nted, eh?"

"He did not."

"Had you access to his private accounts that he keep in his safe?"

"No."

"You keep the files?"

"Yes."

"Who is the most important creditor filed under G? Lawrence?"

The girl shook her head emphatically.

"Why, he only owed about fifty pounds," she said. "There were none of
importance under G, except Garraway, the Hon. Claude Garraway and Count
de Guise."

"Ah! Count de Guise. So quaint a name. He is rich, yes?"

"Awfully rich. He is selling all the things in his flat and going abroad
for good. There is an advertisement in to-day's paper. His pictures and
things are valued at no less than thirty thousand pounds. I don't know
how his business stood with Mr. Graham; latterly, it had not passed
through my hands at all."

"And his address?"

"59b Bedford Court Mansions."

"And I must see Lawrence too. Where shall I find him?"

"At Bart's--St. Bartholomew's Hospital. He is studying there. You are
sure to find him there to-night. He is engaged there, I know, up to ten
o'clock."

Dr. Lepardo took the girl's hand and pressed it soothingly.

"Do not faint; be a brave girl," he said. "Your employer was killed
shortly after you left."

Deathly pale, she sat watching him.

"By--whom?"

"By Severac Bablon, so it is written on his desk. It is unfortunate that
Lawrence was there to-night; but I--I am your friend, my child. Are you
going to faint--no?"

"No," said the girl, smiling bravely.

"Then good-night."

He pressed her hand again--and was gone.

CHAPTER XXIII

M. LEVI

The art of detection, in common with every other art, produces from time
to time a genius; and a genius, whatever else he may be, emphatically is
_not_ a person having "an infinite capacity for taking pains." Such
masters of criminology as Alphonse Bertillon or his famous compatriot,
Victor Lemage, whose resignation so recently had stirred the wide world
to wonder--achieve their results by painstaking labours, yes, but all
those labours would be more or less futile without that elusive element
of inspiration, intuition, luck--call it what you will--which
constitutes genius, which alone distinguishes such men from the other
capable plodders about them. A brief retrospective survey of the
surprising results achieved by Dr. Lepardo within the space of an hour
will show these to have been due to brilliant imagination, deep
knowledge of human nature, foresight, unusual mental activity, and--that