accordingly made out a list of his friends and relatives on a sheet
of notepaper, and after careful consideration, decided in favour of
Lady Clementina Beauchamp, a dear old lady who lived in Curzon
Street, and was his own second cousin by his mother's side. He had
always been very fond of Lady Clem, as every one called her, and as
he was very wealthy himself, having come into all Lord Rugby's
property when he came of age, there was no possibility of his
deriving any vulgar monetary advantage by her death. In fact, the
more he thought over the matter, the more she seemed to him to be
just the right person, and, feeling that any delay would be unfair
to Sybil, he determined to make his arrangements at once.

The first thing to be done was, of course, to settle with the
cheiromantist; so he sat down at a small Sheraton writing-table that
stood near the window, drew a cheque for 105 pounds, payable to the
order of Mr. Septimus Podgers, and, enclosing it in an envelope,
told his valet to take it to West Moon Street. He then telephoned
to the stables for his hansom, and dressed to go out. As he was
leaving the room he looked back at Sybil Merton's photograph, and
swore that, come what may, he would never let her know what he was
doing for her sake, but would keep the secret of his self-sacrifice
hidden always in his heart.

On his way to the Buckingham, he stopped at a florist's, and sent
Sybil a beautiful basket of narcissus, with lovely white petals and
staring pheasants' eyes, and on arriving at the club, went straight
to the library, rang the bell, and ordered the waiter to bring him a
lemon-and-soda, and a book on Toxicology. He had fully decided that
poison was the best means to adopt in this troublesome business.
Anything like personal violence was extremely distasteful to him,