Nick told Feversham about the uncle. "Peter Mannion is the man. He came to Washington to see his nephew's wife, of course, but principally for the purpose of getting hold of the Playfair property. Playfair himself, being wanted for murder, could not appear, so the scheme that he should die was concocted." "He is in hiding somewhere not far from here, I suppose?" "That is my opinion. And he will know every move that will be made in his behalf. It's a pretty plot, a bold plot, but it hasn't the slightest chance to win." "How did you discover it? And are you sure that the person who died in the Baltimore hospital was not Arthur Mannion?" "When I read the announcement of the death," said Nick, "my suspicions were aroused. Frauds of this kind are no new thing. The criminal records, both of America and Europe, are full of them. I had been waiting for Mannion or his friends to make some move, and the death scheme, under the circumstances, seemed just the thing. I went to Baltimore puzzled as to the manner in which the fraud had been accomplished, but, after my visit to the hospital, I had the whole thing before me as clear as day. Some of the details are, as yet, unknown to me, but the fraud itself, the purpose for which it was perpetrated, the plan of conduct which it suggests, all were revealed. "Peter Mannion, acting for Arthur Mannion, arranged the cunning deception, and I must say his work shows the hand of a master artist. The fellow who died was a petty thief, Knocker Jilson, whom I had known in New York, and who of late years has been hoboing it about the country. He must have fallen in with Arthur Mannion while Mannion was journeying under cover from Washington to Baltimore. Jilson fell sick and went to the hospital; went there, of course, with Mannion's money. But the scheme to trick the officers and the public was not broached to Jilson until he saw death in the near distance. It must have suggested itself to Mannion when he saw that Jilson, like himself, had half of his left forefinger missing, and that there was a resemblance between the two men in height, color of hair, and general appearance. What inducements were offered I can only guess. But I don't think I will be far out of the reckoning when I say that the offer meant pecuniary assistance to some relative of Jilson's; probably an old mother, whom he had neglected in her days of adversity. "As it might be unsafe for Arthur Mannion to appear at the hospital and see that the fraud was carried out, the work fell upon the shoulders of Peter, who appears to possess all the qualifications necessary for the purpose. But there was one thing that escaped the notice of the conspirators--the tattooing on Jilson's arm. It could never have been observed, otherwise there would have come a hitch in the proceedings. But the tattooing kills the fraud, for, with the missing finger, it positively identifies the dead man as Jilson."