all is well, I will return for you."

He took a clean white towel from the dressing-table and laid it over his
victim's face. Upon the towel he sprinkled the contents of a third bottle
which he took from the cupboard, and Milburgh remembered no more until he
looked up into the puzzled face of Tarling an hour later.

CHAPTER XXXIV

THE ARREST

Tarling stooped down and released the cords which bound Milburgh to the
couch. The stout man was white and shaking, and had to be lifted into a
sitting position. He sat there on the edge of the bed, his face in his
hands, for five minutes, and the two men watched him curiously. Tarling
had made a careful examination of the cuts on his chest, and was relieved
to discover that Ling Chu--he did not doubt that the Chinaman was
responsible for Milburgh's plight--had not yet employed that terrible
torture which had so often brought Chinese criminals to the verge of
madness.

Whiteside picked up the clothes which Ling Chu had so systematically
stripped from the man's body, and placed them on the bed by Milburgh's
side. Then Tarling beckoned the other into the outer room.

"What does it all mean?" asked Whiteside.

"It means," said Tarling grimly, "that my friend, Ling Chu, has been
trying to discover the murderer of Thornton Lyne by methods peculiarly
Chinese. Happily he was interrupted, probably as a result of Milburgh
telling him that Miss Odette Rider had been spirited away."

He looked back to the drooping figure by the side of the bed.

"He's a little bigger than I," he said, "but I think some of my clothes
will fit him."

He made a hasty search of his wardrobe and came back with an armful of
clothes.

"Come, Milburgh," he said, "rouse yourself and dress."

The man looked up, his lower lip trembling pathetically.

"I rather think these clothes, though they may be a bad fit, will suit
you a little better than your clerical garb," said Tarling sardonically.

Without a word, Milburgh took the clothes in his arms, and they left him
to dress. They heard his heavy footfall, and presently the door opened
and he came weakly into the sitting-room and dropped into a chair.

"Do you feel well enough to go out now?" asked Whiteside.

"Go out?" said Milburgh, looking up in alarm. "Where am I to go?"

"To Cannon Row Police Station," said the practical Whiteside. "I have a
warrant for your arrest, Milburgh, on a charge of wilful murder, arson,
forgery, and embezzlement.