clear with 12, 000 pounds. Damn roughluck, wasn't it?"

John nodded. 

It was curious, he thought, how sympathetic one grows with theseexponents of crimes. One naturally adopts their point of view and seeslife through their distorted vision. 

"I bet I'm not given away with the next lot, " the prisoner went on. "I've got one of the biggest ideas I've ever had, and I've got a realgood man to help me. "

"How?" asked John, in surprise. 

The man jerked his head in the direction of the prison. 

"Larry Green, " he said briefly. "He's coming out next month, too, and weare all fixed up proper. We are going to get the pile and then we're offto South America, and you won't see us for dust. "

Though he employed all the colloquialisms which were common, his tonewas that of a man of education, and yet there was something in hisaddress which told John as clearly as though the man had confessed asmuch, that he had never occupied any social position in life. 

The warder's step on the stones outside reduced them to silence. Suddenly his voice came up the stairs. 

"Forty-three, " he called sharply, "I want you down here. "

John took his paint pot and brush and went clattering down theuncarpeted stairs. 

"Where's the other man?" asked the warder, in a low voice. 

"He's upstairs in the back room. "

The warder stepped out of the door and looked left and right. Coming upfrom Princetown was a big, grey car. 

"Put down your paint pot, " he said. 

His voice was shaking with excitement. 

"I am going upstairs. When that car comes abreast of the gate, ask noquestions and jump into it. Get down into the bottom and pull a sackover you, and do not get up until the car stops. "

The blood rushed to John Lexman's head, and he staggered. 

"My God!" he whispered. 

"Do as I tell you, " hissed the warder. 

Like an automaton John put down his brushes, and walked slowly to thegate. The grey car was crawling up the hill, and the face of the driverwas half enveloped in a big rubber mask. Through the two great gogglesJohn could see little to help him identify the man. As the machine cameup to the gate, he leapt into the tonneau and sank instantly to thebottom. As he did so he felt the car leap forward underneath him. Nowit was going fast, now faster, now it rocked and swayed as it gatheredspeed. He felt it sweeping down hill and up hill, and once he heard ahollow rumble as it crossed a wooden bridge. 

He could not detect from his hiding place in what direction they weregoing, but he gathered they had switched off to the left and were makingfor one of the wildest parts of the moor. Never once did he feel the carslacken its pace, until, with a grind of brakes, it stopped suddenly. 

"Get out, " said a voice. 

John Lexman threw off the cover and leapt out and as he did so the carturned and sped back the way it had come. 

For a moment he thought he was alone, and looked around. Far away inthe distance he saw the grey bulk of Princetown Gaol. It was an accidentthat he should see it, but it so happened that a ray of the sun fellathwart it and threw it into relief. 

He was alone on the moors! Where could he go?

He turned at the sound of a voice. 

He was standing on the slope of a small tor. At the foot there was asmooth stretch of green sward. It was on this stretch that the people ofDartmoor held their pony races in the summer months. There was no signof horses; but only a great bat-like machine with out-stretched pinionsof taut white canvas, and by that machine a man clad from head to footin brown overalls. 

John stumbled down the slope. As he neared the machine he stopped andgasped. 

"Kara, " he said, and the brown man smiled. 

"But, I do not understand. What are you going to do!" asked Lexman, whenhe had recovered from his surprise. 

"I am going to take you to a place of safety, " said the other. 

"I have no reason to be grateful to you, as yet, Kara, " breathed Lexman. "A word from you could have saved me. "

"I could not lie, my dear Lexman. And honestly, I had forgotten theexistence of the letter; if that is what you are referring to, but I amtrying to do what I can for you and for your wife. "

"My wife!"

"She is waiting for you, " said the other. 

He turned his head, listening. 

Across the moor came the dull sullen boom of a gun. 

"You haven't time for argument. They discovered your escape, " he said. "Get in. "

John clambered up into the frail body of the machine and Kara followed. 

"This is a self-starter, " he said, "one of the newest models ofmonoplanes. "

He clicked over a lever and with a roar the big three-bladed tractorscrew spun. 

The aeroplane moved forward with a jerk, ran with increasing gait for ahundred yards, and then suddenly the jerky progress ceased. The machineswayed gently from side to side, and looking over, the passenger saw theground recede beneath him. 

Up, up, they climbed in one long sweeping ascent, passing throughdrifting clouds till the machine soared like a bird above the blue sea. 

John Lexman looked down. He saw the indentations of the coast andrecognized the fringe of white houses that stood for Torquay, but in anincredibly short space of time all signs of the land were blotted out. 

Talking was impossible. The roar of the engines defied penetration. 

Kara was evidently a skilful pilot. From time to time he consultedthe compass on the board before him, and changed his course ever soslightly. Presently he released one hand from the driving wheel, andscribbling on a little block of paper which was inserted in a pocket atthe side of the seat he passed it back. 

John Lexman read:

 "If you cannot swim there is a life belt under your seat. "

John nodded. 

Kara was searching the sea for something, and presently he found it. Viewed from the height at which they flew it looked no more than a whitespeck in a great blue saucer, but presently the machine began to dip, falling at a terrific rate of speed, which took away the breath of theman who was hanging on with both hands to the dangerous seat behind. 

He was deadly cold, but had hardly noticed the fact. It was all soincredible, so impossible. He expected to wake up and wondered if theprison was also part of the dream. 

Now he saw the point for which Kara was making. 

A white steam yacht, long and narrow of beam, was steaming slowlywestward. He could see the feathery wake in her rear, and as theaeroplane fell he had time to observe that a boat had been put off. Thenwith a jerk the monoplane flattened out and came like a skimming bird tothe surface of the water; her engines stopped. 

"We ought to be able to keep afloat for ten minutes, " said Kara, "and bythat time they will pick us up. "

His voice was high and harsh in the almost painful silence whichfollowed the stoppage of the engines. 

In less than five minutes the boat had come alongside, manned, as Lexmangathered from a glimpse of the crew, by Greeks. He scrambled aboardand five minutes later he was standing on the white deck of the yacht, watching the disappearing tail of the monoplane. Kara was by his side. 

"There goes fifteen hundred pounds, " said the Greek, with a smile, "addthat to the two thousand I paid the warder and you have a tidy sum-butsome things are worth all the money in the world!"

CHAPTER VII

T. X. Came from Downing Street at 11 o'clock one night, and his heartwas filled with joy and gratitude. 

He swung his stick to the common danger of the public, but the policemanon point duty at the end of the street, who saw him, recognized andsaluted him, did not think it fit to issue any official warning. 

He ran up the stairs to his office, and found Mansus reading the eveningpaper. 

"My poor, dumb beast, " said T. X. "I am afraid I have kept you waitingfor a very long time, but tomorrow you and I will take a little journeyto Devonshire. It will be good for you, Mansus--where did you get thatridiculous name, by the way!"

"M. Or N. , " replied Mansus, laconically. 

"I repeat that there is the dawn of an intellect in you, " said T. X. , offensively. 

He became more serious as he took from a pocket inside his waistcoat along blue envelope containing the paper which had cost him so much tosecure. 

"Finding the revolver was a master-stroke of yours, Mansus, " he said, and he was in earnest as he spoke. 

The man coloured with pleasure for the subordinates of T. X. Loved him, and a word of praise was almost equal to promotion. It was on the adviceof Mansus that the road from London to Lewes had been carefully coveredand such streams as passed beneath that road had been searched. 

The revolver had been found after the third attempt between Gatwick andHorsley. Its identification was made easier by the fact that Vassalaro'sname was engraved on the butt. It was rather an ornate affair and in itsearlier days had been silver plated; the handle was of mother-o'-pearl. 

"Obviously the gift of one brigand to another, " was T. X. 's comment. 

Armed with this, his task would have been fairly easy, but when to thisevidence he added a rough draft of the threatening letter which he hadfound amongst Vassalaro's belongings, and which had evidently been takendown at dictation, since some of the words were misspelt and had beencorrected by another hand, the case was complete. 

But what clinched the matter was the finding of a wad of that peculiarchemical paper, a number of sheets of which T. X. Had ignited for theinformation of the Chief Commissioner and the Home Secretary by simplyexposing them for a few seconds to the light of an electric lamp. 

Instantly it had filled the Home Secretary's office with a pungentand most disagreeable smoke, for which he was heartily cursed by hissuperiors. But it had rounded off the argument. 

He looked at his watch. 

"I wonder if it is too late to see Mrs. Lexman, " he said. 

"I don't think any hour would be too late, " suggested Mansus. 

"You shall come and chaperon me, " said his superior. 

But a disappointment awaited. Mrs. Lexman was not in and neither theringing at her electric bell nor vigorous applications to the knockerbrought any response. The hall porter of the flats where she livedwas under the impression that Mrs. Lexman had gone out of town. Shefrequently went out on Saturdays and returned on the Monday and, hethought, occasionally on Tuesdays. 

It happened that this particular night was a Monday night and T. X. Was faced with a dilemma. The night porter, who had only the vaguestinformation on the subject, thought that the day porter might know more, and aroused him from his sleep. 

Yes, Mrs. Lexman had gone. She went on the Sunday, an unusual day topay a week-end visit, and she had taken with her two bags. The porterventured the opinion that she was rather excited, but when asked todefine the symptoms relapsed into a chaos of incoherent "you-knows" and"what-I-means. "

"I don't like this, " said T. X. , suddenly. "Does anybody know that wehave made these discoveries?"

"Nobody outside the office, " said Mansus, "unless, unless... "

"Unless what?" asked the other, irritably. "Don't be a jimp, Mansus. Getit off your mind. What is it?"

"I am wondering, " said Mansus slowly, "if the landlord at Great JamesStreet said anything. He knows we have made a search. "

"We can easily find that out, " said T. X. 

They hailed a taxi and drove to Great James Street. That respectablethoroughfare was wrapped in sleep and it was some time before thelandlord could be aroused. Recognizing T. X. He checked his sarcasm, which he had prepared for a keyless lodger, and led the way into thedrawing room. 

"You didn't tell me not to speak about it, Mr. Meredith, " he said, in anaggrieved tone, "and as a matter of fact I have spoken to nobody exceptthe gentleman who called the same day. "

"What did he want?" asked T. X. 

"He said he had only just discovered that Mr. Vassalaro had stayed withme and he wanted to pay whatever rent was due, " replied the other. 

"What like of man was he?" asked T. X. 

The brief description the man gave sent a cold chill to theCommissioner's heart. 

"Kara for a ducat!" he said, and swore long and variously. 

"Cadogan Square, " he ordered. 

His ring was answered promptly. Mr. Kara was out of town, had indeedbeen out of town since Saturday. This much the man-servant explainedwith a suspicious eye upon his visitors, remembering that hispredecessor had lost his job from a too confiding friendliness withspurious electric fitters. He did not know when Mr. Kara would return, perhaps it would be a long time and perhaps a short time. He might comeback that night or he might not. 

"You are wasting your young life, " said T. X. Bitterly. "You ought to bea fortune teller. "

"This settles the matter, " he said, in the cab on the way back. "Findout the first train for Tavistock in the morning and wire the GeorgeHotel to have a car waiting. "

"Why not go to-night?" suggested the other. "There is the midnighttrain. It is rather slow, but it will get you there by six or seven inthe morning. "

"Too late, " he said, "unless you can invent a method of getting fromhere to Paddington in about fifty seconds. "

The morning journey to Devonshire was a dispiriting one despite thefineness of the day. T. X. Had an uncomfortable sense that somethingdistressing had happened. The run across the moor in the fresh springair revived him a little. 

As they spun down to the valley of the Dart, Mansus touched his arm. 

"Look at that, " he said, and pointed to the blue heavens where, a mileabove their heads, a white-winged aeroplane, looking no larger than avery distant dragon fly, shimmered in the sunlight. 

"By Jove!" said T. X. "What an excellent way for a man to escape!"

"It's about the only way, " said Mansus. 

The significance of the aeroplane was borne in upon T. X. A few minuteslater when he was held up by an armed guard. A glance at his card wasenough to pass him. 

"What is the matter?" he asked. 

"A prisoner has escaped, " said the sentry. 

"Escaped--by aeroplane?" asked T. X. 

"I don't know anything about aeroplanes, sir. All I know is that one ofthe working party got away. "

The car came to the gates of the prison and T. X. Sprang out, followedby his assistant. He had no difficulty in finding the Governor, agreatly perturbed man, for an escape is a very serious matter. 

The official was inclined to be brusque in his manner, but again themagic card produced a soothing effect. 

"I am rather rattled, " said the Governor. "One of my men has got away. Isuppose you know that?"

"And I am afraid another of your men is going away, sir, " said T. X. , who had a curious reverence for military authority. He produced hispaper and laid it on the governor's table. 

"This is an order for the release of John Lexman, convicted undersentence of fifteen years penal servitude. "

The Governor looked at it. 

"Dated last night, " he said, and breathed a long sigh of relief. "Thankthe Lord!--that is the man who escaped!"

CHAPTER VIII

Two years after the events just described, T. X. Journeying up to Londonfrom Bath was attracted by a paragraph in the Morning Post. It told himbriefly that Mr. Remington Kara, the influential leader of the GreekColony, had been the guest of honor at a dinner of the Hellenic Society. 

T. X. Had only seen Kara for a brief space of time following thattragic morning, when he had discovered not only that his best friend hadescaped from Dartmoor prison and disappeared, as it were, from the worldat a moment when his pardon had been signed, but that that friend's wifehad also vanished from the face of the earth. 

At the same time--it might, as even T. X. Admitted, have been theveriest coincidence that Kara had also cleared out of London to reappearat the end of six months. Any question addressed to him, concerning thewhereabouts of the two unhappy people, was met with a bland expressionof ignorance as to their whereabouts. 

John Lexman was somewhere in the world, hiding as he believed fromjustice, and with him was his wife. T. X. Had no doubt in his mind as tothis solution of the puzzle. He had caused to be published the storyof the pardon and the circumstances under which that pardon had beensecured, and he had, moreover, arranged for an advertisement to beinserted in the principal papers of every European country. 

It was a moot question amongst the departmental lawyers as to whetherJohn Lexman was not guilty of a technical and punishable offence forprison breaking, but this possibility did not keep T. X. Awake atnights. The circumstances of the escape had been carefully examined. Thewarder responsible had been discharged from the service, and had almostimmediately purchased for himself a beer house in Falmouth, for a sumwhich left no doubt in the official mind that he had been the recipientof a heavy bribe. 

Who had been the guiding spirit in that escape--Mrs. Lexman, or Kara?

It was impossible to connect Kara with the event. The motor car hadbeen traced to Exeter, where it had been hired by a "foreign-lookinggentleman, " but the chauffeur, whoever he was, had made good hisescape. An inspection of Kara's hangars at Wembley showed that his twomonoplanes had not been removed, and T. X. Failed entirely to tracethe owner of the machine he had seen flying over Dartmoor on the fatalmorning. 

T. X. Was somewhat baffled and a little amused by the disinclinationof the authorities to believe that the escape had been effected bythis method at all. All the events of the trial came back to him, as hewatched the landscape spinning past. 

He set down the newspaper with a little sigh, put his feet on thecushions of the opposite seat and gave himself up to reverie. Presentlyhe returned to his journals and searched them idly for somethingto interest him in the final stretch of journey between Newbury andPaddington. 

Presently he found it in a two column article with the uninspiringtitle, "The Mineral Wealth of Tierra del Fuego. " It was writtenbrightly with a style which was at once easy and informative. It told ofadventures in the marshes behind St. Sebastian Bay and journeys up theGuarez Celman river, of nights spent in primeval forests and ended ina geological survey, wherein the commercial value of syenite, porphyry, trachite and dialite were severally canvassed. 

The article was signed "G. G. " It is said of T. X. That his greatestvirtue was his curiosity. He had at the tip of his fingers the namesof all the big explorers and author-travellers, and for some reason hecould not place "G. G. " to his satisfaction, in fact he had an absurddesire to interpret the initials into "George Grossmith. " His inabilityto identify the writer irritated him, and his first act on reaching hisoffice was to telephone to one of the literary editors of the Times whomhe knew. 

"Not my department, " was the chilly reply, "and besides we never giveaway the names of our contributors. Speaking as a person outside theoffice I should say that 'G. G. ' was 'George Gathercole' the exploreryou know, the fellow who had an arm chewed off by a lion or something. "

"George Gathercole!" repeated T. X. "What an ass I am. "

"Yes, " said the voice at the other end the wire, and he had rung offbefore T. X. Could think of something suitable to say. 

Having elucidated this little side-line of mystery, the matter passedfrom the young Commissioner's mind. It happened that morning that hiswork consisted of dealing with John Lexman's estate. 

With the disappearance of the couple he had taken over control oftheir belongings. It had not embarrassed him to discover that he was anexecutor under Lexman's will, for he had already acted as trustee to thewife's small estate, and had been one of the parties to the ante-nuptialcontract which John Lexman had made before his marriage. 

The estate revenues had increased very considerably. All the vanishedauthor's books were selling as they had never sold before, and theexecutor's work was made the heavier by the fact that Grace Lexmanhad possessed an aunt who had most in inconsiderately died, leaving aconsiderable fortune to her "unhappy niece. "

"I will keep the trusteeship another year, " he told the solicitor whocame to consult him that morning. "At the end of that time I shall go tothe court for relief. "

"Do you think they will ever turn up?" asked the solicitor, an elderlyand unimaginative man. 

"Of course, they'll turn up!" said T. X. Impatiently; "all the heroes ofLexman's books turn up sooner or later. He will discover himself to usat a suitable moment, and we shall be properly thrilled. "

That Lexman would return he was sure. It was a faith from which he didnot swerve. 

He had as implicit a confidence that one day or other Kara, themagnificent, would play into his hands. 

There were some queer stories in circulation concerning the Greek, but on the whole they were stories and rumours which were difficult toseparate from the malicious gossip which invariably attaches itself tothe rich and to the successful. 

One of these was that Kara desired something more than an Albanianchieftainship, which he undoubtedly enjoyed. There were whispers ofwider and higher ambitions. Though his father had been born a Greek, hehad indubitably descended in a direct line from one of those old Mpretsof Albania, who had exercised their brief authority over that turbulentland. 

The man's passion was for power. To this end he did not spare himself. It was said that he utilized his vast wealth for this reason, and noneother, and that whatever might have been the irregularities of hisyouth--and there were adduced concrete instances--he was working towardan end with a singleness of purpose, from which it was difficult towithhold admiration. 

T. X. Kept in his locked desk a little red book, steel bound and triplelocked, which he called his "Scandalaria. " In this he inscribed in hisown irregular writing the titbits which might not be published, andwhich often helped an investigator to light upon the missing threadsof a problem. In truth he scorned no source of information, and wasconscienceless in the compilation of this somewhat chaotic record. 

The affairs of John Lexman recalled Kara, and Kara's great reception. Mansus would have made arrangements to secure a verbatim report of thespeeches which were made, and these would be in his hands by the night. Mansus did not tell him that Kara was financing some very influentialpeople indeed, that a certain Under-secretary of State with a greatnumber of very influential relations had been saved from bankruptcy bythe timely advances which Kara had made. This T. X. Had obtained throughsources which might be hastily described as discreditable. Mansus knewof the baccarat establishment in Albemarle Street, but he did not knowthat the neurotic wife of a very great man indeed, no less than theMinister of Justice, was a frequent visitor to that establishment, andthat she had lost in one night some 6, 000 pounds. In these circumstancesit was remarkable, thought T. X. , that she should report to the policeso small a matter as the petty pilfering of servants. This, however, she had done and whilst the lesser officers of Scotland Yard wereinterrogating pawnbrokers, the men higher up were genuinely worried bythe lady's own lapses from grace. 

It was all sordid but, unfortunately, conventional, because highlyplaced people will always do underbred things, where money or womenare concerned, but it was necessary, for the proper conduct of thedepartment which T. X. Directed, that, however sordid and howeverconventional might be the errors which the great ones of the earthcommitted, they should be filed for reference. 

The motto which T. X. Went upon in life was, "You never know. "

The Minister of Justice was a very important person, for he was apersonal friend of half the monarchs of Europe. A poor man, with two orthree thousand a year of his own, with no very definite politicalviews and uncommitted to the more violent policies of either party, hesucceeded in serving both, with profit to himself, and without earningthe obloquy of either. Though he did not pursue the blatant policyof the Vicar of Bray, yet it is fact which may be confirmed fromthe reader's own knowledge, that he served in four differentadministrations, drawing the pay and emoluments of his office from each, though the fundamental policies of those four governments were distinct. 

Lady Bartholomew, the wife of this adaptable Minister, had recentlydeparted for San Remo. The newspapers announced the fact and spokevaguely of a breakdown which prevented the lady from fulfilling hersocial engagements. 

T. X. , ever a Doubting Thomas, could trace no visit of nerve specialist, nor yet of the family practitioner, to the official residence in DowningStreet, and therefore he drew conclusions. In his own "Who's Who" T. X. Noted the hobbies of his victims which, by the way, did not alwayscoincide with the innocent occupations set against their names in themore pretentious volume. Their follies and their weaknesses found aplace and were recorded at a length (as it might seem to the uninformedobserver) beyond the limit which charity allowed. 

Lady Mary Bartholomew's name appeared not once, but many times, in theerratic records which T. X. Kept. There was a plain matter-of-fact andwholly unobjectionable statement that she was born in 1874, that she wasthe seventh daughter of the Earl of Balmorey, that she had one daughterwho rejoiced in the somewhat unpromising name of Belinda Mary, and suchfurther information as a man might get without going to a great deal oftrouble. 

T. X. , refreshing his memory from the little red book, wondered whatunexpected tragedy had sent Lady Bartholomew out of London in the middleof the season. The information was that the lady was fairly well off atthis moment, and this fact made matters all the more puzzling andalmost induced him to believe that, after all, the story was true, and anervous breakdown really was the cause of her sudden departure. He sentfor Mansus. 

"You saw Lady Bartholomew off at Charing Cross, I suppose?"

Mansus nodded. 

"She went alone?"

"She took her maid, but otherwise she was alone. I thought she lookedill. "

"She has been looking ill for months past, " said T. X. , without anyvisible expression of sympathy. 

"Did she take Belinda Mary?"

Mansus was puzzled. "Belinda Mary?" he repeated slowly. "Oh, you meanthe daughter. No, she's at a school somewhere in France. "

T. X. Whistled a snatch of a popular song, closed the little red bookwith a snap and replaced it in his desk. 

"I wonder where on earth people dig up names like Belinda Mary?" hemused. "Belinda Mary must be rather a weird little animal--the Lordforgive me for speaking so about my betters! If heredity counts foranything she ought to be something between a head waiter and a pack ofcards. Have you lost anything'?"

Mansus was searching his pockets. 

"I made a few notes, some questions I wanted to ask you about andLady Bartholomew was the subject of one of them. I have had her underobservation for six months; do you want it kept up?"

T. X. Thought awhile, then shook his head. 

"I am only interested in Lady Bartholomew in so far as Kara isinterested in her. There is a criminal for you, my friend!" he added, admiringly. 

Mansus busily engaged in going through the bundles of letters, slipsof paper and little notebooks he had taken from his pocket, sniffedaudibly. 

"Have you a cold?" asked T. X. Politely. 

"No, sir, " was the reply, "only I haven't much opinion of Kara as acriminal. Besides, what has he got to be a criminal about? He has allthat he requires in the money department, he's one of the most popularpeople in London, and certainly one of the best-looking men I've everseen in my life. He needs nothing. "

T. X. Regarded him scornfully. 

"You're a poor blind brute, " he said, shaking his head; don't you knowthat great criminals are never influenced by material desires, or bythe prospect of concrete gains? The man, who robs his employer's tillin order to give the girl of his heart the 25-pearl and ruby brooch hersoul desires, gains nothing but the glow of satisfaction which comes tothe man who is thought well of. The majority of crimes in the world arecommitted by people for the same reason--they want to be thought wellof. Here is Doctor X. Who murdered his wife because she was a drunkardand a slut, and he dared not leave her for fear the neighbours wouldhave doubts as to his respectability. Here is another gentleman whomurders his wives in their baths in order that he should keep up somesort of position and earn the respect of his friends and his associates. Nothing roused him more quickly to a frenzy of passion than thesuggestion that he was not respectable. Here is the great financier, whohas embezzled a million and a quarter, not because he needed money, but because people looked up to him. Therefore, he must buildgreat mansions, submarine pleasure courts and must lay out hugeestates--because he wished that he should be thought well of. 

Mansus sniffed again. 

"What about the man who half murders his wife, does he do that to bewell thought of?" he asked, with a tinge of sarcasm. 

T. X. Looked at him pityingly. 

"The low-brow who beats his wife, my poor Mansus, " he said, "does sobecause she doesn't think well of him. That is our ruling passion, our national characteristic, the primary cause of most crimes, big orlittle. That is why Kara is a bad criminal and will, as I say, end hislife very violently. "

He took down his glossy silk hat from the peg and slipped into hisovercoat. 

"I am going down to see my friend Kara, " he said. "I have a feeling thatI should like to talk with him. He might tell me something. "

His acquaintance with Kara's menage had been mere hearsay. He hadinterviewed the Greek once after his return, but since all his effortsto secure information concerning the whereabouts of John Lexman andhis wife--the main reason for his visit--had been in vain, he had notrepeated his visit. 

The house in Cadogan Square was a large one, occupying a corner site. Itwas peculiarly English in appearance with its window boxes, its discreetcurtains, its polished brass and enamelled doorway. It had been thetown house of Lord Henry Gratham, that eccentric connoisseur of wine andfollower of witless pleasure. It had been built by him "round abottle of port, " as his friends said, meaning thereby that his firstconsideration had been the cellarage of the house, and that when thosecellars had been built and provision made for the safe storage of hispriceless wines, the house had been built without the architect's beinggreatly troubled by his lordship. The double cellars of Gratham Househad, in their time, been one of the sights of London. When Henry Grathamlay under eight feet of Congo earth (he was killed by an elephantwhilst on a hunting trip) his executors had been singularly fortunatein finding an immediate purchaser. Rumour had it that Kara, who wasno lover of wine, had bricked up the cellars, and their very existencepassed into domestic legendary. 

The door was opened by a well-dressed and deferential man-servant andT. X. Was ushered into the hall. A fire burnt cheerily in a bronze grateand T. X. Had a glimpse of a big oil painting of Kara above the marblemantle-piece. 

"Mr. Kara is very busy, sir, " said the man. 

"Just take in my card, " said T. X. "I think he may care to see me. "

The man bowed, produced from some mysterious corner a silver salverand glided upstairs in that manner which well-trained servants have, a manner which seems to call for no bodily effort. In a minute hereturned. 

"Will you come this way, sir, " he said, and led the way up a broadflight of stairs. 

At the head of the stairs was a corridor which ran to the left and tothe right. From this there gave four rooms. One at the extreme end ofthe passage on the right, one on the left, and two at fairly regularintervals in the centre. 

When the man's hand was on one of the doors, T. X. Asked quietly, "Ithink I have seen you before somewhere, my friend. "

The man smiled. 

"It is very possible, sir. I was a waiter at the Constitutional for sometime. "

T. X. Nodded. 

"That is where it must have been, " he said. 

The man opened the door and announced the visitor. 

T. X. Found himself in a large room, very handsomely furnished, but justlacking that sense of cosiness and comfort which is the feature of theEnglishman's home. 

Kara rose from behind a big writing table, and came with a smile and aquick step to greet the visitor. 

"This is a most unexpected pleasure, " he said, and shook hands warmly. 

T. X. Had not seen him for a year and found very little change in thisstrange young man. He could not be more confident than he had been, norbear himself with a more graceful carriage. Whatever social success hehad achieved, it had not spoiled him, for his manner was as genial andeasy as ever. 

"I think that will do, Miss Holland, " he said, turning to the girl who, with notebook in hand, stood by the desk. 

"Evidently, " thought T. X. , "our Hellenic friend has a pretty taste insecretaries. "

In that one glance he took her all in--from the bronze-brown of her hairto her neat foot. 

T. X. Was not readily attracted by members of the opposite sex. He wasself-confessed a predestined bachelor, finding life and its incidencetoo absorbing to give his whole mind to the serious problem of marriage, or to contract responsibilities and interests which might divert hisattention from what he believed was the greater game. Yet he must be aman of stone to resist the freshness, the beauty and the youth of thisstraight, slender girl; the pink-and-whiteness of her, the alivenessand buoyancy and the thrilling sense of vitality she carried in her verypresence. 

"What is the weirdest name you have ever heard?" asked Kara laughingly. "I ask you, because Miss Holland and I have been discussing a beggingletter addressed to us by a Maggie Goomer. "

The girl smiled slightly and in that smile was paradise, thought T. X. 

"The weirdest name?" he repeated, "why I think the worst I have heardfor a long time is Belinda Mary. "

"That has a familiar ring, " said Kara. 

T. X. Was looking at the girl. 

She was staring at him with a certain languid insolence which made himcurl up inside. Then with a glance at her employer she swept from theroom. 

"I ought to have introduced you, " said Kara. "That was my secretary, Miss Holland. Rather a pretty girl, isn't she?"

"Very, " said T. X. , recovering his breath. 

"I like pretty things around me, " said Kara, and somehow the complacencyof the remark annoyed the detective more than anything that Kara hadever said to him. 

The Greek went to the mantlepiece, and taking down a silver cigarettebox, opened and offered it to his visitor. Kara was wearing a greylounge suit; and although grey is a very trying colour for a foreignerto wear, this suit fitted his splendid figure and gave him just thatbulk which he needed. 

"You are a most suspicious man, Mr. Meredith, " he smiled. 

"Suspicious! I?" asked the innocent T. X. 

Kara nodded. 

"I am sure you want to enquire into the character of all my presentstaff. I am perfectly satisfied that you will never be at rest until youlearn the antecedents of my cook, my valet, my secretary--"

T. X. Held up his hand with a laugh. 

"Spare me, " he said. "It is one of my failings, I admit, but I havenever gone much farther into your domestic affairs than to pry into theantecedents of your very interesting chauffeur. "

A little cloud passed over Kara's face, but it was only momentary. 

"Oh, Brown, " he said, airily, with just a perceptible pause between thetwo words. 

"It used to be Smith, " said T. X. , "but no matter. His name is reallyPoropulos. "

"Oh, Poropulos, " said Kara gravely, "I dismissed him a long time ago. "

"Pensioned hire, too, I understand, " said T. X. 

The other looked at him awhile, then, "I am very good to my oldservants, " he said slowly and, changing the subject; "to what goodfortune do I owe this visit?"

T. X. Selected a cigarette before he replied. 

"I thought you might be of some service to me, " he said, apparentlygiving his whole attention to the cigarette. 

"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, " said Kara, a little eagerly. "I am afraid you have not been very keen on continuing what I hopedwould have ripened into a valuable friendship, more valuable to meperhaps, " he smiled, "than to you. "

"I am a very shy man, " said the shameless T. X. , "difficult to a fault, and rather apt to underrate my social attractions. I have come to younow because you know everybody--by the way, how long have you had yoursecretary!" he asked abruptly. 

Kara looked up at the ceiling for inspiration. 

"Four, no three months, " he corrected, "a very efficient young ladywho came to me from one of the training establishments. Somewhatuncommunicative, better educated than most girls in her position--forexample, she speaks and writes modern Greek fairly well. "

"A treasure!" suggested T. X. 

"Unusually so, " said Kara. "She lives in Marylebone Road, 86a is theaddress. She has no friends, spends most of her evenings in her room, is eminently respectable and a little chilling in her attitude to heremployer. "

T. X. Shot a swift glance at the other. 

"Why do you tell me all this?" he asked. 

"To save you the trouble of finding out, " replied the other coolly. "That insatiable curiosity which is one of the equipments of yourprofession, would, I feel sure, induce you to conduct investigations foryour own satisfaction. "

T. X. Laughed. 

"May I sit down?" he said. 

The other wheeled an armchair across the room and T. X. Sank into it. He leant back and crossed his legs, and was, in a second, thepersonification of ease. 

"I think you are a very clever man, Monsieur Kara, " he said. 

The other looked down at him this time without amusement. 

"Not so clever that I can discover the object of your visit, " he saidpleasantly enough. 

"It is very simply explained, " said T. X. "You know everybody in town. You know, amongst other people, Lady Bartholomew. "

"I know the lady very well indeed, " said Kara, readily, --too readilyin fact, for the rapidity with which answer had followed question, suggested to T. X. That Kara had anticipated the reason for the call. 

"Have you any idea, " asked T. X. , speaking with deliberation, "as to whyLady Bartholomew has gone out of town at this particular moment?"

Kara laughed. 

"What an extraordinary question to ask me--as though Lady Bartholomewconfided her plans to one who is little more than a chanceacquaintance!"

"And yet, " said T. X. , contemplating the burning end of his cigarette, "you know her well enough to hold her promissory note. "

"Promissory note?" asked the other. 

His tone was one of involuntary surprise and T. X. Swore softly tohimself for now he saw the faintest shade of relief in Kara's face. TheCommissioner realized that he had committed an error--he had been fartoo definite. 

"When I say promissory note, " he went on easily, as though he hadnoticed nothing, "I mean, of course, the securities which the debtorinvariably gives to one from whom he or she has borrowed large sums ofmoney. "

Kara made no answer, but opening a drawer of his desk he took out a keyand brought it across to where T. X. Was sitting. 

"Here is the key of my safe, " he said quietly. "You are at liberty to gocarefully through its contents and discover for yourself any promissorynote which I hold from Lady Bartholomew. My dear fellow, you don'timagine I'm a moneylender, do you?" he said in an injured tone. 

"Nothing was further from my thoughts, " said T. X. , untruthfully. 

But the other pressed the key upon him. 

"I should be awfully glad if you would look for yourself, " he saidearnestly. "I feel that in some way you associate Lady Bartholomew'sillness with some horrible act of usury on my part--will you satisfyyourself and in doing so satisfy me?"

Now any ordinary man, and possibly any ordinary detective, would havemade the conventional answer. He would have protested that he had nointention of doing anything of the sort; he would have uttered, ifhe were a man in the position which T. X. Occupied, the conventionalstatement that he had no authority to search the private papers, andthat he would certainly not avail himself of the other's kindness. But T. X. Was not an ordinary person. He took the key and balanced itlightly in the palm of his hand. 

"Is this the key of the famous bedroom safe?" he said banteringly. 

Kara was looking down at him with a quizzical smile. "It isn't the safeyou opened in my absence, on one memorable occasion, Mr. Meredith, " hesaid. "As you probably know, I have changed that safe, but perhaps youdon't feel equal to the task?"

"On the contrary, " said T. X. , calmly, and rising from the chair, "I amgoing to put your good faith to the test. "

For answer Kara walked to the door and opened it. 

"Let me show you the way, " he said politely. 

He passed along the corridor and entered the apartment at the end. Theroom was a large one and lighted by one big square window which wasprotected by steel bars. In the grate which was broad and high a hugefire was burning and the temperature of the room was unpleasantly closedespite the coldness of the day. 

"That is one of the eccentricities which you, as an Englishman, willnever excuse in me, " said Kara. 

Near the foot of the bed, let into, and flush with, the wall, was a biggreen door of the safe. 

"Here you are, Mr. Meredith, " said Kara. "All the precious secrets ofRemington Kara are yours for the seeking. "

"I am afraid I've had my trouble for nothing, " said T. X. , making noattempt to use the key. 

"That is an opinion which I share, " said Kara, with a smile. 

"Curiously enough, " said T. X. "I mean just what you mean. "

He handed the key to Kara. 

"Won't you open it?" asked the Greek. 

T. X. Shook his head. 

"The safe as far as I can see is a Magnus, the key which you have beenkind enough to give me is legibly inscribed upon the handle 'Chubb. ' Myexperience as a police officer has taught me that Chubb keys very rarelyopen Magnus safes. "

Kara uttered an exclamation of annoyance. 

"How stupid of me!" he said, "yet now I remember, I sent the key to mybankers, before I went out of town--I only came back this morning, youknow. I will send for it at once. "

"Pray don't trouble, " murmured T. X. Politely. He took from his pocketa little flat leather case and opened it. It contained a number of steelimplements of curious shape which were held in position by a leatherloop along the centre of the case. From one of these loops he extracteda handle, and deftly fitted something that looked like a steel awlto the socket in the handle. Looking in wonder, and with no littleapprehension, Kara saw that the awl was bent at the head. 

"What are you going to do?" he asked, a little alarmed. 

"I'll show you, " said T. X. Pleasantly. 

Very gingerly he inserted the instrument in the small keyhole and turnedit cautiously first one way and then the other. There was a sharp clickfollowed by another. He turned the handle and the door of the safe swungopen. 

"Simple, isn't it!" he asked politely. 

In that second of time Kara's face had undergone a transformation. Theeyes which met T. X. Meredith's blazed with an almost insane fury. Witha quick stride Kara placed himself before the open safe. 

"I think this has gone far enough, Mr. Meredith, " he said harshly. "Ifyou wish to search my safe you must get a warrant. "

T. X. Shrugged his shoulders, and carefully unscrewing the instrument hehad employed and replacing it in the case, he returned it to his insidepocket. 

"It was at your invitation, my dear Monsieur Kara, " he said suavely. "Ofcourse I knew that you were putting a bluff up on me with the key andthat you had no more intention of letting me see the inside of your safethan you had of telling me exactly what happened to John Lexman. "

The shot went home. 

The face which was thrust into the Commissioner's was ridged and veinedwith passion. The lips were turned back to show the big white eventeeth, the eyes were narrowed to slits, the jaw thrust out, and almostevery semblance of humanity had vanished from his face. 

"You--you--" he hissed, and his clawing hands moved suspiciouslybackward. 

"Put up your hands, " said T. X. Sharply, "and be damned quick about it!"

In a flash the hands went up, for the revolver which T. X. Held waspressed uncomfortably against the third button of the Greek's waistcoat. 

"That's not the first time you've been asked to put up your hands, Ithink, " said T. X. Pleasantly. 

His own left hand slipped round to Kara's hip pocket. He found somethingin the shape of a cylinder and drew it out from the pocket. To hissurprise it was not a revolver, not even a knife; it looked like a smallelectric torch, though instead of a bulb and a bull's-eye glass, therewas a pepper-box perforation at one end. 

He handled it carefully and was about to press the small nickel knobwhen a strangled cry of horror broke from Kara. 

"For God's sake be careful!" he gasped. "You're pointing it at me! Donot press that lever, I beg!"

"Will it explode!" asked T. X. Curiously. 

"No, no!"

T. X. Pointed the thing downward to the carpet and pressed the knobcautiously. As he did so there was a sharp hiss and the floor wasstained with the liquid which the instrument contained. Just one gushof fluid and no more. T. X. Looked down. The bright carpet had alreadychanged colour, and was smoking. The room was filled with a pungent anddisagreeable scent. T. X. Looked from the floor to the white-faced man. 

"Vitriol, I believe, " he said, shaking his head admiringly. "What a dearlittle fellow you are!"

The man, big as he was, was on the point of collapse and mumbledsomething about self-defence, and listened without a word, whilst T. X. , labouring under an emotion which was perfectly pardonable, describedKara, his ancestors and the possibilities of his future estate. 

Very slowly the Greek recovered his self-possession. 

"I didn't intend using it on you, I swear I didn't, " he pleaded. "I'm surrounded by enemies, Meredith. I had to carry some means ofprotection. It is because my enemies know I carry this that they fightshy of me. I'll swear I had no intention of using it on you. The idea istoo preposterous. I am sorry I fooled you about the safe. "

"Don't let that worry you, " said T. X. "I am afraid I did all thefooling. No, I cannot let you have this back again, " he said, as theGreek put out his hand to take the infernal little instrument. "I musttake this back to Scotland Yard; it's quite a long time since we hadanything new in this shape. Compressed air, I presume. "

Kara nodded solemnly. 

"Very ingenious indeed, " said T. X. "If I had a brain like yours, " hepaused, "I should do something with it--with a gun, " he added, as hepassed out of the room. 

CHAPTER IX

 "My dear Mr. Meredith, "I cannot tell you how unhappy and humiliated I feel that my little joke with you should have had such an uncomfortable ending. As you know, and as I have given you proof, I have the greatest admiration in the world for one whose work for humanity has won such universal recognition. 

 "I hope that we shall both forget this unhappy morning and that you will give me an opportunity of rendering to you in person, the apologies which are due to you. I feel that anything less will neither rehabilitate me in your esteem, nor secure for me the remnants of my shattered self-respect. 

 "I am hoping you will dine with me next week and meet a most interesting man, George Gathercole, who has just returned from Patagonia, --I only received his letter this morning-- having made most remarkable discoveries concerning that country. 

 "I feel sure that you are large enough minded and too much a man of the world to allow my foolish fit of temper to disturb a relationship which I have always hoped would be mutually pleasant. If you will allow Gathercole, who will be unconscious of the part he is playing, to act as peacemaker between yourself and myself, I shall feel that his trip, which has cost me a large sum of money, will not have been wasted. 

 "I am, dear Mr. Meredith, "Yours very sincerely, "REMINGTON KARA. "

Kara folded the letter and inserted it in its envelope. He rang a bellon his table and the girl who had so filled T. X. With a sense of awecame from an adjoining room. 

"You will see that this is delivered, Miss Holland. "

She inclined her head and stood waiting. Kara rose from his desk andbegan to pace the room. 

"Do you know T. X. Meredith?" he asked suddenly. 

"I have heard of him, " said the girl. 

"A man with a singular mind, " said Kara; "a man against whom myfavourite weapon would fail. "

She looked at him with interest in her eyes. 

"What is your favourite weapon, Mr. Kara?" she asked. 

"Fear, " he said. 

If he expected her to give him any encouragement to proceed he wasdisappointed. Probably he required no such encouragement, for in thepresence of his social inferiors he was somewhat monopolizing. 

"Cut a man's flesh and it heals, " he said. "Whip a man and the memoryof it passes, frighten him, fill him with a sense of foreboding andapprehension and let him believe that something dreadful is going tohappen either to himself or to someone he loves--better the latter--andyou will hurt him beyond forgetfulness. Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the stake. Fearis many-eyed and sees horrors where normal vision only sees theridiculous. "

"Is that your creed?" she asked quietly. 

"Part of it, Miss Holland, " he smiled. 

She played idly with the letter she held in her hand, balancing it onthe edge of the desk, her eyes downcast. 

"What would justify the use of such an awful weapon?" she asked. 

"It is amply justified to secure an end, " he said blandly. "Forexample--I want something--I cannot obtain that something through theordinary channel or by the employment of ordinary means. It is essentialto me, to my happiness, to my comfort, or my amour-propre, that thatsomething shall be possessed by me. If I can buy it, well and good. IfI can buy those who can use their influence to secure this thing for me, so much the better. If I can obtain it by any merit I possess, I utilizethat merit, providing always, that I can secure my object in the time, otherwise--"

He shrugged his shoulders. 

"I see, " she said, nodding her head quickly. "I suppose that is howblackmailers feel. "

He frowned. 

"That is a word I never use, nor do I like to hear it employed, " hesaid. "Blackmail suggests to me a vulgar attempt to obtain money. "

"Which is generally very badly wanted by the people who use it, " saidthe girl, with a little smile, "and, according to your argument, theyare also justified. "

"It is a matter of plane, " he said airily. "Viewed from my standpoint, they are sordid criminals--the sort of person that T. X. Meets, Ipresume, in the course of his daily work. T. X. , " he went on somewhatoracularly, "is a man for whom I have a great deal of respect. You willprobably meet him again, for he will find an opportunity of asking you afew questions about myself. I need hardly tell you--"

He lifted his shoulders with a deprecating smile. 

"I shall certainly not discuss your business with any person, " said thegirl coldly. 

"I am paying you 3 pounds a week, I think, " he said. "I intendincreasing that to 5 pounds because you suit me most admirably. "

"Thank you, " said the girl quietly, "but I am already being paid quitesufficient. "

She left him, a little astonished and not a little ruffled. 

To refuse the favours of Remington Kara was, by him, regardedas something of an affront. Half his quarrel with T. X. Was thatgentleman's curious indifference to the benevolent attitude which Karahad persistently adopted in his dealings with the detective. 

He rang the bell, this time for his valet. 

"Fisher, " he said, "I am expecting a visit from a gentleman namedGathercole--a one-armed gentleman whom you must look after if he comes. Detain him on some pretext or other because he is rather difficult toget hold of and I want to see him. I am going out now and I shall beback at 6. 30. Do whatever you can to prevent him going away untilI return. He will probably be interested if you take him into thelibrary. "

"Very good, sir, " said the urbane Fisher, "will you change before you goout?"

Kara shook his head. 

"I think I will go as I am, " he said. "Get me my fur coat. This beastlycold kills me, " he shivered as he glanced into the bleak street. "Keepmy fire going, put all my private letters in my bedroom, and see thatMiss Holland has her lunch. "

Fisher followed him to his car, wrapped the fur rug about his legs, closed the door carefully and returned to the house. From thence onwardhis behaviour was somewhat extraordinary for a well-bred servant. Thathe should return to Kara's study and set the papers in order was naturaland proper. 

That he should conduct a rapid examination of all the drawers in Kara'sdesk might be excused on the score of diligence, since he was, to someextent, in the confidence of his employer. 

Kara was given to making friends of his servants--up to a point. In hismore generous moments he would address his bodyguard as "Fred, " andon more occasions than one, and for no apparent reason, had tipped hisservant over and above his salary. 

Mr. Fred Fisher found little to reward him for his search until he cameupon Kara's cheque book which told him that on the previous day theGreek had drawn 6, 000 pounds in cash from the bank. This interested himmightily and he replaced the cheque book with the tightened lips andthe fixed gaze of a man who was thinking rapidly. He paid a visit tothe library, where the secretary was engaged in making copies of Kara'scorrespondence, answering letters appealing for charitable donations, and in the hack words which fall to the secretaries of the great. 

He replenished the fire, asked deferentially for any instructions andreturned again to his quest. This time he made the bedroom the scene ofhis investigations. The safe he did not attempt to touch, but therewas a small bureau in which Kara would have placed his privatecorrespondence of the morning. This however yielded no result. 

By the side of the bed on a small table was a telephone, the sight ofwhich apparently afforded the servant a little amusement. This wasthe private 'phone which Kara had been instrumental in having fixed toScotland Yard--as he had explained to his servants. 

"Rum cove, " said Fisher. 

He paused for a moment before the closed door of the room and smilinglysurveyed the great steel latch which spanned the door and fitted intoan iron socket securely screwed to the framework. He lifted itgingerly--there was a little knob for the purpose--and let it fallgently into the socket which had been made to receive it on the dooritself. 

"Rum cove, " he said again, and lifting the latch to the hook which heldit up, left the room, closing the door softly behind him. He walked downthe corridor, with a meditative frown, and began to descend the stairsto the hall. 

He was less than half-way down when the one maid of Kara's householdcame up to meet him. 

"There's a gentleman who wants to see Mr. Kara, " she said, "here is hiscard. "

Fisher took the card from the salver and read, "Mr. George Gathercole, Junior Travellers' Club. "

"I'll see this gentleman, " he said, with a sudden brisk interest. 

He found the visitor standing in the hall. 

He was a man who would have attracted attention, if only from thesomewhat eccentric nature of his dress and his unkempt appearance. Hewas dressed in a well-worn overcoat of a somewhat pronounced check, hehad a top-hat, glossy and obviously new, at the back of his head, andthe lower part of his face was covered by a ragged beard. This he wasplucking with nervous jerks, talking to himself the while, and casting adisparaging eye upon the portrait of Remington Kara which hung above themarble fireplace. A pair of pince-nez sat crookedly on his nose andtwo fat volumes under his arm completed the picture. Fisher, who was anobserver of some discernment, noticed under the overcoat a creased bluesuit, large black boots and a pair of pearl studs. 

The newcomer glared round at the valet. 

"Take these!" he ordered peremptorily, pointing to the books under hisarm. 

Fisher hastened to obey and noted with some wonder that the visitor didnot attempt to assist him either by loosening his hold of the volumesor raising his hand. Accidentally the valet's hand pressed against theother's sleeve and he received a shock, for the forearm was clearly anartificial one. It was against a wooden surface beneath the sleevethat his knuckles struck, and this view of the stranger's infirmity wasconfirmed when the other reached round with his right hand, took hold ofthe gloved left hand and thrust it into the pocket of his overcoat. 

"Where is Kara?" growled the stranger. 

"He will be back very shortly, sir, " said the urbane Fisher. 

"Out, is he?" boomed the visitor. "Then I shan't wait. What the devildoes he mean by being out? He's had three years to be out!"

"Mr. Kara expects you, sir. He told me he would be in at six o'clock atthe latest. "

"Six o'clock, ye gods'. " stormed the man impatiently. "What dog am Ithat I should wait till six?"

He gave a savage little tug at his beard. 

"Six o'clock, eh? You will tell Mr. Kara that I called. Give me thosebooks. "

"But I assure you, sir, --" stammered Fisher. 

"Give me those books!" roared the other. 

Deftly he lifted his left hand from the pocket, crooked the elbow bysome quick manipulation, and thrust the books, which the valet mostreluctantly handed to him, back to the place from whence he had takenthem. 

"Tell Mr. Kara I will call at my own time--do you understand, at my owntime. Good morning to you. "

"If you would only wait, sir, " pleaded the agonized Fisher. 

"Wait be hanged, " snarled the other. "I've waited three years, I tellyou. Tell Mr. Kara to expect me when he sees me!"

He went out and most unnecessarily banged the door behind him. Fisherwent back to the library. The girl was sealing up some letters as heentered and looked up. 

"I am afraid, Miss Holland, I've got myself into very serious trouble. "

"What is that, Fisher!" asked the girl. 

"There was a gentleman coming to see Mr. Kara, whom Mr. Karaparticularly wanted to see. "

"Mr. Gathercole, " said the girl quickly. 

Fisher nodded. 

"Yes, miss, I couldn't get him to stay though. "

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. 

"Mr. Kara will be very cross, but I don't see how you can help it. Iwish you had called me. "

"He never gave a chance, miss, " said Fisher, with a little smile, "butif he comes again I'll show him straight up to you. "

She nodded. 

"Is there anything you want, miss?" he asked as he stood at the door. 

"What time did Mr. Kara say he would be back?"

"At six o'clock, miss, " the man replied. 

"There is rather an important letter here which has to be delivered. "

"Shall I ring up for a messenger?"

"No, I don't think that would be advisable. You had better take ityourself. "

Kara was in the habit of employing Fisher as a confidential messengerwhen the occasion demanded such employment. 

"I will go with pleasure, miss, " he said. 

It was a heaven-sent opportunity for Fisher, who had been inventingsome excuse for leaving the house. She handed him the letter and he readwithout a droop of eyelid the superscription:

"T. X. Meredith, Esq. , Special Service Dept. , Scotland Yard, Whitehall. "

He put it carefully in his pocket and went from the room to change. Large as the house was Kara did not employ a regular staff of servants. A maid and a valet comprised the whole of the indoor staff. His cook, and the other domestics, necessary for conducting an establishment ofthat size, were engaged by the day. 

Kara had returned from the country earlier than had been anticipated, and, save for Fisher, the only other person in the house beside thegirl, was the middle-aged domestic who was parlour-maid, serving-maidand housekeeper in one. 

Miss Holland sat at her desk to all appearance reading over theletters she had typed that afternoon but her mind was very far from thecorrespondence before her. She heard the soft thud of the front doorclosing, and rising she crossed the room rapidly and looked down throughthe window to the street. She watched Fisher until he was out of sight;then she descended to the hall and to the kitchen. 

It was not the first visit she had made to the big underground room withits vaulted roof and its great ranges--which were seldom used nowadays, for Kara gave no dinners. 

The maid--who was also cook--arose up as the girl entered. 

"It's a sight for sore eyes to see you in my kitchen, miss, " she smiled. 

"I'm afraid you're rather lonely, Mrs. Beale, " said the girlsympathetically. 

"Lonely, miss!" cried the maid. "I fairly get the creeps sitting herehour after hour. It's that door that gives me the hump. "

She pointed to the far end of the kitchen to a soiled looking door ofunpainted wood. 

"That's Mr. Kara's wine cellar--nobody's been in it but him. I knowhe goes in sometimes because I tried a dodge that my brother--who's apoliceman--taught me. I stretched a bit of white cotton across it an' itwas broke the next morning. "

"Mr. Kara keeps some of his private papers in there, " said the girlquietly, "he has told me so himself. "

"H'm, " said the woman doubtfully, "I wish he'd brick it up--the sameas he has the lower cellar--I get the horrors sittin' here at nightexpectin' the door to open an' the ghost of the mad lord to comeout--him that was killed in Africa. "

Miss Holland laughed. 

"I want you to go out now, " she said, "I have no stamps. "

Mrs. Beale obeyed with alacrity and whilst she was assuming a hat--beingdesirous of maintaining her prestige as housekeeper in the eyes ofCadogan Square, the girl ascended to the upper floor. 

Again she watched from the window the disappearing figure. 

Once out of sight Miss Holland went to work with a remarkabledeliberation and thoroughness. From her bag she produced a small purseand opened it. In that case was a new steel key. She passed swiftly downthe corridor to Kara's room and made straight for the safe. 

In two seconds it was open and she was examining its contents. It wasa large safe of the usual type. There were four steel drawers fitted atthe back and at the bottom of the strong box. Two of these were unlockedand contained nothing more interesting than accounts relating to Kara'sestate in Albania. 

The top pair were locked. She was prepared for this contingency and asecond key was as efficacious as the first. An examination of the firstdrawer did not produce all that she had expected. She returned thepapers to the drawer, pushed it to and locked it. She gave her attentionto the second drawer. Her hand shook a little as she pulled it open. Itwas her last chance, her last hope. 

There were a number of small jewel-boxes almost filling the drawer. Shetook them out one by one and at the bottom she found what she had beensearching for and that which had filled her thoughts for the past threemonths. 

It was a square case covered in red morocco leather. She inserted hershaking hand and took it out with a triumphant little cry. 

"At last, " she said aloud, and then a hand grasped her wrist and in apanic she turned to meet the smiling face of Kara. 

CHAPTER X

She felt her knees shake under her and thought she was going to swoon. She put out her disengaged hand to steady herself, and if the face whichwas turned to him was pale, there was a steadfast resolution in her darkeyes. 

"Let me relieve you of that, Miss Holland, " said Kara, in his silkiesttones. 

He wrenched rather than took the box from her hand, replaced itcarefully in the drawer, pushed the drawer to and locked it, examiningthe key as he withdrew it. Then he closed the safe and locked that. 

"Obviously, " he said presently, "I must get a new safe. "

He had not released his hold of her wrist nor did he, until he hadled her from the room back to the library. Then he released the girl, standing between her and the door, with folded arms and that cynical, quiet, contemptuous smile of his upon his handsome face. 

"There are many courses which I can adopt, " he said slowly. "I cansend for the police--when my servants whom you have despatched sothoughtfully have returned, or I can take your punishment into my ownhands. "

"So far as I am concerned, " said the girl coolly, "you may send for thepolice. "

She leant back against the edge of the desk, her hands holding the edge, and faced him without so much as a quaver. 

"I do not like the police, " mused Kara, when there came a knock at thedoor. 

Kara turned and opened it and after a low strained conversation hereturned, closing the door and laid a paper of stamps on the girl'stable. 

"As I was saying, I do not care for the police, and I prefer my ownmethod. In this particular instance the police obviously would not serveme, because you are not afraid of them and in all probability you arein their pay--am I right in supposing that you are one of Mr. T. X. Meredith's accomplices!"

"I do not know Mr. T. X. Meredith, " she replied calmly, "and I am not inany way associated with the police. "

"Nevertheless, " he persisted, "you do not seem to be very scared of themand that removes any temptation I might have to place you in the handsof the law. Let me see, " he pursed his lips as he applied his mind tothe problem. 

She half sat, half stood, watching him without any evidence ofapprehension, but with a heart which began to quake a little. For threemonths she had played her part and the strain had been greater thanshe had confessed to herself. Now the great moment had come and she hadfailed. That was the sickening, maddening thing about it all. It wasnot the fear of arrest or of conviction, which brought a sinking toher heart; it was the despair of failure, added to a sense of herhelplessness against this man. 

"If I had you arrested your name would appear in all the papers, ofcourse, " he said, narrowly, "and your photograph would probably adornthe Sunday journals, " he added expectantly. 

She laughed. 

"That doesn't appeal to me, " she said. 

"I am afraid it doesn't, " he replied, and strolled towards her as thoughto pass her on his way to the window. He was abreast of her when hesuddenly swung round and catching her in his arms he caught her closeto him. Before she could realise what he planned, he had stooped swiftlyand kissed her full upon the mouth. 

"If you scream, I shall kiss you again, " he said, "for I have sent themaid to buy some more stamps--to the General Post Office. "

"Let me go, " she gasped. 

Now for the first time he saw the terror in her eyes, and there surgedwithin him that mad sense of triumph, that intoxication of power whichhad been associated with the red letter days of his warped life. 

"You're afraid!" he bantered her, half whispering the words, "you'reafraid now, aren't you? If you scream I shall kiss you again, do youhear?"

"For God's sake, let me go, " she whispered. 

He felt her shaking in his arms, and suddenly he released her with alittle laugh, and she sank trembling from head to foot upon the chair byher desk. 

"Now you're going to tell me who sent you here, " he went on harshly, "and why you came. I never suspected you. I thought you were one ofthose strange creatures one meets in England, a gentlewoman who prefersworking for her living to the more simple business of getting married. And all the time you were spying--clever--very clever!"

The girl was thinking rapidly. In five minutes Fisher would return. Somehow she had faith in Fisher's ability and willingness to save herfrom a situation which she realized was fraught with the greatest dangerto herself. She was horribly afraid. She knew this man far better thanhe suspected, realized the treachery and the unscrupulousness of him. She knew he would stop short of nothing, that he was without honour andwithout a single attribute of goodness. 

He must have read her thoughts for he came nearer and stood over her. 

"You needn't shrink, my young friend, " he said with a little chuckle. "You are going to do just what I want you to do, and your first act willbe to accompany me downstairs. Get up. "

He half lifted, half dragged her to her feet and led her from the room. They descended to the hall together and the girl spoke no word. Perhapsshe hoped that she might wrench herself free and make her escape intothe street, but in this she was disappointed. The grip about her arm wasa grip of steel and she knew safety did not lie in that direction. Shepulled back at the head of the stairs that led down to the kitchen. 

"Where are you taking me?" she asked. 

"I am going to put you into safe custody, " he said. "On the whole Ithink it is best that the police take this matter in hand and I shalllock you into my wine cellar and go out in search of a policeman. "

The big wooden door opened, revealing a second door and this Karaunbolted. She noticed that both doors were sheeted with steel, the outeron the inside, and the inner door on the outside. She had no time tomake any further observations for Kara thrust her into the darkness. Heswitched on a light. 

"I will not deny you that, " he said, pushing her back as she made afrantic attempt to escape. He swung the outer door to as she raised hervoice in a piercing scream, and clapping his hand over her mouth heldher tightly for a moment. 

"I have warned you, " he hissed. 

She saw his face distorted with rage. She saw Kara transfigured withdevilish anger, saw that handsome, almost godlike countenance thrustinto hers, flushed and seamed with malignity and a hatefulness beyondunderstanding and then her senses left her and she sank limp andswooning into his arms. 

When she recovered consciousness she found herself lying on a plainstretcher bed. She sat up suddenly. Kara had gone and the door wasclosed. The cellar was dry and clean and its walls were enamelled white. Light was supplied by two electric lamps in the ceiling. There was atable and a chair and a small washstand, and air was evidently suppliedthrough unseen ventilators. It was indeed a prison and no less, and inher first moments of panic she found herself wondering whether Kara hadused this underground dungeon of his before for a similar purpose. 

She examined the room carefully. At the farthermost end was anotherdoor and this she pushed gently at first and then vigorously withoutproducing the slightest impression. She still had her bag, a smallaffair of black moire, which hung from her belt, in which was nothingmore formidable than a penknife, a small bottle of smelling salts anda pair of scissors. The latter she had used for cutting out thoseparagraphs from the daily newspapers which referred to Kara's movements. 

They would make a formidable weapon, and wrapping her handkerchief roundthe handle to give it a better grip she placed it on the table withinreach. She was dimly conscious all the time that she had heard somethingabout this wine cellar--something which, if she could recollect it, would be of service to her. 

Then in a flash she remembered that there was a lower cellar, whichaccording to Mrs. Beale was never used and was bricked up. It wasapproached from the outside, down a circular flight of stairs. Theremight be a way out from that direction and would there not be someconnection between the upper cellar and the lower!

She set to work to make a closer examination of the apartment. 

The floor was of concrete, covered with a light rush matting. This shecarefully rolled up, starting at the door. One half of the floor wasuncovered without revealing the existence of any trap. She attempted topull the table into the centre of the room, better to roll the matting, but found it fixed to the wall, and going down on her knees, shediscovered that it had been fixed after the matting had been laid. 

Obviously there was no need for the fixture and, she tapped the floorwith her little knuckle. Her heart started racing. The sound herknocking gave forth was a hollow one. She sprang up, took her bag fromthe table, opened the little penknife and cut carefully through the thinrushes. She might have to replace the matting and it was necessary sheshould do her work tidily. 

Soon the whole of the trap was revealed. There was an iron ring, whichfitted flush with the top and which she pulled. The trap yielded andswung back as though there were a counterbalance at the other end, asindeed there was. She peered down. There was a dim light below--thereflection of a light in the distance. A flight of steps led down to thelower level and after a second's hesitation she swung her legs over thecavity and began her descent. 

She was in a cellar slightly smaller than that above her. The lightshe had seen came from an inner apartment which would be underneath thekitchen of the house. She made her way cautiously along, stepping ontip-toe. The first of the rooms she came to was well-furnished. Therewas a thick carpet on the floor, comfortable easy-chairs, a littlebookcase well filled, and a reading lamp. This must be Kara'sunderground study, where he kept his precious papers. 

A smaller room gave from this and again it was doorless. She looked inand after her eyes had become accustomed to the darkness she saw that itwas a bathroom handsomely fitted. 

The room she was in was also without any light which came from thefarthermost chamber. As the girl strode softly across the well-carpetedroom she trod on something hard. She stooped and felt along thefloor and her fingers encountered a thin steel chain. The girl wasbewildered-almost panic-stricken. She shrunk back from the entranceof the inner room, fearful of what she would see. And then from theinterior came a sound that made her tingle with horror. 

It was a sound of a sigh, long and trembling. She set her teeth andstrode through the doorway and stood for a moment staring with open eyesand mouth at what she saw. 

"My God!" she breathed, "London. . . . In the twentieth century. . . !"

CHAPTER XI

Superintendent Mansus had a little office in Scotland Yard proper, which, he complained, was not so much a private bureau, as awaiting-room to which repaired every official of the police servicewho found time hanging on his hands. On the afternoon of Miss Holland'ssurprising adventure, a plainclothes man of "D" Division brought toMr. Mansus's room a very scared domestic servant, voluble, tearful andagonizingly penitent. It was a mood not wholly unfamiliar to a policeofficer of twenty years experience and Mr. Mansus was not impressed. 

"If you will kindly shut up, " he said, blending his natural politenesswith his employment of the vernacular, "and if you will also answera few questions I will save you a lot of trouble. You were LadyBartholomew's maid weren't you?"

"Yes, sir, " sobbed the red-eyed Mary Ann. 

"And you have been detected trying to pawn a gold bracelet, the propertyof Lady Bartholomew?"

The maid gulped, nodded and started breathlessly upon a recital of herwrongs. 

"Yes, sir--but she practically gave it to me, sir, and I haven't had mywages for two months, sir, and she can give that foreigner thousandsand thousands of pounds at a time, sir, but her poor servants she can'tpay--no, she can't. And if Sir William knew especially about my lady'scards and about the snuffbox, what would he think, I wonder, and I'mgoing to have my rights, for if she can pay thousands to a swell likeMr. Kara she can pay me and--"

Mansus jerked his head. 

"Take her down to the cells, " he said briefly, and they led her away, awailing, woeful figure of amateur larcenist. 

In three minutes Mansus was with T. X. And had reduced the girl'sincoherence to something like order. 

"This is important, " said T. X. ; "produce the Abigail. "

"The--?" asked the puzzled officer. 

"The skivvy--slavey--hired help--get busy, " said T. X. Impatiently. 

They brought her to T. X. In a condition bordering upon collapse. 

"Get her a cup of tea, " said the wise chief. "Sit down, Mary Ann, andforget all your troubles. "

"Oh, sir, I've never been in this position before, " she began, as sheflopped into the chair they put for her. 

"Then you've had a very tiring time, " said T. X. "Now listen--"

"I've been respectable--"

"Forget it!" said T. X. , wearily. "Listen! If you'll tell me the wholetruth about Lady Bartholomew and the money she paid to Mr. Kara--"

"Two thousand pounds--two separate thousand and by all accounts-"

"If you will tell me the truth, I'll compound a felony and let you gofree. "

It was a long time before he could prevail upon her to clear herspeech of the ego which insisted upon intruding. There were gaps in hernarrative which he bridged. In the main it was a believable story. LadyBartholomew had lost money and had borrowed from Kara. She had given assecurity, the snuffbox presented to her husband's father, a doctor, byone of the Czars for services rendered, and was "all blue enamel andgold, and foreign words in diamonds. " On the question of the amount LadyBartholomew had borrowed, Abigail was very vague. All that she knew wasthat my lady had paid back two thousand pounds and that she was stillvery distressed ("in a fit" was the phrase the girl used), becauseapparently Kara refused to restore the box. 

There had evidently been terrible scenes in the Bartholomew menage, hysterics and what not, the principal breakdown having occurred whenBelinda Mary came home from school in France. 

"Miss Bartholomew is home then. Where is she?" asked T. X. 

Here the girl was more vague than ever. She thought the young lady hadgone back again, anyway Miss Belinda had been very much upset. MissBelinda had seen Dr. Williams and advised that her mother should go awayfor a change. 

"Miss Belinda seems to be a precocious young person, " said T. X. "Didshe by any chance see Mr. Kara?"

"Oh, no, " explained the girl. "Miss Belinda was above that sort ofperson. Miss Belinda was a lady, if ever there was one. "

"And how old is this interesting young woman?" asked T. X. Curiously. 

"She is nineteen, " said the girl, and the Commissioner, who had picturedBelinda in short plaid frocks and long pigtails, and had moreovervisualised her as a freckled little girl with thin legs and snub nose, was abashed. 

He delivered a short lecture on the sacred rights of property, paid thegirl the three months' wages which were due to her--he had no doubt asto the legality of her claim--and dismissed her with instructions to goback to the house, pack her box and clear out. 

After the girl had gone, T. X. Sat down to consider the position. Hemight see Kara and since Kara had expressed his contrition and wasprobably in a more humble state of mind, he might make reparation. Thenagain he might not. Mansus was waiting and T. X. Walked back with him tohis little office. 

"I hardly know what to make of it, " he said in despair. 

"If you can give me Kara's motive, sir, I can give you a solution, " saidMansus. 

T. X. Shook his head. 

"That is exactly what I am unable to give you, " he said. 

He perched himself on Mansus's desk and lit a cigar. 

"I have a good mind to go round and see him, " he said after a while. 

"Why not telephone to him?" asked Mansus. "There is his 'phone straightinto his boudoir. "

He pointed to a small telephone in a corner of the room. 

"Oh, he persuaded the Commissioner to run the wire, did he?" said T. X. Interested, and walked over to the telephone. 

He fingered the receiver for a little while and was about to take itoff, but changed his mind. 

"I think not, " he said, "I'll go round and see him to-morrow. I don'thope to succeed in extracting the confidence in the case of LadyBartholomew, which he denied me over poor Lexman. "

"I suppose you'll never give up hope of seeing Mr. Lexman again, " smiledMansus, busily arranging a new blotting pad. 

Before T. X. Could answer there came a knock at the door, and auniformed policeman, entered. He saluted T. X. 

"They've just sent an urgent letter across from your office, sir. I saidI thought you were here. "

He handed the missive to the Commissioner. T. X. Took it and glanced atthe typewritten address. It was marked "urgent" and "by hand. " Hetook up the thin, steel, paper-knife from the desk and slit open theenvelope. The letter consisted of three or four pages of manuscript and, unlike the envelope, it was handwritten. 

"My dear T. X. , " it began, and the handwriting was familiar. 

Mansus, watching the Commissioner, saw the puzzled frown gather onhis superior's forehead, saw the eyebrows arch and the mouth openin astonishment, saw him hastily turn to the last page to read thesignature and then:

"Howling apples!" gasped T. X. "It's from John Lexman!"

His hand shook as he turned the closely written pages. The letter wasdated that afternoon. There was no other address than "London. "

"My dear T. X. , " it began, "I do not doubt that this letter will giveyou a little shock, because most of my friends will have believed that Iam gone beyond return. Fortunately or unfortunately that is not so. Formyself I could wish--but I am not going to take a very gloomy view sinceI am genuinely pleased at the thought that I shall be meeting you again. Forgive this letter if it is incoherent but I have only this momentreturned and am writing at the Charing Cross Hotel. I am not stayinghere, but I will let you have my address later. The crossing has beena very severe one so you must forgive me if my letter sounds a littledisjointed. You will be sorry to hear that my dear wife is dead. Shedied abroad about six months ago. I do not wish to talk very much aboutit so you will forgive me if I do not tell you any more. 

"My principal object in writing to you at the moment is an officialone. I suppose I am still amenable to punishment and I have decided tosurrender myself to the authorities to-night. You used to have a mostexcellent assistant in Superintendent Mansus, and if it is convenient toyou, as I hope it will be, I will report myself to him at 10. 15. At anyrate, my dear T. X. , I do not wish to mix you up in my affairs and ifyou will let me do this business through Mansus I shall be very muchobliged to you. 

"I know there is no great punishment awaiting me, because my pardon wasapparently signed on the night before my escape. I shall not have muchto tell you, because there is not much in the past two years that Iwould care to recall. We endured a great deal of unhappiness and deathwas very merciful when it took my beloved from me. 

"Do you ever see Kara in these days?

"Will you tell Mansus to expect me at between ten and half-past, and ifhe will give instructions to the officer on duty in the hall I will comestraight up to his room. 

"With affectionate regards, my dear fellow, I am, "Yours sincerely, "JOHN LEXMAN. "

T. X. Read the letter over twice and his eyes were troubled. 

"Poor girl, " he said softly, and handed the letter to Mansus. "Heevidently wants to see you because he is afraid of using my friendshipto his advantage. I shall be here, nevertheless. "

"What will be the formality?" asked Mansus. 

"There will be no formality, " said the other briskly. "I will secure thenecessary pardon from the Home Secretary and in point of fact I have italready promised, in writing. "

He walked back to Whitehall, his mind fully occupied with the momentousevents of the day. It was a raw February evening, sleet was fallingin the street, a piercing easterly wind drove even through his thickovercoat. In such doorways as offered protection from the bitterelements the wreckage of humanity which clings to the West end ofLondon, as the singed moth flutters about the flame that destroys it, were huddled for warmth. 

T. X. Was a man of vast human sympathies. 

All his experience with the criminal world, all his disappointments, all his disillusions had failed to quench the pity for his unfortunatefellows. He made it a rule on such nights as these, that if, by chance, returning late to his office he should find such a shivering piece ofjetsam sheltering in his own doorway, he would give him or her the priceof a bed. 

In his own quaint way he derived a certain speculative excitement fromthis practice. If the doorway was empty he regarded himself as a winner, if some one stood sheltered in the deep recess which is a feature of theold Georgian houses in this historic thoroughfare, he would lose to theextent of a shilling. 

He peered forward through the semi-darkness as he neared the door of hisoffices. 

"I've lost, " he said, and stripped his gloves preparatory to groping inhis pocket for a coin. 

Somebody was standing in the entrance, but it was obviously a veryrespectable somebody. A dumpy, motherly somebody in a seal-skin coat anda preposterous bonnet. 

"Hullo, " said T. X. In surprise, "are you trying to get in here?"

"I want to see Mr. Meredith, " said the visitor, in the mincing affectedtones of one who excused the vulgar source of her prosperity byfrequently reiterated claims to having seen better days. 

"Your longing shall be gratified, " said T. X. Gravely. 

He unlocked the heavy door, passed through the uncarpeted passage--thereare no frills on Government offices--and led the way up the stairs tothe suite on the first floor which constituted his bureau. 

He switched on all the lights and surveyed his visitor, a comfortableperson of the landlady type. 

"A good sort, " thought T. X. , "but somewhat overweighted with lorgnettesand seal-skin. "

"You will pardon my coming to see you at this hour of the night, " shebegan deprecatingly, "but as my dear father used to say, 'Hopi soit quimal y pense. '"

"Your dear father being in the garter business?" suggested T. X. Humorously. "Won't you sit down, Mrs. ----"

"Mrs. Cassley, " beamed the lady as she seated herself. "He was in thepaper hanging business. But needs must, when the devil drives, as thesaying goes. "

"What particular devil is driving you, Mrs. Cassley?" asked T. X. , somewhat at a loss to understand the object of this visit. 

"I may be doing wrong, " began the lady, pursing her lips, "and twoblacks will never make a white. "

"And all that glitters is not gold, " suggested T. X. A little wearily. "Will you please tell me your business, Mrs. Cassley? I am a very hungryman. "

"Well, it's like this, sir, " said Mrs. Cassley, dropping her erudition, and coming down to bedrock homeliness; "I've got a young lady stoppingwith me, as respectable a gel as I've had to deal with. And I knowwhat respectability is, I might tell you, for I've taken professionalboarders and I have been housekeeper to a doctor. "

"You are well qualified to speak, " said T. X. With a smile. "And whatabout this particular young lady of yours! By the way what is youraddress?"

"86a Marylebone Road, " said the lady. 

T. X. Sat up. 

"Yes?" he said quickly. "What about your young lady?"

"She works as far as I can understand, " said the loquacious landlady, "with a certain Mr. Kara in the typewriting line. She came to me fourmonths ago. "

"Never mind when she came to you, " said T. X. Impatiently. "Have you amessage from the lady?"

"Well, it's like this, sir, " said Mrs. Cassley, leaning forwardconfidentially and speaking in the hollow tone which she had decidedshould accompany any revelation to a police officer, "this young ladysaid to me, 'If I don't come any night by 8 o'clock you must go to T. X. And tell him--'!"

She paused dramatically. 

"Yes, yes, " said T. X. Quickly, "for heaven's sake go on, woman. "

"'Tell him, '" said Mrs. Cassley, "'that Belinda Mary--'"

He sprang to his feet. 

"Belinda Mary!" he breathed, "Belinda Mary!" In a flash he saw it all. This girl with a knowledge of modern Greek, who was working in Kara'shouse, was there for a purpose. Kara had something of her mother's, something that was vital and which he would not part with, and shehad adopted this method of securing that some thing. Mrs. Cassleywas prattling on, but her voice was merely a haze of sound to him. It brought a strange glow to his heart that Belinda Mary should havethought of him. 

"Only as a policeman, of course, " said the still, small voice of hisofficial self. "Perhaps!" said the human T. X. , defiantly. 

He got on the telephone to Mansus and gave a few instructions. 

"You stay here, " he ordered the astounded Mrs. Cassley; "I am going tomake a few investigations. "

Kara was at home, but was in bed. T. X. Remembered that thisextraordinary man invariably went to bed early and that it was hispractice to receive visitors in this guarded room of his. He wasadmitted almost at once and found Kara in his silk dressing-gown lyingon the bed smoking. The heat of the room was unbearable even on thatbleak February night. 

"This is a pleasant surprise, " said Kara, sitting up; "I hope you don'tmind my dishabille. "

T. X. Came straight to the point. 

"Where is Miss Holland!" he asked. 

"Miss Holland?" Kara's eyebrows advertised his astonishment. "What anextraordinary question to ask me, my dear man! At her home, or at thetheatre or in a cinema palace--I don't know how these people employtheir evenings. "

"She is not at home, " said T. X. , "and I have reason to believe that shehas not left this house. "

"What a suspicious person you are, Mr. Meredith!" Kara rang the bell andFisher came in with a cup of coffee on a tray. 

"Fisher, " drawled Kara. "Mr. Meredith is anxious to know where MissHolland is. Will you be good enough to tell him, you know more about hermovements than I do. "

"As far as I know, sir, " said Fisher deferentially, "she left the houseabout 5. 30, her usual hour. She sent me out a little before five on amessage and when I came back her hat and her coat had gone, so I presumeshe had gone also. "

"Did you see her go?" asked T. X. 

The man shook his head. 

"No, sir, I very seldom see the lady come or go. There has been norestrictions placed upon the young lady and she has been at liberty tomove about as she likes. I think I am correct in saying that, sir, " heturned to Kara. 

Kara nodded. 

"You will probably find her at home. "

He shook his finger waggishly at T. X. 

"What a dog you are, " he jibed, "I ought to keep the beauties of myhousehold veiled, as we do in the East, and especially when I have asusceptible policeman wandering at large. "

T. X. Gave jest for jest. There was nothing to be gained by makingtrouble here. After a few amiable commonplaces he took his departure. Hefound Mrs. Cassley being entertained by Mansus with a wholly fictitiousdescription of the famous criminals he had arrested. 

"I can only suggest that you go home, " said T. X. "I will send a policeofficer with you to report to me, but in all probability you will findthe lady has returned. She may have had a difficulty in getting a bus ona night like this. "

A detective was summoned from Scotland Yard and accompanied by him Mrs. Cassley returned to her domicile with a certain importance. T. X. Lookedat his watch. It was a quarter to ten. 

"Whatever happens, I must see old Lexman, " he said. "Tell the best menwe've got in the department to stand by for eventualities. This is goingto be one of my busy days. "

CHAPTER XII

Kara lay back on his down pillows with a sneer on his face and his brainvery busy. What started the train of thought he did not know, but atthat moment his mind was very far away. It carried him back a dozenyears to a dirty little peasant's cabin on the hillside outside Durazzo, to the livid face of a young Albanian chief, who had lost at Kara's whimall that life held for a man, to the hateful eyes of the girl's father, who stood with folded arms glaring down at the bound and manacled figureon the floor, to the smoke-stained rafters of this peasant cottage andthe dancing shadows on the roof, to that terrible hour of waiting whenhe sat bound to a post with a candle flickering and spluttering lowerand lower to the little heap of gunpowder that would start the trailtoward the clumsy infernal machine under his chair. He remembered theday well because it was Candlemas day, and this was the anniversary. Heremembered other things more pleasant. The beat of hoofs on the rockyroadway, the crash of the door falling in when the Turkish Gendarmeshad battered a way to his rescue. He remembered with a savage joy thespectacle of his would-be assassins twitching and struggling on thegallows at Pezara and--he heard the faint tinkle of the front door bell. 

Had T. X. Returned! He slipped from the bed and went to the door, openedit slightly and listened. T. X. With a search warrant might be a sourceof panic especially if--he shrugged his shoulders. He had satisfied T. X. And allayed his suspicions. He would get Fisher out of the way thatnight and make sure. 

The voice from the hall below was loud and gruff. Who could it be! Thenhe heard Fisher's foot on the stairs and the valet entered. 

"Will you see Mr. Gathercole now!"

"Mr. Gathercole!"

Kara breathed a sigh of relief and his face was wreathed in smiles. 

"Why, of course. Tell him to come up. Ask him if he minds seeing me inmy room. "

"I told him you were in bed, sir, and he used shocking language, " saidFisher. 

Kara laughed. 

"Send him up, " he said, and then as Fisher was going out of the room hecalled him back. 

"By the way, Fisher, after Mr. Gathercole has gone, you may go out forthe night. You've got somewhere to go, I suppose, and you needn't comeback until the morning. "

"Yes, sir, " said the servant. 

Such an instruction was remarkably pleasing to him. There was much thathe had to do and that night's freedom would assist him materially. 

"Perhaps" Kara hesitated, "perhaps you had better wait until eleveno'clock. Bring me up some sandwiches and a large glass of milk. Orbetter still, place them on a plate in the hall. "

"Very good, sir, " said the man and withdrew. 

Down below, that grotesque figure with his shiny hat and his raggedbeard was walking up and down the tesselated hallway muttering tohimself and staring at the various objects in the hall with a certainamused antagonism. 

"Mr. Kara will see you, sir, " said Fisher. 

"Oh!" said the other glaring at the unoffending Fisher, "that's verygood of him. Very good of this person to see a scholar and a gentlemanwho has been about his dirty business for three years. Grown grey in hisservice! Do you understand that, my man!"

"Yes, sir, " said Fisher. 

"Look here!"

The man thrust out his face. 

"Do you see those grey hairs in my beard?"

The embarrassed Fisher grinned. 

"Is it grey!" challenged the visitor, with a roar. 

"Yes, sir, " said the valet hastily. 

"Is it real grey?" insisted the visitor. "Pull one out and see!"

The startled Fisher drew back with an apologetic smile. 

"I couldn't think of doing a thing like that, sir. "

"Oh, you couldn't, " sneered the visitor; "then lead on!"

Fisher showed the way up the stairs. This time the traveller carriedno books. His left arm hung limply by his side and Fisher privatelygathered that the hand had got loose from the detaining pocketwithout its owner being aware of the fact. He pushed open the door andannounced, "Mr. Gathercole, " and Kara came forward with a smile tomeet his agent, who, with top hat still on the top of his head, and hisovercoat dangling about his heels, must have made a remarkable picture. 

Fisher closed the door behind them and returned to his duties in thehall below. Ten minutes later he heard the door opened and the boomingvoice of the stranger came down to him. Fisher went up the stairs tomeet him and found him addressing the occupant of the room in his owneccentric fashion. 

"No more Patagonia!" he roared, "no more Tierra del Fuego!" he paused. 

"Certainly!" He replied to some question, "but not Patagonia, " he pausedagain, and Fisher standing at the foot of the stairs wondered what hadoccurred to make the visitor so genial. 

"I suppose your cheque will be honoured all right?" asked the visitorsardonically, and then burst into a little chuckle of laughter as hecarefully closed the door. 

He came down the corridor talking to himself, and greeted Fisher. 

"Damn all Greeks, " he said jovially, and Fisher could do no more thansmile reproachfully, the smile being his very own, the reproach being onbehalf of the master who paid him. 

The traveller touched the other on the chest with his right hand. 

"Never trust a Greek, " he said, "always get your money in advance. Isthat clear to you?"

"Yes, sir, " said Fisher, "but I think you will always find that Mr. Karais always most generous about money. "

"Don't you believe it, don't you believe it, my poor man, " said theother, "you--"

At that moment there came from Kara's room a faint "clang. "

"What's that?" asked the visitor a little startled. 

"Mr. Kara's put down his steel latch, " said Fisher with a smile, "whichmeans that he is not to be disturbed until--" he looked at his watch, "until eleven o'clock at any rate. "

"He's a funk!" snapped the other, "a beastly funk!"

He stamped down the stairs as though testing the weight of every tread, opened the front door without assistance, slammed it behind him anddisappeared into the night. 

Fisher, his hands in his pockets, looked after the departing stranger, nodding his head in reprobation. 

"You're a queer old devil, " he said, and looked at his watch again. 

It wanted five minutes to ten. 

CHAPTER XIII

"IF you would care to come in, sir, I'm sure Lexman would be glad tosee you, " said T. X. ; "it's very kind of you to take an interest in thematter. "

The Chief Commissioner of Police growled something about being paid totake an interest in everybody and strolled with T. X. Down one of theapparently endless corridors of Scotland Yard. 

"You won't have any bother about the pardon, " he said. "I was diningto-night with old man Bartholomew and he will fix that up in themorning. "

"There will be no necessity to detain Lexman in custody?" asked T. X. 

The Chief shook his head. 

"None whatever, " he said. 

There was a pause, then, "By the way, did Bartholomew mention Belinda Mary!"

The white-haired chief looked round in astonishment. 

"And who the devil is Belinda Mary?" he asked. 

T. X. Went red. 

"Belinda Mary, " he said a little quickly, "is Bartholomew's daughter. "

"By Jove, " said the Commissioner, "now you mention it, he did--she isstill in France. "

"Oh, is she?" said T. X. Innocently, and in his heart of hearts hewished most fervently that she was. They came to the room which Mansusoccupied and found that admirable man waiting. 

Wherever policemen meet, their conversation naturally drifts to "shop"and in two minutes the three were discussing with some animation andmuch difference of opinion, as far as T. X. Was concerned, a seriesof frauds which had been perpetrated in the Midlands, and which havenothing to do with this story. 

"Your friend is late, " said the Chief Commissioner. 

"There he is, " cried T. X. , springing up. He heard a familiar footstepon the flagged corridor, and sprung out of the room to meet thenewcomer. 

For a moment he stood wringing the hand of this grave man, his heart toofull for words. 

"My dear chap!" he said at last, "you don't know how glad I am to seeyou. "

John Lexman said nothing, then, "I am sorry to bring you into this business, T. X. , " he said quietly. 

"Nonsense, " said the other, "come in and see the Chief. "

He took John by the arm and led him into the Superintendent's room. 

There was a change in John Lexman. A subtle shifting of balance whichwas not readily discoverable. His face was older, the mobile mouth alittle more grimly set, the eyes more deeply lined. He was in eveningdress and looked, as T. X. Thought, a typical, clean, English gentleman, such an one as any self-respecting valet would be proud to say he had"turned out. "

T. X. Looking at him carefully could see no great change, save that downone side of his smooth shaven cheek ran the scar of an old wound; whichcould not have been much more than superficial. 

"I must apologize for this kit, " said John, taking off his overcoat andlaying it across the back of a chair, "but the fact is I was so boredthis evening that I had to do something to pass the time away, so Idressed and went to the theatre--and was more bored than ever. "

T. X. Noticed that he did not smile and that when he spoke it was slowlyand carefully, as though he were weighing the value of every word. 

"Now, " he went on, "I have come to deliver myself into your hands. "

"I suppose you have not seen Kara?" said T. X. 

"I have no desire to see Kara, " was the short reply. 

"Well, Mr. Lexman, " broke in the Chief, "I don't think you are going tohave any difficulty about your escape. By the way, I suppose it was byaeroplane?"

Lexman nodded. 

"And you had an assistant?"

Again Lexman nodded. 

"Unless you press me I would rather not discuss the matter for somelittle time, Sir George, " he said, "there is much that will happenbefore the full story of my escape is made known. "

Sir George nodded. 

"We will leave it at that, " he said cheerily, "and now I hope you havecome back to delight us all with one of your wonderful plots. "

"For the time being I have done with wonderful plots, " said John Lexmanin that even, deliberate tone of his. "I hope to leave London next weekfor New York and take up such of the threads of life as remain. Thegreater thread has gone. "

The Chief Commissioner understood. 

The silence which followed was broken by the loud and insistent ringingof the telephone bell. 

"Hullo, " said Mansus rising quickly; "that's Kara's bell. "

With two quick strides he was at the telephone and lifted down thereceiver. 

"Hullo, " he cried. "Hullo, " he cried again. There was no reply, onlythe continuous buzzing, and when he hung up the receiver again, the bellcontinued ringing. 

The three policemen looked at one another. 

"There's trouble there, " said Mansus. 

"Take off the receiver, " said T. X. , "and try again. "

Mansus obeyed, but there was no response. 

"I am afraid this is not my affair, " said John Lexman gathering up hiscoat. "What do you wish me to do, Sir George?"

"Come along to-morrow morning and see us, Lexman, " said Sir George, offering his hand. 

"Where are you staying!" asked T. X. 

"At the Great Midland, " replied the other, "at least my bags have goneon there. "

"I'll come along and see you to-morrow morning. It's curious this shouldhave happened the night you returned, " he said, gripping the other'sshoulder affectionately. 

John Lexman did not speak for the moment. 

"If anything happened to Kara, " he said slowly, "if the worst that waspossible happened to him, believe me I should not weep. "

T. X. Looked down into the other's eyes sympathetically. 

"I think he has hurt you pretty badly, old man, " he said gently. 

John Lexman nodded. 

"He has, damn him, " he said between his teeth. 

The Chief Commissioner's motor car was waiting outside and in this T. X. , Mansus, and a detective-sergeant were whirled off to Cadogan Square. Fisher was in the hall when they rung the bell and opened the doorinstantly. 

He was frankly surprised to see his visitors. Mr. Kara was in his roomhe explained resentfully, as though T. X. Should have been aware of thefact without being told. He had heard no bell ringing and indeed had notbeen summoned to the room. 

"I have to see him at eleven o'clock, " he said, "and I have had standinginstructions not to go to him unless I am sent for. "

T. X. Led the way upstairs, and went straight to Kara's room. Heknocked, but there was no reply. He knocked again and on this failing toevoke any response kicked heavily at the door. 

"Have you a telephone downstairs!" he asked. 

"Yes, sir, " replied Fisher. 

T. X. Turned to the detective-sergeant. 

"'Phone to the Yard, " he said, "and get a man up with a bag of tools. Weshall have to pick this lock and I haven't got my case with me. "

"Picking the lock would be no good, sir, " said Fisher, an interestedspectator, "Mr. Kara's got the latch down. "

"I forgot that, " said T. X. "Tell him to bring his saw, we'll have tocut through the panel here. "

While they were waiting for the arrival of the police officer T. X. Strove to attract the attention of the inmates of the room, but withoutsuccess. 

"Does he take opium or anything!" asked Mansus. 

Fisher shook his head. 

"I've never known him to take any of that kind of stuff, " he said. 

T. X. Made a rapid survey of the other rooms on that floor. The roomnext to Kara's was the library, beyond that was a dressing room which, according to Fisher, Miss Holland had used, and at the farthermost endof the corridor was the dining room. 

Facing the dining room was a small service lift and by its side astoreroom in which were a number of trunks, including a very large onesmothered in injunctions in three different languages to "handle withcare. " There was nothing else of interest on this floor and the upperand lower floors could wait. In a quarter of an hour the carpenter hadarrived from Scotland Yard, and had bored a hole in the rosewood panelof Kara's room and was busily applying his slender saw. 

Through the hole he cut T. X. Could see no more than that the room wasin darkness save for the glow of a blazing fire. He inserted his hand, groped for the knob of the steel latch, which he had remarked on hisprevious visit to the room, lifted it and the door swung open. 

"Keep outside, everybody, " he ordered. 

He felt for the switch of the electric, found it and instantly the roomwas flooded with light. The bed was hidden by the open door. T. X. Tookone stride into the room and saw enough. Kara was lying half on and halfoff the bed. He was quite dead and the blood-stained patch above hisheart told its own story. 

T. X. Stood looking down at him, saw the frozen horror on the dead man'sface, then drew his eyes away and slowly surveyed the room. There in themiddle of the carpet he found his clue, a bent and twisted little candlesuch as you find on children's Christmas trees. 

CHAPTER XIV

It was Mansus who found the second candle, a stouter affair. It layunderneath the bed. The telephone, which stood on a fairly large-sizedtable by the side of the bed, was overturned and the receiver was on thefloor. By its side were two books, one being the "Balkan Question, "by Villari, and the other "Travels and Politics in the Near East, " byMiller. With them was a long, ivory paper-knife. 

There was nothing else on the bedside-table save a silver cigarettebox. T. X. Drew on a pair of gloves and examined the bright surface forfinger-prints, but a superficial view revealed no such clue. 

"Open the window, " said T. X. , "the heat here is intolerable. Be verycareful, Mansus. By the way, is the window fastened?"

"Very well fastened, " said the superintendent after a careful scrutiny. 

He pushed back the fastenings, lifted the window and as he did, a harshbell rang in the basement. 

"That is the burglar alarm, I suppose, " said T. X. ; "go down and stopthat bell. "

He addressed Fisher, who stood with a troubled face at the door. Whenhe had disappeared T. X. Gave a significant glance to one of the waitingofficers and the man sauntered after the valet. 

Fisher stopped the bell and came back to the hall and stood before thehall fire, a very troubled man. Near the fire was a big, oaken writingtable and on this there lay a small envelope which he did not rememberhaving seen before, though it might have been there for some time, forhe had spent a greater portion of the evening in the kitchen with thecook. 

He picked up the envelope, and, with a start, recognised that it wasaddressed to himself. He opened it and took out a card. There were onlya few words written upon it, but they were sufficient to banish all thecolour from his face and set his hands shaking. He took the envelope andcard and flung them into the fire. 

It so happened that, at that moment, Mansus had called from upstairs, and the officer, who had been told off to keep the valet underobservation, ran up in answer to the summons. For a moment Fisherhesitated, then hatless and coatless as he was, he crept to the door, opened it, leaving it ajar behind him and darting down the steps, ranlike a hare from the house. 

The doctor, who came a little later, was cautious as to the hour ofdeath. 

"If you got your telephone message at 10. 25, as you say, that wasprobably the hour he was killed, " he said. "I could not tell within halfan hour. Obviously the man who killed him gripped his throat with hisleft hand--there are the bruises on his neck--and stabbed him with theright. "

It was at this time that the disappearance of Fisher was noticed, butthe cross-examination of the terrified Mrs. Beale removed any doubt thatT. X. Had as to the man's guilt. 

"You had better send out an 'All Stations' message and pull him in, "said T. X. "He was with the cook from the moment the visitor left untila few minutes before we rang. Besides which it is obviously impossiblefor anybody to have got into this room or out again. Have you searchedthe dead man?"

Mansus produced a tray on which Kara's belongings had been disposed. The ordinary keys Mrs. Beale was able to identify. There were one or twowhich were beyond her. T. X. Recognised one of these as the key of thesafe, but two smaller keys baffled him not a little, and Mrs. Beale wasat first unable to assist him. 

"The only thing I can think of, sir, " she said, "is the wine cellar. "

"The wine cellar?" said T. X. Slowly. "That must be--" he stopped. 

The greater tragedy of the evening, with all its mystifying aspects hadnot banished from his mind the thought of the girl--that Belinda Mary, who had called upon him in her hour of danger as he divined. Perhaps--hedescended into the kitchen and was brought face to face with theunpainted door. 

"It looks more like a prison than a wine cellar, " he said. 

"That's what I've always thought, sir, " said Mrs. Beale, "and sometimesI've had a horrible feeling of fear. "

He cut short her loquacity by inserting one of the keys in the lock--itdid not turn, but he had more success with the second. The lock snappedback easily and he pulled the door back. He found the inner door boltedtop and bottom. The bolts slipped back in their well-oiled socketswithout any effort. Evidently Kara used this place pretty frequently, thought T. X. 

He pushed the door open and stopped with an exclamation of surprise. Thecellar apartment was brilliantly lit--but it was unoccupied. 

"This beats the band, " said T. X. 

He saw something on the table and lifted it up. It was a pair oflong-bladed scissors and about the handle was wound a handkerchief. Itwas not this fact which startled him, but that the scissors' blades weredappled with blood and blood, too, was on the handkerchief. He unwoundthe flimsy piece of cambric and stared at the monogram "B. M. B. "

He looked around. Nobody had seen the weapon and he dropped it in hisovercoat pocket, and walked from the cellar to the kitchen where Mrs. Beale and Mansus awaited him. 

"There is a lower cellar, is there not!" he asked in a strained voice. 

"That was bricked up when Mr. Kara took the house, " explained the woman. 

"There is nothing more to look for here, " he said. 

He walked slowly up the stairs to the library, his mind in a whirl. Thathe, an accredited officer of police, sworn to the business of criminaldetection, should attempt to screen one who was conceivably a criminalwas inexplicable. But if the girl had committed this crime, how had shereached Kara's room and why had she returned to the locked cellar!

He sent for Mrs. Beale to interrogate her. She had heard nothing andshe had been in the kitchen all the evening. One fact she did reveal, however, that Fisher had gone from the kitchen and had been absent aquarter of an hour and had returned a little agitated. 

"Stay here, " said T. X. , and went down again to the cellar to make afurther search. 

"Probably there is some way out of this subterranean jail, " he thoughtand a diligent search of the room soon revealed it. 

He found the iron trap, pulled it open, and slipped down the stairs. He, too, was puzzled by the luxurious character of the vault. He passed fromroom to room and finally came to the inner chamber where a light wasburning. 

The light, as he discovered, proceeded from a small reading lamp whichstood by the side of a small brass bedstead. The bed had recently beenslept in, but there was no sign of any occupant. T. X. Conducted a verycareful search and had no difficulty in finding the bricked up door. Other exits there were none. 

The floor was of wood block laid on concrete, the ventilation wasexcellent and in one of the recesses which had evidently held at sotime or other, a large wine bin, there was a prefect electrical cookingplant. In a small larder were a number of baskets, bearing the name ofa well-known caterer, one of them containing an excellent assortment ofcold and potted meats, preserves, etc. 

T. X. Went back to the bedroom and took the little lamp from the tableby the side of the bed and began a more careful examination. Presentlyhe found traces of blood, and followed an irregular trail to the outerroom. He lost it suddenly at the foot of stairs leading down from theupper cellar. Then he struck it again. He had reached the end of hiselectric cord and was now depending upon an electric torch he had takenfrom his pocket. 

There were indications of something heavy having been dragged across theroom and he saw that it led to a small bathroom. He had made a cursoryexamination of this well-appointed apartment, and now he proceeded tomake a close investigation and was well rewarded. 

The bathroom was the only apartment which possess anything resembling adoor--a two-fold screen and--as he pressed this back, he felt something which prevented its wider extension. He slipped into the room andflashed his lamp in the space behind the screen. There stiff in deathwith glazed eyes and lolling tongue lay a great gaunt dog, his yellowfangs exposed in a last grimace. 

About the neck was a collar and attached to that, a few links of brokenchain. T. X. Mounted the steps thoughtfully and passed out to thekitchen. 

Did Belinda Mary stab Kara or kill the dog? That she killed one hound orthe other was certain. That she killed both was possible. 

CHAPTER XV

After a busy and sleepless night he came down to report to the ChiefCommissioner the next morning. The evening newspaper bills were filledwith the "Chelsea Sensation" but the information given was of a meagrecharacter. 

Since Fisher had disappeared, many of the details which could havebeen secured by the enterprising pressmen were missing. There was noreference to the visit of Mr. Gathercole and in self-defence the presshad fallen back upon a statement, which at an earlier period had creptinto the newspapers in one of those chatty paragraphs which begin "I sawmy friend Kara at Giros" and end with a brief but inaccurate summary ofhis hobbies. The paragraph had been to the effect that Mr. Kara had beenin fear of his life for some time, as a result of a blood feud whichexisted between himself and another Albanian family. Small wonder, therefore, the murder was everywhere referred to as "the political crimeof the century. "

"So far, " reported T. X. To his superior, "I have been unable to traceeither Gathercole or the valet. The only thing we know about Gathercoleis that he sent his article to The Times with his card. The servants ofhis Club are very vague as to his whereabouts. He is a very eccentricman, who only comes in occasionally, and the steward whom I interviewedsays that it frequently happened that Gathercole arrived and departedwithout anybody being aware of the fact. We have been to his oldlodgings in Lincoln's Inn, but apparently he sold up there before hewent away to the wilds of Patagonia and relinquished his tenancy. 

"The only clue I have is that a man answering to some extent to hisdescription left by the eleven o'clock train for Paris last night. "

"You have seen the secretary of course, " said the Chief. 

It was a question which T. X. Had been dreading. 

"Gone too, " he answered shortly; "in fact she has not been seen since5:30 yesterday evening. "

Sir George leant back in his chair and rumpled his thick grey hair. 

"The only person who seems to have remained, " he said with heavysarcasm, "was Kara himself. Would you like me to put somebody else onthis case--it isn't exactly your job--or will you carry it on?"

"I prefer to carry it on, sir, " said T. X. Firmly. 

"Have you found out anything more about Kara?"

T. X. Nodded. 

"All that I have discovered about him is eminently discreditable, "he said. "He seems to have had an ambition to occupy a very importantposition in Albania. To this end he had bribed and subsidized theTurkish and Albanian officials and had a fairly large following in thatcountry. Bartholomew tells me that Kara had already sounded him as tothe possibility of the British Government recognising a fait accompli inAlbania and had been inducing him to use his influence with the Cabinetto recognize the consequence of any revolution. There is no doubtwhatever that Kara has engineered all the political assassinations whichhave been such a feature in the news from Albania during this past year. We also found in the house very large sums of money and documents whichwe have handed over to the Foreign Office for decoding. "

Sir George thought for a long time. 

Then he said, "I have an idea that if you find your secretary you willbe half way to solving the mystery. "

T. X. Went out from the office in anything but a joyous mood. He wason his way to lunch when he remembered his promise to call upon JohnLexman. 

Could Lexman supply a key which would unravel this tragic tangle? Heleant out of his taxi-cab and redirected the driver. It happened thatthe cab drove up to the door of the Great Midland Hotel as John Lexmanwas coming out. 

"Come and lunch with me, " said T. X. "I suppose you've heard all thenews. "

"I read about Kara being killed, if that's what you mean, " said theother. "It was rather a coincidence that I should have been discussingthe matter last night at the very moment when his telephone bell rang--Iwish to heaven you hadn't been in this, " he said fretfully. 

"Why?" asked the astonished Assistant Commissioner, "and what do youmean by 'in it'?"

"In the concrete sense I wish you had not been present when I returned, "said the other moodily, "I wanted to be finished with the whole sordidbusiness without in any way involving my friends. "

"I think you are too sensitive, " laughed the other, clapping him on theshoulder. "I want you to unburden yourself to me, my dear chap, and tellme anything you can that will help me to clear up this mystery. "

John Lexman looked straight ahead with a worried frown. 

"I would do almost anything for you, T. X. , " he said quietly, "the moreso since I know how good you were to Grace, but I can't help you in thismatter. I hated Kara living, I hate him dead, " he cried, and there wasa passion in his voice which was unmistakable; "he was the vilest thingthat ever drew the breath of life. There was no villainy too despicable, no cruelty so horrid but that he gloried in it. If ever the devil wereincarnate on earth he took the shape and the form of Remington Kara. Hedied too merciful a death by all accounts. But if there is a God, thisman will suffer for his crimes in hell through all eternity. "

T. X. Looked at him in astonishment. The hate in the man's face tookhis breath away. Never before had he experienced or witnessed such avehemence of loathing. 

"What did Kara do to you?" he demanded. 

The other looked out of the window. 

"I am sorry, " he said in a milder tone; "that is my weakness. Some day Iwill tell you the whole story but for the moment it were better thatit were not told. I will tell you this, " he turned round and faced thedetective squarely, "Kara tortured and killed my wife. "

T. X. Said no more. 

Half way through lunch he returned indirectly to the subject. 

"Do you know Gathercole?" he asked. 

T. X. Nodded. 

"I think you asked me that question once before, or perhaps it wassomebody else. Yes, I know him, rather an eccentric man with anartificial arm. "

"That's the cove, " said T. X. With a little sigh; "he's one of the fewmen I want to meet just now. "

"Why?"

"Because he was apparently the last man to see Kara alive. "

John Lexman looked at the other with an impatient jerk of his shoulders. 

"You don't suspect Gathercole, do you?" he asked. 

"Hardly, " said the other drily; "in the first place the man thatcommitted this murder had two hands and needed them both. No, I onlywant to ask that gentleman the subject of his conversation. I also wantto know who was in the room with Kara when Gathercole went in. "

"H'm, " said John Lexman. 

"Even if I found who the third person was, I am still puzzled as to howthey got out and fastened the heavy latch behind them. Now in the olddays, Lexman, " he said good humouredly, "you would have made a finemystery story out of this. How would you have made your man escape?"

Lexman thought for a while. 

"Have you examined the safe!" he asked. 

"Yes, " said the other. 

"Was there very much in it?"

T. X. Looked at him in astonishment. 

"Just the ordinary books and things. Why do you ask?"

"Suppose there were two doors to that safe, one on the outside of theroom and one on the inside, would it be possible to pass through thesafe and go down the wall?"

"I have thought of that, " said T. X. 

"Of course, " said Lexman, leaning back and toying with a salt-spoon, "in writing a story where one hasn't got to deal with the absolutepossibilities, one could always have made Kara have a safe of thatcharacter in order to make his escape in the event of danger. He mightkeep a rope ladder stored inside, open the back door, throw out hisladder to a friend and by some trick arrangement could detach the ladderand allow the door to swing to again. "

"A very ingenious idea, " said T. X. , "but unfortunately it doesn't workin this case. I have seen the makers of the safe and there is nothingvery eccentric about it except the fact that it is mounted as it is. Canyou offer another suggestion?"

John Lexman thought again. 

"I will not suggest trap doors, or secret panels or anything so banal, "he said, "nor mysterious springs in the wall which, when touched, revealsecret staircases. "

He smiled slightly. 

"In my early days, I must confess, I was rather keen upon that sortof thing, but age has brought experience and I have discovered theimpossibility of bringing an architect to one's way of thinking even inso commonplace a matter as the position of a scullery. It would be muchmore difficult to induce him to construct a house with double walls andsecret chambers. "

T. X. Waited patiently. 

"There is a possibility, of course, " said Lexman slowly, "that thesteel latch may have been raised by somebody outside by some ingeniousmagnetic arrangement and lowered in a similar manner. "

"I have thought about it, " said T. X. Triumphantly, "and I have made themost elaborate tests only this morning. It is quite impossible to raisethe steel latch because once it is dropped it cannot be raised againexcept by means of the knob, the pulling of which releases the catchwhich holds the bar securely in its place. Try another one, John. "

John Lexman threw back his head in a noiseless laugh. 

"Why I should be helping you to discover the murderer of Kara is beyondmy understanding, " he said, "but I will give you another theory, at thesame time warning you that I may be putting you off the track. For Godknows I have more reason to murder Kara than any man in the world. "

He thought a while. 

"The chimney was of course impossible?"

"There was a big fire burning in the grate, " explained T. X. ; "so bigindeed that the room was stifling. "

John Lexman nodded. 

"That was Kara's way, " he said; "as a matter of fact I know thesuggestion about magnetism in the steel bar was impossible, because Iwas friendly with Kara when he had that bar put in and pretty well knowthe mechanism, although I had forgotten it for the moment. What is yourown theory, by the way?"

T. X. Pursed his lips. 

"My theory isn't very clearly formed, " he said cautiously, "but so faras it goes, it is that Kara was lying on the bed probably reading oneof the books which were found by the bedside when his assailant suddenlycame upon him. Kara seized the telephone to call for assistance and waspromptly killed. "

Again there was silence. 

"That is a theory, " said John Lexman, with his curious deliberationof speech, "but as I say I refuse to be definite--have you found theweapon?"

T. X. Shook his head. 

"Were there any peculiar features about the room which astonished you, and which you have not told me?"

T. X. Hesitated. 

"There were two candles, " he said, "one in the middle of the room andone under the bed. That in the middle of the room was a small Christmascandle, the one under the bed was the ordinary candle of commerceevidently roughly cut and probably cut in the room. We found traces ofcandle chips on the floor and it is evident to me that the portion whichwas cut off was thrown into the fire, for here again we have a trace ofgrease. "

Lexman nodded. 

"Anything further?" he asked. 

"The smaller candle was twisted into a sort of corkscrew shape. "

"The Clue of the Twisted Candle, " mused John Lexman "that's a very goodtitle--Kara hated candles. "

"Why?"

Lexman leant back in his chair, selected a cigarette from a silver case. 

"In my wanderings, " he said, "I have been to many strange places. Ihave been to the country which you probably do not know, and which thetraveller who writes books about countries seldom visits. There arequeer little villages perched on the spurs of the bleakest hills youever saw. I have lived with communities which acknowledge no king andno government. These have their laws handed down to them from father toson--it is a nation without a written language. They administertheir laws rigidly and drastically. The punishments they award arecruel--inhuman. I have seen, the woman taken in adultery stoned to deathas in the best Biblical traditions, and I have seen the thief blinded. "

T. X. Shivered. 

"I have seen the false witness stand up in a barbaric market placewhilst his tongue was torn from him. Sometimes the Turks or the piebaldgovernments of the state sent down a few gendarmes and tried a sortof sporadic administration of the country. It usually ended in therepresentative of the law lapsing into barbarism, or else disappearingfrom the face of the earth, with a whole community of murderers eagerto testify, with singular unanimity, to the fact that he had eithercommitted suicide or had gone off with the wife of one of the townsmen. 

"In some of these communities the candle plays a big part. It is not thecandle of commerce as you know it, but a dip made from mutton fat. Strapthree between the fingers of your hands and keep the hand rigid with twoflat pieces of wood; then let the candles burn down lower and lower--canyou imagine? Or set a candle in a gunpowder trail and lead the trail toa well-oiled heap of shavings thoughtfully heaped about your naked feet. Or a candle fixed to the shaved head of a man--there are hundreds ofvariations and the candle plays a part in all of them. I don't knowwhich Kara had cause to hate the worst, but I know one or two that hehas employed. "

"Was he as bad as that?" asked T. X. 

John Lexman laughed. 

"You don't know how bad he was, " he said. 

Towards the end of the luncheon the waiter brought a note in to T. X. Which had been sent on from his office. 

"Dear Mr. Meredith, "In answer to your enquiry I believe my daughter is in London, but I didnot know it until this morning. My banker informs me that my daughtercalled at the bank this morning and drew a considerable sum of moneyfrom her private account, but where she has gone and what she is doingwith the money I do not know. I need hardly tell you that I am veryworried about this matter and I should be glad if you could explain whatit is all about. "

It was signed "William Bartholomew. "

T. X. Groaned. 

"If I had only had the sense to go to the bank this morning, I shouldhave seen her, " he said. "I'm going to lose my job over this. "

The other looked troubled. 

"You don't seriously mean that. "

"Not exactly, " smiled T. X. , "but I don't think the Chief is verypleased with me just now. You see I have butted into this businesswithout any authority--it isn't exactly in my department. But you havenot given me your theory about the candles. "

"I have no theory to offer, " said the other, folding up his serviette;"the candles suggest a typical Albanian murder. I do not say that itwas so, I merely say that by their presence they suggest a crime of thischaracter. "

With this T. X. Had to be content. 

If it were not his business to interest himself in commonplacemurder--though this hardly fitted such a description--it was part ofthe peculiar function which his department exercised to restore to LadyBartholomew a certain very elaborate snuff-box which he discovered inthe safe. 

Letters had been found amongst his papers which made clear the partwhich Kara had played. Though he had not been a vulgar blackmailer hehad retained his hold, not only upon this particular property of LadyBartholomew, but upon certain other articles which were discovered, with no other object, apparently, than to compel influence from quarterslikely to be of assistance to him in his schemes. 

The inquest on the murdered man which the Assistant Commissionerattended produced nothing in the shape of evidence and the coroner'sverdict of "murder against some person or persons unknown" was only tobe expected. 

T. X. Spent a very busy and a very tiring week tracing elusive clueswhich led him nowhere. He had a letter from John Lexman announcing thefact that he intended leaving for the United States. He had received avery good offer from a firm of magazine publishers in New York and wasgoing out to take up the appointment. 

Meredith's plans were now in fair shape. He had decided upon the lineof action he would take and in the pursuance of this he interviewed hisChief and the Minister of Justice. 

"Yes, I have heard from my daughter, " said that great man uncomfortably, "and really she has placed me in a most embarrassing position. I cannottell you, Mr. Meredith, exactly in what manner she has done this, but Ican assure you she has. "

"Can I see her letter or telegram?" asked T. X. 

"I am afraid that is impossible, " said the other solemnly; "she beggedme to keep her communication very secret. I have written to my wife andasked her to come home. I feel the constant strain to which I am beingsubjected is more than human can endure. "

"I suppose, " said T. X. Patiently, "it is impossible for you to tell meto what address you have replied?"

"To no address, " answered the other and corrected himself hurriedly;"that is to say I only received the telegram--the message this morningand there is no address--to reply to. "

"I see, " said T. X. 

That afternoon he instructed his secretary. 

"I want a copy of all the agony advertisements in to-morrow's papersand in the last editions of the evening papers--have them ready for metomorrow morning when I come. "

They were waiting for him when he reached the office at nine o'clockthe next day and he went through them carefully. Presently he found themessage he was seeking. 

B. M. You place me awkward position. Very thoughtless. Havereceived package addressed your mother which have placed in mother'ssitting-room. Cannot understand why you want me to go away week-endand give servants holiday but have done so. Shall require very fullexplanation. Matter gone far enough. Father. 

"This, " said T. X. Exultantly, as he read the advertisement, "is where Iget busy. "

CHAPTER XVI

February as a rule is not a month of fogs, but rather a month oftempestuous gales, of frosts and snowfalls, but the night of February17th, 19--, was one of calm and mist. It was not the typical London fogso dreaded by the foreigner, but one of those little patchy mists whichsmoke through the streets, now enshrouding and making the nearest objectinvisible, now clearing away to the finest diaphanous filament of palegrey. 

Sir William Bartholomew had a house in Portman Place, which is a widethoroughfare, filled with solemn edifices of unlovely and forbiddingexterior, but remarkably comfortable within. Shortly before eleven onthe night of February 17th, a taxi drew up at the junction of SussexStreet and Portman Place, and a girl alighted. The fog at that momentwas denser than usual and she hesitated a moment before she left theshelter which the cab afforded. 

She gave the driver a few instructions and walked on with a firm step, turning abruptly and mounting the steps of Number 173. Very quickly sheinserted her key in the lock, pushed the door open and closed it behindher. She switched on the hall light. The house sounded hollow anddeserted, a fact which afforded her considerable satisfaction. Sheturned the light out and found her way up the broad stairs to the firstfloor, paused for a moment to switch on another light which she knewwould not be observable from the street outside and mounted the secondflight. 

Miss Belinda Mary Bartholomew congratulated herself upon the success ofher scheme, and the only doubt that was in her mind now was whetherthe boudoir had been locked, but her father was rather careless in suchmatters and Jacks the butler was one of those dear, silly, old men whonever locked anything, and, in consequence, faced every audit with along face and a longer tale of the peculations of occasional servants. 

To her immense relief the handle turned and the door opened to hertouch. Somebody had had the sense to pull down the blinds and thecurtains were drawn. She switched on the light with a sigh of relief. Her mother's writing table was covered with unopened letters, but shebrushed these aside in her search for the little parcel. It was notthere and her heart sank. Perhaps she had put it in one of the drawers. She tried them all without result. 

She stood by the desk a picture of perplexity, biting a fingerthoughtfully. 

"Thank goodness!" she said with a jump, for she saw the parcel on themantel shelf, crossed the room and took it down. 

With eager hands she tore off the covering and came to the familiarleather case. Not until she had opened the padded lid and had seen thesnuffbox reposing in a bed of cotton wool did she relapse into a longsigh of relief. 

"Thank heaven for that, " she said aloud. 

"And me, " said a voice. 

She sprang up and turned round with a look of terror. 

"Mr. --Mr. Meredith, " she stammered. 

T. X. Stood by the window curtains from whence he had made his dramaticentry upon the scene. 

"I say you have to thank me also, Miss Bartholomew, " he said presently. 

"How do you know my name?" she asked with some curiosity. 

"I know everything in the world, " he answered, and she smiled. Suddenlyher face went serious and she demanded sharply, "Who sent you after me--Mr. Kara?"

"Mr. Kara?" he repeated, in wonder. 

"He threatened to send for the police, " she went on rapidly, "and I toldhim he might do so. I didn't mind the police--it was Kara I was afraidof. You know what I went for, my mother's property. "

She held the snuff-box in her outstretched hand. 

"He accused me of stealing and was hateful, and then he put medownstairs in that awful cellar and--"

"And?" suggested T. X. 

"That's all, " she replied with tightened lips; "what are you going to donow?"

"I am going to ask you a few questions if I may, " he said. "In the firstplace have you not heard anything about Mr. Kara since you went away?"

She shook her head. 

"I have kept out of his way, " she said grimly. 

"Have you seen the newspapers?" he asked. 

She nodded. 

"I have seen the advertisement column--I wired asking Papa to reply tomy telegram. "

"I know--I saw it, " he smiled; "that is what brought me here. "

"I was afraid it would, " she said ruefully; "father is awfullyloquacious in print--he makes speeches you know. All I wanted him to saywas yes or no. What do you mean about the newspapers?" she went on. "Isanything wrong with mother?"

He shook his head. 

"So far as I know Lady Bartholomew is in the best of health and is onher way home. "

"Then what do you mean by asking me about the newspapers!" she demanded;"why should I see the newspapers--what is there for me to see?"

"About Kara?" he suggested. 

She shook her head in bewilderment. 

"I know and want to know nothing about Kara. Why do you say this to me?"

"Because, " said T. X. Slowly, "on the night you disappeared from CadoganSquare, Remington Kara was murdered. "

"Murdered, " she gasped. 

He nodded. 

"He was stabbed to the heart by some person or persons unknown. "

T. X. Took his hand from his pocket and pulled something out which waswrapped in tissue paper. This he carefully removed and the girl watchedwith fascinated gaze, and with an awful sense of apprehension. Presentlythe object was revealed. It was a pair of scissors with the handlewrapped about with a small handkerchief dappled with brown stains. Shetook a step backward, raising her hands to her cheeks. 

"My scissors, " she said huskily; "you won't think--"

She stared up at him, fear and indignation struggling for mastery. 

"I don't think you committed the murder, " he smiled; "if that's whatyou mean to ask me, but if anybody else found those scissors and hadidentified this handkerchief you would have been in rather a fix, myyoung friend. "

She looked at the scissors and shuddered. 

"I did kill something, " she said in a low voice, "an awful dog... Idon't know how I did it, but the beastly thing jumped at me and I juststabbed him and killed him, and I am glad, " she nodded many times andrepeated, "I am glad. "

"So I gather--I found the dog and now perhaps you'll explain why Ididn't find you?"

Again she hesitated and he felt that she was hiding something from him. 

"I don't know why you didn't find me, " she said; "I was there. "

"How did you get out?"

"How did you get out?" she challenged him boldly. 

"I got out through the door, " he confessed; "it seems a ridiculouslycommonplace way of leaving but that's the only way I could see. "

"And that's how I got out, " she answered, with a little smile. 

"But it was locked. "

She laughed. 

"I see now, " she said; "I was in the cellar. I heard your key in thelock and bolted down the trap, leaving those awful scissors behind. Ithought it was Kara with some of his friends and then the voices diedaway and I ventured to come up and found you had left the door open. So--so I--"

These queer little pauses puzzled T. X. There was something she was nottelling him. Something she had yet to reveal. 

"So I got away you see, " she went on. "I came out into the kitchen;there was nobody there, and I passed through the area door and up thesteps and just round the corner I found a taxicab, and that is all. "

She spread out her hands in a dramatic little gesture. 

"And that is all, is it?" said T. X. 

"That is all, " she repeated; "now what are you going to do?"

T. X. Looked up at the ceiling and stroked his chin. 

"I suppose that I ought to arrest you. I feel that something is due fromme. May I ask if you were sleeping in the bed downstairs?"

"In the lower cellar?" she demanded, --a little pause and then, "Yes, Iwas sleeping in the cellar downstairs. "

There was that interval of hesitation almost between each word. 

"What are you going to do?" she asked again. 

She was feeling more sure of herself and had suppressed the panic whichhis sudden appearance had produced in her. He rumpled his hair, a grossimitation, did she but know it, of one of his chief's mannerisms and sheobserved that his hair was very thick and inclined to curl. She saw alsothat he was passably good looking, had fine grey eyes, a straight noseand a most firm chin. 

"I think, " she suggested gently, "you had better arrest me. "

"Don't be silly, " he begged. 

She stared at him in amazement. 

"What did you say?" she asked wrathfully. 

"I said 'don't be silly, '" repeated the calm young man. 

"Do you know that you're being very rude?" she asked. 

He seemed interested and surprised at this novel view of his conduct. 

"Of course, " she went on carefully smoothing her dress and avoiding hiseye, "I know you think I am silly and that I've got a most comic name. "

"I have never said your name was comic, " he replied coldly; "I would nottake so great a liberty. "

"You said it was 'weird' which was worse, " she claimed. 

"I may have said it was 'weird, "' he admitted, "but that's ratherdifferent to saying it was 'comic. ' There is dignity in weird things. For example, nightmares aren't comic but they're weird. "

"Thank you, " she said pointedly. 

"Not that I mean your name is anything approaching a nightmare. " He madethis concession with a most magnificent sweep of hand as though he werea king conceding her the right to remain covered in his presence. "Ithink that Belinda Ann--"

"Belinda Mary, " she corrected. 

"Belinda Mary, I was going to say, or as a matter of fact, " hefloundered, "I was going to say Belinda and Mary. "

"You were going to say nothing of the kind, " she corrected him. 

"Anyway, I think Belinda Mary is a very pretty name. "

"You think nothing of the sort. "

She saw the laughter in his eyes and felt an insane desire to laugh. 

"You said it was a weird name and you think it is a weird name, but Ireally can't be bothered considering everybody's views. I think it's aweird name, too. I was named after an aunt, " she added in self-defence. 

"There you have the advantage of me, " he inclined his head politely; "Iwas named after my father's favourite dog. "

"What does T. X. Stand for?" she asked curiously. 

"Thomas Xavier, " he said, and she leant back in the big chair onthe edge of which a few minutes before she had perched herself intrepidation and dissolved into a fit of immoderate laughter. 

"It is comic, isn't it?" he asked. 

"Oh, I am sorry I'm so rude, " she gasped. "Fancy being called TommyXavier--I mean Thomas Xavier. "

"You may call me Tommy if you wish--most of my friends do. "

"Unfortunately I'm not your friend, " she said, still smiling and wipingthe tears from her eyes, "so I shall go on calling you Mr. Meredith ifyou don't mind. "

She looked at her watch. 

"If you are not going to arrest me I'm going, " she said. 

"I have certainly no intention of arresting you, " said he, "but I amgoing to see you home!"

She jumped up smartly. 

"You're not, " she commanded. 

She was so definite in this that he was startled. 

"My dear child, " he protested. 

"Please don't 'dear child' me, " she said seriously; "you're going to bea good little Tommy and let me go home by myself. "

She held out her hand frankly and the laughing appeal in her eyes wasirresistible. 

"Well, I'll see you to a cab, " he insisted. 

"And listen while I give the driver instructions where he is to takeme?"

She shook her head reprovingly. 

"It must be an awful thing to be a policeman. "

He stood back with folded arms, a stern frown on his face. 

"Don't you trust me?" he asked. 

"No, " she replied. 

"Quite right, " he approved; "anyway I'll see you to the cab and you cantell the driver to go to Charing Cross station and on your way you canchange your direction. "

"And you promise you won't follow me?" she asked. 

"On my honour, " he swore; "on one condition though. "

"I will make no conditions, " she replied haughtily. 

"Please come down from your great big horse, " he begged, "and listento reason. The condition I make is that I can always bring you to anappointed rendezvous whenever I want you. Honestly, this is necessary, Belinda Mary. "

"Miss Bartholomew, " she corrected, coldly. 

"It is necessary, " he went on, "as you will understand. Promise me that, if I put an advertisement in the agonies of either an evening paperwhich I will name or in the Morning Port, you will keep the appointmentI fix, if it is humanly possible. "

She hesitated a moment, then held out her hand. 

"I promise, " she said. 

"Good for you, Belinda Mary, " said he, and tucking her arm in his heled her out of the room switching off the light and racing her down thestairs. 

If there was a lot of the schoolgirl left in Belinda Mary Bartholomew, no less of the schoolboy was there in this Commissioner of Police. Hewould have danced her through the fog, contemptuous of the proprieties, but he wasn't so very anxious to get her to her cab and to lose sight ofher. 

"Good-night, " he said, holding her hand. 

"That's the third time you've shaken hands with me to-night, " sheinterjected. 

"Don't let us have any unpleasantness at the last, " he pleaded, "andremember. "

"I have promised, " she replied. 

"And one day, " he went on, "you will tell me all that happened in thatcellar. "

"I have told you, " she said in a low voice. 

"You have not told me everything, child. "

He handed her into the cab. He shut the door behind her and leantthrough the open window. 

"Victoria or Marble Arch?" he asked politely. 

"Charing Cross, " she replied, with a little laugh. 

He watched the cab drive away and then suddenly it stopped and a figurelent out from the window beckoning him frantically. He ran up to her. 

"Suppose I want you, " she asked. 

"Advertise, " he said promptly, "beginning your advertisement 'DearTommy. "'

"I shall put 'T. X. , '" she said indignantly. 

"Then I shall take no notice of your advertisement, " he replied andstood in the middle of the street, his hat in his hand, to the intenseannoyance of a taxi-cab driver who literally all but ran him down and ina figurative sense did so until T. X. Was out of earshot. 

CHAPTER XVII

Thomas Xavier Meredith was a shrewd young man. It was said of him bySignor Paulo Coselli, the eminent criminologist, that he had a gift ofintuition which was abnormal. Probably the mystery of the twisted candlewas solved by him long before any other person in the world had thedimmest idea that it was capable of solution. 

The house in Cadogan Square was still in the hands of the police. Tothis house and particularly to Kara's bedroom T. X. From time totime repaired, and reproduced as far as possible the conditions whichobtained on the night of the murder. He had the same stifling fire, thesame locked door. The latch was dropped in its socket, whilst T. X. , with a stop watch in his hand, made elaborate calculations and actedcertain parts which he did not reveal to a soul. 

Three times, accompanied by Mansus, he went to the house, three timeswent to the death chamber and was alone on one occasion for an hour anda half whilst the patient Mansus waited outside. Three times he emergedlooking graver on each occasion, and after the third visit he calledinto consultation John Lexman. 

Lexman had been spending some time in the country, having deferred histrip to the United States. 

"This case puzzles me more and more, John, " said T. X. , troubled outof his usual boisterous self, "and thank heaven it worries other peoplebesides me. De Mainau came over from France the other day and broughtall his best sleuths, whilst O'Grady of the New York central office paida flying visit just to get hold of the facts. Not one of them hasgiven me the real solution, though they've all been ratheringenious. Gathercole has vanished and is probably on his way to someundiscoverable region, and our people have not yet traced the valet. "

"He should be the easiest for you, " said John Lexman, reflectively. 

"Why Gathercole should go off I can't understand, " T. X. Continued. "According to the story which was told me by Fisher, his last words toKara were to the effect that he was expecting a cheque or that he hadreceived a cheque. No cheque has been presented or drawn and apparentlyGathercole has gone off without waiting for any payment. An examinationof Kara's books show nothing against the Gathercole account save thesum of 600 pounds which was originally advanced, and now to upset all mycalculations, look at this. "

He took from his pocketbook a newspaper cutting and pushed it across thetable, for they were dining together at the Carlton. John Lexman pickedup the slip and read. It was evidently from a New York paper:

"Further news has now come to hand by the Antarctic Trading Company'ssteamer, Cyprus, concerning the wreck of the City of the Argentine. Itis believed that this ill-fated vessel, which called at South Americanports, lost her propellor and drifted south out of the track ofshipping. This theory is now confirmed. Apparently the ship struck aniceberg on December 23rd and foundered with all aboard save a few menwho were able to launch a boat and who were picked up by the Cyprus. Thefollowing is the passenger list. "

John Lexman ran down the list until he came upon the name which wasevidently underlined in ink by T. X. That name was George Gathercole andafter it in brackets (Explorer). 

"If that were true, then, Gathercole could not have come to London. "

"He may have taken another boat, " said T. X. , "and I cabled to theSteamship Company without any great success. Apparently Gathercole wasan eccentric sort of man and lived in terror of being overcrowded. It was a habit of his to make provisional bookings by every availablesteamer. The company can tell me no more than that he had booked, butwhether he shipped on the City of the Argentine or not, they do notknow. "

"I can tell you this about Gathercole, " said John slowly andthoughtfully, "that he was a man who would not hurt a fly. He wasincapable of killing any man, being constitutionally averse to takinglife in any shape. For this reason he never made collections ofbutterflies or of bees, and I believe has never shot an animal inhis life. He carried his principles to such an extent that he was avegetarian--poor old Gathercole!" he said, with the first smile which T. X. Had seen on his face since he came back. 

"If you want to sympathize with anybody, " said T. X. Gloomily, "sympathize with me. "

On the following day T. X. Was summoned to the Home Office and wentsteeled for a most unholy row. The Home Secretary, a large and worthygentleman, given to the making of speeches on every excuse, receivedhim, however, with unusual kindness. 

"I've sent for you, Mr. Meredith, " he said, "about this unfortunateGreek. I've had all his private papers looked into and translated and insome cases decoded, because as you are probably aware his diaries anda great deal of his correspondence were in a code which called for theattention of experts. "

T. X. Had not troubled himself greatly about Kara's private papers buthad handed them over, in accordance with instructions, to the properauthorities. 

"Of course, Mr. Meredith, " the Home Secretary went on, beaming acrosshis big table, "we expect you to continue your search for the murderer, but I must confess that your prisoner when you secure him will have avery excellent case to put to a jury. "

"That I can well believe, sir, " said T. X. 

"Seldom in my long career at the bar, " began the Home Secretary inhis best oratorical manner, "have I examined a record so utterlydiscreditable as that of the deceased man. "

Here he advanced a few instances which surprised even T. X. 

"The men was a lunatic, " continued the Home Secretary, "a vicious, evilman who loved cruelty for cruelty's sake. We have in this diary alonesufficient evidence to convict him of three separate murders, one ofwhich was committed in this country. "

T. X. Looked his astonishment. 

"You will remember, Mr. Meredith, as I saw in one of your reports, thathe had a chauffeur, a Greek named Poropulos. "

T. X. Nodded. 

"He went to Greece on the day following the shooting of Vassalaro, " hesaid. 

The Home Secretary shook his head. 

"He was killed on the same night, " said the Minister, "and you will haveno difficulty in finding what remains of his body in the disused housewhich Kara rented for his own purpose on the Portsmouth Road. That hehas killed a number of people in Albania you may well suppose. Wholevillages have been wiped out to provide him with a little excitement. The man was a Nero without any of Nero's amiable weaknesses. He wasobsessed with the idea that he himself was in danger of assassination, and saw an enemy even in his trusty servant. Undoubtedly the chauffeurPoropulos was in touch with several Continental government circles. Youunderstand, " said the Minister in conclusion, "that I am telling youthis, not with the idea of expecting you, to relax your efforts to findthe murderer and clear up the mystery, but in order that you may knowsomething of the possible motive for this man's murder. "

T. X. Spent an hour going over the decoded diary and documents and leftthe Home Office a little shakily. It was inconceivable, incredible. Karawas a lunatic, but the directing genius was a devil. 

T. X. Had a flat in Whitehall Gardens and thither he repaired to changefor dinner. He was half dressed when the evening paper arrived andhe glanced as was his wont first at the news' page and then at theadvertisement column. He looked down the column marked "Personal"without expecting to find anything of particular interest to himself, but saw that which made him drop the paper and fly round the room in afrenzy to complete his toilet. 

"Tommy X. , " ran the brief announcement, "most urgent, Marble Arch 8. "

He had five minutes to get there but it seemed like five hours. Hewas held up at almost every crossing and though he might have used hisauthority to obtain right of way, it was a step which his curious senseof honesty prevented him taking. He leapt out of the cab before itstopped, thrust the fare into the driver's hands and looked round forthe girl. He saw her at last and walked quickly towards her. As heapproached her, she turned about and with an almost imperceptiblebeckoning gesture walked away. He followed her along the Bayswater Roadand gradually drew level. 

"I am afraid I have been watched, " she said in a low voice. "Will youcall a cab?"

He hailed a passing taxi, helped her in and gave at random the firstplace that suggested itself to him, which was Finsbury Park. 

"I am very worried, " she said, "and I don't know anybody who can help meexcept you. "

"Is it money?" he asked. 

"Money, " she said scornfully, "of course it isn't money. I want to showyou a letter, " she said after a while. 

She took it from her bag and gave it to him and he struck a match andread it with difficulty. 

It was written in a studiously uneducated hand. 

 "Dear Miss, "I know who you are. You are wanted by the police but I will not give you away. Dear Miss. I am very hard up and 20 pounds will be very useful to me and I shall not trouble you again. Dear Miss. Put the money on the window sill of your room. I know you sleep on the ground floor and I will come in and take it. And if not--well, I don't want to make any trouble. 

 "Yours truly, "A FRIEND. "

"When did you get this?" he asked. 

"This morning, " she replied. "I sent the Agony to the paper by telegram, I knew you would come. "

"Oh, you did, did you?" he said. 

Her assurance was very pleasing to him. The faith that her words impliedgave him an odd little feeling of comfort and happiness. 

"I can easily get you out of this, " he added; "give me your address andwhen the gentleman comes--"

"That is impossible, " she replied hurriedly. "Please don't think I'mungrateful, and don't think I'm being silly--you do think I'm beingsilly, don't you!"

"I have never harboured such an unworthy thought, " he said virtuously. 

"Yes, you have, " she persisted, "but really I can't tell you where I amliving. I have a very special reason for not doing so. It's not myselfthat I'm thinking about, but there's a life involved. "

This was a somewhat dramatic statement to make and she felt she had gonetoo far. 

"Perhaps I don't mean that, " she said, "but there is some one I carefor--" she dropped her voice. 

"Oh, " said T. X. Blankly. 

He came down from his rosy heights into the shadow and darkness of asunless valley. 

"Some one you care for, " he repeated after a while. 

"Yes. "

There was another long silence, then, "Oh, indeed, " said T. X. 

Again the unbroken interval of quiet and after a while she said in a lowvoice, "Not that way. "

"Not what way!" asked T. X. Huskily, his spirits doing a littlemountaineering. 

"The way you mean, " she said. 

"Oh, " said T. X. 

He was back again amidst the rosy snows of dawn, was in fact climbinga dizzy escalier on the topmost height of hope's Mont Blanc when shepulled the ladder from under him. 

"I shall, of course, never marry, " she said with a certain primdecision. 

T. X. Fell with a dull sickening thud, discovering that his rosy snowswere not unlike cold, hard ice in their lack of resilience. 

"Who said you would?" he asked somewhat feebly, but in self defence. 

"You did, " she said, and her audacity took his breath away. 

"Well, how am I to help you!" he asked after a while. 

"By giving me some advice, " she said; "do you think I ought to put themoney there!"

"Indeed I do not, " said T. X. , recovering some of his natural dominance;"apart from the fact that you would be compounding a felony, you wouldmerely be laying out trouble for yourself in the future. If he can get20 pounds so easily, he will come for 40 pounds. But why do you stayaway, why don't you return home? There's no charge and no breath ofsuspicion against you. "

"Because I have something to do which I have set my mind to, " she said, with determination in her tones. 

"Surely you can trust me with your address, " he urged her, "after allthat has passed between us, Belinda Mary--after all the years we haveknown one another. "

"I shall get out and leave you, " she said steadily. 

"But how the dickens am I going to help you?" he protested. 

"Don't swear, " she could be very severe indeed; "the only way you canhelp me is by being kind and sympathetic. "

"Would you like me to burst into tears?" he asked sarcastically. 

"I ask you to do nothing more painful or repugnant to your naturalfeelings than to be a gentleman, " she said. 

"Thank you very kindly, " said T. X. , and leant back in the cab with anair of supreme resignation. 

"I believe you're making faces in the dark, " she accused him. 

"God forbid that I should do anything so low, " said he hastily; "whatmade you think that?"

"Because I was putting my tongue out at you, " she admitted, and the taxidriver heard the shrieks of laughter in the cab behind him above thewheezing of his asthmatic engine. 

At twelve that night in a certain suburb of London an overcoated manmoved stealthily through a garden. He felt his way carefully along thewall of the house and groped with hope, but with no great certainty, along the window sill. He found an envelope which his fingers, somewhatsensitive from long employment in nefarious uses, told him containednothing more substantial than a letter. 

He went back through the garden and rejoined his companion, who waswaiting under an adjacent lamp-post. 

"Did she drop?" asked the other eagerly. 

"I don't know yet, " growled the man from the garden. 

He opened the envelope and read the few lines. 

"She hasn't got the money, " he said, "but she's going to get it. I mustmeet her to-morrow afternoon at the corner of Oxford Street and RegentStreet. "

"What time!" asked the other. 

"Six o'clock, " said the first man. "The chap who takes the money mustcarry a copy of the Westminster Gazette in his hand. "

"Oh, then it's a plant, " said the other with conviction. 

The other laughed. 

"She won't work any plants. I bet she's scared out of her life. "

The second man bit his nails and looked up and down the road, apprehensively. 

"It's come to something, " he said bitterly; "we went out to make ourthousands and we've come down to 'chanting' for 20 pounds. "

"It's the luck, " said the other philosophically, "and I haven't donewith her by any means. Besides we've still got a chance of pulling ofthe big thing, Harry. I reckon she's good for a hundred or two, anyway. "

At six o'clock on the following afternoon, a man dressed in a darkovercoat, with a soft felt hat pulled down over his eyes stoodnonchalantly by the curb near where the buses stop at Regent Streetslapping his hand gently with a folded copy of the Westminster Gazette. 

That none should mistake his Liberal reading, he stood as near aspossible to a street lamp and so arranged himself and his attitude thatthe minimum of light should fall upon his face and the maximum uponthat respectable organ of public opinion. Soon after six he saw the girlapproaching, out of the tail of his eye, and strolled off to meet her. To his surprise she passed him by and he was turning to follow when anunfriendly hand gripped him by the arm. 

"Mr. Fisher, I believe, " said a pleasant voice. 

"What do you mean?" said the man, struggling backward. 

"Are you going quietly!" asked the pleasant Superintendent Mansus, "orshall I take my stick to you'?"

Mr. Fisher thought awhile. 

"It's a cop, " he confessed, and allowed himself to be hustled into thewaiting cab. 

He made his appearance in T. X. 's office and that urbane gentlemangreeted him as a friend. 

"And how's Mr. Fisher!" he asked; "I suppose you are Mr. Fisher stilland not Mr. Harry Gilcott, or Mr. George Porten. "

Fisher smiled his old, deferential, deprecating smile. 

"You will always have your joke, sir. I suppose the young lady gave meaway. "

"You gave yourself away, my poor Fisher, " said T. X. , and put a stripof paper before him; "you may disguise your hand, and in your extrememodesty pretend to an ignorance of the British language, which isnot creditable to your many attainments, but what you must be awfullycareful in doing in future when you write such epistles, " he said, "isto wash your hands. "

"Wash my hands!" repeated the puzzled Fisher. 

T. X. Nodded. 

"You see you left a little thumb print, and we are rather whales onthumb prints at Scotland Yard, Fisher. "

"I see. What is the charge now, sir!"

"I shall make no charge against you except the conventional one of beinga convict under license and failing to report. "

Fisher heaved a sigh. 

"That'll only mean twelve months. Are you going to charge me with thisbusiness?" he nodded to the paper. 

T. X. Shook his head. 

"I bear you no ill-will although you tried to frighten Miss Bartholomew. Oh yes, I know it is Miss Bartholomew, and have known all the time. Thelady is there for a reason which is no business of yours or of mine. I shall not charge you with attempt to blackmail and in reward for myleniency I hope you are going to tell me all you know about the Karamurder. You wouldn't like me to charge you with that, would you by anychance!"

Fisher drew a long breath. 

"No, sir, but if you did I could prove my innocence, " he said earnestly. "I spent the whole of the evening in the kitchen. "

"Except a quarter of an hour, " said T. X. 

The man nodded. 

"That's true, sir, I went out to see a pal of mine. "

"The man who is in this!" asked T. X. 

Fisher hesitated. 

"Yes, sir. He was with me in this but there was nothing wrong about thebusiness--as far as we went. I don't mind admitting that I was planninga Big Thing. I'm not going to blow on it, if it's going to get me intotrouble, but if you'll promise me that it won't, I'll tell you the wholestory. "

"Against whom was this coup of yours planned?"

"Against Mr. Kara, sir, " said Fisher. 

"Go on with your story, " nodded T. X. 

The story was a short and commonplace one. Fisher had met a man who knewanother man who was either a Turk or an Albanian. They had learnt thatKara was in the habit of keeping large sums of money in the house andthey had planned to rob him. That was the story in a nutshell. Somewherethe plan miscarried. It was when he came to the incidents that occurredon the night of the murder that T. X. Followed him with the greatestinterest. 

"The old gentleman came in, " said Fisher, "and I saw him up to theroom. I heard him coming out and I went up and spoke to him while he washaving a chat with Mr. Kara at the open door. "

"Did you hear Mr. Kara speak?"

"I fancy I did, sir, " said Fisher; "anyway the old gentleman was quitepleased with himself. "

"Why do you say 'old gentleman'!" asked T. X. ; "he was not an old man. "

"Not exactly, sir, " said Fisher, "but he had a sort of fussy irritableway that old gentlemen sometimes have and I somehow got it fixed in mymind that he was old. As a matter of fact, he was about forty-five, hemay have been fifty. "

"You have told me all this before. Was there anything peculiar abouthim!"

Fisher hesitated. 

"Nothing, sir, except the fact that one of his arms was a game one. "

"Meaning that it was--"

"Meaning that it was an artificial one, sir, so far as I can make out. "

"Was it his right or his left arm that was game!" interrupted T. X. 

"His left arm, sir. "

"You're sure?"

"I'd swear to it, sir. "

"Very well, go on. "

"He came downstairs and went out and I never saw him again. When youcame and the murder was discovered and knowing as I did that I had myown scheme on and that one of your splits might pinch me, I got a bitrattled. I went downstairs to the hall and the first thing I saw lyingon the table was a letter. It was addressed to me. "

He paused and T. X. Nodded. 

"Go on, " he said again. 

"I couldn't understand how it came to be there, but as I'd been in thekitchen most of the evening except when I was seeing my pal outside totell him the job was off for that night, it might have been there beforeyou came. I opened the letter. There were only a few words on it and Ican tell you those few words made my heart jump up into my mouth, andmade me go cold all over. "

"What were they!" asked T. X. 

"I shall not forget them, sir. They're sort of permanently fixed in mybrain, " said the man earnestly; "the note started with just the figures'A. C. 274. '"

"What was that!" asked T. X. 

"My convict number when I was in Dartmoor Prison, sir. "

"What did the note say?"

"'Get out of here quick'--I don't know who had put it there, but I'devidently been spotted and I was taking no chances. That's the wholestory from beginning to end. I accidentally happened to meet the younglady, Miss Holland--Miss Bartholomew as she is--and followed her to herhouse in Portman Place. That was the night you were there. "

T. X. Found himself to his intense annoyance going very red. 

"And you know no more?" he asked. 

"No more, sir--and if I may be struck dead--"

"Keep all that sabbath talk for the chaplain, " commended T. X. , and theytook away Mr. Fisher, not an especially dissatisfied man. 

That night T. X. Interviewed his prisoner at Cannon Row police stationand made a few more enquiries. 

"There is one thing I would like to ask you, " said the girl when he mether next morning in Green Park. 

"If you were going to ask whether I made enquiries as to where yourhabitation was, " he warned her, "I beg of you to refrain. "

She was looking very beautiful that morning, he thought. The keen airhad brought a colour to her face and lent a spring to her gait, and, asshe strode along by his side with the free and careless swing of youth, she was an epitome of the life which even now was budding on every treein the park. 

"Your father is back in town, by the way, " he said, "and he is mostanxious to see you. "

She made a little grimace. 

"I hope you haven't been round talking to father about me. "

"Of course I have, " he said helplessly; "I have also had all thereporters up from Fleet Street and given them a full description of yourescapades. "

She looked round at him with laughter in her eyes. 

"You have all the manners of an early Christian martyr, " she said. "Poorsoul! Would you like to be thrown to the lions?"

"I should prefer being thrown to the demnition ducks and drakes, " hesaid moodily. 

"You're such a miserable man, " she chided him, "and yet you haveeverything to make life worth living. "

"Ha, ha!" said T. X. 

"You have, of course you have! You have a splendid position. Everybodylooks up to you and talks about you. You have got a wife and family whoadore you--"

He stopped and looked at her as though she were some strange insect. 

"I have a how much?" he asked credulously. 

"Aren't you married?" she asked innocently. 

He made a strange noise in his throat. 

"Do you know I have always thought of you as married, " she went on; "Ioften picture you in your domestic circle reading to the children fromthe Daily Megaphone those awfully interesting stories about LittleWillie Waterbug. "

He held on to the railings for support. 

"May we sit down?" he asked faintly. 

She sat by his side, half turned to him, demure and wholly adorable. 

"Of course you are right in one respect, " he said at last, "but you'realtogether wrong about the children. "

"Are you married!" she demanded with no evidence of amusement. 

"Didn't you know?" he asked. 

She swallowed something. 

"Of course it's no business of mine and I'm sure I hope you are veryhappy. "

"Perfectly happy, " said T. X. Complacently. "You must come out and seeme one Saturday afternoon when I am digging the potatoes. I am a perfectdevil when they let me loose in the vegetable garden. "

"Shall we go on?" she said. 

He could have sworn there were tears in her eyes and manlike he thoughtshe was vexed with him at his fooling. 

"I haven't made you cross, have I?" he asked. 

"Oh no, " she replied. 

"I mean you don't believe all this rot about my being married and thatsort of thing?"

"I'm not interested, " she said, with a shrug of her shoulders, "not verymuch. You've been very kind to me and I should be an awful boor if Iwasn't grateful. Of course, I don't care whether you're married or not, it's nothing to do with me, is it?"

"Naturally it isn't, " he replied. "I suppose you aren't married by anychance?"

"Married, " she repeated bitterly; "why, you will make my fourth!"

She had hardy got the words out of her mouth before she realized herterrible error. A second later she was in his arms and he was kissingher to the scandal of one aged park keeper, one small and dirty-facedlittle boy and a moulting duck who seemed to sneer at the proceedingswhich he watched through a yellow and malignant eye. 

"Belinda Mary, " said T. X. At parting, "you have got to give up yourlittle country establishment, wherever it may be and come back to thediscomforts of Portman Place. Oh, I know you can't come back yet. That'somebody' is there, and I can pretty well guess who it is. "

"Who?" she challenged. 

"I rather fancy your mother has come back, " he suggested. 

A look of scorn dawned into her pretty face. 

"Good lord, Tommy!" she said in disgust, "you don't think I should keepmother in the suburbs without her telling the world all about it!"

"You're an undutiful little beggar, " he said. 

They had reached the Horse Guards at Whitehall and he was sayinggood-bye to her. 

"If it comes to a matter of duty, " she answered, "perhaps you will doyour duty and hold up the traffic for me and let me cross this road. "

"My dear girl, " he protested, "hold up the traffic?"

"Of course, " she said indignantly, "you're a policeman. "

"Only when I am in uniform, " he said hastily, and piloted her across theroad. 

It was a new man who returned to the gloomy office in Whitehall. A manwith a heart that swelled and throbbed with the pride and joy of life'smost precious possession. 

CHAPTER XVIII

T. X. Sat at his desk, his chin in his hands, his mind remarkably busy. Grave as the matter was which he was considering, he rose with alacrityto meet the smiling girl who was ushered through the door by Mansus, preternaturally solemn and mysterious. 

She was radiant that day. Her eyes were sparkling with an unusualbrightness. 

"I've got the most wonderful thing to tell you, " she said, "and I can'ttell you. "

"That's a very good beginning, " said T. X. , taking her muff from herhand. 

"Oh, but it's really wonderful, " she cried eagerly, "more wonderful thananything you have ever heard about. "

"We are interested, " said T. X. Blandly. 

"No, no, you mustn't make fun, " she begged, "I can't tell you now, butit is something that will make you simply--" she was at a loss for asimile. 

"Jump out of my skin?" suggested T. X. 

"I shall astonish you, " she nodded her head solemnly. 

"I take a lot of astonishing, I warn you, " he smiled; "to know you is toexhaust one's capacity for surprise. "

"That can be either very, very nice or very, very nasty, " she saidcautiously. 

"But accept it as being very, very nice, " he laughed. "Now come, outwith this tale of yours. "

She shook her head very vigorously. 

"I can't possibly tell you anything, " she said. 

"Then why the dickens do you begin telling anything for?" he complained, not without reason. 

"Because I just want you to know that I do know something. "

"Oh, Lord!" he groaned. "Of course you know everything. Belinda Mary, you're really the most wonderful child. "

He sat on the edge of her arm-chair and laid his hand on her shoulder. 

"And you've come to take me out to lunch!"

"What were you worrying about when I came in?" she asked. 

He made a little gesture as if to dismiss the subject. 

"Nothing very much. You've heard me speak of John Lexman?"

She bent her head. 

"Lexman's the writer of a great many mystery stories, but you'veprobably read his books. "

She nodded again, and again T. X. Noticed the suppressed eagerness inher eyes. 

"You're not ill or sickening for anything, are you?" he asked anxiously;"measles, or mumps or something?"

"Don't be silly, " she said; "go on and tell me something about Mr. Lexman. "

"He's going to America, " said T. X. , "and before he goes he wants togive a little lecture. "

"A lecture?"

"It sounds rum, doesn't it, but that's just what he wants to do. "

"Why is he doing it!" she asked. 

T. X. Made a gesture of despair. 

"That is one of the mysteries which may never be revealed to me, except--" he pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully at the girl. "Thereare times, " he said, "when there is a great struggle going on insidea man between all the human and better part of him and the baserprofessional part of him. One side of me wants to hear this lecture ofJohn Lexman's very much, the other shrinks from the ordeal. "

"Let us talk it over at lunch, " she said practically, and carried himoff. 

CHAPTER XIX

One would not readily associate the party of top-booted sewermen whodescend nightly to the subterranean passages of London with the stoutviceconsul at Durazzo. Yet it was one unimaginative man who lived inLambeth and had no knowledge that there was such a place as Durazzo whowas responsible for bringing this comfortable official out of his bed inthe early hours of the morning causing him--albeit reluctantly and withviolent and insubordinate language--to conduct certain investigations inthe crowded bazaars. 

At first he was unsuccessful because there were many Hussein Effendisin Durazzo. He sent an invitation to the American Consul to come over totiffin and help him. 

"Why the dickens the Foreign Office should suddenly be interested inHussein Effendi, I cannot for the life of me understand. "

"The Foreign Department has to be interested in something, you know, "said the genial American. "I receive some of the quaintest requestsfrom Washington; I rather fancy they only wire you to find if they arethere. "

"Why are you doing this!"

"I've seen Hakaat Bey, " said the English official. "I wonder whatthis fellow has been doing? There is probably a wigging for me in theoffing. "

At about the same time the sewerman in the bosom of his own family wastaking loud and noisy sips from a big mug of tea. 

"Don't you be surprised, " he said to his admiring better half, "if Ihave to go up to the Old Bailey to give evidence. "

"Lord! Joe!" she said with interest, "what has happened!"

The sewer man filled his pipe and told the story with a wealth oframbling detail. He gave particulars of the hour he had descended theVictoria Street shaft, of what Bill Morgan had said to him as they weregoing down, of what he had said to Harry Carter as they splashed alongthe low-roofed tunnel, of how he had a funny feeling that he was goingto make a discovery, and so on and so forth until he reached his longdelayed climax. 

T. X. Waited up very late that night and at twelve o'clock his patiencewas rewarded, for the Foreign Office' messenger brought a telegram tohim. It was addressed to the Chief Secretary and ran:

"No. 847. Yours 63952 of yesterday's date. Begins. Hussein Effendi aprosperous merchant of this city left for Italy to place his daughter inconvent Marie Theressa, Florence Hussein being Christian. He goes on toParis. Apply Ralli Theokritis et Cie. , Rue de l'Opera. Ends. "

Half an hour later T. X. Had a telephone connection through to Parisand was instructing the British police agent in that city. He received afurther telephone report from Paris the next morning and one whichgave him infinite satisfaction. Very slowly but surely he was gatheringtogether the pieces of this baffling mystery and was fitting themtogether. Hussein Effendi would probably supply the last missingsegments. 

At eight o'clock that night the door opened and the man who representedT. X. In Paris came in carrying a travelling ulster on his arm. T. X. Gave him a nod and then, as the newcomer stood with the door open, obviously waiting for somebody to follow him, he said, "Show him in--I will see him alone. "

There walked into his office, a tall man wearing a frock coat and a redfez. He was a man from fifty-five to sixty, powerfully built, with agrave dark face and a thin fringe of white beard. He salaamed as heentered. 

"You speak French, I believe, " said T. X. Presently. 

The other bowed. 

"My agent has explained to you, " said T. X. In French, "that I desiresome information for the purpose of clearing up a crime which hasbeen committed in this country. I have given you my assurance, if thatassurance was necessary, that you would come to no harm as a result ofanything you might tell me. "

"That I understand, Effendi, " said the tall Turk; "the Americans and theEnglish have always been good friends of mine and I have been frequentlyin London. Therefore, I shall be very pleased to be of any help to you. "

T. X. Walked to a closed bookcase on one side of the room, unlocked it, took out an object wrapped in white tissue paper. He laid this on thetable, the Turk watching the proceedings with an impassive face. Veryslowly the Commissioner unrolled the little bundle and revealed atlast a long, slim knife, rusted and stained, with a hilt, which in itsuntarnished days had evidently been of chased silver. He lifted thedagger from the table and handed it to the Turk. 

"This is yours, I believe, " he said softly. 

The man turned it over, stepping nearer the table that he might securethe advantage of a better light. He examined the blade near the hilt andhanded the weapon back to T. X. 

"That is my knife, " he said. 

T. X. Smiled. 

"You understand, of course, that I saw 'Hussein Effendi of Durazzo'inscribed in Arabic near the hilt. "

The Turk inclined his head. 

"With this weapon, " T. X. Went on, speaking with slow emphasis, "amurder was committed in this town. "

There was no sign of interest or astonishment, or indeed of any emotionwhatever. 

"It is the will of God, " he said calmly; "these things happen even in agreat city like London. "

"It was your knife, " suggested T. X. 

"But my hand was in Durazzo, Effendi, " said the Turk. 

He looked at the knife again. 

"So the Black Roman is dead, Effendi. "

"The Black Roman?" asked T. X. , a little puzzled. 

"The Greek they call Kara, " said the Turk; "he was a very wicked man. "

T. X. Was up on his feet now, leaning across the table and looking atthe other with narrowed eyes. 

"How did you know it was Kara?" he asked quickly. 

The Turk shrugged his shoulders. 

"Who else could it be?" he said; "are not your newspapers filled withthe story?"

T. X. Sat back again, disappointed and a little annoyed with himself. 

"That is true, Hussein Effendi, but I did not think you read thepapers. "

"Neither do I, master, " replied the other coolly, "nor did I know thatKara had been killed until I saw this knife. How came this in yourpossession!"

"It was found in a rain sewer, " said T. X. , "into which the murderer hadapparently dropped it. But if you have not read the newspapers, Effendi, then you admit that you know who committed this murder. "

The Turk raised his hands slowly to a level with his shoulders. 

"Though I am a Christian, " he said, "there are many wise sayings of myfather's religion which I remember. And one of these, Effendi, was, 'thewicked must die in the habitations of the just, by the weapons of theworthy shall the wicked perish. ' Your Excellency, I am a worthy man, for never have I done a dishonest thing in my life. I have traded fairlywith Greeks, with Italians, have with Frenchmen and with Englishmen, also with Jews. I have never sought to rob them nor to hurt them. If Ihave killed men, God knows it was not because I desired their death, butbecause their lives were dangerous to me and to mine. Ask the blade allyour questions and see what answer it gives. Until it speaks I am asdumb as the blade, for it is also written that 'the soldier is theservant of his sword, ' and also, 'the wise servant is dumb about hismaster's affairs. '"

T. X. Laughed helplessly. 

"I had hoped that you might be able to help me, hoped and feared, " hesaid; "if you cannot speak it is not my business to force you either bythreat or by act. I am grateful to you for having come over, althoughthe visit has been rather fruitless so far as I am concerned. "

He smiled again and offered his hand. 

"Excellency, " said the old Turk soberly, "there are some things in lifethat are well left alone and there are moments when justice should be soblind that she does not see guilt; here is such a moment. "

And this ended the interview, one on which T. X. Had set very highhopes. His gloom carried to Portman Place, where he had arranged to meetBelinda Mary. 

"Where is Mr. Lexman going to give this famous lecture of his?" was thequestion with which she greeted him, "and, please, what is the subject?"

"It is on a subject which is of supreme interest to me;" he saidgravely; "he has called his lecture 'The Clue of the Twisted Candle. 'There is no clearer brain being employed in the business of criminaldetection than John Lexman's. Though he uses his genius for theconstruction of stories, were it employed in the legitimate businessof police work, I am certain he would make a mark second to none inthe world. He is determined on giving this lecture and he has issued anumber of invitations. These include the Chiefs of the Secret Police ofnearly all the civilized countries of the world. O'Grady is on his wayfrom America, he wirelessed me this morning to that effect. Even theChief of the Russian police has accepted the invitation, because, as youknow, this murder has excited a great deal of interest in police circleseverywhere. John Lexman is not only going to deliver this lecture, " hesaid slowly, "but he is going to tell us who committed the murder andhow it was committed. "

She thought a moment. 

"Where will it be delivered!"

"I don't know, " he said in astonishment; "does that matter?"

"It matters a great deal, " she said emphatically, "especially if I wantit delivered in a certain place. Would you induce Mr. Lexman to lectureat my house?"

"At Portman Place!" he asked. 

She shook her head. 

"No, I have a house of my own. A furnished house I have rented atBlackheath. Will you induce Mr. Lexman to give the lecture there?"

"But why?" he asked. 

"Please don't ask questions, " she pleaded, "do this for me, Tommy. "

He saw she was in earnest. 

"I'll write to old Lexman this afternoon, " he promised. 

John Lexman telephoned his reply. 

"I should prefer somewhere out of London, " he said, "and since MissBartholomew has some interest in the matter, may I extend my invitationto her? I promise she shall not be any more shocked than a good womanneed be. "

And so it came about that the name of Belinda Mary Bartholomew was addedto the selected list of police chiefs, who were making for London atthat moment to hear from the man who had guaranteed the solution ofthe story of Kara and his killing; the unravelment of the mystery whichsurrounded his death, and the significance of the twisted candles, whichat that moment were reposing in the Black Museum at Scotland Yard. 

CHAPTER XX

The room was a big one and most of the furniture had been cleared outto admit the guests who had come from the ends of the earth to learn thestory of the twisted candles, and to test John Lexman's theory by theirown. 

They sat around chatting cheerfully of men and crimes, of great coupsplanned and frustrated, of strange deeds committed and undetected. Scraps of their conversation came to Belinda Mary as she stood in thechintz-draped doorway which led from the drawing-room to the room sheused as a study. 

"... Do you remember, Sir George, the Bolbrook case! I took the man atOdessa.... "

"... The curious thing was that I found no money on the body, only asmall gold charm set with a single emerald, so I knew it was the girlwith the fur bonnet who had... "

"... Pinot got away after putting three bullets into me, but I draggedmyself to the window and shot him dead--it was a real good shot... !"

They rose to meet her and T. X. Introduced her to the men. It was atthat moment that John Lexman was announced. 

He looked tired, but returned the Commissioner's greeting with acheerful mien. He knew all the men present by name, as they knew him. Hehad a few sheets of notes, which he laid on the little table which hadbeen placed for him, and when the introductions were finished he went tothis and with scarcely any preliminary began. 

CHAPTER XXI

THE NARRATIVE OF JOHN LEXMAN

"I am, as you may all know, a writer of stories which depend for theirsuccess upon the creation and unravelment of criminological mysteries. The Chief Commissioner has been good enough to tell you that my storieswere something more than a mere seeking after sensation, and that Iendeavoured in the course of those narratives to propound obscure butpossible situations, and, with the ingenuity that I could command, tooffer to those problems a solution acceptable, not only to the generalreader, but to the police expert. 

"Although I did not regard my earlier work with any great seriousnessand indeed only sought after exciting situations and incidents, I cansee now, looking back, that underneath the work which seemed at the timepurposeless, there was something very much like a scheme of studies. 

"You must forgive this egotism in me because it is necessary thatI should make this explanation and you, who are in the main policeofficers of considerable experience and discernment, should appreciatethe fact that as I was able to get inside the minds of the fictitiouscriminals I portrayed, so am I now able to follow the mind of the manwho committed this murder, or if not to follow his mind, to recreate thepsychology of the slayer of Remington Kara. 

"In the possession of most of you are the vital facts concerning thisman. You know the type of man he was, you have instances of his terribleruthlessness, you know that he was a blot upon God's earth, a viciouswicked ego, seeking the gratification of that strange blood-lust andpain-lust, which is to be found in so few criminals. "

John Lexman went on to describe the killing of Vassalaro. 

"I know now how that occurred, " he said. "I had received on the previousChristmas eve amongst other presents, a pistol from an unknown admirer. That unknown admirer was Kara, who had planned this murder some threemonths ahead. He it was, who sent me the Browning, knowing as he didthat I had never used such a weapon and that therefore I would be charyabout using it. I might have put the pistol away in a cupboard outof reach and the whole of his carefully thought out plan would havemiscarried. 

"But Kara was systematic in all things. Three weeks after I received theweapon, a clumsy attempt was made to break into my house in the middleof the night. It struck me at the time it was clumsy, because theburglar made a tremendous amount of noise and disappeared soon afterhe began his attempt, doing no more damage than to break a window inmy dining-room. Naturally my mind went to the possibility of a furtherattempt of this kind, as my house stood on the outskirts of the village, and it was only natural that I should take the pistol from one of myboxes and put it somewhere handy. To make doubly sure, Kara came downthe next day and heard the full story of the outrage. 

"He did not speak of pistols, but I remember now, though I did notremember at the time, that I mentioned the fact that I had a handyweapon. A fortnight later a second attempt was made to enter the house. I say an attempt, but again I do not believe that the intention was atall serious. The outrage was designed to keep that pistol of mine in aget-at-able place. 

"And again Kara came down to see us on the day following the burglary, and again I must have told him, though I have no distinct recollectionof the fact, of what had happened the previous night. It would have beenunnatural if I had not mentioned the fact, as it was a matter which hadformed a subject of discussion between myself, my wife and the servants. 

"Then came the threatening letter, with Kara providentially at hand. Onthe night of the murder, whilst Kara was still in my house, I went outto find his chauffeur. Kara remained a few minutes with my wife andthen on some excuse went into the library. There he loaded the pistol, placing one cartridge in the chamber, and trusting to luck that I didnot pull the trigger until I had it pointed at my victim. Here he tookhis biggest chance, because, before sending the weapon to me, he had hadthe spring of the Browning so eased that the slightest touch set itoff and, as you know, the pistol being automatic, the explosion of onecartridge, reloading and firing the next and so on, it was probablythat a chance touch would have brought his scheme to nought--probably mealso. 

"Of what happened on that night you are aware. "

He went on to tell of his trial and conviction and skimmed over the lifehe led until that morning on Dartmoor. 

"Kara knew my innocence had been proved and his hatred for me beinghis great obsession, since I had the thing he had wanted but no longerwanted, let that be understood--he saw the misery he had planned forme and my dear wife being brought to a sudden end. He had, by theway, already planned and carried his plan into execution, a system oftormenting her. 

"You did not know, " he turned to T. X. , "that scarcely a month passed, but some disreputable villain called at her flat, with a story that hehad been released from Portland or Wormwood Scrubbs that morning andthat he had seen me. The story each messenger brought was one sufficientto break the heart of any but the bravest woman. It was a story ofill-treatment by brutal officials, of my illness, of my madness, ofeverything calculated to harrow the feelings of a tender-hearted andfaithful wife. 

"That was Kara's scheme. Not to hurt with the whip or with the knife, but to cut deep at the heart with his evil tongue, to cut to the rawplaces of the mind. When he found that I was to be released, --he mayhave guessed, or he may have discovered by some underhand method; that apardon was about to be signed, --he conceived his great plan. He had lessthan two days to execute it. 

"Through one of his agents he discovered a warder who had been in sometrouble with the authorities, a man who was avaricious and was even thenon the brink of being discharged from the service for trafficking withprisoners. The bribe he offered this man was a heavy one and the warderaccepted. 

"Kara had purchased a new monoplane and as you know he was an excellentaviator. With this new machine he flew to Devon and arrived at dawn inone of the unfrequented parts of the moor. 

"The story of my own escape needs no telling. My narrative really beginsfrom the moment I put my foot upon the deck of the Mpret. The firstperson I asked to see was, naturally, my wife. Kara, however, insistedon my going to the cabin he had prepared and changing my clothes, anduntil then I did not realise I was still in my convict's garb. Aclean change was waiting for me, and the luxury of soft shirts andwell-fitting garments after the prison uniform I cannot describe. 

"After I was dressed I was taken by the Greek steward to the largerstateroom and there I found my darling waiting for me. "

His voice sank almost to a whisper, and it was a minute or two before hehad mastered his emotions. 

"She had been suspicious of Kara, but he had been very insistent. He haddetailed the plans and shown her the monoplane, but even then she wouldnot trust herself on board, and she had been waiting in a motor-boat, moving parallel with the yacht, until she saw the landing and realized, as she thought, that Kara was not playing her false. The motor-boat hadbeen hired by Kara and the two men inside were probably as well-bribedas the warder. 

"The joy of freedom can only be known to those who have suffered thehorrors of restraint. That is a trite enough statement, but when one isdescribing elemental things there is no room for subtlety. The voyagewas a fairly eventless one. We saw very little of Kara, who did notintrude himself upon us, and our main excitement lay in the apprehensionthat we should be held up by a British destroyer or, that when wereached Gibraltar, we should be searched by the Brit's authorities. Karahad foreseen that possibility and had taken in enough coal to last himfor the run. 

"We had a fairly stormy passage in the Mediterranean, but after thatnothing happened until we arrived at Durazzo. We had to go ashore indisguise, because Kara told us that the English Consul might see us andmake some trouble. We wore Turkish dresses, Grace heavily veiled and Iwearing a greasy old kaftan which, with my somewhat emaciated face andmy unshaven appearance, passed me without comment. 

"Kara's home was and is about eighteen miles from Durazzo. It is not onthe main road, but it is reached by following one of the rocky mountainpaths which wind and twist among the hills to the south-east of thetown. The country is wild and mainly uncultivated. We had to passthrough swamps and skirt huge lagoons as we mounted higher and higherfrom terrace to terrace and came to the roads which crossed themountains. 

"Kara's, palace, you could call it no less, is really built within sightof the sea. It is on the Acroceraunian Peninsula near Cape Linguetta. Hereabouts the country is more populated and better cultivated. Wepassed great slopes entirely covered with mulberry and olive trees, whilst in the valleys there were fields of maize and corn. The palazzostands on a lofty plateau. It is approached by two paths, which can beand have been well defended in the past against the Sultan's troopsor against the bands which have been raised by rival villages with theobject of storming and plundering this stronghold. 

"The Skipetars, a blood-thirsty crowd without pity or remorse, werefaithful enough to their chief, as Kara was. He paid them so well thatit was not profitable to rob him; moreover he kept their own turbulentelements fully occupied with the little raids which he or his agentsorganized from time to time. The palazzo was built rather in the Moorishthan in the Turkish style. 

"It was a sort of Eastern type to which was grafted an Italianarchitecture--a house of white-columned courts, of big paved yards, fountains and cool, dark rooms. 

"When I passed through the gates I realized for the first time somethingof Kara's importance. There were a score of servants, all Eastern, perfectly trained, silent and obsequious. He led us to his own room. 

"It was a big apartment with divans running round the wall, the mostornate French drawing room suite and an enormous Persian carpet, one ofthe finest of the kind that has ever been turned out of Shiraz. Here, let me say, that throughout the trip his attitude to me had beenperfectly friendly and towards Grace all that I could ask of my bestfriend, considerate and tactful. 

"'We had hardly reached his room before he said to me with that bonhomiewhich he had observed throughout the trip, 'You would like to see yourroom?'

"I expressed a wish to that effect. He clapped his hands and a bigAlbanian servant came through the curtained doorway, made the usualsalaam, and Kara spoke to him a few words in a language which I presumewas Turkish. 

"'He will show you the way, ' said Kara with his most genial smile. 

"I followed the servant through the curtains which had hardly fallenbehind me before I was seized by four men, flung violently on theground, a filthy tarbosch was thrust into my mouth and before I knewwhat was happening I was bound hand and foot. 

"As I realised the gross treachery of the man, my first frantic thoughtswere of Grace and her safety. I struggled with the strength of threemen, but they were too many for me and I was dragged along the passage, a door was opened and I was flung into a bare room. I must have beenlying on the floor for half an hour when they came for me, this timeaccompanied by a middle-aged man named Savolio, who was either anItalian or a Greek. 

"He spoke English fairly well and he made it clear to me that I had tobehave myself. I was led back to the room from whence I had come andfound Kara sitting in one of those big armchairs which he affected, smoking a cigarette. Confronting him, still in her Turkish dress, waspoor Grace. She was not bound I was pleased to see, but when onmy entrance she rose and made as if to come towards me, she wasunceremoniously thrown back by the guardian who stood at her side. 

"'Mr. John Lexman, ' drawled Kara, 'you are at the beginning of a greatdisillusionment. I have a few things to tell you which will make youfeel rather uncomfortable. ' It was then that I heard for the first timethat my pardon had been signed and my innocence discovered. 

"'Having taken a great deal of trouble to get you in prison, ' said Kara, 'it isn't likely that I'm going to allow all my plans to be undone, andmy plan is to make you both extremely uncomfortable. '

"He did not raise his voice, speaking still in the same conversationaltone, suave and half amused. 

"'I hate you for two things, ' he said, and ticked them off on hisfingers: 'the first is that you took the woman that I wanted. To a manof my temperament that is an unpardonable crime. I have never wantedwomen either as friends or as amusement. I am one of the few people inthe world who are self-sufficient. It happened that I wanted your wifeand she rejected me because apparently she preferred you. '

"He looked at me quizzically. 

"'You are thinking at this moment, ' he went on slowly, 'that I want hernow, and that it is part of my revenge that I shall put her straight inmy harem. Nothing is farther from my desires or my thoughts. The BlackRoman is not satisfied with the leavings of such poor trash as you. Ihate you both equally and for both of you there is waiting an experiencemore terrible than even your elastic imagination can conjure. Youunderstand what that means!' he asked me still retaining his calm. 

"I did not reply. I dared not look at Grace, to whom he turned. 

"'I believe you love your husband, my friend, ' he said; 'your love willbe put to a very severe test. You shall see him the mere wreckage of theman he is. You shall see him brutalized below the level of the cattlein the field. I will give you both no joys, no ease of mind. From thismoment you are slaves, and worse than slaves. '

"He clapped his hands. The interview was ended and from that moment Ionly saw Grace once. "

John Lexman stopped and buried his face in his hands. 

"They took me to an underground dungeon cut in the solid rock. In manyways it resembled the dungeon of the Chateau of Chillon, in that itsonly window looked out upon a wild, storm-swept lake and its floor wasjagged rock. I have called it underground, as indeed it was on thatside, for the palazzo was built upon a steep slope running down from thespur of the hills. 

"They chained me by the legs and left me to my own devices. Once a daythey gave me a little goat flesh and a pannikin of water and once a weekKara would come in and outside the radius of my chain he would open alittle camp stool and sitting down smoke his cigarette and talk. MyGod! the things that man said! The things he described! The horrors herelated! And always it was Grace who was the centre of his description. And he would relate the stories he was telling to her about myself. Icannot describe them. They are beyond repetition. "

John Lexman shuddered and closed his eyes. 

"That was his weapon. He did not confront me with the torture of mydarling, he did not bring tangible evidence of her suffering--he justsat and talked, describing with a remarkable clarity of language whichseemed incredible in a foreigner, the 'amusements' which he himself hadwitnessed. 

"I thought I should go mad. Twice I sprang at him and twice the chainabout my legs threw me headlong on that cruel floor. Once he brought thejailer in to whip me, but I took the whipping with such phlegm that itgave him no satisfaction. I told you I had seen Grace only once and thisis how it happened. 

"It was after the flogging, and Kara, who was a veritable demon in hisrage, planned to have his revenge for my indifference. They broughtGrace out upon a boat and rowed the boat to where I could see it from mywindow. There the whip which had been applied to me was applied to her. I can't tell you any more about that, " he said brokenly, "but I wish, you don't know how fervently, that I had broken down and given the dogthe satisfaction he wanted. My God! It was horrible!

"When the winter came they used to take me out with chains on my legsto gather in wood from the forest. There was no reason why I should begiven this work, but the truth was, as I discovered from Salvolio, thatKara thought my dungeon was too warm. It was sheltered from the windsby the hill behind and even on the coldest days and nights it was notunbearable. Then Kara went away for some time. I think he must have goneto England, and he came back in a white fury. One of his big plans hadgone wrong and the mental torture he inflicted upon me was more acutethan ever. 

"In the old days he used to come once a week; now he came almost everyday. He usually arrived in the afternoon and I was surprised one nightto be awakened from my sleep to see him standing at the door, a lanternin his hand, his inevitable cigarette in his mouth. He always wore theAlbanian costume when he was in the country, those white kilted skirtsand zouave jackets which the hillsmen affect and, if anything, it addedto his demoniacal appearance. He put down the lantern and leant againstthe wall. 

"'I'm afraid that wife of yours is breaking up, Lexman, ' he drawled;'she isn't the good, stout, English stuff that I thought she was. '

"I made no reply. I had found by bitter experience that if I intrudedinto the conversation, I should only suffer the more. 

"'I have sent down to Durazzo to get a doctor, ' he went on; 'naturallyhaving taken all this trouble I don't want to lose you by death. Sheis breaking up, ' he repeated with relish and yet with an undertone ofannoyance in his voice; 'she asked for you three times this morning. '

"I kept myself under control as I had never expected that a man sodesperately circumstanced could do. 

"'Kara, ' I said as quietly as I could, 'what has she done that sheshould deserve this hell in which she has lived?'

"He sent out a long ring of smoke and watched its progress across thedungeon. 

"'What has she done?' he said, keeping his eye on the ring--I shallalways remember every look, every gesture, and every intonation of hisvoice. 'Why, she has done all that a woman can do for a man like me. Shehas made me feel little. Until I had a rebuff from her, I had all theworld at my feet, Lexman. I did as I liked. If I crooked my littlefinger, people ran after me and that one experience with her has brokenme. Oh, don't think, ' he went on quickly, 'that I am broken in love. Inever loved her very much, it was just a passing passion, but she killedmy self-confidence. After then, whenever I came to a crucial momentin my affairs, when the big manner, the big certainty was absolutelynecessary for me to carry my way, whenever I was most confident ofmyself and my ability and my scheme, a vision of this damned girl roseand I felt that momentary weakening, that memory of defeat, which madeall the difference between success and failure. 

"'I hated her and I hate her still, ' he said with vehemence; 'ifshe dies I shall hate her more because she will remain everlastinglyunbroken to menace my thoughts and spoil my schemes through alleternity. '

"He leant forward, his elbows on his knees, his clenched fist under hischin--how well I can see him!--and stared at me. 

"'I could have been king here in this land, ' he said, waving his handtoward the interior, 'I could have bribed and shot my way to the throneof Albania. Don't you realize what that means to a man like me? There isstill a chance and if I could keep your wife alive, if I could see herbroken in reason and in health, a poor, skeleton, gibbering thing thatknelt at my feet when I came near her I should recover the mastery ofmyself. Believe me, ' he said, nodding his head, 'your wife will have thebest medical advice that it is possible to obtain. '

"Kara went out and I did not see him again for a very long time. He sentword, just a scrawled note in the morning, to say my wife had died. "

John Lexman rose up from his seat, and paced the apartment, his headupon his breast. 

"From that moment, " he said, "I lived only for one thing, to punishRemington Kara. And gentlemen, I punished him. "

He stood in the centre of the room and thumped his broad chest with hisclenched hand. 

"I killed Remington Kara, " he said, and there was a little gasp ofastonishment from every man present save one. That one was T. X. Meredith, who had known all the time. 

CHAPTER XXII

After a while Lexman resumed his story. 

"I told you that there was a man at the palazzo named Salvolio. Salvoliowas a man who had been undergoing a life sentence in one of the prisonsof southern Italy. In some mysterious fashion he escaped and got acrossthe Adriatic in a small boat. How Kara found him I don't know. Salvoliowas a very uncommunicative person. I was never certain whether he wasa Greek or an Italian. All that I am sure about is that he was the mostunmitigated villain next to his master that I have ever met. 

"He was a quick man with his knife and I have seen him kill one of theguards whom he had thought was favouring me in the matter of diet withless compunction than you would kill a rat. 

"It was he who gave me this scar, " John Lexman pointed to his cheek. "In his master's absence he took upon himself the task of conductinga clumsy imitation of Kara's persecution. He gave me, too, the onlyglimpse I ever had of the torture poor Grace underwent. She hated dogs, and Kara must have come to know this and in her sleeping room--she wasapparently better accommodated than I--he kept four fierce beasts sochained that they could almost reach her. 

"Some reference to my wife from this low brute maddened me beyondendurance and I sprang at him. He whipped out his knife and struck atme as I fell and I escaped by a miracle. He evidently had orders not totouch me, for he was in a great panic of mind, as he had reason to be, because on Kara's return he discovered the state of my face, startedan enquiry and had Salvolio taken to the courtyard in the true easternstyle and bastinadoed until his feet were pulp. 

"You may be sure the man hated me with a malignity which almost rivalledhis employer's. After Grace's death Kara went away suddenly and I wasleft to the tender mercy of this man. Evidently he had been given afairly free hand. The principal object of Kara's hate being dead, he took little further interest in me, or else wearied of his hobby. Salvolio began his persecutions by reducing my diet. Fortunately I atevery little. Nevertheless the supplies began to grow less and less, andI was beginning to feel the effects of this starvation system when therehappened a thing which changed the whole course of my life and opened tome a way to freedom and to vengeance. 

"Salvolio did not imitate the austerity of his master and in Kara'sabsence was in the habit of having little orgies of his own. He wouldbring up dancing girls from Durazzo for his amusement and inviteprominent men in the neighbourhood to his feasts and entertainments, forhe was absolutely lord of the palazzo when Kara was away and could dopretty well as he liked. On this particular night the festivities hadbeen more than usually prolonged, for as near as I could judge by theday-light which was creeping in through my window it was about fouro'clock in the morning when the big steel-sheeted door was opened andSalvolio came in, more than a little drunk. He brought with him, as Ijudged, one of his dancing girls, who apparently was privileged to seethe sights of the palace. 

"For a long time he stood in the doorway talking incoherently in alanguage which I think must have been Turkish, for I caught one or twowords. 

"Whoever the girl was, she seemed a little frightened, I could see that, because she shrank back from him though his arm was about her shouldersand he was half supporting his weight upon her. There was fear, not onlyin the curious little glances she shot at me from time to time, but alsoin the averted face. Her story I was to learn. She was not of the classfrom whence Salvolio found the dancers who from time to time came up tothe palace for his amusement and the amusement of his guests. She wasthe daughter of a Turkish merchant of Scutari who had been received intothe Catholic Church. 

"Her father had gone down to Durazzo during the first Balkan war andthen Salvolio had seen the girl unknown to her parent, and there hadbeen some rough kind of courtship which ended in her running away onthis very day and joining her ill-favoured lover at the palazzo. I tellyou this because the fact had some bearing on my own fate. 

"As I say, the girl was frightened and made as though to go from thedungeon. She was probably scared both by the unkempt prisoner and by thedrunken man at her side. He, however, could not leave without showing toher something of his authority. He came lurching over near where I lay, his long knife balanced in his hand ready for emergencies, and brokeinto a string of vituperations of the character to which I was quitehardened. 

"Then he took a flying kick at me and got home in my ribs, but again Iexperienced neither a sense of indignity nor any great hurt. Salvoliohad treated me like this before and I had survived it. In the midst ofthe tirade, looking past him, I was a new witness to an extraordinaryscene. 

"The girl stood in the open doorway, shrinking back against the door, looking with distress and pity at the spectacle which Salvolio'sbrutality afforded. Then suddenly there appeared beside her a tall Turk. He was grey-bearded and forbidding. She looked round and saw him, andher mouth opened to utter a cry, but with a gesture he silenced her andpointed to the darkness outside. 

"Without a word she cringed past him, her sandalled feet making nonoise. All this time Salvolio was continuing his stream of abuse, but hemust have seen the wonder in my eyes for he stopped and turned. 

"The old Turk took one stride forward, encircled his body with his leftarm, and there they stood grotesquely like a couple who were going tostart to waltz. The Turk was a head taller than Salvolio and, as I couldsee, a man of immense strength. 

"They looked at one another, face to face, Salvolio rapidly recoveringhis senses... And then the Turk gave him a gentle punch in the ribs. That is what it seemed like to me, but Salvolio coughed horribly, wentlimp in the other's arms and dropped with a thud to the ground. The Turkleant down soberly and wiped his long knife on the other's jacket beforehe put it back in the sash at his waist. 

"Then with a glance at me he turned to go, but stopped at the door andlooked back thoughtfully. He said something in Turkish which I could notunderstand, then he spoke in French. 

"'Who are you?' he asked. 

"In as few words as possible I explained. He came over and looked at themanacle about my leg and shook his head. 

"'You will never be able to get that undone, ' he said. 

"He caught hold of the chain, which was a fairly long one, bound ittwice round his arm and steadying his arm across his thigh, he turnedwith a sudden jerk. There was a smart 'snap' as the chain parted. Hecaught me by the shoulder and pulled me to my feet. 'Put the chainabout your waist, Effendi, ' he said, and he took a revolver from hisbelt and handed it to me. 

"'You may need this before we get back to Durazzo, ' he said. His beltwas literally bristling with weapons--I saw three revolvers beside theone I possessed--and he had, evidently come prepared for trouble. Wemade our way from the dungeon into the clean-smelling world without. 

"It was the second time I had been in the open air for eighteen monthsand my knees were trembling under me with weakness and excitement. Theold man shut the prison door behind us and walked on until we came up tothe girl waiting for us by the lakeside. She was weeping softly and hespoke to her a few words in a low voice and her weeping ceased. 

"'This daughter of mine will show us the way, ' he said, 'I do not knowthis part of the country--she knows it too well. '

"To cut a long story short, " said Lexman, "we reached Durazzo in theafternoon. There was no attempt made to follow us up and neither myabsence nor the body of Salvolio were discovered until late in theafternoon. You must remember that nobody but Salvolio was allowedinto my prison and therefore nobody had the courage to make anyinvestigations. 

"The old man got me to his house without being observed, and brought abrother-in-law or some relative of his to remove the anklet. The name ofmy host was Hussein Effendi. 

"That same night we left with a little caravan to visit some of the oldman's relatives. He was not certain what would be the consequence ofhis act, and for safety's sake took this trip, which would enable himif need be to seek sanctuary with some of the wilder Turkish tribes, whowould give him protection. 

"In that three months I saw Albania as it is--it was an experience neverto be forgotten!

"If there is a better man in God's world than Hiabam Hussein Effendi, I have yet to meet him. It was he who provided me with money to leaveAlbania. I begged from him, too, the knife with which he had killedSalvolio. He had discovered that Kara was in England and told mesomething of the Greek's occupation which I had not known before. Icrossed to Italy and went on to Milan. There it was that I learnt thatan eccentric Englishman who had arrived a few days previously on one ofthe South American boats at Genoa, was in my hotel desperately ill. 

"My hotel I need hardly tell you was not a very expensive one and wewere evidently the only two Englishmen in the place. I could do no lessthan go up and see what I could do for the poor fellow who was prettywell gone when I saw him. I seemed to remember having seen him beforeand when looking round for some identification I discovered his name Ireadily recalled the circumstance. 

"It was George Gathercole, who had returned from South America. He wassuffering from malarial fever and blood poisoning and for a week, withan Italian doctor, I fought as hard as any man could fight for hislife. He was a trying patient, " John Lexman smiled suddenly at therecollection, "vitriolic in his language, impatient and imperious in hisattitude to his friends. He was, for example, terribly sensitive abouthis lost arm and would not allow either the doctor or my-self to enterthe room until he was covered to the neck, nor would he eat or drink inour presence. Yet he was the bravest of the brave, careless of himselfand only fretful because he had not time to finish his new book. Hisindomitable spirit did not save him. He died on the 17th of January ofthis year. I was in Genoa at the time, having gone there at his requestto save his belongings. When I returned he had been buried. I wentthrough his papers and it was then that I conceived my idea of how Imight approach Kara. 

"I found a letter from the Greek, which had been addressed to BuenosAyres, to await arrival, and then I remembered in a flash, how Kara hadtold me he had sent George Gathercole to South America to report uponpossible gold formations. I was determined to kill Kara, and determinedto kill him in such a way that I myself would cover every trace of mycomplicity. 

"Even as he had planned my downfall, scheming every step and coveringhis trail, so did I plan to bring about his death that no suspicionshould fall on me. 

"I knew his house. I knew something of his habits. I knew the fear inwhich he went when he was in England and away from the feudal guards whohad surrounded him in Albania. I knew of his famous door with its steellatch and I was planning to circumvent all these precautions and bringto him not only the death he deserved, but a full knowledge of his fatebefore he died. 

"Gathercole had some money, --about 140 pounds--I took 100 pounds ofthis for my own use, knowing that I should have sufficient in Londonto recompense his heirs, and the remainder of the money with all suchdocuments as he had, save those which identified him with Kara, I handedover to the British Consul. 

"I was not unlike the dead man. My beard had grown wild and I knewenough of Gathercole's eccentricities to live the part. The first stepI took was to announce my arrival by inference. I am a fairly goodjournalist with a wide general knowledge and with this, corrected byreference to the necessary books which I found in the British Museumlibrary, I was able to turn out a very respectable article on Patagonia. 

"This I sent to The Times with one of Gathercole's cards and, as youknow, it was printed. My next step was to find suitable lodgings betweenChelsea and Scotland Yard. I was fortunate in being able to hire afurnished flat, the owner of which was going to the south of France forthree months. I paid the rent in advance and since I dropped all theeccentricities I had assumed to support the character of Gathercole, Imust have impressed the owner, who took me without references. 

"I had several suits of new clothes made, not in London, " he smiled, "but in Manchester, and again I made myself as trim as possible to avoidafter-identification. When I had got these together in my flat, Ichose my day. In the morning I sent two trunks with most of my personalbelongings to the Great Midland Hotel. 

"In the afternoon I went to Cadogan Square and hung about until I sawKara drive off. It was my first view of him since I had left Albania andit required all my self-control to prevent me springing at him in thestreet and tearing at him with my hands. 

"Once he was out of sight I went to the house adopting all the style andall the mannerisms of poor Gathercole. My beginning was unfortunate for, with a shock, I recognised in the valet a fellow-convict who hadbeen with me in the warder's cottage on the morning of my escape fromDartmoor. There was no mistaking him, and when I heard his voice I wascertain. Would he recognise me I wondered, in spite of my beard and myeye-glasses?

"Apparently he did not. I gave him every chance. I thrust my face intohis and on my second visit challenged him, in the eccentric way whichpoor old Gathercole had, to test the grey of my beard. For the momenthowever, I was satisfied with my brief experiment and after a reasonableinterval I went away, returning to my place off Victoria Street andwaiting till the evening. 

"In my observation of the house, whilst I was waiting for Kara todepart, I had noticed that there were two distinct telephone wiresrunning down to the roof. I guessed, rather than knew, that one of thesetelephones was a private wire and, knowing something of Kara's fear, Ipresumed that that wire would lead to a police office, or at any rateto a guardian of some kind or other. Kara had the same arrangement inAlbania, connecting the palazzo with the gendarme posts at Alesso. Thismuch Hussein told me. 

"That night I made a reconnaissance of the house and saw Kara's windowwas lit and at ten minutes past ten I rang the bell and I think it wasthen that I applied the test of the beard. Kara was in his room, thevalet told me, and led the way upstairs. I had come prepared to dealwith this valet for I had an especial reason for wishing that he shouldnot be interrogated by the police. On a plain card I had written thenumber he bore in Dartmoor and had added the words, 'I know you, get outof here quick. '

"As he turned to lead the way upstairs I flung the envelope containingthe card on the table in the hall. In an inside pocket, as near to mybody as I could put them, I had the two candles. How I should use themboth I had already decided. The valet ushered me into Kara's room andonce more I stood in the presence of the man who had killed my girl andblotted out all that was beautiful in life for me. "

There was a breathless silence when he paused. T. X. Leaned back in hischair, his head upon his breast, his arms folded, his eyes watching theother intently. 

The Chief Commissioner, with a heavy frown and pursed lips, sat strokinghis moustache and looking under his shaggy eyebrows at the speaker. TheFrench police officer, his hands thrust deep in his pockets, his headon one side, was taking in every word eagerly. The sallow-faced Russian, impassive of face, might have been a carved ivory mask. O'Grady, the American, the stump of a dead cigar between his teeth, shiftedimpatiently with every pause as though he would hurry forward thedenouement. 

Presently John Lexman went on. 

"He slipped from the bed and came across to meet me as I closed the doorbehind me. 

"'Ah, Mr. Gathercole, ' he said, in that silky tone of his, and held outhis hand. 

"I did not speak. I just looked at him with a sort of fierce joy in myheart the like of which I had never before experienced. 

"'And then he saw in my eyes the truth and half reached for thetelephone. 

"But at that moment I was on him. He was a child in my hands. All thebitter anguish he had brought upon me, all the hardships of starved daysand freezing nights had strengthened and hardened me. I had come back toLondon disguised with a false arm and this I shook free. It was merely agauntlet of thin wood which I had had made for me in Paris. 

"I flung him back on the bed and half knelt, half laid on him. 

"'Kara, ' I said, 'you are going to die, a more merciful death than mywife died. '

"He tried to speak. His soft hands gesticulated wildly, but I was halflying on one arm and held the other. 

"I whispered in his ear:

"'Nobody will know who killed you, Kara, think of that! I shall go scotfree--and you will be the centre of a fine mystery! All your letterswill be read, all your life will be examined and the world will know youfor what you are!'

"I released his arm for just as long as it took to draw my knife andstrike. I think he died instantly, " John Lexman said simply. 

"I left him where he was and went to the door. I had not much time tospare. I took the candles from my pocket. They were already ductile fromthe heat of my body. 

"I lifted up the steel latch of the door and propped up the latch withthe smaller of the two candles, one end of which was on the middlesocket and the other beneath the latch. The heat of the room I knewwould still further soften the candle and let the latch down in a shorttime. 

"I was prepared for the telephone by his bedside though I did notknow to whither it led. The presence of the paper-knife decided me. Ibalanced it across the silver cigarette box so that one end came underthe telephone receiver; under the other end I put the second candlewhich I had to cut to fit. On top of the paper-knife at the candle endI balanced the only two books I could find in the room, and fortunatelythey were heavy. 

"I had no means of knowing how long it would take to melt the candleto a state of flexion which would allow the full weight of the books tobear upon the candle end of the paper-knife and fling off the receiver. I was hoping that Fisher had taken my warning and had gone. When Iopened the door softly, I heard his footsteps in the hall below. Therewas nothing to do but to finish the play. 

"I turned and addressed an imaginary conversation to Kara. It washorrible, but there was something about it which aroused in me a curioussense of humour and I wanted to laugh and laugh and laugh!

"I heard the man coming up the stairs and closed the door gingerly. Whatlength of time would it take for the candle to bend!

"To completely establish the alibi I determined to hold Fisher inconversation and this was all the easier since apparently he had notseen the envelope I had left on the table downstairs. I had not longto wait for suddenly with a crash I heard the steel latch fall in itsplace. Under the effect of the heat the candle had bent sooner than Ihad expected. I asked Fisher what was the meaning of the sound and heexplained. I passed down the stairs talking all the time. I found a cabat Sloane Square and drove to my lodgings. Underneath my overcoat I waspartly dressed in evening kit. 

"Ten minutes after I entered the door of my flat I came out a beardlessman about town, not to be distinguished from the thousand others whowould be found that night walking the promenade of any of the greatmusic-halls. From Victoria Street I drove straight to Scotland Yard. Itwas no more than a coincidence that whilst I should have been speakingwith you all, the second candle should have bent and the alarm be givenin the very office in which I was sitting. 

"I assure you all in all earnestness that I did not suspect the cause ofthat ringing until Mr. Mansus spoke. 

"There, gentlemen, is my story!" He threw out his arms. 

"You may do with me as you will. Kara was a murderer, dyed a hundredtimes in innocent blood. I have done all that I set myself to do--thatand no more--that and no less. I had thought to go away to America, butthe nearer the day of my departure approached, the more vivid becamethe memory of the plans which she and I had formed, my girl... My poormartyred girl!"

He sat at the little table, his hands clasped before him, his face linedand white. 

"And that is the end!" he said suddenly, with a wry smile. 

"Not quite!" T. X. Swung round with a gasp. It was Belinda Mary whospoke. 

"I can carry it on, " she said. 

She was wonderfully self-possessed, thought T. X. , but then T. X. Neverthought anything of her but that she was "wonderfully" something or theother. 

"Most of your story is true, Mr. Lexman, " said this astonishing girl, oblivious of the amazed eyes that were staring at her, "but Karadeceived you in one respect. "

"What do you mean?" asked John Lexman, rising unsteadily to his feet. 

For answer she rose and walked back to the door with the chintz curtainsand flung it open: There was a wait which seemed an eternity, and thenthrough the doorway came a girl, slim and grave and beautiful. 

"My God!" whispered T. X. "Grace Lexman!"

CHAPTER XXIII

They went out and left them alone, two people who found in this momenta heaven which is not beyond the reach of humanity, but which is seldomattained to. Belinda Mary had an eager audience all to her very self. 

"Of course she didn't die, " she said scornfully. "Kara was playing onhis fears all the time. He never even harmed her--in the way Mr. Lexmanfeared. He told Mrs. Lexman that her husband was dead just as he toldJohn Lexman his wife was gone. What happened was that he brought herback to England--"

"Who?" asked T. X. , incredulously. 

"Grace Lexman, " said the girl, with a smile. "You wouldn't think itpossible, but when you realize that he had a yacht of his own and thathe could travel up from whatever landing place he chose to his house inCadogan Square by motorcar and that he could take her straight away intohis cellar without disturbing his household, you'll understand that theonly difficulty he had was in landing her. It was in the lower cellarthat I found her. "

"You found her in the cellar?" demanded the Chief Commissioner. 

The girl nodded. 

"I found her and the dog--you heard how Kara terrified her--and Ikilled the dog with my own hands, " she said a little proudly, and thenshivered. "It was very beastly, " she admitted. 

"And she's been living with you all this time and you've said nothing!"asked T. X. , incredulously. Belinda Mary nodded. 

"And that is why you didn't want me to know where you were living?" Shenodded again. 

"You see she was very ill, " she said, "and I had to nurse her up, and ofcourse I knew that it was Lexman who had killed Kara and I couldn't tellyou about Grace Lexman without betraying him. So when Mr. Lexman decidedto tell his story, I thought I'd better supply the grand denouement. "

The men looked at one another. 

"What are you going to do about Lexman?" asked the Chief Commissioner, "and, by the way, T. X. , how does all this fit your theories!"

"Fairly well, " replied T. X. Coolly; "obviously the man who committedthe murder was the man introduced into the room as Gathercole and asobviously it was not Gathercole, although to all appearance, he had losthis left arm. "

"Why obvious?" asked the Chief Commissioner. 

"Because, " answered T. X. Meredith, "the real Gathercole had lost hisright arm--that was the one error Lexman made. "

"H'm, " the Chief pulled at his moustache and looked enquiringly roundthe room, "we have to make up our minds very quickly about Lexman, " hesaid. "What do you think, Carlneau?"

The Frenchman shrugged his shoulders. 

"For my part I should not only importune your Home Secretary to pardonhim, but I should recommend him for a pension, " he said flippantly. 

"What do you think, Savorsky?"

The Russian smiled a little. 

"It is a very impressive story, " he said dispassionately; "it occurs tome that if you intend bringing your M. Lexman to judgment you are likelyto expose some very pretty scandals. Incidentally, " he said, strokinghis trim little moustache, "I might remark that any exposure which drewattention to the lawless conditions of Albania would not be regarded bymy government with favour. "

The Chief Commissioner's eyes twinkled and he nodded. 

"That is also my view, " said the Chief of the Italian bureau; "naturallywe are greatly interested in all that happens on the Adriatic littoral. It seems to me that Kara has come to a very merciful end and I am notinclined to regard a prosecution of Mr. Lexman with equanimity. "

"Well, I guess the political aspect of the case doesn't affect us verymuch, " said O'Grady, "but as one who was once mighty near asphyxiatedby stirring up the wrong kind of mud, I should leave the matter where itis. "

The Chief Commissioner was deep in thought and Belinda Mary eyed himanxiously. 

"Tell them to come in, " he said bluntly. 

The girl went and brought John Lexman and his wife, and they came inhand in hand supremely and serenely happy whatever the future might holdfor them. The Chief Commissioner cleared his throat. 

"Lexman, we're all very much obliged to you, " he said, "for a veryinteresting story and a most interesting theory. What you have done, asI understand the matter, " he proceeded deliberately, "is to put yourselfin the murderer's place and advance a theory not only as to how themurder was actually committed, but as to the motive for that murder. Itis, I might say, a remarkable piece of reconstruction, " he spoke verydeliberately, and swept away John Lexman's astonished interruption witha stern hand, "please wait and do not speak until I am out of hearing, "he growled. "You have got into the skin of the actual assassin and havespoken most convincingly. One might almost think that the man whokilled Remington Kara was actually standing before us. For that pieceof impersonation we are all very grateful;" he glared round overhis spectacles at his understanding colleagues and they murmuredapprovingly. 

He looked at his watch. 

"Now I am afraid I must be off, " he crossed the room and put out hishand to John Lexman. "I wish you good luck, " he said, and took bothGrace Lexman's hands in his. "One of these days, " he said paternally, "Ishall come down to Beston Tracey and your husband shall tell me anotherand a happier story. "

He paused at the door as he was going out and looking back caught thegrateful eyes of Lexman. 

"By the way, Mr. Lexman, " he said hesitatingly, "I don't think I shouldever write a story called 'The Clue of the Twisted Candle, ' if I wereyou. "

John Lexman shook his head. 

"It will never be written, " he said, "--by me. "