, as I remarked before, have I ever seen any one of you three people
before with the exception of Miss Brown here, whom I have seen on the
stage."

John Dory grunted.

"It was Mr. Spencer Fitzgerald," he said, "a clerk in Howell & Wilson's
bookshop, who leapt out of the window of Daisy Villa two years ago. It
may be Mr. James Fitzgerald now. Gentlemen of your profession have a
knack of changing their names."

"My profession's as good as yours, anyway!" the little man exclaimed.
"We aren't all fools in it! My friend Mr. Peter Ruff said to me that
there was a young lady whom I used to know who was anxious to meet me
again, and would I step around here about eight o'clock. Here I am, and
all I can say is, if that's the young lady, I never saw her before in my
life."

There was a moment's breathless silence. Then the door was softly
opened. Violet Brown went staggering back like a woman who sees a
ghost. She bit her lips till the blood came. It was Peter Ruff who stood
looking in upon them--Peter Ruff, carefully dressed in evening clothes,
his silk hat at exactly the correct angle, his coat and white kid gloves
upon his arm.

"Dear me," he said, "you don't seem to be getting on very well! Mr.
Dory," he added, with a note of surprise in his tone, "this is indeed an
unexpected pleasure!"

The man who stood by the desk turned to him. The others were stricken
dumb.

"Look here," he said, "there's some mistake. You told me to come here
at eight o'clock to meet a young lady whom I used to know. Well, I never
saw her before in my life," he added, pointing to Maud. "There's a
man there who wants to arrest me--Lord knows what for! And here's Miss
Brown, whom I have seen at the theatre several times but who never
condescended to speak to me before, telling me not to shoot! What's it
all about, Ruff? Is it a practical joke?"

Peter Ruff laid down his coat and hat, and sat upon the table with his
hands in his pockets.

"Is it possible," he said, "that I have made a mistake? Isn't your
second name Spencer?"

The man shook his head.

"My name is James Fitzgerald," he said. "I haven't missed a day at the
Shaftesbury Theatre for three years, as you can find out by going
round the corner. I never called myself Spencer, I was never clerk in a
bookshop, and I never saw that lady before in my life."

Maud came out from her place against the wall, and leaned eagerly
forward. John Dory turned his head slowly towards his wife. A