pened to notice a
paragraph headed: "Starved to Death." It was the usual style of thing; a
model lodging-house in Marylebone, a door locked for several days, and a
dead man in his chair when they broke in. "The deceased," said the
paragraph, "was known as Charles Herbert, and is believed to have been
once a prosperous country gentleman. His name was familiar to the public
three years ago in connection with the mysterious death in Paul Street,
Tottenham Court Road, the deceased being the tenant of the house Number
20, in the area of which a gentleman of good position was found dead
under circumstances not devoid of suspicion." A tragic ending, wasn't
it? But after all, if what he told me were true, which I am sure it
was, the man's life was all a tragedy, and a tragedy of a stranger sort
than they put on the boards.'

'And that is the story, is it?' said Clarke musingly.

'Yes, that is the story.'

'Well, really, Villiers, I scarcely know what to say about it. There
are, no doubt, circumstances in the case which seem peculiar, the
finding of the dead man in the area of Herbert's house, for instance,
and the extraordinary opinion of the physician as to the cause of death;
but, after all, it is conceivable that the facts may be explained in a
straightforward manner. As to your own sensations, when you went to see
the house, I would suggest that they were due to a vivid imagination;
you must have been brooding, in a semiconscious way, over what you had
heard. I don't exactly see what more can be said or done in the matter;
you evidently think there is a mystery of some kind, but Herbert is
dead; where then do you propose to look?'

'I propose to look for the woman; the woman whom he married. _She_ is
the mystery.'

The two men sat silent by the fireside; Clarke secretly congratulating
himself on having successfully kept up the character of advocate of the
commonplace, and Villiers wrapt in his gloomy fancies.

'I think I will have a cigarette,' he said at last, and put his hand in
his pocket to feel for the cigarette-case.

'Ah!' he said, starting slightly, 'I forgot I had something to show you.
You remember my saying that I had found a rather curious sketch amongst
the pile of old newspapers at the house in Paul Street? Here it is.'

Villiers drew out a small thin parcel from his pocket. It was covered
with brown paper, and secured with string, and the knots were
troublesome. In spite of himself Clarke felt inquis