ok at Lord Ronsdale, seemed waiting for the latter to say
something, but the nobleman only leaned forward and pushed at the coals
with a poker.

"Which brings to my mind the one point," with emphasis, "that I haven't
been able so far to reconcile or to explain. Your lordship, who seems to
have divined a great deal, can, perhaps. A man of fine education and
bearing, as I said, yet the other had been--"

"It is your business, not mine, to explain," interrupted the listener.
"Tell all you know."

"At the spring on the little island the seamen filled their water-butts;
this kept them several days, mixing labor with skylarking, during which
time one of them picked up something, a pouch marked with a name."

"Which was--?"

Mr. Gillett leaned forward, spoke softly; Lord Ronsdale stared straight
ahead. "Of course," he said, "of course!"

"This, I will confess, startled, puzzled me," continued the police agent
after a pause. "What did it mean? I tried to explain it in a dozen
different ways but none of them seemed exactly to fit. Then it was that
the line of special investigation helped. John Steele's outing to which
you directed my attention was passed on the continent. What did he do
there; was it business; was it pleasure took him there? After a good
deal of pains, we discovered that he visited a certain large building,
centrally located. This proved a starting-point; why did he go there? At
the top was a studio; from the concierge we learned that he had asked
for the artist. From the artist we ascertained that John Steele had
bought a picture; that he had called several times to watch the painter
at his work. So far, so good, or bad! For was it likely John Steele had
come to Paris to buy a bit of canvas, or was his interest in art assumed
to cover his real purpose? When he left the studio, did he, without the
knowledge of the concierge, call on some one else in the building?

"This thought led to an inspection of the tenants. They proved of all
sorts and kinds; the place was a beehive; hundreds of people entered and
left every day. At this time I happened on an item in a periodical about
some remarkable work in a certain line by a high-class medical
specialist. Here is the paragraph."

Lord Ronsdale took the slip of paper the other handed him and briefly
looked at it. "You visited this person?"

"Yes, as his office address was mentioned as being in the large building
we were interested in. But at the moment I had