of aqua regia and
beeswax.

The detective at once uttered an exclamation of supreme astonishment.

"The very thing!" he cried. "The same Japanese motto as that on the
Ko-Katana!"

Hume now drew near.

"So," he growled savagely, "the hand that struck down Alan was the same
that sought my life an hour ago!"

"And your cousin's this morning," said Brett

"The cowardly brute! If he has a grudge against my family, why doesn't he
come out into the open? He need not have feared detection, even a week
ago. I could be found easily enough. Why didn't he meet me face to face? I
have never yet run away from trouble or danger."

"You are slightly in error regarding him," observed Brett. "This man may
be a fiend incarnate, but he Is no coward. He means to kill, to work some
terrible purpose, and he takes the best means towards that end. To his
mind the idea of giving a victim fair play is sheer nonsense. It never
even occurs to him. But a coward! no. Think of the nerve required to
commit robbery and murder under the conditions that obtained at Beechcroft
on New Year's Eve. Think of the skill, the ready resource, which made so
promptly available the conditions of the two assaults to-day. Our quarry
is a genius, a Poe among criminals. Look to it, Winter, that your
handcuffs are well fixed when you arrest him, or he will slip from your
grasp at the very gates of Scotland Yard."

"If I had my fingers round his windpipe--" began David.

"You would be a dead man a few seconds later," said the barrister. "If we
three, unarmed, had him in this room now, equally defenceless, I should
regard the issue as doubtful."

"There would be a terrible dust-up," smirked Winter.

"Possibly; but it would be a fight for life or death. No half measures. A
matter of decanters, fire-irons, chairs. Let us return to the hotel."

Whilst Hume went to summon the others, Brett seated himself at a table and
wrote:

"A curious chapter of accidents happened in Northumberland Avenue
yesterday. Early in the morning, Mr. Robert Hume-Frazer quitted
his hotel for a stroll in the West End, and narrowly escaped being
run over in Whitehall. About 8 p.m. his cousin, Mr. David
Hume-Frazer, was driving through the Avenue in a hansom, when the
vehicle upset, and the young gentleman was thrown out. He was
picked up in a terrible condition, and is reported to be in danger
of his life."

The barrister read the paragraph aloud.

"It