were up against people who were absolutely
reckless. We were able to trace, too, a typewriting machine as having
been sold recently to a man named Israel, in Grave Street, There were
finger-prints on the letter, and they corresponded to those on the
dagger. As a matter of fact, I recently found out that the letter had
been written on paper given by you. You had torn a half-sheet from an
old letter, and I can only presume it was one that had been written to
you by Lady Eileen Meredith. For they were her finger-prints.

"We paid a surprise visit to Grave Street, and, although we were unable
to lay our hands on any one of much importance to the investigation, we
hit on the cipher with which it was intended to communicate with your
friends. Now, we had already, as you know, taken every precaution to
stop supplies. It was obvious that, sooner or later, money would be
wanted, and we rigorously watched the persons who were likely to be
applied to. Up to this point, circumstantial evidence pointed clearly to
you"--he nodded towards Grell--"as the murderer.

"Something of the sort happened, for Lola went to Lady Eileen, and we
were able to lay hands on her. But we failed to get her identified as
the veiled woman who had visited the house in Grosvenor Gardens. I will
confess that, at that time, I never had any suspicion that she was the
actual murderess. We had no adequate excuse for detaining her after she
handed the jewels over, with an explanation endorsed by Lady Eileen
Meredith. I had taken her finger-prints, and they did not agree.

"It was palpable that the attempt to baffle us was being shrewdly
organised. I tried a different way of getting information--an attack, so
to speak, by the back door. I enlisted the help of a criminal. He was
acting more or less blindly, but by his help we stopped the burglary
affair that was planned. In the pocket of one of the men we arrested, we
discovered two advertisements, worded so as to convey a cipher key
without exciting suspicion. We had them inserted, and naturally arranged
to keep an eye on the office--for the word to-morrow suggested one to be
inserted the following day.

"There is always wisdom in gaining the confidence of those concerned in
a case if you can. I was trying hard to establish friendly relations
with Lady Eileen and Sir Ralph Fairfield. Each was difficult to handle,
but with Sir Ralph I succeeded to some extent. I used him to try and
learn something from her. She