atal.

"A large quantity of stolen property of all sorts has been
discovered in rooms which the criminal occupied in
Montauban, in France. Despujol's latest exploit was an
attempt to administer in secret a very deadly poison to an
Englishman who was visiting Madrid. It was that attempted
crime which aroused Senor Rivero's activities which have had
the effect of ridding Spain of one of its most notorious
assassins."

I read the report twice. So the defiant Despujol was dead, and poor
Rivero had sustained injuries! Nothing was said of the powerful
financier's friendship with the bandit.

When I showed it to Hambledon, he remarked:

"At least you've been the means not only of putting an end to
Despujol's ignoble career, but also of restoring a quantity of very
valuable property to its owners."

"True, but it brings us no nearer a solution of the affair at Stretton
Street," was my reply.

Gabrielle's mother had returned to London, and that evening I called
upon her by appointment. I found her a grey-haired refined woman with
a pale anxious face and deep-set eyes.

When I mentioned Gabrielle, who was in the adjoining room, she sighed
and exclaimed:

"Ah! Mr. Garfield. It is a great trial to me. Poor child! I cannot
think what happened to her. Nobody can tell, she least of all. Doctor
Moroni has been very good, for he is greatly interested in her case.
They have told me that you called some time ago and evinced an
interest in her."

"Yes, Mrs. Tennison," I said. "I feel a very deep interest in your
daughter because--well, to tell you the truth, I, too, after a strange
adventure here in London one night completely lost my sense of
identity, and when I came to a knowledge of things about me I was in
a hospital in France, having been found unconscious at the roadside
many days after my adventure in London."

"How very curious!" Mrs. Tennison remarked, instantly interested.
"Gabrielle was found at the roadside. Do you think, then, that there
is any connexion between your case and hers?"

"Yes, Mrs. Tennison," I replied promptly. "It is for that reason I am
in active search of the truth--in the interests of your daughter, as
well as of those of my own."

"What do you suspect, Mr. Garfield?" asked Gabrielle's mother, as we
sat in that cosily-furnished little room where on the table in the
centre stood an old punch-bowl filled with sweet-smelling La France
roses.

"I suspec