"Bless you, there's no confidence about this, professor. You'll have to tell the police what you know, and they'll put it all in print." "True! True!" Bocaros took a turn up and down the room, then passed his lean hand through his long hair. "Mr. Tracey, you are a clever man. I can rely on you to help me." "Help you!" Tracey looked sharply at the professor. "What's that?" "I mean help me with the police. I am not accustomed to deal with these matters. They will ask me questions." "Well, what if they do? You can answer them, I reckon." "Yes, yes. But you know how suspicious the police are." "They may be in foreign lands where you hail from. But I guess they're too pig-headed here to think much." "This woman--Flora--was murdered in Ajax Villa. It is only a short distance from my house. They may think----" "That you killed her? That's rubbish. It's queer, certainly, that she should have come to end her life in that way so near to your shanty, but there's not much chance of the police accusing you. Did you know Fane in any way?" "I never even heard of him." "Not from Miss Mason? You know her?" "I have only spoken half a dozen words to her," said Bocaros, twisting his hands together. "You know how shy I am. Your lady----" "Gerty B.," put in Tracey. "Yes, Miss Baldwin. She introduced me to Miss Mason. But we had little speech together. Your young lady might have mentioned the name of Fane, but I forget--I forget." And Bocaros passed his hand over his brow again. "You know how absent I am." "Yes, yes," said Luther Tracey soothingly, for he saw that the man was growing excited. "You lie down and go slow. Tell me about this cousin of yours." "She is my first cousin," explained Bocaros, sitting down, and keeping himself down by the strongest of efforts. "My father's sister married a man called Calvert, and----" "Calvert! Why, that's the name of the man Miss Mason's going to be married to!" "Is it?" The professor stared. "I never knew. Flora told me that her father's brother had a son called Arnold." "That's the name. He's an actor at one of the big shows. Arnold Calvert. You must have heard of him." "Never as an actor." "Well, I guess he's not got much of a reputation. Just now he's acting in a piece at the Frivolity Theatre. _The Third Man_ is the name of the piece. I don't think much of it myself, or of him as----" Bocaros threw up a protesting hand. "We have more important things to talk about than this young man." "Well, I don't know. It's queer that he should be the cousin of the woman who was killed in the house of the brother-in-law of the girl he's engaged to. Do you know Calvert?"