s as well as
his accusers. It was clearly shown at the time that although he dwelt in
the house where the 'club' in question held forth, there never was any
absolute proof that he was himself in any way actually connected with
it, his vocation being that of a maker of dressing for boots, shoes,
ladies' bags, and leather goods generally, which dressing he
manufactured upon the premises."

This statement, being correct, gave the _Morning Star_ a chance to
clinch its argument yet more forcibly and to prove itself better
informed than its rival by coming out in its next issue with the
declaration that "there can no longer be any question relative to the
identity of the murdered man. That he is, or rather was, the
long-vanished Ferdinand Lovetski who was formerly identified with the
club _and_ the boot-dressing industry carried on at 63 Essex Row, is
established beyond all cavil, since the marks smeared upon his shirt
bosom are now known to have been made with shoe-blacking of that variety
which is applied and polished with a cloth, and which has of recent
years almost entirely superseded the brush-applied variety of our
fathers' and grandfathers' days!"

Narkom, much impressed thereby, showed these two articles from the
_Morning Star_ to Cleek.

"An ingenious young man that reporter, Mr. Narkom, and his deductions
regarding those marks reflect great credit upon him," said the latter.
"For it is positively certain that whoever he may or may not have been,
the man certainly was _not_ the Count de Louvisan, for the simple reason
that there is _no_ 'Count de Louvisan' in the Austrian nobility, the
title having lapsed some years ago. The theory that the dead man is that
Ferdinand Lovetski who formerly lived at 63 Essex Row, however, will
bear looking into. It is well thought out. I should, perhaps, be more
impressed with the genius of the chap who worked out so likely a
solution to those mysterious figures if he hadn't made me lose faith in
his powers of observation by the 'shoe blacking' statement. It is not a
bad _guess_, in the circumstances--for each would leave marks very
similar, if one trusted to the eye alone--but I happen to _know_ that
the figures were _not_ smeared on with shoe-blacking, but with a stick
of that greasy, highly scented black cosmetic which some actresses use
for their eyelashes and some men employ to disguise the gray hairs in
the moustache. You know the kind of stuff I mean. It is always wrapped
i