m.

"I suppose Carvel has told you all that I could not tell you, Mr.
Griggs," said the learned man, eying me through his glasses with an air
of inquiry, and slowly rubbing his enormous hands together.

"Yes," I said. "I understand that we are about to make an experiment in
order to ascertain if this unfortunate lady will recognize me."

"Precisely. It is not impossible that she may know you, though, if she
saw you at all, it was only for a moment. You have a very striking face
and figure, and you have not changed in the least. Besides, the moment
was that in which she experienced an awful shock. Such things are
sometimes photographed on the mind."

"Has she never recognized you in any way?" I asked.

"Never since that day at Weissenstein. There is just a faint possibility
that when she sees us together she may recall that catastrophe. I think
Carvel had better stay behind."

"Very well," said John, "I will leave you at the door."

Carvel led the way to the great hall, and then turned through a passage
I had never entered. The narrow corridor was brightly lighted by a
number of lamps; at the end of it we came to a massive door. John took a
little key from a niche in the wall, and inserted it in the small metal
plate of the patent lock.

"Cutter will lead you now," he said, as he pushed the heavy mahogany
back upon its hinges. Beyond it the passage continued, still brilliantly
illuminated, to a dark curtain which closed the other end. It was very
warm. Carvel closed the door behind us, and the professor and I
proceeded alone.

X.

The professor pushed aside the heavy curtain, and we entered a small
room, simply furnished with a couple of tables, a bookcase, one or two
easy-chairs, and a divan. The walls were dark, and the color of the
curtains and carpet was a dark green, but two large lamps illuminated
every corner of the apartment. At one of the tables a middle-aged woman
sat reading; as we entered she looked up at us, and I saw that she was
one of the nurses in charge of Madame Patoff. She wore a simple gown of
dark material, and upon her head a dainty cap of French appearance was
pinned, with a certain show of taste. The nurse had a kindly face and
quiet eyes, accustomed, one would think, to look calmly upon sights
which would astonish ordinary people. Her features were strongly marked,
but gentle in expression and somewhat pale, and as she sat facing us,
her large white hands were folded together