, the wink which I gave him was met by a lift of his eyelids
which he afterwards interpreted into 'Like! very like!'

"But it was from the clerk I received the most unequivocal proof of his
identity. On entering the office I had left Mr. Van Burnam as near as
possible to the spot where Mr. Pope had stood while his so-called wife
was inscribing their names in the register, and bidding him to remain in
the background while I had a few words at the desk, all in his brother's
interests of course, I succeeded in secretly directing Mr. Henshaw's
attention towards him. The start which he gave and the exclamation he
uttered were unequivocal. 'Why, there's the man now!' he cried, happily
in a whisper. 'Anxious look, drooping head, brown moustache, everything
but the duster.' 'Bah!' said I; 'that's Mr. _Franklin_ Van Burnam you
are looking at! What are you thinking of?' 'Can't help it,' said he; 'I
saw both of the brothers at the inquest, and saw nothing in them then to
remind me of our late mysterious guest. But as he stands there, he's a
---- sight more like James Pope than the other one is, and don't you
forget it.' I shrugged my shoulders, told him he was a fool, and that
fools had better keep their follies to themselves, and came away with my
man, outwardly disgusted but inwardly in most excellent trim for
pursuing an investigation which had opened so auspiciously.

"Whether this man possessed any motive for a crime so seemingly out of
accordance with his life and disposition was, of course, the next point
to settle. His conduct at the inquest certainly showed no decided
animosity toward his brother's wife, nor was there on the surface of
affairs any token of the mortal hatred which alone could account for a
crime at once so deliberate and so brutal. But we detectives plunge
below the surface, and after settling the question of Franklin's
identity with the so-called Mr. Pope of the Hotel D----, I left New York
and its interests--among which I reckoned your efforts at detective
work, Miss Butterworth--to a young man in my office, who, I am afraid,
did not quite understand the persistence of your character; for he had
nothing to tell me concerning you on my return, save that you had been
cultivating Miss Althorpe, which, of course, was such a natural thing
for you to do, I wonder he thought it necessary to mention it.

"My destination was Four Corners, the place where Howard first met his
future wife. In relating what I learn