the fact I have nevertheless been concerned in the case for at least
a week."

Dunbar stared surprisedly, but offered no comment.

"A fortnight ago," Stuart continued, "I found myself in the
neighbourhood of the West India Docks. I had been spending the evening
with a very old friend, chief officer of a liner in dock. I had
intended to leave the ship at about ten o'clock and to walk to the
railway station, but, as it fell out, the party did not break up until
after midnight. Declining the offer of a berth on board, I came ashore
determined to make my way home by tram and afoot. I should probably
have done so and have been spared--much; but rain began to fall
suddenly and I found myself, foolishly unprovided with a top-coat, in
those grey East End streets without hope of getting a lift.

"It was just as I was crossing Limehouse Causeway that I observed, to
my astonishment, the head-lamps of a cab or car shining out from a dark
and forbidding thoroughfare which led down to the river. The sight was
so utterly unexpected that I paused, looking through the rainy mist in
the direction of the stationary vehicle. I was still unable to make
out if it were a cab or a car, and accordingly I walked along to where
it stood and found that it was a taxicab and apparently for hire.

"'Are you disengaged?' I said to the man.
"'Well, sir, I suppose I am,' was his curious reply. 'Where do you
want to go?'

"I gave him this address and he drove me home. On arriving, so
grateful did I feel that I took pity upon the man, for it had settled