room at my expense." He commenced
to write.

"Any message?" he asked Brett.

"Yes. Give Miss Layton my compliments, and say I regret to hear that Jane
is in tears. Ask her--Miss Layton--to get Jane to find out from the valet
what train his master will travel by."

"Why?"

"Because I will go by an earlier one, if possible."

"But what about me! Confound it, I promised--"

"To meet Miss Layton at eleven. Do so, my dear fellow. But come to town
to-morrow evening. Winter and I may want you."

So the detective sent another telegram to detain that dress suit, and Hume
seemed to have quickly conquered his disinclination to visit Stowmarket.

CHAPTER X

THE BLACK MUSEUM

Winter, who had never seen Capella, was so well posted by Brett as to his
personal appearance that he experienced no difficulty in picking out the
Italian when he alighted from the train at Liverpool Street Station next
morning.

Capella did not conduct himself like a furtive villain. He jumped into a
hansom. His valet followed in a four-wheeler with the luggage. In each
instance the address given to the driver was that of a well-known West End
hotel.

The detective's cab kept pace with Capella's through Old Broad Street,
Queen Victoria Street, and along the Embankment. At the Mansion House, and
again at Blackfriars, they halted side by side, and Winter noticed that
his quarry was looking into space with sullen, vindictive eyes.

"He means mischief to somebody," was Winter's summing up. "I wonder if he
intends to knife Hume?" for Brett had given his professional _confrere_ a
synopsis of all that happened before they met, and of his subsequent
conversation with the "happy couple" in Beechcroft Hall.

He repeated this remark to the barrister when he reached Brett's chambers.

"Capella will do nothing so crude," was the comment. "He is no fool. I do
not credit him with the murder of Sir Alan, but if I am mistaken in this
respect, it is impossible to suppose that he can dream of clearing his
path again by the same drastic method. Of course he means mischief, but he
will stab reputations, not individuals."

"When will you come to the Black Museum?"

"At once, if you like. But before we set out I want to discuss Mr. Okasaki
with you. What sort of person is he?"

"A genuine Jap, small, lively, and oval-faced. His eyes are like tiny
slits in a water melon, and when he laughs his grin goes back to his
ears."

"Really, Winter, I did not c