ng."

"Don't ask me for explanations I cannot give," responded Dubois coolly.
"The exact facts of this story can only be ascertained at Yildiz Kiosk,
and I do not suppose that anyone there will ever tell you. No doubt you
saw for yourself that Mehemet Ali was convinced. Were it not for you,
he would have given up control that night. But you and your policemen,
and your confounded English notions of right and wrong, rendered
necessary the adoption of the second part of the plan we had decided on,
in case the first miscarried. After I left the house with you, Hussein
brought in more coffee. That which he and my Turkish friends drank was
all right. The beverage given to Mehemet Ali and his secretaries was
drugged."

"Ah!" interrupted Brett, "that explains everything. But why was Hussein
killed?"

"That is another matter, which only a Turk can understand. These fellows
believe in the knife or a piece of whipcord as ending unpleasant
difficulties most effectually. You see they were not ordinary rogues.
They pretended to be conspirators actuated by pure political
motives--motives which a common servant like Hussein could not really be
expected to appreciate. So to close his mouth thoroughly they stabbed
him whilst he was taking some loose cash from his master's pockets. Then
it occurred to them that when Mehemet Ali and the others recovered from
the effects of the drug, they also would be able to throw an
unpleasantly strong light on the complicity of certain high personages
in Constantinople. This was sufficient reason for the adoption of strong
measures, so they also were peacefully despatched."

"But where did the knife come from?" pursued Brett. "It was not in their
possession when they entered, nor when they left."

"No; of course not. Hussein brought it himself, to be used in case of
necessity. He also brought the pliers which cut the wire blinds, and the
material used for concealing the broken strands subsequently. Hussein
was really an excellent confederate, and I was furious when I heard that
he was dead. You know how the diamonds were abstracted from the house?"

"Yes," said Brett. "They were made up into a parcel and flung through
the window into the Park. The knife and the pliers accompanied them, I
suppose?"

"The third Turk--the gentleman who pulled you down on to the bed so
unceremoniously, Mr. Talbot--was waiting there for the packet. But he
had to hide in the Park all the night, until the gates were o