Anthony glanced across at the Crown Prince who was shewing decided signs of discomfort at the turn the investigation had taken. Evidently he could see by now—almost as clearly as Mr. Bathurst did—that it was going to be extremely difficult, to say nothing of being, perhaps, extraordinarily indiscreet and risky to keep Bannister and Godfrey completely ignorant of the matter of the blackmailing letters. This last love-escapade of Alexis had certainly proved to be most unfortunate for him! He was inclined to rail at Fate for the maliciously-mischievous trick that she had played him. After all, look at it any way you like—he was a Royal personage—heir to a throne—not by any means an ordinary person—he should have been immune from trouble of this kind—Fate should have recognized—— Bannister broke in upon his rebellious musings. He turned sharply towards Godfrey and the statement and question he put to him were sufficiently startling to rouse even Anthony himself to an acuter alertness. As the Inspector spoke Anthony recognised that here was a Police-Officer of imagination far beyond the ordinary. Of course he had been aware all the time of Bannister’s almost International reputation. But Mr. Bathurst it must be observed was not a slavish believer in the value of mere reputations. He knew the strength of the hand that Dame Fortune frequently played towards their establishment. In emphasis of this point he had been known to quote more than once, “Reputations are what people think of us—character is what God and His Angels know of us.” Bannister’s question proved to him conclusively that whatever qualities might be lacking in the Inspector’s composition—imagination was not one of them. “Godfrey,” rapped Bannister, “you’ll find that the dead girl in the mortuary yonder is Lois Travers—what do you say to my idea—eh?” The audacity of the theory appeared to take Godfrey’s breath away for he was some appreciable time before he replied. “Can’t say, sir.” He shook his head. “I think I see the direction your thoughts are taking, but——” He shook his head again—doubtfully. The idea struck Anthony as containing great possibilities. He rose from the chair in which he had been seated. “It’s certainly worth testing, Inspector,” he exclaimed. He jerked his head almost imperceptibly towards Miss Carruthers. Bannister caught his meaning. “Do you feel that you could submit to the ordeal of viewing the body, Miss Carruthers?” he asked. The lady thus addressed shuddered. “Please don’t ask me to do that,” she replied—white to the lips. “But I can’t believe it’s Lois. It’s terrible to think that——” She stopped as a sudden thought appeared to strike her. “Ask Captain Willoughby to look,” she exclaimed. “He’s almost certain to be at the ‘Cassandra’—’phone from here.”