he dead hand, which had recovered the broken flex, still
held it, you see, and no more of the 'tapped' message went down the
dockyard wire. So long as that message continued, so long as the
instrument which sent it continued to send it, it was 'received'
here--a mere silent, unrecorded, impotent thrill locked up in the
grip of a dead man's hand.

"And look there--the pile of burnt paper beside the fused instrument
and the cinder of a matchbox against it. The force which obliterated
life in him infused it into the 'dipped' heads of those little wooden
sticks, and flashed them into flame. So long as there was anything
for that flame to feed upon it continued its work, you see, and
Sophie Borovonski found nothing to take away with her, after all.
Gentlemen, the State secrets that were stolen will remain England's
own--the records were burnt, and the dead cannot betray."

CHAPTER XIX

It had gone two o'clock. The morning's work was done, a hasty
luncheon disposed of, and the investigators were back in the
dockmaster's house discussing the curious features of the case again.

"And now, gentlemen," said Cleek, "to the unsolved part of the
riddle--the mysterious manner in which the messages were sent from
this house. For sent from here they undoubtedly were, and by Sophie
Borovonski; but the question of how still remains to be discovered."

"I make it that it's the devil's own work, Mr. Cleek," said MacInery,
"and that there must have been some accident connected with it, the
same as with the taking off of the wire-tapping chap."

"Hardly that, I'm afraid," replied Cleek. "I think it was accident
which put a _stop_ to the proceedings here, not one which created
them. We now know perfectly well that the woman was in this
house--undiscovered and unsuspected for days; and you may safely lay
your life that she wasn't idle, wasn't stopping here for nothing.
The pile of papers burnt shows very clearly that considerable
intelligence had been forwarded to her brother, so it is safe to
infer that she was wiring it to him constantly."

"But how was it possible for her to obtain that information?" queried
Sir Charles. "I again declare to you most solemnly, Mr. Cleek,
that no one entered or left the room, that no word was spoken that
could be said to have any bearing upon secret matters, so nothing
could possibly be overheard; and how could the woman read documents
which were never out of our sight for a minute? Granted th