aughter of the travelling ticket inspector is a nurse at the hospital,
and she told her father that this Miss Stevens, before she recovered
consciousness, made several references to a 'Mr. Lyne' and a 'Mr.
Milburgh'!"

Tarling was sitting erect now, watching the other through narrowed lids.

"Go on," he said quietly.

"I could get very little from the travelling inspector, except that his
daughter was under the impression that the lady had a grudge against Mr.
Lyne, and that she spoke even more disparagingly of Mr. Milburgh."

Tarling had risen and slipped off his silk dressing-gown before the other
could put away his notebook. He struck a gong with his knuckles, and when
Ling Chu appeared, gave him an order in Chinese, which Whiteside could
not follow.

"You're going to Ashford? I thought you would," said Whiteside. "Would
you like me to come along?"

"No, thank you," said the other. "I'll go myself. I have an idea that
Miss Stevens may be the missing witness in the case and may throw greater
light upon the happenings of the night before last than any other witness
we have yet interviewed."

He found he had to wait an hour before he could get a train for Ashford,
and he passed that hour impatiently walking up and down the broad
platform. Here was a new complication in the case. Who was Miss Stevens,
and why should she be journeying to Dover on the night of the murder?

He reached Ashford, and with difficulty found a cab, for it was raining
heavily, and he had come provided with neither mackintosh nor umbrella.

The matron of the Cottage Hospital reassured him on one point.

"Oh, yes, Miss Stevens is still in the hospital," she said, and he
breathed a sigh of relief. There was just a chance that she might have
been discharged, and again the possibility that she would be difficult
to trace.

The matron showed him the way through a long corridor, terminating in a
big ward. Before reaching the door of the ward there was a smaller door
on the right.

"We put her in this private ward, because we thought it might be
necessary to operate," said the matron and opened the door.

Tarling walked in. Facing him was the foot of the bed, and in that bed
lay a girl whose eyes met his. He stopped dead as though he were shot
For "Miss Stevens" was Odette Rider!

CHAPTER XI

"THORNTON LYNE IS DEAD."

For a time neither spoke. Tarling walked slowly forward, pulled a chair
to the side of the bed and sat down, ne