were you with Douglas in California?" asked Inspector
MacDonald.

"Five years altogether."

"He was a bachelor, you say?"

"A widower."

"Have you ever heard where his first wife came from?"

"No, I remember his saying that she was of German extraction, and I have
seen her portrait. She was a very beautiful woman. She died of typhoid
the year before I met him."

"You don't associate his past with any particular part of America?"

"I have heard him talk of Chicago. He knew that city well and had worked
there. I have heard him talk of the coal and iron districts. He had
travelled a good deal in his time."

"Was he a politician? Had this secret society to do with politics?"

"No, he cared nothing about politics."

"You have no reason to think it was criminal?"

"On the contrary, I never met a straighter man in my life."

"Was there anything curious about his life in California?"

"He liked best to stay and to work at our claim in the mountains. He
would never go where other men were if he could help it. That's why I
first thought that someone was after him. Then when he left so suddenly
for Europe I made sure that it was so. I believe that he had a warning
of some sort. Within a week of his leaving half a dozen men were
inquiring for him."

"What sort of men?"

"Well, they were a mighty hard-looking crowd. They came up to the claim
and wanted to know where he was. I told them that he was gone to Europe
and that I did not know where to find him. They meant him no good--it
was easy to see that."

"Were these men Americans--Californians?"

"Well, I don't know about Californians. They were Americans, all right.
But they were not miners. I don't know what they were, and was very glad
to see their backs."

"That was six years ago?"

"Nearer seven."

"And then you were together five years in California, so that this
business dates back not less than eleven years at the least?"

"That is so."

"It must be a very serious feud that would be kept up with such
earnestness for as long as that. It would be no light thing that would
give rise to it."

"I think it shadowed his whole life. It was never quite out of his
mind."

"But if a man had a danger hanging over him, and knew what it was, don't
you think he would turn to the police for protection?"

"Maybe it was some danger that he could not be protected against.
There's one thing you should know. He always went about armed. His
revolver was never ou