Perhaps it is just as well to take up the findings of the police.
The police of course never entertained any suggestion of the
occult. They are material; and were convinced from the start that
the case had its origin in downright villainy. Man is complex; but
being so, is oft overbalanced by evil Some genius had made a fool
of the doctor.

In the first place a thorough search was made for the professor.
The house at No. 288 Chatterton Place was ransacked from cellar to
attic. The records were gone over and it was found that the
property had for some time been vacant; that the real ownership
was vested in a number of heirs scattered about the country.

The old lady had apparently been living on the place simply
through sufferance. No one could find out who she was. A few
tradesman in the vicinity had sold her some scant supplies and
that was all. The stress that Jerome placed upon her actions and
words was; given its due account. There were undoubtedly two
villains; but there were two victims. That the old lady was such
as well as the professor no one has doubted. The whole secret lay
in the gentleman with the Eastern cast and complexion. Who was
Rhamda Avec?

And now comes the strangest part of the story. Ever, when we re-
count the tale, there is something to overturn the theories of the
police. It has become a sort of legend in San Francisco; one to be
taken with a grain of salt, to be sure, but for all that, one at
which we may well wonder. Here the supporters of the professor's
philosophy hold their strongest point--if it is true. Of course we
can venture no private opinion, never having been a witness. It is