ght over this the more she was puzzled. Henson could
have told her, of course, but nobody else.

Doubtless, Henson had started on his present campaign with a dozen
different schemes. Probably one of them called for a supply of Steel's
note-paper. Somebody unknown had procured the paper, as David Steel had
testimony in the form of his last quarter's account. The lad engaged by
Van Sneck to carry the letter from the Continental to 15, Downend
Terrace, must have been intercepted by Henson or somebody in Henson's pay
and given the forged reply, a reply that actually brought Van Sneck to
Steel's house on the night of the great adventure. Henson had been warned
by the somewhat intoxicated Van Sneck what he was going to do, and he had
prepared accordingly.

A sudden light came to Chris. Henson had found out part of their scheme.
He knew that David Steel would be probably away from home on the night in
question. In that case, having made certain of this, and having gained a
pretty good knowledge of Steel's household habits, what easier than to
enter Steel's house in his absence, wait for Van Sneck, and murder him
then and there?

It was not a pretty thought, and Chris recoiled from it.

"How could Van Sneck have got into Steel's house?" she asked. "I know for
a fact that Mr. Steel was not at home, and that he closed the door
carefully behind him when he left the house that night."

Merritt grinned at the simplicity of the question. It was not worthy of
the brilliant lady who had so far got the better of him.

"Latch-keys are very much alike," he said. "Give me three latch-keys, and
I'll open ninety doors out of a hundred. Give me six latch-keys of
various patterns, and I'll guarantee to open the other ten."

"I had not thought of that," Chris admitted. "Did Van Sneck happen by any
chance to tell you what he and Mr. Henson had been quarrelling about?"

"He was too excited to tell anything properly. He was jabbering something
about a ring all the time."

"What sort of a ring?"

"That I can't tell you, miss. I fancy it was a ring that Van Sneck
had made."

"Made! Is Van Sneck a working jeweller or anything of that kind?"

"He's one of the cleverest fellows with his fingers that you ever saw.
Give him a bit of old gold and a few stones and he'll make you a bracelet
that will pass for antique. Half the so-called antiques picked up on the
Continent have been faked by Van Sneck. There was that ring, for
instance, that He