ected a moment. "The same as the one in the note we got
with the dust-coat," he answered, at last. "The man is Paul
Finglemore!"

"You will arrest him?" I asked.

"Can I, on this evidence?"

"We might bring it home to him."

Charles mused for a moment. "We shall have nothing against him,"
he said slowly, "except in so far as we can swear to his identity.
And that may be difficult."

Just at that moment the footman brought in tea. Charles wondered
apparently whether the man, who had been with us at Seldon when
Colonel Clay was David Granton, would recollect the face or
recognise having seen it. "Look here, Dudley," he said, holding
up the water-colour, "do you know that person?"

Dudley gazed at it a moment. "Certainly, sir," he answered briskly.

"Who is it?" Amelia asked. We expected him to answer, "Count von
Lebenstein," or "Mr. Granton," or "Medhurst."

Instead of that, he replied, to our utter surprise, "That's
Cesarine's young man, my lady."

"Cesarine's young man?" Amelia repeated, taken aback. "Oh, Dudley,
surely, you _must_ be mistaken!"

"No, my lady," Dudley replied, in a tone of conviction. "He comes
to see her quite reg'lar; he have come to see her, off and on,
from time to time, ever since I've been in Sir Charles's service."

"When will he be coming again?" Charles asked, breathless.

"He's downstairs now, sir," Dudley answered, unaware of the
bombshell he was flinging into the midst of a respectable family.

Charles rose excitedly, and put his back against the door. "Secure
that man," he said to me sharply, pointing with his finger.

"_What_ man?" I asked, amazed. "Colonel Clay? The young man who's
downstairs now with Cesarine?"

"No," Charles answered, with decision; "Dudley!"

I laid my hand on the footman's shoulder, not understanding what
Charles meant. Dudley, terrified, drew back, and would have rushed
from the room; but Charles, with his back against the door,
prevented him.

"I--I've done nothing to be arrested, Sir Charles," Dudley cried,
in abject terror, looking appealingly at Amelia. "It--it wasn't me
as cheated you." And he certainly didn't look it.

"I daresay not," Charles answered. "But you don't leave this room
till Colonel Clay is in custody. No, Amelia, no; it's no use your
speaking to me. What he says is true. I see it all now. This villain
and Cesarine have long been accomplices! The man's downstairs with
her now. If we let Dudley quit the room he'll go down an