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Rh from your hints and your continual allusions to the time I was in Florence, that you have found me out."

At last the mystery of what Pagett did in Florence is going to be revealed!

"Make a clean breast of it, my dear fellow," I said kindly. "Much the best way."

"Thank you, Sir Eustace."

"Is it her husband? Annoying fellows, husbands. Always turning up when they're least expected."

"I fail to follow you, Sir Eustace. Whose husband?"

"The lady's husband."

"What lady?"

"God bless my soul, Pagett, the lady you met in Florence. There must have been a lady. Don't tell me that you merely robbed a church or stabbed an Italian in the back because you didn't like his face."

"I am quite at a loss to understand you, Sir Eustace. I suppose you are joking."

"I am an amusing fellow sometimes, when I take the trouble, but I can assure you that I am not trying to be funny this minute."

"I hoped that as I was a good way off you had not recognized me, Sir Eustace."

"Recognized you where?"

"At Marlow, Sir Eustace?"

"At Marlow? What the devil were you doing at Marlow?"

"I thought you understood that"

"I'm beginning to understand less and less. Go back to the beginning of the story and start again. You went to Florence"

"Then you don't know after all—and you didn't recognize me!"

"As far as I can judge, you seem to have given yourself away needlessly—made a coward of by your con-