ared the air. What can I do for you?"

"Simply this," said the barrister; "do you mind telling me how you came
to recognize Mr. Talbot?"

"Well, for one thing," was the thoughtful reply, "I knew his overcoat. I
often met Talbot in the Foreign Office, and one day he drove me to his
club wearing a very handsome coat lined with astrachan. It struck me as
a peculiarly comfortable and well-fitting one, and although there are
plenty of men about town who may possess astrachan coats, it is a
reasonable assumption that this was the identical garment when it
happened to be worn by the man himself."

"Then you are quite certain it was Talbot?" went on the barrister.

"Quite certain."

"Would you swear it was he, though his life depended on your accuracy?"

"Well, no, perhaps not that; but I would certainly swear that I believed
it was Mr. Talbot."

"Ah, that is a material difference. The only way in which you could be
positively certain was to enter into conversation with him, was it not?"

"Yes, that is so."

"I do not want you to think, Captain Gaultier, that I am cross-examining
you. Let me tell you at once that I believe you saw someone masquerading
in Talbot's clothes, and made up to represent him. Was there anything
about his appearance that might lend credence to such a view?"

The other reflected a little while before answering.

"There was only one thing," he said--"he did not seem to notice me. Now,
he is a sharp sort of chap, and as it was broad daylight and a fine day,
he must have seen me, for he knows me well. Again, from all that I have
heard of him, I do not think that he would either pass an acquaintance
without speaking to him, nor take flying trips to the Continent with
ladies of the music-hall persuasion."

"You have supplied two very powerful reasons why the individual you saw
should not be Jack Talbot. Yet, as you say, it was broad daylight, and
you had a good look at him."

"No, no," interrupted the other. "I had a good look at his coat--and the
lady. Whoever the man was, he appeared to be wrapped up in both of them,
and he certainly did not court observation. I naturally thought that the
feminine attachment accounted for this, and for the same reason, I did
not even seek to scrutinize him too closely. To put the thing in a
nutshell, I saw a man whom I believed to be Jack Talbot--and who
certainly resembled him in face and figure--attired in Talbot's clothes,
and wearing a coat which I had no