of crumpled newspaper in his
hand.

"Right was I, Mr. Narkom?" he queried smilingly.

"Good God, yes! Right as rain, old chap. Been carrying it for upward
of a twelvemonth, and no doubt waiting for an opportunity to strike."

"Good! And while you have been attending to your little part of the
business I've been looking out for mine, dear friend. Look!" said
Cleek, and opened up the little ball of paper sufficiently to show
what looked like a cut-glass scent bottle belonging to a lady's
dressing-bag close stoppered with a metal plug sealed round with
candle wax. "Woorali, my friend; and enough in it to kill an army.
Come along--we've got to the bottom of the thing, let us go up and
'report.' The gentlemen will be getting anxious."

They were; for on reaching the armoury they found young Drake and
Lord Fallowfield showing strong traces of the mental strain under
which they were labouring and talking agitatedly with Lady Marjorie
Wynde, who had, in the interim, come up and joined them, and was
herself apparently in need of something to sustain and to strengthen
her; for Ojeebi was standing by with an extended salver, from which
she had just lifted to her lips a glass of port.

"Good God! I never was so glad to see anybody in my life, gentlemen,"
broke out young Drake as they appeared. "It's beyond the hour you
asked for--ages beyond--and my nerves are almost pricking their way
through my skin. Mr. Cleek--Mr. Narkom--speak up, for heaven's
sake. Have you succeeded in finding out anything?"

"We've done better than that, Mr. Drake," replied Cleek, "for we
have succeeded in finding out everything. Look sharp there, Mr.
Narkom, and shut that door. Lady Marjorie looks as if she were going
to faint, and we don't want a whole houseful of servants piling in
here. That's it. Back against the door, please; her ladyship seems on
the point of crumpling up."

"No, no, I'm not; indeed, I'm not!" protested Lady Marjorie with
a forced smile and a feeble effort to hold her galloping nerves in
check. "I am excited and very much upset, of course, but I am really
much stronger than you would think. Still, if you would rather I
should leave the room, Mr. Cleek----"

"Oh, by no means, your ladyship. I know how anxious you are to learn
the result of my investigations. And, by that token, somebody else
is anxious, too--the doctor. Call him in, will you, Mr. Drake? He is
still with the others in the Stone Drum, I assume."

He was; and