"Ah, that's what I should like to know, and I mean to
find her sooner or later. I know a man named Clarke, a dry
fellow, in fact a man of business, but shrewd enough. You
understand my meaning; not shrewd in the mere business sense of
the word, but a man who really knows something about men and
life. Well, I laid the case before him, and he was evidently
impressed. He said it needed consideration, and asked me to
come again in the course of a week. A few days later I received
this extraordinary letter."

Austin took the envelope, drew out the letter, and read
it curiously. It ran as follows:--

"MY DEAR VILLIERS,--I have thought over the matter on
which you consulted me the other night, and my advice to you is
this. Throw the portrait into the fire, blot out the story from
your mind. Never give it another thought, Villiers, or you will
be sorry. You will think, no doubt, that I am in possession of
some secret information, and to a certain extent that is the
case. But I only know a little; I am like a traveller who has
peered over an abyss, and has drawn back in terror. What I know
is strange enough and horrible enough, but beyond my knowledge
there are depths and horrors more frightful still, more
incredible than any tale told of winter nights about the fire.
I have resolved, and nothing shall shake that resolve, to
explore no whit farther, and if you value your happiness you will
make the same determination.

"Come and see me by all means; but we will talk on more