She had been taken in a _decollete_ dress, a handsome evening costume, which gave her an entirely different character from the plain dress she had worn when we had first met. It was a handsome bodice, beautifully trimmed; and her face, still childlike in its innocence, peered out upon me with a tantalising smile. Around her slim throat was a necklet consisting of half a dozen rows of seed-pearls, from which some thirty amethysts of graduated sizes were suspended, a delicate necklet probably of Indian workmanship. The photograph was beautifully taken by the first of the Paris photographers. There was no address on the envelope; the sheet of note-paper was quite plain. Without doubt this picture had been in his possession some considerable time. The detective, who had covered the dead man's face with a handkerchief, had passed into the bedroom and was searching the chest of drawers, merely out of curiosity, I suppose, when my eyes caught sight of a scrap of paper in the fireplace, and I picked it up. It was half-charred, but I smoothed it out, and then found it to be a portion of a torn letter. Three words only remained; but they were words which were exceedingly curious. They were "_expose her true_..." The letter had been torn in fragments and carefully burned even to this fragment, but it had only half consumed, and probably fallen from the bars. At first I was prompted to hand it to the detective; but on reflection resolved to retain it. I alone held a key to the mystery, and was resolved to act independently with care and caution in an endeavour to elucidate the extraordinary affair. In a few moments the officer made his re-appearance, saying-- "It's strange, very strange, that the valet doesn't come back. If he's not here very soon, I shall commence to suspect him of having some hand in the affair." Then, after a pause, during which his eyes were fixed upon the man whose face was hidden, he added, "I wonder whether, after all, a crime has been committed?" "That remains for you to discover," I replied. "There seems no outward sign of such a thing. The doctor has found no mark of violence." "True," he said shrewdly. Then, with his eyes fixed upon the carpet, he suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! what's this?" and bending, picked up something which he placed in the hollow of his hand, exposing it to my view. It was a purely feminine object. A tiny pearl button from a woman's glove. "A lady's been here recently, that's very evident. We must find out who she was." "A lady!" I gasped, wondering in an instant whether Aline had called upon him. "The outer door is open all day, I think you said," he went on. "Yes." "In that case it is probable that if she came during this man Ash's absence, nobody would see her." "Very probably," I said. "We can only wait until Ash returns."