her lifetime."

"But I understand the estate is mortgaged?"

"That I have to confirm, Mr. Addison," replied Gatton. "Sir Eric's
solicitor has no information on the point and that of Sir Marcus's man
of business is inexact. But even supposing that only the title is
concerned, many a man has lost his life for less. Then you have to
consider--Miss Merlin."

"In what way?" I demanded

"In relation to the attitude of Sir Marcus. Jealousy makes men (and
women) do strange and desperate things. The character of Eric Coverly,
the new baronet, is a very odd one."

"He is headstrong and in some respects weak," I admitted. "But
otherwise he is an ordinary English gentleman, with the traditions of
an old name and a public school to back him up. I tell you, Gatton,
it's nonsense. His army career alone shows him to be a sound man."

"Yes," murmured Gatton; "he was awarded a decoration for distinguished
service in Egypt."

That seemingly simple remark struck me with all the force of a
physical blow. Gatton began quietly to load his pipe, without even
glancing in my direction; but the covert significance of his words was
all too apparent:

"Gatton," I said--"what the devil are you driving at?"

He slightly shrugged his shoulders.

"What you may term the hocus-pocus side of the case," he replied,
"turns on matters Egyptian, doesn't it? Very well. Who else, that we
know about, is associated, or ever has been associated with Egypt?"

"But--the woman?"

"Ah!" said Gatton. "Now you are getting down to the depths. But
assuming that the extraordinary characteristics of this visitor of
yours can be explained in some way, by deliberate trickery, for
example, might she not be a woman whom Eric Coverly met in Egypt?"

I stared silently a while, and then:

"In short, a rival of Miss Merlin's?" I suggested.

"Precisely. The trick with the photograph was just of the kind one
would expect from a madly jealous woman. Everything planned with
supreme cunning, but the scene at which the hated rival enters the
scheme badly overdone."

"And you believe Coverly's silence to be due to the fact that he is
shielding some one?"

"Well, that or shielding himself. What else can it mean? A man
suspected of murder doesn't hesitate to establish an alibi unless he
is in a desperately tight corner. The exact position of your
strange-eyed acquaintance in the case is not apparent to me at the
moment, I'll admit, but I seem to have heard that there