"It was weird," said Handford. "I knew intimate friends of the murdered man." "A crime for which no logical reason existed," continued the colonel. "It puzzled everybody, till Hardcastle succeeded where his superior officers at Scotland Yard had failed. I believe he's still young. But that was less amazing than the German spy--you remember now, Sir Walter? The spy had been too clever for England and France--thanks to a woman who helped him. Peter Hardcastle got to know her; then he actually disguised himself as the woman--of course without her knowledge--arrested her, and kept an appointment that she had made with the spy. What was the spy called? I forget." "Wundt," said Felix Fayre-Michell. "No, I don't think so. Hardt or Hardfelt, or something like that." "Anyway, a jolly wonderful thing. He's the first man at this business, and I hope you'll be able to secure him." "If he comes, Sir Walter, don't let it be known that he is here. Keep it a secret. If Hardcastle could come down as your guest, and nobody know he was here, it might help him to succeed." "And if he fails, then I hope you'll invite the Psychical Research Society." Sir Walter let the chatter flow past him; but he concentrated on the name of Peter Hardcastle. He remembered the story of the spy, and the sensation it had aroused. Millicent Fayre-Michell also remembered it. "Mr. Hardcastle declined to let his photograph be published in the halfpenny papers, I remember," she said. "That struck me as so wonderful. There was a reason given--that he did not wish the public to know him by sight. I believe he is never seen as himself, and that he makes up just as easily to look like a woman as a man." "Some people believe he is a woman." "No! You don't say that?" "To have made up as that German's friend and so actually reached his presence--nay, secured him! It is certainly one of the most remarkable pages in the annals of crime," said Ernest Travers. "Is he attached to Scotland Yard still, or does he work independently?" asked Miles Handford. "I don't know yet. Mannering has already urged me to consult Scotland Yard at once. Indeed, he was going to approach them to-day. Mr. Hardcastle shall certainly be invited to do what he can. I shall leave no stone unturned to reach the truth. Yet what even such a man can do is difficult to see. The walls of the Grey Room are solid, the floor is of sound oak, the ceiling is nine or ten inches thick, and supported by immense beams. The hearth is modern, and the chimney not large enough to admit a human being. This was proved twelve years ago." "Give him a free hand all the same--with servants and everybody. I should ask him to come as your guest, then nobody need know who he is, and he can pursue his investigations the more freely."