id or done to save him
_now_? he thought. Vincent was mad to try. But the latter put his
hand, as if affectionately, on his shoulder with a warning pressure,
and he said nothing.

'Do you mean,' said Caffyn to Holroyd, with an angry sneer, 'that I
told a lie--that you did _not_ write "Illusion"?'

'That was not the lie,' returned Vincent. 'I did write "Illusion." It
is untrue that Mr. Ashburn's conduct in the matter does him anything
but credit. May I tell my story here, Mrs. Featherstone?'

'Oh, by all means,' said that lady, not too graciously: 'we can't know
the facts too soon.'

'I wrote the book,' said Vincent, 'before I went out to Ceylon. I was
at the Bar then, and had thoughts of practising again at some future
time. I had a fancy (which was foolish, I dare say) to keep the fact
that I had written a novel a close secret. So I entrusted the
manuscript to my good friend, Mr. Ashburn, leaving him to arrange, if
he could, for its publication, and I charged him to keep my secret by
every means in his power. In fact, I was so much in earnest about it
that I made him give me his solemn promise that, if he could not
shield me in any other way, he would do so with his own name. I did
not really believe then that that would be necessary, or even that the
book would be accepted, but I knew Mr. Ashburn wrote novels himself,
and I hoped the arrangement would not do him any actual harm.'

Till then he had gone on fluently enough; it was merely a modification
of his original idea, with a considerable blending of the actual
facts, but he felt that there were difficulties to come which it
would require all his skill to avoid.

'I was detained, as you know, for more than a year in Ceylon, and
unable most of the time to write to England,' he continued. 'When I
came home, I found--I was told that the book had obtained a success
neither of us ever dreamed of: curiosity had been aroused, and Mr.
Ashburn had found himself driven to keep his promise. He--he was
anxious that I should release him and clear the matter up. I--I--it
was not convenient for me to do so just then, and I induced him--he
could hardly refuse, perhaps--to keep up the disguise a little longer.
We had just arranged to make everything known shortly, when Mr. Caffyn
anticipated us. And that is really all there is to tell about that.'

Throughout Vincent's explanation Caffyn had been inwardly raging at
the thought that his victims might actually succeed in esca