to the door. Mr. Whyte 'e comes to the door of 'is room,
an' 'e 'ollers out. 'She is mine; you can't do anything; an' the other
turns with 'is 'and on the door an' says, 'I can kill you, an' if you
marry 'er I'll do it, even in the open street.'"

"Ah!" said Mr. Gorby, drawing a long breath, "and then?"

"Then he bangs the door to, which it's never shut easy since, an' I
ain't got no money to get it put right, an' Mr. Whyte walks back to his
room, laughing."

"Did he make any remark to you?"

"No; except he'd been worried by a loonatic."

"And what was the stranger's name?"

"That I can't tell you, as Mr. Whyte never told me. He was very tall,
with a fair moustache, an' dressed as I told you."

Mr. Gorby was satisfied.

"That is the man," he said to himself, "who got into the hansom cab,
and murdered Whyte; there's no doubt of it! Whyte and he were rivals
for the heiress."

"What d'y think of it?" said Mrs. Hableton curiously.

"I think," said Mr. Gorby slowly, with his eyes fixed on her, "I think
that there is a woman at the bottom of this crime."

CHAPTER VI.

MR. GORBY MAKES FURTHER DISCOVERIES.

When Mr. Gorby left Possum Villa no doubt remained in his mind as to
who had committed the murder. The gentleman in the light coat had
threatened to murder Whyte, even in the open street--these last words
being especially significant--and there was no doubt that he had
carried out his threat. The committal of the crime was merely the
fulfilment of the words uttered in anger. What the detective had now to
do was to find who the gentleman in the light coat was, where he lived,
and, that done, to ascertain his doings on the night of the murder.
Mrs. Hableton had described him, but was ignorant of his name, and her
very vague description might apply to dozens of young men in Melbourne.
There was only one person who, in Mr. Gorby's opinion, could tell the
name of the gentleman in the light coat, and that was Moreland, the
intimate friend of the dead man. They appeared, from the landlady's
description, to have been so friendly that it was more than likely
Whyte would have told Moreland all about his angry visitor. Besides,
Moreland's knowledge of his dead friend's life and habits might be able
to supply information on two points, namely, who was most likely to
gain by Whyte's death, and who the heiress was that the deceased
boasted he would marry. But the fact that Moreland should be ignorant
of his frien