s of a bad attack of detective fever. They have talked to me
quite freely and cheerfully of the "Island Mystery." That was the
Queen's phrase. About a much more important matter the Queen will not
speak at all, and Phillips cannot be induced to dwell on details. I
have been obliged to depend mainly on Kalliope for information, and
even now Kalliope does not speak English well.

"We have three clues," said the Queen hopefully, "three really good
clues. We ought to be able to unearth the mystery. Detectives hardly
ever have so many."

Phillips named the three clues, ticking them off on his fingers.

"First, the torn envelope; second, Smith's expedition to the cave
before dawn----"

"Before dawn," said the Queen with rapture.

"Third, the cisterns in the cave. Let's go and see the cisterns."

"No," said the Queen. "The great thing is not to be carried away by
passion. We must be cold, purely intellectual. We must be thoroughly
systematic. We'll begin with the torn envelope. It happened first."

They retired to a shady corner of the balcony outside the Queen's
rooms and studied the torn envelope for two hours. They were
analytical, keenly and minutely observant, coldly cautious in forming
conclusions. They tried every method of detection known to detective
science. They held the envelope up to the light in order to discover a
watermark. They examined the texture of the paper, the ink and the
postage stamp, carefully through a powerful magnifying glass. They
scraped one corner of the envelope with the blade of a penknife. They
took four photographs, two of the front and two of the back, with the
Queen's hand camera. They talked a good deal about fingerprints.

Phillips had a logical mind and a capacity for synthetic induction.
The Queen was perhaps the more careful observer. She had certainly the
more brilliant imagination. After two hours' work they summed up their
conclusions, making careful notes with the Queen's fountain pen on the
blank pages at the end of a large diary.

"A man or men----" said Phillips.

The Queen wrote down "A man or men" in the diary.

"Has," said Phillips, "or have, been present on the island of Salissa
at some date between December 15, 1913, and April 30, 1914. The said
man or men was or were during part of that period in occupation of the
royal palace."

"Royal palace," said the Queen, writing rapidly.

"This man--or men, of course--was in correspondence with some person
at presen