h he could be cheated of his victory. He took a step forward, and
the Prince advanced courteously, as though to meet him. The others, for
those few seconds, seemed as though they had lost the power of speech or
movement. Then before a word could be uttered by either the Inspector or
the Prince, the door was opened from the outside, and a man came running
in,--a man dressed in a shabby blue serge suit, dark and thin. He ran
past the Inspector and his companions, and he fell on his knees before
his master.

"I confess!" he cried. "It was I who climbed on to the railway car! It
was I who stabbed the American man in the tunnel and robbed him of his
papers! The others are innocent. Marki, who brought the car for me, knew
nothing. Those who saw me return to this house knew nothing. No man was
my confidant. I alone am guilty! I thought they could not discover
the truth, but they have hunted me down. He is there--the doctor who
bandaged my knee. I told him that it was a bicycle accident. Listen! It
was I who killed the young American Vanderpole. I followed him from
the Savoy Hotel. I dressed myself in the likeness of my master, and I
entered his taxi as a pleasant jest. Then I strangled him and I robbed
him too! He saw me--that man!" Soto cried, pointing to the youth who
stood at the Inspector's left hand. "He was on his bicycle. He skidded
and fell through watching me. I told my master that I was in trouble,
and he has tried to shield me, but he did not know the truth. If he
had, he would have given me over as I give myself now. What I did I did
because I love Japan and because I hate America!"

His speech ended in a fit of breathlessness. He lay there, gasping. The
doctor bent forward, looking at him first in perplexity and afterwards
in amazement. Then very slowly, and with the remnants of doubt still in
his tone, he answered Inspector Jacks' unspoken question.

"He is the image of the man who came to me that night," he declared. "He
is wearing the same clothes, too."

"What do you say?" the Inspector whispered hoarsely to the youth on his
other side. "Don't hurry. Look at him carefully."

The young man hesitated.

"He is the same height and figure as the man I saw enter the taxi," he
said. "I believe that it is he."

Inspector Jacks stepped forward, but the Prince held out his hand.

"Wait!" he ordered, and his voice was sterner than any there had ever
heard him use. There was a fire in his eyes from which the man a