XXXIII. At the Morgue 255 XXXIV. George Gerard in Danger 260 XXXV. On a Voyage of Discovery 268 XXXVI. Kergariou’s Wife 274 XXXVII. The Tenant from Beechampton 280 XXXVIII. Celia’s Lovers 285 XXXIX. On Suspicion 301 XL. Mr. Leopold asks Irrelevant Questions 307 XLI. Mrs. Evitt makes a Revelation 312 XLII. The Undertaker’s Evidence 325 XLIII. An Old Lady’s Diary 332 XLIV. Three Witnesses 338 XLV. The Hunt for Desrolles 341 Epilogue 349 THE CLOVEN FOOT. CHAPTER I. THE HEIR PRESUMPTIVE. The air was thick with falling snow, and the country side looked a formless mass of chilly whiteness, as the south-western mail train carried John Treverton on a lonely midnight journey. There were not many people in the train on that bleak night, and Mr. Treverton had a second-class compartment to himself. He had tried to sleep, but had failed ignominiously in the endeavour, waking with a start, after five minutes’ doze, and remaining broad awake for an hour at a time pondering upon the perplexities of his life, and hating himself for the follies that had made it what it was. It had been a very hard life of late, for the world had gone ill with John Treverton. He had begun his career with a small fortune and a commission in a crack regiment, and, after wasting his patrimony and selling his commission, he was now a gentleman at large, living as best he might, no one but himself knew how. He was going to a quiet village in Devonshire, a far-away nook under the shadow of Dartmoor, in obedience to a telegram that told him a rich kinsman was dying, and summoned him to the death-bed. The day had been when he hoped to inherit this kinsman’s property; not because the old man had ever cared for him, but because he, John, was the only relative Jasper Treverton had in the world; but that hope had vanished when the lonely old bachelor adopted an orphan girl to whom he was reported to have attached himself strongly. The _ci-devant_ Captain had never seen this young person, and it is not to be supposed that he cherished very kindly feelings towards her. He had made up his mind that she was a deep and designing creature, who would, of course, play her cards in such a manner as to induce old Jasper Treverton to leave her everything.