of the London County and Suburban Bank at
Charing Cross revealed to me the whole plot. The real Mrs. Leroux had
never visited that bank; it was Madame Jean, posing as Mrs. Leroux, who
went there and wrote the specimen signature, accompanied by a certain
Soames, a butler"...

"I know him!" said Dr. Cumberly, grimly, "the blackguard!"

"Truly a blackguard, truly a big, dirty blackguard! But it is such
canaille as this that Mr. King discovers and uses for his own ends.
Paris society, I know for a fact; has many such a cankerworm in its
heart. Oh! it is a big case, a very big case. Poor Mr. Leroux being
confined to his bed--ah! I pity him--I took the opportunity to visit his
flat in Palace Mansions with Inspector Dunbar, and I obtained further
evidence showing how the conspiracy had been conducted; yes. For
instance, Dunbar's notebook showed me that Mr. Leroux was accustomed to
receive letters from Mrs. Leroux whilst she was supposed to be in Paris.
I actually discovered some of those letters, and they bore no dates.
This, if they came from a woman, was not remarkable, but, upon one
of them I found something that WAS remarkable. It was still in its
envelope, you must understand, this letter, its envelope bearing the
Paris post-mark. But impressed upon the paper I discovered a second
post-mark, which, by means of a simple process, and the use of a
magnifying glass, I made out to be Bow, East!"

"What!"

"Do you understand? This letter, and others doubtless, had been enclosed
in an envelope and despatched to Paris from Bow, East? In short, Mrs.
Leroux wrote those letters before she left London; Soames never posted
them, but handed them over to some representative of Mr. King; this
other, in turn, posted them to Madame Jean in Paris! Morbleu! these are
clever rogues! This which I was fortunate enough to discover had been
on top, you understand, this billet, and the outer envelope being very
heavily stamped, that below retained the impress of the post-mark."

"Poor Leroux!" said Cumberly again, with suppressed emotion. "That
unsuspecting, kindly soul has been drawn into the meshes of this
conspiracy. How they have been wound around him, until..."

"He knows the truth about his wife?" asked Max, suddenly glancing up at
the physician, "that she is not in Paris?"

"I, myself, broke the painful news to him," replied Cumberly--"after a
consultation with Miss Ryland and my daughter. I considered it my duty
to tell him, but I