s death a foreigner asked to see me who
refused to give his name to my clerk. I had him shown in, and thought
him a superior man--not, perhaps, a gentleman, but a man with brains.
He asked in rather queer English whether I would object to giving him
all the information I could, without betraying confidence, as to Sir
David Bright and his wife. I thought for a moment that he was your
Florentine detective, but then I reflected that the detective would have
no object in disguising himself from me as he knew that you trusted me
entirely. I told my visitor that he might ask me any questions he liked,
and I can assure you he placed his shots with great skill. He wanted
first to know if there had been any scandal connected with their married
life, in order, of course, to find out why Sir David had not left his
money to Lady Rose; and whether no one had been disposed to dispute the
will. I let him see that the affair had been a nine days' wonder here,
and I gave him some notion of my own opinion of Madame Danterre. He did
not give himself away, and I thought he had some honest reason for
anxiety in the matter. Well! he left without letting me know his name or
address, but there is no doubt that he is Dr. Larrone. I wrote at once
to your detective, Pietrino, in Florence, and a letter from him crossed
mine saying that Dr. Larrone had left Florence within a few hours of
Madame Danterre's death, and that, by her desire, he had taken a small
box to Miss Dexter. There was evidently a certain sense of mystery and
excitement among the nurses and servants as to the box and the sudden
journey. It seems that Madame Larrone was angry at his taking this
sudden journey, and said to a friend that she only 'hoped he wouldn't
get his fingers burnt by meddling in other people's affairs.'

"Then Pietrino, in answering my letter, said that my description was
certainly the description of Larrone. He says the doctor is exceedingly
upright and sensitive as to his professional honour, and has been known
to refuse a legacy from a patient because he thought it ought not to
have been left out of the family. Since that, Pietrino has written that
Larrone is taking a long holiday, and that people are wondering if he
will have any scruples as to the large legacy that is said to have been
left to him by Madame Danterre. So it is pretty clear who my reticent
visitor was. Now, I don't know that we gain much from that so far, but I
think it may mean that Larrone