Mayne Lennox! Mention of that name brought before Chisholm's eyes a grim and ghastly vision of the past--a past which he had fondly believed was long ago dead and buried. There arose the face that had haunted him so continuously, that white countenance which appeared to him in his dreams and haunted him even in the moments of his greatest triumphs, social and political. The shabbily attired man patiently awaited an answer, his eyes fixed upon the man before him. "Yes," answered Dudley at last, with a strenuous effort to calm the tumultuous beating of his heart. "I was once acquainted with a man of that name." His visitor slowly changed his position, and a strange half-smile played about the corners of his mouth, as though that admission was the sum of his desire. "May I ask under what circumstances you met this person?" he inquired, adding: "I am not asking through any idle motive of curiosity, but in order to complete a series of inquiries I have in hand, it is necessary for certain points to be absolutely clear." "We met at a card-party in a friend's rooms," Dudley said. "I saw something of him at Hastings, where he was spending the summer. Afterwards, I believe, he went abroad. But we have not met for years." "For how many years?" "Oh, seven, or perhaps eight! I really could not say exactly." "Are you certain that Mayne Lennox went abroad?" inquired Cator as though suddenly interested. "Yes. He told me that he had lived on the Continent for a great many years, mostly in Italy, I think. He often spoke of a villa he had outside Perugia, and I presume that he returned there." "Ah, exactly!" said his visitor, again twisting his moustache, as was his habit when deep in thought. "And you have not seen him for some years?" "No. But is it regarding Major Lennox that you are making inquiries? He surely had no political connections?" "My inquiries concern him indirectly," admitted the man with the hollow cheeks. "I am seeking to discover him." "Surely that will not be difficult. A retired officer is usually found with the utmost ease." "Yes. But from inquiries I have already made I have come to the conclusion that he returned to England again. If so, my difficulty increases." Dudley was silent for some moments. Was this man telling the truth? he wondered. "May I ask what is your object in discovering him?" he inquired, feeling that as he had now answered Cator's questions he might be permitted to ask some himself. "I desire to ascertain from him certain facts which will elucidate what remains at present a profound mystery," the other replied. "Indeed, a statement by him will place in our hands a weapon by which we can thwart certain of the Powers who are launching a powerful combination against us."