l know.'

'And means?'

'Once he had. Probably none now.'

To Tom's great relief, a new case drew off general attention. There
only remained the surgeon who had called him at first, and with whom he
was particularly intimate.

'Gaspard,' he said, 'shall you have charge of this case?'

'Brief charge it will be, apparently! I will volunteer to watch it, if
it is your desire! Is it friendship, or enmity, or simple humanity?'

'All!' said Tom, hastily. 'It is the clearing up of a horrible
mystery--freedom for an innocent prisoner--I must tell you the rest at
leisure. There is much to be done now in case of his reviving.'

This was remotely possible, but very doubtful; and Tom impressed on
both Gaspard and the nursing sister the most stringent entreaties to
summon him on the first symptom. He then gave the name of the unhappy
man, and, though unwilling to separate himself from that invaluable
pocket-book, perceived the necessity of leaving it as a deposit with
the authorities of the hospital, after he had fully examined it,
recognizing Leonard's description in each particular, the cipher F. A.
on the tarnished silver clasp, the shagreen cover, and the receipt on a
page a little past the middle. On the other half of the leaf was the
entry of some sums due to the house; and it contained other papers
which the guilty wretch had been evidently eager to secure, yet afraid
to employ, and that, no doubt, were the cause that, like so many other
murderers on record, he had preserved that which was the most fatal
proof against himself. Or could it be with some notion of future
relenting, that he had refrained from its destruction?

With brain still seeming to reel at the discovery, and limbs actually
trembling with the shock, Tom managed to preserve sufficient coolness
and discretion to bring back to mind the measures he had so often
planned for any such contingency. Calling a cabriolet, he repaired to
the police-station nearest to the scene of the contest, and there
learnt that Axworthy had long been watched as a dangerous subject, full
of turbulence, and with no visible means of maintenance. The officials
had taken charge of the few personal effects in his miserable lodgings,
and were endeavouring to secure the person who had struck the fatal
blow.

His next measure was to go to the British Embassy, where, through his
sister Flora's introductions, and his own Eton connections, he was
already well known; and tel