"I see," said T. X. slowly.

He saw something more than that handful of ashes, he saw the
deadly peril in which his friend was standing. Here was one half
of the evidence in Lexman's favour gone, irredeemably.

"The letter was written on a paper which was specially prepared by
a chemical process which disintegrated the moment the paper was
exposed to the air. Probably if you delayed putting the letter in
the drawer another five minutes, you would have seen it burn
before your eyes. As it was, it was smouldering before you had
turned the key of the box. The envelope!"

"Kara burnt it," said Lexman in a low voice, "I remember seeing
him take it up from the table and throw it in the fire."

T. X. nodded.

"There remains the other half of the evidence," he said grimly,
and when an hour later, the village constable returned to report
that in spite of his most careful search he had failed to discover
the dead man's revolver, his anticipations were realized.

The next morning John Lexman was lodged in Lewes gaol on a charge
of wilful murder.


A telegram brought Mansus from London to Beston Tracey, and T. X.
received him in the library.