something else which I must ask
you to tell me. Who had engaged this room on Tuesday night, the night
before the accident?"

The proprietor's expression remained uncomprehending, and:

"A gentleman," he said. "I never see him before."

"Another solitary diner?" suggested Harley.

"Yes, he is alone all the evening waiting for a friend who does not
arrive."

"Ah," mused Harley--"alone all the evening, was he? And his friend
disappointed him. May I suggest that he was a dark man? Gray at the
temples, having a dark beard and moustache, and a very tanned face? His
eyes slanted slightly upward?"

"Yes! yes!" cried Meyer, and his astonishment was patently unfeigned.
"It is a friend of yours?"

"A friend of mine, yes," said Harley absently, but his expression was
very grim. "What time did he finally leave?"

"He waited until after eleven o'clock. The dinner is spoilt. He pays,
but does not complain."

"No," said Harley musingly, "he had nothing to complain about. One more
question, my friend. When the lady escaped hurriedly on Wednesday night,
what was it that she left behind and what price are you trying to extort
from her for returning it?"

At that the man collapsed entirely.

"Ah, Gott!" he cried, and raised his hand to his clammy forehead. "You
will ruin me. I am a ruined man. I don't try to extort anything. I run
an honest business------"

"And one of the most profitable in the world," added Harley, "since the
days of Thais to our own. Even at Bond Street rentals I assume that a
house of assignation is a golden enterprise."

"Ah!" groaned Meyer, "I am ruined, so what does it matter? I tell you
everything. I know Mr. De Lana who engages my room regularly, but I
don't know who the lady is who meets him here. No! I swear it! But
always it is the same lady. When he falls I am downstairs in my office,
and I hear him cry out. The lady comes running from the room and begs of
me to get her away without being seen and to keep all mention of her out
of the matter."

"What did she pay you?" asked Harley.

"Pay me?" muttered Meyer, pulled up thus shortly in the midst of his
statement.

"Pay you. Exactly. Don't argue; answer."

The man delivered himself of a guttural, choking sound, and finally:

"She promised one hundred pounds," he confessed hoarsely.

"But you surely did not accept a mere promise? Out with it. What did she
give you?"

"A ring," came the confession at last.

"A ring. I see. I will take