So Gerald, pitying the young man's sorrow in his kindly heart, went back to his musty law papers, and Signor Jilted-in-Love looked out of the window in sulky silence. Yet not sulky, poor lad, for his heart was aching with the thought of his future life being passed without Carmela, having, with the fine chivalrous feelings of youth, vowed he'd marry no other lady. Soon Julian Roper arrived, and was welcomed with heartfelt joy by both gentlemen, who sprang with alacrity to their feet to greet him. He entered quiet and impassive as ever, but his sharp, blue eyes took in at a glance the haggard looks of the Australian. "You've been fretting, Mr. Monteith," he said, looking keenly at him. "Bah! don't mind me," said Ronald, peevishly; "I'm a little jaded with London gaiety. Tell us all you have learned." "I have not much to tell," said Roper, smoothly. "You read my letter?" "Yes, we read your letter," echoed Foster, quickly; "that Mrs. Dexter, said Mrs. Verschoyle had not been out of the house. Monteith saw Vassalla, who corroborated the fact, and showed me a letter from Mrs. Verschoyle, which proved Mrs. Dexter's statement to be true, but----" "Go on," said Roger, calmly, "I like but's--there is always a chance of another step being made when 'but' comes into the question. What did you do after seeing Vassalla?" addressing himself to the Australian. "I saw Miss Cotoner," burst out Monteith. "Humph!"--there was a world of meaning in Roper's voice, "and she said----" "That Mrs. Verschoyle had been on board." "I thought so." "And afterwards denied it." "Indeed!" Roper's eyebrows went up. "At whose instigation?" "Vassalla's," broke in Foster, hastily, before Ronald could speak. "I thought so," said the detective, calmly. "Why did you think so?" asked Monteith, impatiently. "In the first place," remarked Roper, complacently, "I had the honour of coming home in the same boat with Mrs. Verschoyle; secondly, I made her acquaintance as Signer Clement, and she liked me very much. I had frequent conversations with her, and told her I was a friend of Vassalla's." "But you don't know him," said Ronald. "All's fair in love, war, and--detective work," observed Roper, quietly; "I told Mrs. Verschoyle,--who I knew, from Mrs. Dexter's diary, was in love with Vassalla,--that the Marchese wanted to marry Carmela Cotoner, her sister." "That's true enough," said Foster; "he's engaged to her now," whereat Ronald winced. "The result was I aroused her jealousy, and she swore that she would prevent the marriage." "But how?" from Ronald, eagerly, fain to cling like a drowning man to a straw. "That's what I could not find out," said Roper, thoughtfully; "she said she could stop the marriage, and Vassalla would have to obey her. Now, what logical inference do you draw from this?" "That Vassalla committed the murder!" said Ronald, hastily.