"Certainly, and at my own price," he answered at last in his thin, rasping voice. "The stuff, one of the most dangerous and little-known compounds, not obtainable through any ordinary channel, is most difficult to handle. But I saw that it was not the first time she'd had azotics in her possession," and he smiled grimly, rendering his face the more hideous. "From her attitude and conversation I should imagine her to be a very ingenious, but not altogether desirable acquaintance," he added. "And didn't you note anything by which you might recognise her again?" I inquired. "Surely young girls are not in the habit of buying poison in that manner!" "Well," croaked the distorted old fellow, with a grin, "I did notice one thing, certainly. She wore a brooch of rather uncommon pattern. It was a playing-card in gold and enamel--a tiny five of diamonds." "A five of diamonds!" I gasped. At that instant the truth became plain, although I hesitated to believe it. The brooch was Eva Glaslyn's; one that she had worn only three days before when I was last down at Riverdene, and while on the water with her I had remarked its quaintness. Could it be possible that she had actually purchased a deadly drug of this hideous old man? Or were there other brooches of similar pattern and design? Thus were increased the shadows which seemed to envelop her. My soul seemed killed within me. CHAPTER THIRTEEN. DICK BECOMES MYSTERIOUS. The startling statement of Morris Lowry caused me very considerable uneasiness. On my return to Grey's Inn, however, I made no mention of our strange conversation to Dick, who returned that evening rather late after a heavy day of news-hunting. Old Lowry had evidently been in a confidential mood that afternoon, and I had no right to expose any secret of his extraordinary business. Therefore I kept my own counsel, pondering deeply over his statement when Cleugh had gone forth to meet Lily, wondering whether it might have been some other woman who had worn the brooch with the five of diamonds. I sat at the window gloomily watching the light fade from the leaden London sky. The evening was stifling, for no fresh air penetrated to that small open space, surrounded as it was by miles and miles of smoke-blackened streets, and as night crept on the heavens became a dull red with the reflection of the myriad lights of the city. Heedless of all, I strove to find some solution of the enigma. Inquiries made by Boyd, one of the shrewdest detectives in London, had failed utterly. He was now relying solely upon me. There was but one clue, that given by the landlord of the house, and this I had followed with the result that the circumstances had only grown more and more bewildering. As far as could be discerned there was no motive whatever in taking the lives of either the man or the woman, while the escape of Eva was an astounding fact of which I longed for an explanation from her own lips.