et the grease paint with which the fellow's face was coloured, and
heard him say as he tossed that wig toward him and rose, "Out of your
own stage properties, Mr. Trent--borrowed to be returned like this."

"Heaven above, man," said Trent in utter bewilderment, "what's the
meaning of it all? Who is that man, then, since it's clear he's not
Loti?"

"A very excellent actor in his day, Mr. Trent; his name is James
Colliver," replied Cleek. "I came to this place fully convinced that
Loti had murdered him; I now know that he murdered Loti, and that
to that crime he has added a yet more abominable one by killing his
own son!"

"It's a lie! It's a lie! I didn't! I didn't! I never saw the boy!"
screeched out Colliver in a very panic of terror. "I've never killed
any one. Loti sold out to me! Loti went back to France. I pawned the
jewels to get the money to pay him to go."

"Oh, no, you didn't, my friend," said Cleek. "You performed that
operation to shut Felix Murchison's mouth--the one man who could
swear, and did swear, that James Colliver never left this building on
the day of his disappearance, and who probably would have said
more if you hadn't made it worth his while to shut his mouth and to
disappear. You and I know, my friend, that Loti was the last man
on this earth with whom you could come to terms upon anything. He
had publicly declared that he would have your life, and he'd have
kept his word if you hadn't turned the tables and killed him. You
stole his wife, and you were never even man enough to marry her even
though she had borne you a son and clung to you to the end, poor
wretch! You killed Loti, and you killed your own son. No doubt he is
better off, poor little chap, to be dead and gone rather than to live
with the shadow of illegitimacy upon him; and no doubt, either,
that when he came up here yesterday to meet Giuseppe Loti, he saw
what I saw to-day, and knew you as I knew you then--the scar on
the wrist, which was one of the marks of identification given me at
the time I was sent to hunt you up! And you killed him to shut his
mouth."

"I didn't! I didn't!" he protested wildly. "I never saw him. He
wasn't here. The women in the house across the way will swear that
they saw the empty room."

"Not now!" declared Cleek, with emphasis. "I've convinced them to
the contrary. Mr. Trent, let a couple of your men come over here
and take charge of this fellow, please, and I will convince you as
well. That's ri