he remarkable and I may say startling evidence, which has been heard
in this court to-day, if it has not fixed the guilt of this crime on any
individual, has, at any rate, made it clear to our satisfaction that the
prisoner is not the guilty person, and he is accordingly discharged. Mr.
Draper, I have great pleasure in informing you that you are at liberty
to leave the court, and that you do so entirely clear of all suspicion;
and I congratulate you very heartily on the skill and ingenuity of your
legal advisers, but for which the decision of the Court would, I am
afraid, have been very different."

That evening, lawyers, witnesses, and the jubilant and grateful client
gathered round a truly festive board to dine, and fight over again the
battle of the day. But we were scarcely halfway through our meal when,
to the indignation of the servants, Sergeant Payne burst breathlessly
into the room.

"They've gone, sir!" he exclaimed, addressing Thorndyke. "They've given
us the slip for good."

"Why, how can that be?" asked Thorndyke.

"They're dead, sir! All three of them!"

"Dead!" we all exclaimed.

"Yes. They made a burst for the yacht when they left the court, and they
got on board and put out to sea at once, hoping, no doubt, to get clear
as the light was just failing. But they were in such a hurry that they
did not see a steam trawler that was entering, and was hidden by the
pier. Then, just at the entrance, as the yacht was creeping out, the
trawler hit her amidships, and fairly cut her in two. The three men were
in the water in an instant, and were swept away in the eddy behind the
north pier; and before any boat could put out to them they had all gone
under. Jezzard's body came up on the beach just as I was coming away."

We were all silent and a little awed, but if any of us felt regret at
the catastrophe, it was at the thought that three such cold-blooded
villains should have made so easy an exit; and to one of us, at least,
the news came as a blessed relief.

II

THE STRANGER'S LATCHKEY

The contrariety of human nature is a subject that has given a surprising
amount of occupation to makers of proverbs and to those moral
philosophers who make it their province to discover and expound the
glaringly obvious; and especially have they been concerned to enlarge
upon that form of perverseness which engenders dislike of things offered
under compulsion, and arouses desire of them as soon as their attainm