by me, meaning one day to
comply with his wish.

"I had more than a suspicion then that my brother's marriage was a
perfectly legal one, and that his son was the only true
heir-presumptive to the title and estates which I had always fondly
thought could only devolve upon Luke. I went over to Brussels
determined to see this Philip before he set foot in England. The
thought that he would supersede Luke was more than I could bear.

"I arrived in Brussels early one morning, having crossed over in the
night. At once I drove to the mean hotel where he was lodging. He was
sharing a room with a man with whom he had picked up a casual
acquaintanceship on the sea voyage between the West Indies and
Antwerp. The two men had come over together in the Belgian boat. They
looked a pair of young blackguards, but it did not take me very long
to be convinced that for some reason best known to himself my brother
Arthur had deceived me and that his son Philip was indeed the
legitimate and rightful heir to the title which I hold. The papers
were authentic and undisputable. This much I knew and that Luke, whom
I loved best in all the world, more than any father has ever loved
his son, would never be Earl of Radclyffe so long as Philip de
Mountford lived.

"Men will say that I am an abandoned criminal, and, indeed, it may be
so. May God forgive me hereafter, for I killed my brother's son. I
pretended to rejoice at his homecoming, and in half an hour had gained
his confidence. In the afternoon we went out together and after a
short walk we picked up a taxicab. Philip gave the driver the address
of a restaurant at which I had asked him to dine with me. I kept
carefully in the shadow, so that the man shouldn't see me. Then on the
way in the cab, I killed him. When his head was turned away from me, I
plunged an old Italian stiletto which I had carried about with me,
ever since I had had letters from Philip, straight into his neck.

"He died instantly without a groan, and I was sick to death, but I
managed to sit quietly beside him until the cab pulled up: then I
jumped out and told the chauffeur to drive my friend on to some remote
place on the boulevards.

"I watched the cab until it was out of sight, then I hailed another,
and drove straight to the Gard du Nord, and crossed back to England
that night. I threw the stiletto overboard into the sea. I had spent
twelve hours in Brussels, and I had killed Philip de Mountford, and
made sure tha