f the easiest possible disguises, Mr. Narkom. A wig, a stick of
grease-paint, a threepenny twist of crepe hair, and there you are! No, I
do not believe that the man is a Cingalese at all; and, far from his
having any connection with what you were pleased to term just now a
change of front on the part of the Buddhists who have so long held the
little chap as something sacred, I don't believe that they know anything
about him. I base that upon the fact that the child is still treated
with homage whenever he goes out, according to what Miss Lorne says, and
that, with the single exception of that one woman who tried to poison
him, nobody but just one man--this particular one man--has ever made any
attempt to harm the boy. Fanatics, like those Cingalese, cleave to an
idea to the end, Mr. Narkom; they don't cast it aside and go off at
another tangent. You have heard what Lady Chepstow says the native women
told her; the boy was sacred; their priests had commanded them to
appease Buddha by doing homage to him until the tooth was found, and the
tooth has not been found up to the present day! That means that nothing
on earth could change their attitude toward him, that not one of the
Buddhist sect would harm a solitary hair of his head for a king's
ransom; so you may eliminate the Cingalese from the case entirely so far
as the attempts upon the child's life are concerned. Whoever is making
the attempts is doing so without their knowledge and for a purely
personal reason."

"Then, in that case, this Captain Hawksley--"

"I'll have a look at that gentleman before I tumble into bed to-night,
and you shall have my views upon that point to-morrow morning, Mr.
Narkom. Frankly, things point rather suspiciously in the captain's
direction, since he is apparently the only person likely to be benefited
by the boy's death, and if a motive cannot be traced to some other
person--" He stopped abruptly and held up his hand. Outside in the dim
halls of the house a sudden noise had sprung into being, the noise of
someone running upstairs in great haste, and, stepping quickly to the
door, Cleek drew it sharply open. As he did so, Dollops came puffing up
out of the lower gloom, a sheep's trotter in one hand, and a letter in
the other.

"Law, Gov'nor!" groaned he, from midway on the staircase, "I don't
believe as I'm ever goin' to be let get a square tuck-in this side of
the buryin' ground! Jist finished wot was left of that there steak and
kidne