mprobable that he would long succeed in
evading arrest; a foreigner of his unusual appearance presented an easy
target. Yet Roger felt some degree of astonishment that he should
think of disappearing. It argued a hopeless flaw in his defences.

Early in the afternoon Esther and Miss Clifford left La Californie in
charge of Bousquet and descended by car to Cannes itself, where they
took up their quarters in a comfortable and quiet hotel. Esther was
promptly put to bed again. She was still too weak to sit up, and
looked extremely ill. As yet she knew nothing of the catastrophe that
had overtaken Lady Clifford, for the doctor thought her unequal to the
strain of a fresh excitement. New surroundings and complete rest were
now what she required to restore her, but even so it might be weeks
before she was entirely herself. Although Bousquet had no idea of the
reasons responsible for her present state beyond the fairly obvious
effects of the morphia, he rightly surmised that her nervous system had
sustained a severe shock. He saw, too, that while in the villa she had
been the prey of some obscure but almost paralysing fear. Directly she
was removed from the atmosphere of the Cliffords' house she began to be
calmer.

At three o'clock Roger accompanied a small deputation of the police to
Sartorius's house. In the main bedroom they found considerable
disorder--drawers pulled out and their contents strewn about, various
signs of hasty leave-taking, though how much of this was due to the
doctor's own departure and how much to Holliday's was difficult to
determine, as the two men had occupied the same room. However, under
the bed was a small steamer trunk and a brown leather dressing-bag,
both locked, and both initialled E. R. The trunk bore the label of a
White Star liner, a Paris hotel, and the Carlton Hotel, Cannes. These
pieces of luggage were the first bits of evidence to confirm the truth
of Esther's story. In the laboratory above further confirmation
awaited the investigators. Roger caught his breath as he stood in the
open doorway and took in the corroborative details.

The hanging lamp was shattered as well as several panes of the
skylight. On the table lay an overturned chair, the floor was littered
with fragments of a glass jar mixed with a crystalline substance.
Knotted to an iron bracket was the end of a ragged rope of crimson
material, which disappeared through the open section of the skylight.
The w