nd gentlemen," he said quietly, pointing a hand at the still
figure, so pitifully small and childlike, huddled together upon the
floor, "the other--murderer. Poor, misguided little creature! Of such
folly can Love only be held to blame. A hopeless passion, a breaking
heart, a suddenly maddening resolution made and carried out in a red-hot
moment, and--another soul gone to meet its Maker with the red blot of
death upon it. Tragic, is it not?... Lady Paula, take a seat. There is
so much more to tell, and this has slightly precipitated matters.
Tavish, my friend, you will do better not to glower and struggle like
that. The Law has you, and _the Law will make you pay_--in spite of all
your efforts to fix the blame upon someone else. I think, my friends, if
we might adjourn to the drawing-room, the rest of the riddle would make
easier and better telling. It is hardly fitting--here and now."

"You're right, Mr. Deland, perfectly right," threw in Ross at this
juncture, jumping to his feet and catching his fiancee by the arm.
"Come, all of you. Out of this room and into the next. I want to hear
the end of the tangle, Mr. Deland, and find exactly how you implicated
_me_."

Cleek looked up suddenly with a slight smile.

"Not Deland, my friend, just Cleek--Cleek of Scotland Yard, at your
service," he made reply smoothly, smiling at the amazed faces which
greeted this statement. "So you see, Tavish, you had greater odds
against you than you knew. We'll have your other prisoner, please,
Constable. The worthy Antoni Matei shall tell us something before the
day is out. Of that I am certain. And I have promised him a good price
for his loose tongue. Tavish, never trust a lying comrade. This is the
friend who saw you through--and then split afterward upon you. Choose
birds of another colour next time you practise such tricks--only, I'm
afraid it is a trifle late to start new methods--_now_."

Speaking, he passed out of that tragic room, waving his hand with a
gesture which was almost theatrical to the others to follow him, and
when they were all assembled around him in the drawing-room, went on
with his amazing story.

* * * * *

"You want to hear the whole story from start to finish? Well, it will
make long telling, I'm afraid," he said, as Maud Duggan put the
question, glancing a trifle anxiously at the slumped figure of the
Italian which stood manacled between two burly constables, waiting his
tu