lodged with
her was a profound secret from all, Carton's inspired paragraph could
have been no more than a shot in the dark; and the fact that it had
hit the mark one of those seeming coincidences which sometimes rest
upon mere chance, but which rested, in this case upon a process of
careful reasoning. The Inspector was certain, as I was certain, of
Coverly's innocence, and he had credited him with an alibi because he
knew that if he would but consent to break his inexplicable silence,
he was in a position to establish one. Why he had forestalled Coverly
I knew not.

I made a poor and hasty dinner, for I was too excited to eat, and
returning to the study, I crossed to the bookcase and took down
Maspero's "Egyptian Art." I idly glanced again through those passages
which Gatton had copied into his note-book--the passages relating to
the attributes of Bast, the cat-goddess. My mind rested particularly,
I remember, upon the line, "she plays with her victim as with a
mouse."

Stifling a somewhat weary sigh, I returned the book to its place and
lingered looking out of the open window into the deepening dusk.
Mentally my mood was a restless one, but it did not reflect itself
physically; for I stood there leaning against the window whilst a
procession of all the figures associated with the "_Oritoga_ mystery"
raced through my mind.

And presently as I stood there contemplating a mental image of the
Eurasian doctor, I heard the telephone bell ring. The sound aroused me
in a moment, and walking out into the little ante-room in which the
instrument was placed, I took it up--anticipating Coates, who had
immediately come in from the garden where he was engaged at the time.

"Hello!" I said.

A voice with which I was unfamiliar, a man's voice speaking rather
thickly, replied:

"Is that Mr. Addison?"

"Yes."

"I have just arrived from Crossleys with Inspector Gatton. He requests
me to ask you to meet him by the police-box at the corner of the high
street immediately."

"Very good," I said. "I will come."

"And," continued the voice--"could you spare Coates with the car for
an hour?"

"Certainly," I replied. "For what do you want him?"

"If he will take the car to Denmark Hill Station and be there by a
quarter past eight," continued the voice, "Detective-Sergeant Blythe
will meet him. There is a large box," he added, "which Inspector
Gatton wishes to have taken to your house."

"Very well," I said. "Coates will star