It was absurd, after all, that any one should be punished for killing such a brute! He descended, a few minutes later, to his office, and found Miss Brown busy arranging a bowl of violets upon his desk. “Isn’t it horrible?” she cried, as he entered, carrying a bundle of papers under his arm. “I never have had such a shock!” “Do you know any of them, then?” Peter Ruff asked, straightening his tie in the mirror. “Of course!” she answered. “Why, I was in the same company as Letty Shaw for a year. I was at the Milan, too, last night. Letty was there having supper alone with Austen Abbott. We all said that there’d be trouble, but of course we never dreamed of this! Isn’t there any chance for him, Peter? Can’t he get off?” Peter Ruff shook his head. “I’m afraid not,” he answered. “They may be able to bring evidence of a quarrel and reduce it to manslaughter, but what you’ve just told me about this supper party makes it all the worse. It will come out in the evidence, of course.” “Captain Sotherst is such a dear,” Miss Brown declared, “and so good-looking! And as for that brute Austen Abbott, he ought to have been shot long ago!” Peter Ruff seated himself before his desk and hitched up his trousers at the knees. “No doubt you are right, Violet,” he said, “but people go about these things so foolishly. To me it is simply exasperating to reflect how little use is made of persons such as myself, whose profession in life it is to arrange these little matters. Take the present case, for example. Captain Sotherst had only to lay these facts before me, and Austen Abbott was a ruined man. I could have arranged the affair for him in half-a-dozen different ways. Whereas now it must be a life for a life--the life of an honest young English gentleman for that of a creature who should have been kicked out of the world as vermin!... I have some letters give you, Violet, if you please.” She swung round in her chair reluctantly. “I can’t help thinking of that poor young fellow,” she said, with a sigh. “Sentiment after office hours, if you please!” said Peter. Then there came a knock at the door. His visitor lifted her veil, and Peter Ruff recognized her immediately. “What can I do for you, Lady Mary?” he asked. She saw the recognition in his eyes even before he spoke, and wondered at it. “You know me?” she exclaimed. “I know most people,” he answered, drily; “it is part of my profession.” “Tell me--you are Mr. Peter Ruff,” she said, “the famous specialist in the detection of crime? You know that Brian Sotherst is my brother?” “Yes,” he said, “I know it! I am sorry--very sorry, indeed.” He handed her a chair. She seated herself with a little tightening of the lips. “I want more than sympathy from you, Mr. Ruff,” she warned him. “I want your help.” “It is my profession,” he admitted, “but your brother’s case makes intervention difficult, does it not?” “You mean--” she began. “Your brother himself does not deny his guilt, I understand.”