ceed to a very large fortune, and to take a wife."

Mortimer, being asked what would become of the fortune in the event of
the marriage condition not being fulfilled, replies that by a clause in
the will it would then go to the old servant above-mentioned, passing
over and excluding the son; also, that if the son had not been living,
the same old servant would have been sole residuary legatee.

It is just when the ladies are retiring that Mortimer receives a note
from the butler.

"This really arrives in an extraordinarily opportune manner," says
Mortimer, after reading the paper presented to him. "This is the
conclusion of the story of the identical man. Man's drowned!"

The dinner being over, Mortimer Lightwood and his friend Eugene Wrayburn
interviewed the boy who had brought the note, and then set out in a cab
to the riverside quarter of Wapping.

The cab dismissed, a little winding through some muddy alleys brings
then to the bright lamp of a police-station, where they find the
night-inspector. He takes a bull's-eye, and Mortimer and Eugene follow
him to a cool grot at the end of the yard. They quickly come out again.

"No clue, gentlemen," says the inspector, "as to how the body came into
river. Very often no clue. Steward of ship, in which gentleman came home
passenger, had been round to view, and could swear to identity. Likewise
could swear to clothes. Inquest to-morrow, and no doubt open verdict."

A stranger who had entered the station with Lightwood and Wrayburn
attracts Mr. Inspector's attention.

"Turned you faint, sir? You expected to identify?"

"It's a horrible sight," says the stranger. "No, I can't identify."

"You missed a friend, you know; or you missed a foe, or you wouldn't
have come here, you know. Well, then, ain't it reasonable to ask, who
was it?" Thus Mr. Inspector. "At least, you won't object to write down
your name and address?"

The stranger took the pen and wrote down, "Mr. Julius Handford,
Exchequer Coffee House, Palace Yard, Westminster."

At the coroner's inquest next day, Mr. Mortimer Lightwood watched the
proceedings on behalf of the representatives of the deceased; and Mr.
Julius Handford having given his right address, had no summons to
appear.

Upon the evidence before them, the jury found that Mr. John Harmon had
come by his death under suspicious circumstances, though by whose act
there was no evidence to show. Within eight-and-forty hours a reward of
one hundred