le."

Mr. Passmore shrugged his shoulders. He had not the vice of obstinacy,
and he knew when to abandon a theory.

"I am corrected," he said. "In any case, a mystery remains as well worth
solving. Who are these people at whose instigation Duson was to have
murdered you--these people whom Duson feared so much that suicide was
his only alternative to obeying their behests?"

Mr. Sabin smiled faintly.

"Ah, my dear Passmore," he said, "you must not ask me that question.
I can only answer you in this way. If you wish to make the biggest
sensation which has ever been created in the criminal world, to render
yourself immortal, and your fame imperishable--find out! I may not help
you, I doubt whether you will find any to help you. But if you want
excitement, the excitement of a dangerous chase after a tremendous
quarry, take your life in your hands, go in and win."

Passmore's withered little face lit up with a gleam of rare excitement.

"These are your enemies, sir," he said. "They have attempted your life
once, they may do it again. Assume the offensive yourself. Give me a
hint."

Mr. Sabin shook his head.

"That I cannot do," he said. "I have saved you from wasting your time on
a false scent. I have given you something definite to work upon. Further
than that I can do nothing."

Passmore looked his disappointment, but he knew Mr. Sabin better than to
argue the matter.

"You will not even produce that letter at the inquest?" he asked.

"Not even that," Mr. Sabin answered.

Passmore rose to his feet.

"You must remember," he said, "that supposing any one else stumbles
upon the same trail as I have been pursuing, and suspicion is afterwards
directed towards madame, your not producing that letter at the inquest
will make it useless as evidence in her favour."

"I have considered all these things," Mr. Sabin said. "I shall deposit
the letter in a safe place. But its use will never be necessary. You are
the only man who might have forced me to produce it, and you know the
truth."

Passmore rose reluctantly.

"I want you," Mr. Sabin said, "to leave me not only your address, but
the means of finding you at any moment during the next four-and-twenty
hours. I may have some important work for you."

The man smiled as he tore leaf from his pocketbook and a made a few
notes.

"I shall be glad to take any commission from you, sir," he said. "To
tell you the truth, I scarcely thought that you would be content to