of knotted cord.

"Ask him if he ever saw this before," he said, and passed it to the
witness.

"I notice that it is stained," said Silva, looking at it. "Is it with
blood?"

"Yes."

"Then Mahbub will not touch it. For him to do so, would be to defile
himself."

"He doesn't need to touch it. Show it to him."

Silva spoke to his servant, holding up the cord. The latter glanced at
it and shook his head. Without a word, Silva handed the cord back to
the coroner.

"Are there any further questions?" he asked.

Goldberger pulled at his moustache impatiently.

"There are a lot of questions I'd like to ask," he said, "but I feel a
good deal as though I were questioning the Sphinx. Isn't it a little
queer that a Thug should be so particular about a few blood-stains?"

"I fear that you are doing Mahbub an injustice in your thoughts,"
Silva said, gravely. "You have heard certain tales of the Thugs,
perhaps--tales distorted and magnified and untrue. In the old days, as
worshippers of Kali, they did, sometimes, offer her a human sacrifice;
but that was long ago. To say a man is a Thug is not to say he is also
a murderer."

"It will take more than that to convict him, anyway," assented
Goldberger, quickly. "That is all for the present, professor." I bit
back a smile at the title which came so unconsciously from
Goldberger's lips.

Silva bowed and walked slowly away toward the house, Mahbub following
close behind. At a look from Simmonds, two of his men strolled after
the strange couple.

Goldberger stared musingly after them for a moment, then shook his
head impatiently, and turned back to the business in hand.

"Will Mr. Swain please take the stand?" he said; and Swain took the
chair. "Now, Mr. Swain," Goldberger began, after swearing him,
"please tell us, in your own way, of what part you had in the
incidents of Thursday night."

Swain told his story much as he had told it to Godfrey and me, and I
noticed how closely both Goldberger and the district attorney followed
it. When he had finished, Goldberger asked the same question that
Godfrey had asked.

"While you were having the altercation with Mr. Vaughan, did you grasp
hold of him?"

"No, sir; I did not touch him."

"You are quite sure?"

"Yes, sir."

"You didn't touch him at any time, then or afterwards?"

"No, sir. I didn't see him afterwards."

"What were your feelings when he took his daughter away?"

"I was profoundly grieved."

"And angry