e said. "If you only knew--? Say it, doctor!"

"If I only knew if there was any reason why any person wished to take
this man's life," responded Dr. Orwin, slowly and deliberately. "If I
knew that somebody wanted to get him out of the way, for instance--"

Allerdyke jumped to his feet and tapped Fullaway on the shoulder.

"Come in here a minute," he said, motioning towards the door of his
bedroom. "Excuse us, doctor--I want to have a word with this gentleman.
Look here," he continued, when he had led the American into the bedroom
and had closed the door. "You hear what he says? Shall we tell him? Or
shall we keep it all dark for a while? Which--what?"

"Tell him under promise of secrecy," replied Fullaway after a moment's
consideration. "Medical men are all right--yes, tell him. He may suggest
something. And I'm inclined to think his theory is correct, eh?"

"Correct!" exclaimed Allerdyke, with a grim laugh. "You bet it's correct!
Come on, then--we'll tell him all. Now, doctor," he went on, leading the
way back into the sitting-room, "we're going to give you our confidence.
You'll treat it as a strict confidence, a secret between us, for the
present. The truth is that when my cousin came to this hotel last night
he was in possession--that is, we have the very strongest grounds for
believing him to have been in possession--of certain extremely valuable
property---jewels worth a large amount--which he was carrying,
safeguarding, from a lady in Russia to this gentleman in London. When I
searched his body and luggage, these valuables were missing. Mr. Fullaway
and myself haven't the least doubt that he was robbed. So your
theory--eh?"

Dr. Orwin had listened to this with deep attention, and he now put two
quick questions.

"The value of these things was great?"

"Relatively, very great," answered Allerdyke.

"Enough to engage, the attention of a clever gang of thieves?"

"Quite!"

"Then," said the doctor, "I am quite of opinion that my ideas are
correct. These, people probably tracked your cousin to this place,
contrived to administer a subtle and deadly poison to him last night, and
entered his room after the time at which they knew it would take effect.
Have you any clue--even a slight one?"

"Only this," answered Allerdyke, and proceeded to narrate the story of
the shoe-buckle, adding Fullaway's theory to it. "That's not much, eh?"

"You must find that woman and produce her at the inquest," said the
doctor