nscious, Paul Berton, or St. Ulmer,
flashed into the room, caught that up and strangled the fellow where he
lay. He spiked him to the wall with the very hammer the hound had
assailed you with, and he would have accomplished all he had set out to
do but for an accident. De Louvisan, or Anatole, had taken up a board
and hidden the letters beneath the floor. Paul had seen him do it and
meant to get them. But the noise he had made, he fancied, had attracted
the attention of either a constable or a Common keeper, for he heard the
sound of some one stealing through the garden. That was Lady Katharine
Fordham walking in her sleep, poor girl. He had no time to lose, so
caught up the stick of cosmetic you had dropped, and scrawled those
figures on the dead man's shirt----"

"Their meaning, Cleek?" cried Narkom. "What was it?"

"A very simple one. Part of the Apache cipher. I remembered it
afterward, and translated it thus:

"2 X 4 X 1 X 2. Hiding X letters X Paul X Hiding

"You see he meant that if Margot should arrive on the scene, she should
know that it was he, Paul, who had avenged the gang and hidden the
letters. By this he meant to win his own pardon from Margot. As it
happened, she had already taken fright and left the country. The numbers
counted to nine, and I reckoned that Paul, noting this fact, must have
trusted to luck to Margot being sharp enough to take it as a measurement
of some kind. I took it to be nine boards, and was right, as you know.

"He would probably have gone back for the letters afterward, but he had
no time; he fled across the Common, headlong into the arms of the
Common keeper, whom he shot at and knocked senseless, making use of the
man's clothing, as we know. These he buried later in the old ruin, and
there you will find them, General."

An exclamation burst from the lips of General Raynor, followed by the
sound of something more startling, that of a pistol shot.

"God! What was that!" the General breathed in a frightened whisper at
the sound of the explosion.

"The end of De Louvisan's murderer, General, I hope, and the everlasting
shutting of the door on Lady Clavering's secret and yours," said Cleek.
"Come quickly, before the servants arrive on the scene."

He led the way out of the room, and up the stairs to where was Lord St.
Ulmer's room. Cleek opened the door with the key which had evidently
reposed in his own pocket. A strange sight met their eyes. It was
evident that St. Ulme