or supposing that Kazmah dealt in prohibited drugs?" he inquired.

"The evidence of Miss Halley, the letter left for her by Mrs. Irvin, and
the fact that Mrs. Irvin said, in the presence of Mr. Quentin Gray,
that she had 'a particular reason' for seeing Kazmah, point to it
unmistakably, sir. Then, I have seen Mrs. Irvin's maid. (Mr. Monte Irvin
is still too unwell to be interrogated.) The girl was very frightened,
but she admitted outright that she had been in the habit of going
regularly to Kazmah for certain perfumes. She wouldn't admit that she
knew the flasks contained cocaine or veronal, but she did admit that her
mistress had been addicted to the drug habit for several years. It began
when she was on the stage."

"Ah, yes," murmured the Assistant Commissioner; "she was Rita Dresden,
was she not--'The Maid of the Masque' A very pretty and talented
actress. A pity--a great pity. So the girl, characteristically, is
trying to save herself?"

"She is," said Kerry grimly. "But it cuts no ice. There is another
point. After this report was made out, a message reached me from Miss
Halley, as a result of which I visited Mr. Quentin Gray early this
morning."

"Dear, dear," sighed the Assistant Commissioner, "your intense zeal and
activity are admirable, Chief Inspector, but appalling. And what did you
learn?"

From an inside pocket Chief Inspector Kerry took out a plain brown paper
packet containing several cigarettes and laid the packet on the table.

"I got these, sir," he said grimly. "They were left at Mr. Gray's some
weeks ago by the late Sir Lucien. They are doped."

The Assistant Commissioner, his head resting upon his hand, gazed
abstractedly at the packet. "If only you could trace the source of
supply," he murmured.

"That brings me to my last point, sir. From Mrs. Irvin's maid I learned
that her mistress was acquainted with a certain Mrs. Sin."

"Mrs. Sin? Incredible name."

"She's a woman reputed to be married to a Chinaman. Inspector Whiteleaf,
of Vine Street, knows her by sight as one of the night-club birds--a
sort of mysterious fungus, sir, flowering in the dark and fattening on
gilded fools. Unless I'm greatly mistaken, Mrs. Sin is the link between
the doped cigarettes and the missing Kazmah."

"Does anyone know where she lives?"

"Lots of 'em know!" snapped Kerry. "But it's making them speak."

"To whom do you more particularly refer, Chief Inspector?"

"To the moneyed asses and the brainles