Fynes was a friend of
yours?"

"An acquaintance," she corrected him.

"And your name?" he asked.

"I am Miss Morse," she replied,--"Miss Penelope Morse."

"You were to have lunched here with Mr. Hamilton Fynes," the detective
continued. "When, may I ask, did the invitation reach you?"

"Yesterday," she told him, "by marconigram from Queenstown."

"You can tell us a few things about the deceased, without doubt," Mr.
Jacks said,--"his profession, for instance, or his social standing?
Perhaps you know the reason for his coming to Europe?"

The girl shook her head.

"Mr. Fynes and I were not intimately acquainted," she answered. "We
met in Paris some years ago, and when he was last in London, during the
autumn, I lunched with him twice."

"You had no letter from him, then, previous to the marconigram?" the
inspector asked.

"I have scarcely ever received a letter from him in my life," she
answered. "He was as bad a correspondent as I am myself."

"You know nothing, then, of the object of his present visit to England?"

"Nothing whatever," she answered.

"When he was over here before," the inspector asked, "do you know what
his business was then?"

"Not in the least," she replied.

"You can tell us his address in the States?" Inspector Jacks suggested.

She shook her head.

"I cannot," she answered. "As I told you just now, I have never had a
letter from him in my life. We exchanged a few notes, perhaps, when we
were in Paris, about trivial matters, but nothing more than that."

"He must at some time, in Paris, for instance, or when you lunched with
him last year, have said something about his profession, or how he spent
his time?"

"He never alluded to it in any way," the girl answered. "I have not the
slightest idea how he passed his time."

The inspector was a little nonplussed. He did not for a moment believe
that the girl was telling the truth.

"Perhaps," he said tentatively, "you do not care to have your name come
before the public in connection with a case so notorious as this?"

"Naturally," the girl answered. "That, however, would not prevent my
telling you anything that I knew. You seem to find it hard to believe,
but I can assure you that I know nothing. Mr. Fynes was almost a
stranger to me."

The detective was thoughtful.

"So you really cannot help us at all, madam?" he said at length.

"I am afraid not," she answered.

"Perhaps," he suggested, "after you have thought the matt