blic interest he should recommend the Crown to
prosecute on a charge of forgery the clumsy fabricator of this
preposterous document.

The judge summed up--strongly in favour of Lord Southminster's will. If
the jury believed the experts and Miss Higginson, one verdict alone was
possible. The jury retired for three minutes only. It was a foregone
conclusion. They found for Lord Southminster. The judge, looking grave,
concurred in their finding. A most proper verdict. And he considered it
would be the duty of the Public Prosecutor to pursue Mr. Harold
Tillington on the charge of forgery.

[Illustration: I REELED WHERE I SAT.]

I reeled where I sat. Then I looked round for Harold.

He had slipped from the court, unseen, during counsel's address, some
minutes earlier!

That distressed me more than anything else on that dreadful day. I
wished he had stood up in his place like a man to face this vile and
cruel conspiracy.

I walked out slowly, supported by Lady Georgina, who was as white as a
ghost herself, but very straight and scornful. 'I always knew
Southminster was a fool,' she said aloud; 'I always knew he was a sneak;
but I did not know till now he was also a particularly bad type of
criminal.'

On the steps of the court, the pea-green young man met us. His air was
jaunty. 'Well, I was right, yah see,' he said, smiling and withdrawing
his cigarette. 'You backed the wrong fellah! I told you I'd win. I won't
say moah now; this is not the time or place to recur to that subject;
but, by-and-by, you'll come round; you'll think bettah of it still;
you'll back the winnah!'

I wished I were a man, that I might have the pleasure of kicking him.

We drove back to my hotel and waited for Harold. To my horror and alarm,
he never came near us. I might almost have doubted him--if he had not
been Harold.

I waited and waited. He did not come at all. He sent no word, no
message. And all that evening we heard the newsboys shouting at the top
of their voice in the street, 'Extra Speshul! the Ashurst Will Kise;
Sensational Developments' 'Mysterious Disappearance of Mr. 'Arold
Tillington.'

XI

THE ADVENTURE OF THE ORIENTAL ATTENDANT

I did not sleep that night. Next morning, I rose very early from a
restless bed with a dry, hot mouth, and a general feeling that the solid
earth had failed beneath me.

Still no news from Harold! It was cruel, I thought. My faith almost
flagged. He was a man and should be brave. H