behalf of his wife, Mira Leroux, to the amount of a thousand pounds.'
'A thousand pounds—really!' cried Dr. Cumberly, drawing his heavy brows together—'as much as that?'
'Certainly. It was for a thousand pounds,' repeated Max, 'and the whole of that amount had been drawn out.'
'The whole thousand?'
'The whole thousand; nom d'un p'tit bonhomme! The whole thousand! Acting, as I have said, upon the information in this always priceless letter, I confronted Madame Jean and the manager of the bank with each other. Morbleu! 'This,' he said, 'is Mira Leroux of London!''…
'What!' cried Cumberly, seemingly quite stupefied by this last revelation.
Max spread wide his palms, and the flexible lips expressed sympathy with the doctor's stupefaction.
'It is as I tell you,' he continued. 'This Madame Jean had been posing as Mrs. Leroux, and in some way, which I was unable to understand, her signature had been accepted by the Credit Lyonnais. I examined the specimen signature which had been forwarded to them by the London County and Suburban Bank, and I perceived, at once, that it was not a case of common forgery. The signatures were identical'…
'Therefore,' said Cumberly, and he was thinking of Henry Leroux, whom Fate delighted in buffeting —'therefore, the Credit Lyonnais is not responsible?'
'Most decidedly not responsible,' agreed Max. 'So you see I now have two reasons for coming to London: one, to visit the London County and Suburban Bank, and the other to find… Mr. King. The first part of my mission I have performed successfully; but the second'… again he shrugged, and the lines of his mouth were humorous.
Dr. Cumberly began to walk up and down the carpet.
'Poor Leroux!' he muttered—'poor Leroux.'
'Ah! poor Leroux, indeed,' said Max. 'He is so typical a victim of this most infernal group!'
'What!' Dr. Cumberly turned in his promenade and stared at the detective—'he's not the only one?'
'My dear sir,' said Max, gently, 'the victims of Mr. King are truly as the sands of Arabia.'
'Good heavens!' muttered Dr. Cumberly; 'good heavens!'
'I came immediately to London,' continued Max, 'and presented myself at New Scotland Yard. There I discovered that my inquiry was complicated by a ghastly crime which had been committed in the flat of Mr. Leroux; but I learned, also, that Mr. King was concerned in this crime—his name had been found upon a scrap of paper clenched in the murdered woman's hand!'
'I was present when it was found,' said Dr. Cumberly.
'I know you were,' replied Max. 'In short, I discovered that the Palace Mansions murder case was my case, and that my case was the Palace Mansions case. Eh bien! the mystery of the Paris draft did not detain me long. A call upon the manager 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 cannot disguise from myself that it hastened, if it did not directly occasion, his breakdown.'
'Yes, yes,' said Max; 'we have been very fortunate however in diverting the attention of the press from the absence of Mrs. Leroux throughout this time. Nom d'un nom! Had they got to know about the scrap of paper found in the dead woman's hand, I fear that this would have been impossible.'
'I do not doubt that it would have been impossible, knowing the London press,' replied Dr. Cumberly, 'but I, too, am glad that it has been achieved; for in the light of your Paris discoveries, I begin at last to understand.'
'You were not Mrs. Leroux's medical adviser?'
'I was not,' replied Cumberly, glancing sharply at Max. 'Good heavens, to think that I had never realized the truth!'
'It is not so wonderful at all. Of course, as I have seen from the evidence which you gave to the police, you knew that Mrs. Vernon was addicted to the use of opium?'
'It was perfectly evident,' replied Cumberly; 'painfully evident. I will not go into particulars, but her entire constitution was undermined by the habit. I may add, however, that I did not associate the vice with her violent end, except'…
'Ah!' interrupted Max, shaking his finger at the physician, 'you are coming to the point upon which you disagreed with the divisional surgeon! Now, it is an important point. You are of opinion that the injection in Mrs. Vernon's shoulder—which could not have been self-administered'…
'She was not addicted to the use of the needle,' interrupted Cumberly; 'she was an opium SMOKER.'
'Quite so, quite so,' said Max: 'it makes the point all the more clear. You are of opinion that this injection was made at least eight hours before the woman's death?'
'At least eight hours—yes.'
'Eh bien!' said Max; 'and have you had extensive experience of such injections?'
Dr. Cumberly stared at him in some surprise.
'In a general way,' he said, 'a fair number of such cases have come under my notice; but it chances that one of my patients, a regular patient—is addicted to the vice.'
'Injections?'
'Only as a makeshift. He has periodical bouts of opium smoking—what I may term deliberate debauches.'
'Ah!' Max was keenly interested. 'This patient is a member of good society?'
'He's a member of Parliament,' replied Cumberly, a faint, humorous glint creeping into his gray eyes; 'but, of course, that is not an answer to your question! Yes, he is of an old family, and is engaged to the daughter of a peer.'
'Dr. Cumberly,' said Max, 'in a case like the present—apart from the fact that the happiness—pardieu! the life—of one of your own friends is involved… should you count it a breach of professional etiquette to divulge the name of that patient?'
It was a disturbing question; a momentous question for a fashionable physician to be called upon to answer thus suddenly. Dr. Cumberly, who had resumed his promenade of the carpet, stopped with his back to M. Max, and stared out of the window into Harley Street.
M. Max, a man of refined susceptibilities, came to his aid, diplomatically.
