When he lay in the foul huts of the natives, recovering from his fever, when he searched the world through for traces of his lost love, when, under the starry skies of the Australian bush, he pressed on desperately, doggedly, unflinchingly, following the trail of his divine lady--this was the thought he had--Diana! That some day she should be his! The past sad years should be blotted out and forgotten. All the misery of life would vanish as in a cloud. “Rot!” said Bobbie. Mr. Dempsi dissolved into tears. “Really, Diana, I can’t stand that fellow,” said Bobbie, when the devoted lover had flooded from the room. Diana lay back limp in her chair, fanning herself with her handkerchief. “Bobbie, he’s--he’s terrible!” she moaned. “Bobbie, there must be some other solution than murder?” Mr. Dempsi, in his temperamental way, recovered his equilibrium before he had crossed the hall. Julius Superbus was making up The Study fire as he came in--Dempsi went straight to him, laid his hand on his shoulder, too overcome for speech. “Ah, my friend!” he murmured. Julius, at a loss for a suitable response, played for safety. “Good-evening, sir,” he said, and patted his fellow Roman on the head. “The one friend I have in this house--the one understanding soul! The one honest creature that is faithful to my memory.” Mr. Dempsi invariably spoke of himself as though he had recently returned from a brief holiday in heaven. “I wouldn’t say that, sir,” said Julius generously. “There are others.” “I do say it! I, Guiseppi Dempsi! Who denies my right?” he demanded fiercely. Julius backed off. “Not me, sir, I’m sure,” he said hastily. “It’s the last thing in the world I’d dream of doing.” Guiseppi grew gentle again. “The moment I saw you, I said: ‘Here is a man with vision, a big man, a man of sensibility! Superbus has a heart, feeling, _simpatico_--a man of affairs, a keen-eyed officer of the law!” Mr. Superbus moved uneasily. He had all an amateur detective’s fear of misrepresentation. He coughed. “Not exactly an officer of the law, sir. In a sense I am, and in a sense I’m not, though I used to be when I was a bailiff in the County Court.” Dempsi smiled. “But now you are a detective. A disciple of the immortal Holmes--what a man, what ingenuity! You are this--you told me?” Julius hastened to correct a wrong impression. “Private, sir, private. As I explained to you, sir, I was brought in----” Dempsi never allowed anybody else to talk. “To watch for a despicable scoundrel,” said Dempsi hotly. “That such should be at liberty! Double Dan! Even his name is deplorable! Ah! You are surprised that I have heard of this violator of sanctuaries? You clever detective, you are astounded and flabbergasted that I also know of this pestiferous brigand? Superbus, I ask a favour: when you have discovered him, send for me.” There was a significant glitter in his eyes. His half-closed hands already dripped with the blood of his victim. Mr. Superbus was spellbound.