paid for his
drink he had a word with the bar tender.

"Did he remember some days ago seeing two gentlemen in the bar who were
very much alike?"

The bar tender did, and as an indication how in huge hotels dramatic
happenings may pass unknown to the staff not immediately concerned, he
had never connected Jones with the American gentleman of whose unhappy
demise he had read in the papers.

He was quite free in his talk. The likeness had struck him forcibly,
never seen two gentlemen so like one another, dressed differently, but
still like. His assistant had seen them too.

"Quite so," said Simms; "they are friends of mine and I hoped to see
them again here this evening--perhaps they are waiting in the lounge."

He finished his soda water and walked off. He sought the telephone
office and rang up Curzon Street.

The Duke of Melford had dined at home but had gone out. He was at the
Buffs' Club in Piccadilly.

Simms drove to the Club.

The Duke was in the library.

His Grace had literary leanings. His "History of the Siege of
Bundlecund," of which seven hundred copies of the first edition remained
unsold, had not deterred him from attempting the "Siege of Jutjutpore."
He wrote a good deal in the library of the club, and to-night he was in
the act of taking down some notes on the character of Fooze Ali, the
leader of the besiegers, when Simms was announced.

The library was deserted by all save the historian, and getting together
into a cosy corner, the two men talked.

"Your Grace," said Simms, "we have made a mistake. Your nephew is dead
and that man we have placed with Dr. Hoover is what he announced himself
to be."

"What! What! What!" cried the Duke.

"There can be no doubt at all," said Simms. "I have made enquiries."

He gave details. The Duke listened, his narrow brain incensed at this
monstrous statement that had suddenly risen up to confront it.

"I don't believe a word of it," said he, when the recital was over, "and
what's more, I won't believe it. Do you mean to tell me I don't know my
own nephew?"

"It's not a question of that," said Simms. "It's just a question of the
facts of the case. There is no doubt at all that a man exactly like the
late--your nephew, in fact, stayed at this hotel, that he there met
the--your nephew. There is no doubt that this man gave the address to
the hotel people he gave to us, and there is no doubt in my mind that he
could make out a very good case if he were fr