somewhere. There he probably heard the story
of his adoption, and determined to prove himself the eldest son.'

'I don't understand how he could have heard the story,' said Peter.

'He heard most things. But there are links in the chain that we shall
never get a sight of; we see only the beginning and the end of it,'
replied Dunbar.

The Scot was very seldom excited; but he got up from his chair and
began to walk rapidly up and down the room, his under-lip stuck out,
and his tough hair thrown back from his forehead. 'The whole thing
depended upon his getting what direct information he could about the
property, and he must have worked this thing well. The fire, I take
it, was accidental?'

'Oh, the fire was accidental enough,' said Peter, 'and was found to be
due to some electric lighting which was put into the tower.'

'Purvis's visit to England must have been to ascertain if Mrs. Ogilvie
were still alive, and, in the first instance, he probably meant to levy
blackmail upon her; he must have discovered where she kept her papers,
and have tried to effect an entrance on the night of the ball when many
strangers were about.'

'I believe,' exclaimed Peter, 'we saw him in one of the corridors of
the house during the dance, and decided that he must be one of the
guests unknown to us, who had come with some country neighbour, and
that he had lost his way amongst the almost interminable passages of
the place.' He saw himself and Jane making for the leather-covered
door which led to the bridge, and the shrinking stranger, with his
hopelessly timid manner, who had drawn back at their approach; and he
thought he heard himself saying, 'Shall I get him some partners, or
leave the people who brought him to the dance to look after him?' It
was only a fleeting look that he had caught of the man's face, and he
recalled it with difficulty now, but it was not a far-fetched
conclusion to decide that the two were one and the same man.

Dunbar was in a sort of transport. 'It's the best case I ever had,' he
said, 'and we only want the man himself to make the thing complete!
Purvis has played some pretty clever and some pretty deep games in his
time; but this is about the coolest thing he ever tried to pull off,
and he has as nearly as possible won through with it.'

Mr. Dunbar always relapsed into a strong Scottish accent in moments of
excitement, and he became almost unintelligible at last, as he rolled
forth his r's and gave