ld me this. And an answer came back."

"An answer from Mr. Steel?"

"Purporting to be an answer from Mr. Steel. A very clever forgery, as a
matter of fact. Of course that forgery was Henson's work, because we know
that Henson coolly ordered notepaper in Mr. Steel's name. He forgot to
pay the bill, and that is how the thing came out. Besides, the little wad
of papers on which the forgery was written is in Mr. Steel's hands. Now,
what do you make of that?"

Rawlins turned the matter over thoughtfully in his mind.

"Did Henson know that Mr. Steel would be from home that night?" he asked.

"Of course. He probably also knew where our meeting with Mr. Steel was to
take place."

"Then the matter is pretty obvious," said Rawlins. "Van Sneck, by some
means or other, gets an inkling of what is going on. He wanted money from
Henson, which he couldn't get, Henson being very short lately, and then
they quarrelled. Van Sneck was fool enough to threaten Henson with what
he was going to do. Van Sneck's note was dispatched by hand and
intercepted by Henson with a reply. By the way, will you be good enough
to give me the gist of the reply?"

"It was a short letter from Mr. Steel and signed with his initials, and
saying in effect that he was at home every night and would see Van Sneck
about twelve or some time like that. He was merely to knock quietly, as
the household would be in bed, and Mr. Steel would let him in."

"And Mr. Steel never wrote that letter at all?"

"No; for the simple reason that he never had Van Sneck's note."

"Which Henson intercepted, of course. Now, the mere fact of the reply
coming on Mr. Steel's paper is evidence that Henson had plotted some
other or alternative scheme against Mr. Steel. How long before the
cigar-case episode had you decided to consult the novelist?"

"We began to talk about it nine or ten days before."

"And Henson got to hear of it. Then a better idea occurred to Henson, and
the first idea which necessitated getting hold of Mr. Steel's notepaper
was abandoned. Subsequently, as you have just told me, the note-paper
came in useful after all. Henson knew that Steel would be out that night.
And, therefore, Van Sneck is deliberately lured to Steel's house to be
murdered there."

"I see," Chris said, faintly. "This had never occurred to me before.
Murdered, by whom?"

"By whom? Why, by Reginald Henson, of course."

Just for a moment Chris felt as if all the world was slipping away
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