me of these drugs by his bedside. Of course an inquest was
held, and, equally of course, the evidence of doctors and chemists
being what it was, a verdict of death from misadventure--overdose of the
stuff, you know--was returned. Against Miss Pett there appears to have
been no suspicion in Woking at that time--and for the matter of that,"
concluded Mr. Stobb drily, "I don't know that there is now."

"You have some yourself?" suggested Brereton.

"I went into things further," answered Mr. Stobb, with the ghost of a
wink. "I found out how things were left--by Stilman. Stilman had nothing
but his pension, and a capital sum of about two thousand pounds. He left
that two thousand, and the furniture of his house, to Miss Pett. The
will had been executed about a twelvemonth before Stilman died. It was
proved as quickly as could be after his death, and of course Miss Pett
got her legacy. She sold the furniture--and left the neighbourhood."

"What is your theory?" asked Brereton.

Mr. Stobb nodded across the table at Carfax.

"Not my business to say what my theories are, Mr. Brereton," he
answered. "All I had to do was to find out facts, and report them to Mr.
Carfax and Mr. Wraythwaite."

"All the same," said Brereton quietly, "you think it quite possible that
Miss Pett, knowing that Stilman took these strong doses, and having a
pecuniary motive, gave him a still stronger one? Come, now!"

Stobb smiled, rubbed his chin and looked at Carfax. And Carfax pointed
to Stobb's partner, a very quiet, observant man who had listened with a
sly expression on his face.

"Your turn, Leykin," he said. "Tell the result of your inquiries."

Leykin was one of those men who possess soft voices and slow speech.
Invited to play his part, he looked at Brereton as if he were half
apologizing for anything he had to say.

"Well," he said, "of course, sir, what Miss Pett told you about her
posts at two London hotels was quite right. She had been storekeeper at
one, and linen-keeper at another--before she went to Major Stilman.
There was nothing against her at either of those places. But of course I
wanted to know more about her than that. Now she said in answer to you
that before she went to the first of those hotels she had lived at home
with her father, a Sussex farmer. So she had--but it was a long time
before. She had spent ten years in India between leaving home and going
to the Royal Belvedere. She went out to India as a nurse in an off