the
divided house with his friend, "George Headland," and introduced him to
the various occupants thereof; and, forthwith, "Mr. George Headland"
proceeded to make himself as agreeable to all parties as he knew how to
do. He found Aunt Ruth the very duplicate of what young Bridewell had
prepared him to find, namely, a veritable Dorcas: the very embodiment of
thrift, energy, punctiliousness, with the graceful figure of a ramrod
and the martial step of a grenadier; and he decided forthwith that, be
she a monument of all the virtues, she was still just the kind of woman
he would fly to the ends of the earth rather than have to live with for
one short week. In brief, he did not like Miss Ruth Sutcliff, and Miss
Ruth Sutcliff did not like him.

Of the two Cordovas, he found the girl Lucretia a mere walking vanity
bag: idle, shiftless, eager for compliments, and without two ideas in
her vain little head. "Whoever is at the bottom of the affair, she
isn't," was his mental comment. "She is just a gadfly, just a gaudy,
useless insect, born without a sting, or the spirit to use one if she
had it."

Her brother Paul was not much better. "A mere lizard, content to bask in
the sunshine and caring not who pays for the privilege so long as he
gets it. I can see plainly enough why a fellow like young Bridewell
should dislike the pair of them, and even distrust and suspect them,
too; but, unless I am woefully mistaken, they can be counted out of the
case entirely. Who, then, is in it? Or is there really any case at all?
Is the old captain's malady a natural one, in spite of all these
suspicions? I'll know that when I see him."

[Illustration: WITH THAT HE STRIPPED DOWN THE COUNTERPANE, LIFTED THE
WATER-JUG FROM ITS WASHSTAND AND EMPTIED ITS CONTENTS OVER THE
MATTRESSES]

When he _did_ see him, about an hour after his arrival at the divided
house, he did know it, and decided forthwith, whatever the mysterious
cause, foul play was there beyond the question of a doubt. Somebody had
a secret reason for destroying this old man's life, and that somebody
was quietly and craftily doing it. But how? By what means? Not by
poison, that was certain, for no poison could have this purely local
effect and confine itself to the right side of the body, the right hand,
the right arm, the right shoulder, spread to no other part and simply
corrode the flesh and destroy the bone there as lime or caustic might,
and leave the left side wholly unblemished,