ut where?"

Calton did not answer, but, leaning his head on his hands, stared hard
at the paper. At last he jumped up with a cry--

"I have it," he said, in an excited tone. "Look at that paper; see how
creamy and white it is, and above all, look at the printing in the
corner--'OT VILLA, TOORAK.'"

"Then he went down to Toorak?"

"In an hour, and back again--hardly!"

"Then it was not written from Toorak?"

"No, it was written in one of the Melbourne back slums."

"How do you know?"

"Look at the girl who brought it," said Calton, quickly. "A
disreputable woman, one far more likely to come from the back slums
than from Toorak. As to the paper, three months ago there was a robbery
at Toorak, and this is some of the paper that was stolen by the
thieves."

Madge said nothing, but her sparkling eyes and the nervous trembling of
her hands showed her excitement.

"I will see a detective this evening," said Calton, exultingly, "find
out where this letter came from, and who wrote it. We'll save him yet,"
he said, placing the precious letter carefully in his pocket-book.

"You think that you will be able to find the woman who wrote that?"

"Hum," said the lawyer, looking thoughtful, "she may be dead, as the
letter says she is in a dying condition. However, if I can find the
woman who delivered the letter at the Club, and who waited for
Fitzgerald at the corner of Bourke and Russell Streets, that will be
sufficient. All I want to prove is that he was not in the hansom cab
with Whyte."

"And do you think you can do that?"

"Depends upon this letter," said Calton, tapping his pocket-book with
his finger. "I'll tell you to-morrow."

Shortly afterwards they left the house, and when Calton put Madge
safely into the St. Kilda train, her heart felt lighter than it had
done since Fitzgerald's arrest.

CHAPTER XIV.

ANOTHER RICHMOND IN THE FIELD.

There is an old adage that says "Like draws to like." The antithesis of
this is probably that "Unlike repels unlike." But there are times when
individualism does not enter into the matter, and Fate alone, by
throwing two persons together, sets up a state, congenial or
uncongenial, as the case may be. Fate chose to throw together Mr. Gorby
and Mr. Kilsip, and each was something more than uncongenial to the
other. Each was equally clever in their common profession; each was a
universal favourite, yet each hated the other. They were as fire and
water to one another,