"That is true; but some methods may be more damnable than others, as in this case. Carr I know went away many years ago, as poor as a rat. I have heard my father speak of him. He came back ten years ago with no end of money. We helped him to invest it. As the income is eight thousand a year Dr. Herrick, you may guess what the principal amounted to. Treasure-hunting sounds innocent enough, even romantic, but in Carr's hands I can guess what a piece of rascality it was. The man could not run straight. If there was a possibility of going the wrong way, he took that in preference to following the right path." "Still," said Herrick approaching the main object of his visit, "the man had some good points. For instance, he was charitable to Mrs. Joyce." "Of West Kensington?" said Frith with a stare. "How did you know about her." "Joyce is a friend of mine. I was with him on a walking-tour when he received your letter asking him to call." "Nonsense. We never wrote the man a letter in our lives!" "Not on or about the twenty-third of July?" "No! I am positive. I should have known. It is true that he called to see us a few days after his mother's death, about the annuity which Carr ordered to be paid to Mrs. Joyce. He wanted to know if he would have it also. We communicated with Colonel Carr, who replied in his characteristic way that Joyce could go to the devil. Afterwards Joyce called a second time and we told him the message." "The second time was on the twenty-fourth of July?" "No! It was towards the end of April. We have not seen him since, nor, as I say, have we written him any letter." This concise explanation showed Herrick that Robin for reasons of his own had told a deliberate lie. Whatever he had come to London about, it was not to see the Solicitors as he had alleged to Herrick. Dr. Jim pulled his moustache reflectively. "Why was an annuity paid to Mrs. Joyce?" "I don't know," replied Frith, "and even if I did, it would be a breach of professional etiquette to tell you. A year after the Colonel came back to England--about nine years ago--he ordered my father to send a monthly cheque to Mrs. Joyce at an address at Hampstead. She sent a receipt every time, but she never came to see us, and we had absolutely nothing to do with her. When she changed her address, which she did several times, she notified the fact and we sent her allowance to the new place. That is all I know of the annuity. And as I say the Colonel stopped it when she died. What it was for, I don't know. The Colonel was dark in many ways." "He was evidently a most dangerous person," said, Herrick rising to take his leave. "However he has received the reward of his crimes. By the way I suppose all the business of Marsh is in your hands?"