“The Kazmah group gradually acquired control of the entire market, and we know for a fact that at one period during the war they were actually supplying smuggled cocaine, indirectly, to no fewer than twelve R.A.M.C. hospitals! The complete ramifications of the system we shall never know. “I come, now, to the tragedy, or series of tragedies, which brought about the collapse of the most ingenious criminal organization which has ever flourished, probably, in any community. I will dare to be frank. Sir Lucien was the victim of a woman’s jealousy. Am I to proceed?” Seton paused, glancing at his audience; and: “If you please,” whispered Rita. “Monte knows and I know—why—she killed him. But we don’t know—” “The nasty details,” said Quentin Gray. “Carry on, Seton. Are you agreeable, Irvin?” “I am anxious to know,” replied Irvin, “for I believe Sir Lucien deserved well of me, bad as he was.” Seton clapped his hands, and an Egyptian servant appeared, silently and mysteriously as is the way of his class. “Cocktails, Mahmoud!” The Egyptian disappeared. “There’s just time,” declared Margaret, gazing out across the prospect, “before sunset.” CHAPTER XLIII. THE STORY OF THE CRIME “You are all aware,” Seton continued, “that Sir Lucien Pyne was an admirer of Mrs. Irvin. God knows, I hold no brief for the man, but this love of his was the one redeeming feature of a bad life. How and when it began I don’t profess to know, but it became the only pure thing which he possessed. That he was instrumental in introducing you, Mrs. Irvin, to the unfortunately prevalent drug habit, you will not deny; but that he afterwards tried sincerely to redeem you from it I can positively affirm. In seeking your redemption he found his own, for I know that he was engaged at the time of his death in extricating himself from the group. You may say that he had made a fortune, and was satisfied; that is _your_ view, Gray. I prefer to think that he was anxious to begin a new life and to make himself more worthy of the respect of those he loved. “There was one obstacle which proved too great for him—Mrs. Sin. Although Juan Mareno was the spokesman of the group, Lola Mareno was the prompter. All Sir Lucien’s plans for weaning Mrs. Irvin from the habits which she had acquired were deliberately and malignantly foiled by this woman. She endeavored to inveigle Mrs. Irvin into indebtedness to you, Gray, as you know now. Failing in this, she endeavored to kill her by depriving her of that which had at the time become practically indispensable. A venomous jealousy led her to almost suicidal measures. She risked exposure and ruin in her endeavors to dispose of one whom she looked upon as a rival. “During Sir Lucien’s several absences from London she was particularly active, and this brings me to the closing scene of the drama. On the night that you determined, in desperation, Mrs. Irvin, to see Kazmah personally, you will recall that Sir Lucien went out to telephone to him?”