y.

"One against Miss Enid Henson," Van Sneck went on. "I met that young lady
once and I liked her; therefore, I say I will be no party to getting her
into trouble. And Henson says I am one big fool, and that he is only
giving Mr. Steel a lesson in the art of minding his own business. So I
ask no further questions, though I am a good bit puzzled. With the last
bank-notes I possess I go to a place called Walen's and buy the
cigar-case that Henson says. I meet him and hand over the case and ask
him for my money. Henson swears that he has no money at all, not even
enough to repay me the price of the cigar-case. He has been disappointed.
And I have been drinking. So I swear I will write and ask Mr. Steel to
see me, and I do so."

"And you get an answer?" David asked.

"Sir, I do. You said you would see me the same night. It was a forgery?"

"It was. Henson had anticipated something like that. I know all about the
forgery, how my notepaper was procured, and when the forgery was written.
But that has very little to do with the story now. Please go on."

Van Sneck paused before he proceeded.

"I am not quite sober," he said. "I am hot with what I called my
wrongs. I come here and ring the bell. The hall was in darkness. There
was a light in the conservatory, but none in the study. I quite
believed that it was Mr. Steel who opened the door and motioned me
towards the study. Then the door of the study closed and locked behind
me, and the electric light shot up. When I turned round I found myself
face to face with Henson."

Van Sneck paused again and shuddered at some hideous recollection.
His eyes were dark and eager; there was a warm moisture like varnish
on his face.

"Even that discovery did not quite sober me," he went on. "I fancied it
was some joke, or that perhaps I had got into the wrong house. But no,
it was the room of a literary gentleman. I--I expected to see Mr. Steel
come in or to try the door. Henson smiled at me. Such a smile! He asked
me if I had the receipt for the cigar-case about me, and I said it was
in my pocket. Then he smiled again, and something told me my life was
in danger.

"I was getting pretty sober by that time. It came to me that I had been
lured there; that Henson had got into the house during the absence of the
owner. It was late at night in a quiet house, and nobody had seen me
come. If that man liked to kill me he could do so and walk out of the
house without the faintest chance of