"Also arranged for," Mr. Thomson acknowledged. "It was really a very well-planned affair. The man Kansky's passion for Naida was proved by the letters produced in court. His attack upon our young friend here provided ample excuse for Mr. Martin's vigorous action. The witnesses, of course, were able to declare that Kansky was in the act of committing a probable murder, and that Martin's contra attack, with its unfortunate results, saved your life." "And Naida?" Rose enquired. Mr. Thomson smiled. "How should we be able to deal with these little affairs," he observed, "but for the vagaries, my dear Miss Mindel, of your wonderful sex? Naida was a very willing accomplice in our little scheme. For seven years in a brutalised Russia she had lived under that man's dominance. When she was fortunate enough to escape over here, it was certainly not with the idea of again submitting to it. I hear the waiter. Any more questions?" "For whom were you acting?" I asked eagerly. "How did this affair come into your hands?" Mr. Thomson seemed to be listening to the roar of the sea, which came to us pleasantly through the open window. "Ah!" he murmured. "That again is a question the answer to which I fear must be postponed. Shall we call it Conundrum Number Four?" CONUNDRUM NUMBER FIVE THE TRAGEDY AT GREYMARSHES "Spring," Leonard declared, fanning himself with his straw hat and breathing in the ozone from the waves which rippled up to within a few yards of our chairs, "is upon us." "I must get some new frocks," Rose murmured absently. "To-morrow," I reflected, "I must go through my tennis flannels." "Jolly good-looking girl that was with the party from the Grange at the show last night," Leonard continued reminiscently. "I liked the way her eyelashes curled. Jolly fine figure, too." "The tutor man is quite handsome," Rose ruminated. "He ties his black evening bow just the way I like." "Handsome!" I scoffed. "Why, he's got a cast in his eye! He reminds me, more than anything, of the plaster villains in the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's." "I didn't notice any cast," Rose sighed, her eyes turned dreamily seawards. "He looked at me hard enough, too, when I was dancing." "They're a strange crew at the Grange," I observed, lighting a cigarette from the case which Leonard had thrown me. "I can't altogether size them up." Rose turned towards me reproachfully. "You are becoming obsessed, Maurice, with your love of adventures," she complained gently. "You think of nothing else. Surely, in this dear, old-world place we can have a little rest; we can drop the tenseness of the last few months and become just simple, natural human beings again." "The chief didn't send us down here for nothing," I ventured.