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 till she had finished; then he smiled, nodded, and took up his water-pipe lazily.

"The solution of this thing is so simple that I'm surprised it hasn't occurred to you, my dear. But that's because of your lack of experience and the fact that you haven't read so much as I have. But, all the same, there may be something deeper in it than appears now. At any rate the girl is to be helped, and the lieutenant as well; and that we shall do."

"But what about the 'Assassins'?" Valeska inquired anxiously.

"Oh, that's the whole thing, of course. But I think I'll let you study that out yourself. It will be good practise for your reasoning powers. First, let's see if your powers of observation have improved. Tell me all about the letter." He blew out a series of smoke rings and regarded her quizzically.

"Well," Valeska puckered her brows, "it was written on buff-laid linen paper of about ninety pounds weight—very heavy stock, anyway—in an envelope of the same, postmarked Madison Square station, April nineteenth, four The handwriting was that of a stout middle-aged man, who had just had some serious illness, a foreigner, hard-working, unscrupulous, dishonest, with no artistic sensibility."

"Bravo! Is that all?"

"No, the stationery came from Perkins & Shaw's. I saw the stamping under the flap."

"Very good. Unfortunately we can't ask there about the Assassins. But perhaps we'll find my ideal criminal after all. The easiest plan will be to follow Cameron to-morrow night. Meanwhile, you had better do some thinking yourself."