will use the facts with which I supply you."

"We have the essential facts already."

"And yet you understand nothing. Let me go back to what passed a few
weeks ago, and I will make it all clear to you. Believe me that what I
say is the absolute and exact truth.

"You have met the person who calls himself Captain Wilson. I say
'calls himself' because I have reason now to believe that it is not his
correct name. It would take me too long if I were to describe all the
means by which he obtained an introduction to me and ingratiated
himself into my friendship and the affection of my daughter. He
brought letters from foreign colleagues which compelled me to show him
some attention. And then, by his own attainments, which are
considerable, he succeeded in making himself a very welcome visitor at
my rooms. When I learned that my daughter's affections had been gained
by him, I may have thought it premature, but I certainly was not
surprised, for he had a charm of manner and of conversation which would
have made him conspicuous in any society.

"He was much interested in Oriental antiquities, and his knowledge of
the subject justified his interest. Often when he spent the evening
with us he would ask permission to go down into the museum and have an
opportunity of privately inspecting the various specimens. You can
imagine that I, as an enthusiast, was in sympathy with such a request,
and that I felt no surprise at the constancy of his visits. After his
actual engagement to Elise, there was hardly an evening which he did
not pass with us, and an hour or two were generally devoted to the
museum. He had the free run of the place, and when I have been away
for the evening I had no objection to his doing whatever he wished
here. This state of things was only terminated by the fact of my
resignation of my official duties and my retirement to Norwood, where I
hoped to have the leisure to write a considerable work which I had
planned.

"It was immediately after this--within a week or so--that I first
realized the true nature and character of the man whom I had so
imprudently introduced into my family. The discovery came to me
through letters from my friends abroad, which showed me that his
introductions to me had been forgeries. Aghast at the revelation, I
asked myself what motive this man could originally have had in
practising this elaborate deception upon me. I was too poor a man for
any fortune-hunter to hav