stice."

Forsythe paused as if waiting for some comment from his companion, but
none came. John Steele watched the boy; he waved a paper in his hand and
called with easy familiarity to a housemaid in an open window above:

"Telegram from London, Miss. My master at the Golden Lion said there'd
be a sixpence here for delivering it!"

"Well, I'll be down in a moment, Impudence."

The silence that followed was again broken by Captain Forsythe's voice:
"There are one or two features in this German affair that remind me of
another case, some years back--one of our own--that interested me."

"Ah?" The listener's tone was only politely interrogatory.

"A case here in London--perhaps you have heard of it? The murder of a
woman, once well-known before the footlights, by a one-time champion of
the ring--the 'Frisco Pet, I think he was called."

The other moved slightly; his back had been toward Forsythe; he now
half-turned. "Yea, I have heard of it," he said slowly, after a pause.
"But why should this case across the water interest you; because it is
like--this other one you mention?"

"Because I once puzzled a bit over that one; investigated it somewhat on
my own account, don't you know."

"In what way?" Steele's manner was no longer indifferent. "I'm rather
familiar with some of the details myself," he added.

"Then it attracted you, too, as an investigator?" murmured the captain
in a gratified tone. "For your book, perhaps?"

"Not exactly. But you haven't yet told me," in a keen, alert tone, "why
you looked into it, 'on your own account.' It seems simple, obvious. Not
of the kind that would attract one fond of nice criminal problems."

"That is just it," said Captain Forsythe, rising. "It was, perhaps, a
little too simple! too obvious."

"How," demanded John Steele, "can a matter of this sort be too obvious?
But," bending his eyes on the other, "you attended the trial of this
fellow?" His tone vibrated a little oddly.

"The last part of it; wasn't in England when it first came on; and what
I heard of it raised some questions and doubts in my mind. Not that I
haven't the greatest respect for English justice! However, I didn't
think much more about the case until a good many months later, when
chance alone drew my attention more closely to it."

"Chance?"

"Was down in the country--jolly good trout district--when one night,
while riding my favorite hobby, I happened to get on this
almost-forgotten case of the '