inly
phenomenal. But, still, as I was saying, except for this definite
information we have no _proof_ outside the statement of Dr. Damar
Greefe that such a person as Nahemah ever existed or at any rate that
there ever was a creature possessing the attributes which he ascribed
to her. The Laurels is an ordinary suburban house, which has been
leased for a number of years by a 'Mr. and Miss da Costa'--Damar
Greefe, no doubt, and a female companion. But of his 'great work' and
so forth there's not a trace. There are a lot of Egyptian antiquities,
I'll admit, but not a scrap of evidence; and the rooms evidently used
by the female inmate of the household are those of an ordinary
cultured Englishwoman."

"But, good heavens, Gatton," I cried, "whatever explanation can you
offer of a series of crimes which were palpably directed against the
members of the Coverly family?"

"I don't say," continued Gatton, "that there wasn't a sort of feud or
vendetta at the bottom of the business. I merely mention that we have
no _evidence_ to show that the person responsible for it was any other
than this Eurasian doctor."

"But what could have been his object?"

"I could suggest several; but my point at the moment is this: although
I am prepared to grant that he had a woman associate of some kind, I
can't see that there is any evidence to prove that she was otherwise
than an ordinary human being, except that I am disposed to think she
was demented."

"You are probably right there, Gatton," I agreed; "and Dr. Damar
Greefe was by no means normal; in fact I think he was a dangerous and
very brilliant maniac."

"At any rate," added Gatton, "no trace of this Nahemah has been
found--which, at the least, is very significant."

"Significant, if you like," I replied; "but for my own part I have no
ambition whatever to see again those dreadful green eyes."

"I never did see them," said Gatton musingly; "therefore I can't speak
upon the matter; but when we got Dr. Damar Greefe I think we had the
head of the conspiracy. How much of his 'statement' is true and how
much the product of a diseased mind is something we are never likely
to know."

"Nor am I curious to know it," I assured him. "I only desire to forget
the tragedies associated with the green eyes of Bast and to leave the
darkness of the past behind--"

"And," said Gatton, with a smile less grim than usual, "you have my
best wishes for the future."

THE END

_The greate