ady Bolivick dropped her knitting, and looked quite disturbed.

'This is what I have to tell you,' he said. 'Maurice St. Mabyn is
alive; at least he was in July, 1914, months after he was announced to
be dead.'

I saw George St. Mabyn start to his feet, his lips livid, while Norah
Blackwater gave a cry which was not far removed from a scream.

'Perhaps I ought to have told this in a different way,' went on my
friend. 'Perhaps, directly my memory came back to me, and the events
of the past became clear again, I ought to have sought out George St.
Mabyn, and especially Colonel Springfield, and told them privately what
I know. However, I have thought a good deal before speaking, and--and
as this is a family party, I have adopted this method.'

'Why should you tell Colonel Springfield?' and George St. Mabyn seemed
to be speaking against his will.

'Because he is most deeply implicated, and because he will have most to
explain.'

I heard Springfield laugh at this, a laugh half of derision, half of
anger.

'I am afraid,' he said quietly, 'that although we have all
congratulated Lord and Lady Carbis on the return of their son, that his
loss of memory has disturbed his mental equilibrium in other ways.'

'Oh, no,' said Jack quietly, 'I am quite sane. No doubt it would
simplify your course of action very much if I were not, but as a matter
of fact my mind was never clearer. My father and mother will tell you
that I was never given to hysterics, and I am no great hand at
imagination.'

'But--but if you have--have proof of this,'--it was George St. Mabyn
who spoke, and his voice was hoarse and unnatural,--'why--why'----? by
heaven, it's monstrous!'

Springfield laughed like one amused.

'I do not wish to wound any one's feelings,' he said, 'but I suppose
many madmen think they are sane. Of course we sympathize with Lord and
Lady Carbis, but I am afraid there is only one conclusion that we can
come to. Only on the night when his father and mother came here,
before this marvellous change in his memory took place, he said
something similar to this, and--and of course we can only regard it as
the hallucination of an unbalanced mind. Let us hope after a few
months' quiet, things will be normal again.'

'Of course I knew you would take this attitude, Colonel Springfield,'
replied Jack quietly. 'You have reason to.'

'What reason?' he snarled.

'Are you sure you wish me to tell?'

'Yes, tell anything, everyth