omments, by all accounts, and from these it
appeared that Number 20 was in very bad odour in Paul Street. The
detectives tried to trace down these rumours to some solid foundation of
fact, but could not get hold of anything. People shook their heads and
raised their eyebrows and thought the Herberts rather "queer," "would
rather not be seen going into their house," and so on, but there was
nothing tangible. The authorities were morally certain that the man met
his death in some way or another in the house and was thrown out by the
kitchen door, but they couldn't prove it, and the absence of any
indications of violence or poisoning left them helpless. An odd case,
wasn't it? But curiously enough, there's something more that I haven't
told you. I happened to know one of the doctors who was consulted as to
the cause of death, and some time after the inquest I met him, and asked
him about it. "Do you really mean to tell me," I said, "that you were
baffled by the case, that you actually don't know what the man died of?"
"Pardon me," he replied, "I know perfectly well what caused death. Blank
died of fright, of sheer, awful terror; I never saw features so
hideously contorted in the entire course of my practice, and I have seen
the faces of a whole host of dead." The doctor was usually a cool
customer enough, and a certain vehemence in his manner struck me, but I
couldn't get anything more out of him. I suppose the Treasury didn't see
their way to prosecuting the Herberts for frightening a man to death; at
any rate, nothing was done, and the case dropped out of men's minds. Do
you happen to know anything of Herbert?'

'Well,' replied Villiers, 'he was an old college friend of mine.'

'You don't say so? Have you ever seen his wife?'

'No, I haven't. I have lost sight of Herbert for many years.'

'It's queer, isn't it, parting with a man at the college gate or at
Paddington, seeing nothing of him for years, and then finding him pop up
his head in such an odd place. But I should like to have seen Mrs.
Herbert; people said extraordinary things about her.'

'What sort of things?'

'Well, I hardly know how to tell you. Every one who saw her at the
police court said she was at once the most beautiful woman and the most
repulsive they had ever set eyes on. I have spoken to a man who saw her,
and I assure you he positively shuddered as he tried to describe the
woman, but he couldn't tell why. She seems to have been a sort of
enig