d, "which might be secured by a very
clever chemist who had found a way of sapping the will of his victim."

"By the administration of drugs?" asked Jasper.

"By the administration of drugs," repeated Saul Arthur Mann.

Jasper Cole smiled.

"I should like to know the drug," he said. "One would make a fortune, to
say nothing of benefiting humanity to an extraordinary degree by its
employment. For example, I might give you a dose and you would tell me
all that you know; I am told that your knowledge is fairly extensive,"
he bantered. "Surely you, Mr. Mann, with your remarkable collection of
information on all subjects under the sun, do not suggest that such a
drug exists?"

"On the contrary," said "The Man Who Knew" in triumph, "it is known and
is employed. It was known as long ago as the days of the Borgias. It was
employed in France in the days of Louis XVI. It has been, to some
extent, rediscovered and used in lunatic asylums to quiet dangerous
patients."

He saw the interest deepen in the other's eyes.

"I have never heard of that," said Jasper slowly; "the only drug that is
employed for that purpose is, as far as I know, bromide of potassium."

Mr. Mann produced a slip of paper, and read off a list of names, mostly
of mental institutions in the United States of America and in Germany.

"Oh, that drug!" said Jasper Cole contemptuously. "I know the use to
which that is put. There was an article on the subject in the _British
Medical Journal_ three months ago. It is a modified kind of 'twilight
sleep'--hyocine and morphia. I'm afraid, Mr. Mann," he went on, "you
have come on a fruitless errand, and, speaking as a humble student of
science, I may suggest without offense that your theories are wholly
fantastic."

"Then I will put another suggestion to you, Mr. Cole," said the little
man without resentment, "and to me this constitutes the chief reason why
you should not marry the lady whose confidence I enjoy and who, I feel
sure, will be influenced by my advice."

"And what is that?" asked Jasper.

"It affects your own character, and it is in consequence a very
embarrassing matter for me to discuss," said the little man.

Again the other favored him with that inscrutable smile of his.

"My moral character, I presume, is now being assailed," he said
flippantly. "Please go on; you promise to be interesting."

"You were in Holland a short time ago. Does Miss Nuttall know this?"

Jasper nodded.

"She is w