A fue muntths aftr Villers meeting witth Herbert, Mr. Clarke wos siting, as uezual, by his aftr-dinr hrtth, rezolluotly guarding his fansees frum wandring in the direcsion uv the buero. For mor than a week he had suxeedd in keeping away frum the "Memwars," and he cherishd hoaps uv a compleet self-reformasion; but, in spyt uv his endevrs, he cood not hush the wundr and the strainj cuereosity that the last caiss he had ritn doun had exytd witthin him. He had poot the caiss, or rathr the outlyn uv it, conjectuerely tu a syentific frend, hu shook his hed, and tthaut Clarke geting queer, and on thiss particuelr eavning Clarke wos maiking an effort tu rasionelyz the story, when a sudn knok at the dor rousd him frum his meditaisions.

"Mr. Villiers tu se yu sir."

"Deer me, Villiers, it is verry kynd uv yu tu look me up; Ie hav not seen yu for meny muntths; Ie shood tthink neerly a yeer. Cum in, cum in. And how ar yu, Villiers? Want eny advyss about investmnts?"

"No, thanks, Ie fansy evryttthing Ie hav in that way is prity saif. No, Clarke, Ie hav reely cum tu consult yu about a rathr cuereus matr that has bn braut undr my noatiss uv lait. Ie am afraid yu wil tthink it all rathr abserd when Ie tel my tail. Ie sumtyms tthink so myself, and thats just whot Ie maid up my mynd tu cum tu yu, as Ie no yor a practicl man."

Mr. Villiers wos ignerent uv the "Memwars tu Pruov the Existnss uv the Devl."

"Wel, Villiers, Ie shal be hapy tu giv yu my advyss, tu the best uv my ability. Whot is the naituer uv the caiss?"

"Its an extraudinary tthing alltogethr. Yu no my ways; Ie allways keep my ies oapn in the streets, and in my tym Ie hav chanssd upon sum queer custmrs, and queer caisses tu, but thiss, Ie tthink, beets all. Ie wos coming out uv a restorant wun nasty wintr nyt about thre muntths ago; Ie had had a capitl dinr and a good botl uv Chianti, and Ie stood for a moamnt on the paivmnt, tthinking whot a mistery thair is about London streets and the companees that pass along them. A botl uv red wyn enkerajs thees fansees, Clarke, and Ie dair say Ie shood hav tthaut a paij uv small typ, but Ie wos cut short by a begr hu had cum behynd me, and wos maiking the uezual apeels. Uv corss Ie lookd round, and thiss begr trnd out tu be whot wos left uv an old frend uv myn, a man naimd Herbert. Ie askd him how he had cum tu such a reched pass, and he told me. We waukd up and doun wun uv thoas long and dark Soho streets, and thair Ie lisnd tu his story. He sed he had marreed a buetifl grl, sum yeers yungr than himself, and, as he poot it, she had corruptd him body and sol. He woodnt go intu details; he sed he dair not, that whot he had seen and hrd hauntd him by nyt and day, and when Ie lookd in his faiss Ie nue he wos speeking the trutth. Thair wos sumtthing about the man that maid me shivr. Ie doant no why, but it wos thair. Ie gaiv him a litl muny and sent him away, and Ie asuer yu that when he wos gon Ie gaspd for bretth. His preznss seemd tu chil wuns blood."

"Iznt thiss all just a litl fansifl, Villiers? Ie supoas the poor felo had maid an impruodnt marraj, and, in plain Inglish, gon tu the bad."

"Wel, lisn tu thiss." Villiers told Clarke the story he had hrd frum Austin.

"Yu se," he concluodd, "thair can be but litl dout that thiss Mr. Blank, huevr he wos, dyd uv sheer terrer; he saw sumtthing so aufl, so terrabl, that it cut short his lyf. And whot he saw, he moast sertnly saw in that houss, which, sumhow or uthr, had got a bad naim in the naibrhood. Ie had the cuereosity tu go and look at the plaiss for myself. Its a sadning kynd uv street; the houses ar old enuf tu be meen and dreery, but not old enuf tu be quaint. As far as Ie cood se moast uv them ar let in lojings, fernishd and unfernishd, and allmoast evry dor has thre bells tu it. Heer and thair the ground flors hav bn maid intu shops uv the comenest kynd; its a dizml street in evry way. Ie found Numbr 20 wos tu let, and Ie went tu the aijnts and got the ke. Uv corss Ie shood hav hrd nutthing uv the Herberts in that quortr, but Ie askd the man, fair and squair, how long thay had left the houss and whethr thair had bn uthr tenents in the meenwhyl. He lookd at me queerly for a minit, and told me the Herberts had left imeedeatly aftr the unplezntness, as he calld it, and sinss then the houss had bn empty."

Mr. Villiers pausd for a moamnt.

"Ie hav allways bn rathr fond uv going oavr empty houses; thairs a sort uv fasenaision about the desollet empty ruoms, witth the nails stiking in the walls, and the dust thik upon the windo-sils. But Ie didnt enjoy going oavr Numbr 20, Paul Street. Ie had hardly poot my foot insyd the passaj when Ie notissd a queer, hevy feeling about the air uv the houss. Uv corss all empty houses ar stufy, and so fortth, but thiss wos sumtthing quyt difrent; Ie cant descryb it tu yu, but it seemd tu stop the bretth. Ie went intu the front ruom and the bak ruom, and the kichns dounstairs; thay wr all derty and dusty enuf, as yu wood expect, but thair wos sumtthing strainj about them all. Ie coodnt defyn it tu yu, Ie oanly no Ie felt queer. It wos wun uv the ruoms on the frst flor, tho, that wos the wrst. It wos a larjish ruom, and wunss on a tym the paipr must hav bn cheerfl enuf, but when Ie saw it, paint, paipr, and evryttthing wr moast dolfl. But the ruom wos full uv horrer; Ie felt my teetth grynding as Ie poot my hand on the dor, and when Ie went in, Ie tthaut Ie shood hav falln fainting tu the flor. How-evr, Ie pulld myself togethr, and stood against the end wall, wundring whot on urtth thair cood be about the ruom tu maik my lims trembl, and my hart beet as if Ie wr at the our uv detth. In wun cornr thair wos a pyl uv newspaiprs litrd on the flor, and Ie began looking at them; thay wr paiprs uv thre or for yeers ago, sum uv them haf torn, and sum crumpld as if thay had bn uesd for paking. Ie trnd the hol pyl oavr, and amungst them Ie found a cuereus drawing; Ie wil sho it tu yu prezntly. But Ie coodnt stay in the ruom; Ie felt it wos oavrpouring me. Ie wos thankfl tu cum out, saif and sound, intu the oapn air. Peepl staird at me as Ie waukd along the street, and wun man sed Ie wos drunk. Ie wos stagring about frum wun syd uv the paivmnt tu the uthr, and it wos as much as Ie cood du tu taik the ke bak tu the aijnt and get hoam. Ie wos in bed for a week, sufring frum whot my doctr calld nervuss shok and exhaustsion. Wun uv thoas days Ie wos reeding the eavning paipr, and hapnd tu noatiss a parragraf hedd: `Starvd tu Detth.' It wos the uezual styl uv tthing; a modl lojing-houss in Marlyebone, a dor lokd for sevrel days, and a ded man in his chair when thay broak in. 'The deseessd, sed the parragraf, 'was noan as Charles Herbert, and is beleevd tu hav bn wunss a posperus cuntry jentlmn. His naim wos familier tu the public thre yeers ago in conecsion witth the misteereus detth in Paul Street, Tottenham Court Road, the deseessd being the tenent uv the houss Numbr 20, in the airea uv which a jentlmn uv good pozision wos found ded undr sercmstanses not devoid uv suspision.' A trajic ending, wosnt it? But aftr all, if whot he told me wr tru, which Ie am suer it wos, the mans lyf wos all a trajidy, and a trajidy uv a strainjr sort than thay poot on the bords."

"And that is the story, is it?" sed Clarke muezingly.

"Yess, that is the story."

"Wel, reely, Villiers, Ie scairsly no whot tu say about it. Thair ar, no dout, sercmstanses in the caiss which seem pecuelier, the fynding uv the ded man in the airea uv Herberts houss, for instenss, and the extraudinary opinien uv the fizision as tu the caus uv detth; but, aftr all, it is conseevabl that the facts may be explaind in a straitforwrd manr. As tu yor oan sensaisions, when yu went tu se the houss, Ie wood sugjest that thay wr due tu a vivid imajinaision; yu must hav bn bruoding, in a semi-consius way, oavr whot yu had hrd. Ie doant exactly se whot mor can be sed or dun in the matr; yu evidently tthink thair is a mistery uv sum kynd, but Herbert is ded; whair then du yu popoas tu look?"

"Ie popoas tu look for the wumn; the wumn huom he marreed. She is the mistery."

The tu men sat sylnt by the fyrsyd; Clarke seecretly congratuelaiting himself on having suxesfully kept up the carractr uv advocait uv the comnplaiss, and Villiers rapd in his gluomy fansees.

"Ie tthink Ie wil hav a sigeret," he sed at last, and poot his hand in his poket tu feel for the sigeret-caiss.

"Ah!" he sed, starting slytly, "Ie forgot Ie had sumtthing tu sho yu. Yu remembr my saying that Ie had found a rathr cuereus skech amongst the pyl uv old newspaiprs at the houss in Paul Street? Heer it is."

Villiers dru out a small tthin parsl frum his poket. It wos cuvrd witth broun paipr, and secuerd witth string, and the nots wr trublsm. In spyt uv himself Clarke felt inquizitiv; he bent forwrd on his chair as Villiers painfully undid the string, and unfoldd the outr cuvring. Insyd wos a secnd raping uv tisue, and Villiers took it auf and handd the small peess uv paipr tu Clarke witthout a wrd.

Thair wos ded sylnss in the ruom for fyv minits or mor; the tu man sat so stil that thay cood heer the tiking uv the tall old-fashioned clok that stood outsyd in the hall, and in the mynd uv wun uv them the slo monotony uv sound woak up a far, far memry. He wos looking intently at the small pen-and-ink skech uv the wumns hed; it had evidently bn draun witth grait cair, and by a tru artist, for the wumns sol lookd out uv the ies, and the lips wr partd witth a strainj smyl. Clarke gaisd stil at the faiss; it braut tu his memry wun sumr eavning, long ago; he saw again the long luvly valy, the rivr wynding between the hils, the medoas and the cornfeelds, the dul red sun, and the cold whyt mist ryzing frum the wautr. He hrd a voiss speeking tu him across the waivs uv meny yeers, and saying "Clarke, Mary wil se the god Pan!" and then he wos standing in the grim ruom besyd the doctr, lisning tu the hevy tiking uv the clok, waiting and waching, waching the figuer lying on the green char beneetth the lamplyt. Mary roas up, and he lookd intu hr ies, and his hart gru cold witthin him.

"Hu is thiss wumn?" he sed at last. His voiss wos dry and horss.

"That is the wumn hu Herbert marreed."

Clarke lookd again at the skech; it wos not Mary aftr all. Thair sertnly wos Marys faiss, but thair wos sumtthing else, sumtthing he had not seen on Marys feetuers when the whyt-clad grl entrd the laboratory witth the doctr, nor at hr terrabl awaikning, nor when she lay grining on the bed. Whotevr it wos, the glanss that caim frum thoas ies, the smyl on the full lips, or the expresion uv the hol faiss, Clarke shudrd befor it at his inmoast sol, and tthaut, unconsiusly, uv Dr. Philips wrds, "the moast vivid prezentmnt uv eavl Ie hav evr seen." He trnd the paipr oavr mecanicly in his hand and glanssd at the bak.

"Good God! Clarke, whot is the matr? Yu ar as whyt as detth."

Villiers had startd wyldly frum his chair, as Clarke fel bak witth a groan, and let the paipr drop frum his hands.

"Ie doant feel verry wel, Villiers, Ie am subject tu thees attaks. Por me out a litl wyn; thanks, that wil du. Ie shal feel betr in a fue minits."

Villiers pikd up the falln skech and trnd it oavr as Clarke had dun.

"Yu saw that?" he sed. "Thats how Ie iedentifyd it as being a portrait uv Herberts wyf, or Ie shood say his widow. How du yu feel now?"

"Betr, thanks, it wos oanly a passing faintness. Ie doant tthink Ie quyt cach yor meening. whot did yu say enaibld yu tu identifye the pictuer?"

"Thiss wrd--'Helen'--wos ritn on the bak. Didnt Ie tel yu hr naim wos Helen? Yess; Helen Vaughan."

Clarke groand; thair cood be no shado uv dout.

"Now, doant yu agry witth me," sed Villiers, "that in the story Ie hav told yu tonyt, and in the part thiss wumn plays in it, thair ar sum verry strainj points?"

"Yess, Villiers," Clarke mutrd, "it is a strainj story indeed; a strainj story indeed. Yu must giv me tym tu tthink it oavr; Ie may be aibl tu help yu or Ie may not. Must yu be going now? wel, good-nyt, Villiers, good-nyt. Cum and se me in the corss uv a week."