ike a button, and _was_ a button. Then the drawer came forward in
his hand, and revealed at back of it another one, which at a touch of
that button had dropped its front panel so that it formed a pigeon-hole.
As he peered into the recesses of this, he saw a bundle of yellowed
papers tied about with a faded piece of pink ribbon, and immediately
drew them forth into the light.

"Whew! What a beastly dust! Well, I've met this kind of a desk before,
so fortunately you're no closed book to me, my friend," he apostrophized
it, as a powder of dust flew over his fingers as he touched the packet.
"Here's something which wants looking into, so I'll appropriate it now,
and have a squint at it later. Secretive old chap he was, then! With his
secret drawers and all! Looks like a bundle of old love-letters to all
intents and purposes, but written on paper that one would hardly have
called suitable for such tender epistles. Commonest kind of
note-paper--village note-paper." He drew a sheet from the packet and
held it up to the light. "And with a water-mark of a crown and
anchor.... Hello! bit of an illiterate lady, wasn't she, who penned
these lines! For the spelling's pretty shaky. And signed _Jeannette_....
H'm. Some pretty little amour which has held such savour as to be
preserved in this form until after death--poor old fellow! Well, I'll
look into it later. Couldn't have been from the first Lady Duggan, for
_her_ name was Edith. Miss Duggan herself told me that. And ...
Jeannette! Now, I wonder...."

But what he wondered was never recorded at that time, for just then came
the sound of a soft footstep upon the hall without, the rattle of a
door-handle and the gentle opening of the door itself; and Cleek had
just time to whisk away the packet, and assume an appearance of stolid
nonchalance, when someone came into the room on silently shod feet,
stepped a few paces forward, and then, seeing him, gave out a little
shriek and shut her two hands over her breast spasmodically.

"Oh!--_how_ you startled me!" gave out Lady Paula breathlessly, as she
recognized who the intruder was. "What can you be doing here, Mr.
Deland? The police ... this awful tragedy."

Cleek bowed and came toward her with outstretched hand.

"My dear Lady Paula," he said suavely, "I represent the police myself.
I happen to have taken up criminology many years ago, and came up here
to Scotland upon a little holiday. This terrible thing that has happened
brought