"Simply enough, though stupid, I now admit. When I returned from the States I was very hard up, but managed to pick up a subsistence by writing for the sporting press, and occasionally backing horses. But I knew this could not last, so I tried to secure some financial interests in the City. In doing so I made the acquaintance of a man named Dodge, and committed myself to the underwriting of a new venture named the Springbok Mine. This fell through at the time, and with this collapse came other demands. I hate being worried by creditors, so when my sister offered to take and furnish a flat for me, near her own, I thought I would live quietly for a time and conceal my name so as to have peace there at any rate. Therefore, I assumed the name of a friend in America, little thinking that I should land both him and myself into such trouble by doing it. That is the explanation. By the way, what has happened to Corbett?" "He is all right. He expects to see you to-night. You know Sir Charles Dyke, do you not?" "Yes." "Intimately?" "Well, no, not exactly. He and I were at school together at Brighton, at Childe's place." "At Brighton?" "Yes. I was a little chap when Dyke was a senior. After he left, the headmaster changed the school to a place called Seton Lodge, at Putney, on account of cramming operations for Army exams." "Then you were at Putney?" "Yes, for two years." "And Dyke was not?" "No; that I am sure of." "Have you and Sir Charles been friendly since?" Mensmore's face hardened somewhat as he answered, "I have seen very little of him, and hardly ever spoken to him." "Why? Did you quarrel?" "N-no, but we just did not happen to meet. Bear in mind, I was in business some years ago, and I am not yet thirty." "Did you know his wife?" "I have never, to my knowledge, seen her." "How, then, can you account for the fact that she visited your flat at Raleigh Mansions on November 6." "I say that such a statement is mere nonsense." "But if it can be proved?" "It cannot." "I assure you, on my honor, that it can." "But look here, Bruce. Why should she come to see me? I question greatly if she knew of my existence." "Nevertheless, it is the fact." "I can only tell you it is not. I left London on November 8, and on the two previous evenings I dined alone. Mrs. Robinson, my housekeeper, can tell you that not another soul entered my flat for a week prior to my departure, except my sister and--and--I had forgotten--some workmen." "Some workmen?" "Yes; some fellows from a furniture warehouse." "What were they doing?" "Well, don't you see, I told you I was not well off, and my sister furnished my flat for me, in August last that was, but the drawing-room was left bare for a time. Just before I left for France she decided to refurnish her drawing-room, and she gave me the whole fit-out. The things were brought in by the men who brought her purchases."