“As I learned, the intention was to have her here a day or two prior to the marriage and then force him, on the eve of his marriage, to another compromise or payment of a large sum. “Their programme was checked by the non-arrival of the sister in time. “About the attempt of Mr. Lannigan to rob the Sanborn house of the jewels, I know nothing; but, now that you tell me such was the case, I can see that that was intended and that I was to have been made use of to that end. “It was at first arranged that Mr. Lannigan was to attend the reception with me. But the fact that I learned that some Philadelphia people were to be there who knew him broke up that arrangement. “The sister of Clowes, Ellison’s wife, arrived in this country on the morning of the wedding. “That morning Mr. Ellison was informed that she was not dead, but was in this country and demanded to see him. “Mr. Ellison refused to believe it. “Mr. Lannigan says that the plan of summoning him from the reception was decided upon very hastily and that his valet was bribed to assist in it. “Clowes was sneaked into the house by the aid of the valet, and Mr. Ellison was taken to him in a room in which he had been placed. “There Clowes showed Mr. Ellison a letter from his wife, who declared that if he did not immediately see her in a carriage that was in a nearby street she would make her appearance and prove her former marriage to Mr. Sanborn. “Mr. Ellison, convinced that she was there, yielded, and took the coat and wig and false whiskers that Clowes had bought for the purpose and slipped out of the house, intending to return very quickly. “He entered the carriage, and, being an obstinate and high-spirited man, by the time the brother reached them they were in a bitter quarrel, in which Mr. Ellison had recklessly defied them to do their worst, declaring that he would lock them both up for extortion and conspiracy. “Then the brother, finding that Mr. Ellison was not to be handled, chloroformed him and drove him away. The valet, frightened over the result, fled from the city.” Nick had listened to this story in utter astonishment. The facts, as they had been revealed, were wholly different from what he had imagined. It was true, as Miss Rainforth in her second anonymous letter to him had hinted, that a woman was at the bottom of the disappearance. But the woman was by no means the one she had supposed. Miss Rainforth had believed that Mrs. Ladew was concerned in that disappearance, and such belief had been inspired by her jealousy of that woman. In the recital of Mrs. Ladew it was clear that she had no part in the disappearance, but only a guilty knowledge of the event. All that she knew had been told her by Lannigan, who had either given this to Mrs. Ladew for a purpose not apparent to Nick or in that weakness strong men often show in their relations with women. “What was expected to be gained by taking Mr. Ellison off?” asked Nick.