"I have done so!" "Already?" "Yes; he has a sister staying in London, and I know where to find her." "Indeed." "Yes; she is a Mrs. Taunton, and her husband is at artist; if we could see her and get her to show Mr. Monteith a portrait of the deceased, he would be able to recognise it." "Of course I should," said Ronald, eagerly. "Then," pursued Mr. Roper, without altering his voice; "there is another bit of evidence we must get hold of; the letter sent by the wife to Verschoyle, saying she would kill him." "But how can we obtain that?" "Well," shrugging his shoulders, "I am going on a forlorn hope. Mrs. Taunton may have it." "Nonsense," said Foster, incredulously. "I dare say it is--but still there is a chance that Verschoyle, when going to Australia, left some of his papers behind; a man does not care about dragging a lot of luggage all over the world, and it is very likely that Mrs. Taunton has some of her brother's things to look after, till he returned." "And if this paper is among the things?" "In that case," observed the detective; "we must get some writing of Mrs. Verschoyle, and compare the two; if they correspond, we shall have strong evidence that she is the criminal." "And then?" "Then I will go out to Malta, and see if I can ascertain her movements on the night in question. By the way," to Ronald, "what date was it you left Malta?" "I think it was the 13th of June." "Thank you," replied Roper, noting it in his pocket-book; "then I want to find out where she was on the 13th of June between seven and nine o'clock p.m." "But instead of you going to Malta, why couldn't Monteith ask Miss Cotoner?" "I won't," burst out Ronald, savagely; "what has she to do with it--she isn't the wife." "No, but she might be the wife's sister." Ronald thought a moment. "Yes, she might," he answered, pale as death; "but all the same, you haven't proved that yet, and I won't insult her by asking her." Roper sighed as he looked at this stubborn young man; it was no good trying to get assistance from him, so he would have to do the best he could. "Very well," he said, calmly; "we won't ask Miss Cotoner anything. The first thing to be done is to establish the identity of Ventin with Verschoyle, and then I will go to Malta and see about Mrs. Verschoyle." "But, how are we to find Mrs. Taunton?" asked Foster. "There is a meeting of the 'Society for the Improvement of Art,' to-night," said Roper, "and she is sure to be there with her husband." "Oh, I've got tickets," said Gerald; "so myself and Monteith will go, and we'll soon find out all about her and her brother; will you come, Monteith?" "No," doggedly. "Why not?" "Because I don't want to go on with this case any more." "I can understand your reason," said Roper; "you think Miss Cotoner may be mixed up in it." "No, I don't."