We wandered on from room to room. There must, I think, have been quite thirty sleeping apartments, guests' rooms, etc, all furnished in that same glaring style, that greenery-yellow abomination miscalled art. "The next room," explained my secretary, as we approached the end of the corridor, "is Mrs Heaton's boudoir. I expect she's in there. I saw Dalton, her maid, enter a moment ago." "Oh, for Heaven's sake, leave her alone!" I said, turning at once on my heel. I had no wish to meet that awful rejuvenated hag again. I fancy Gedge smiled, but if he did he was very careful to hide his amusement from me. He was, without doubt, a very well-trained secretary. The thought of Mabel Anson crossed my mind. All the recollections of the dinner on the previous night, and the startling discoveries I subsequently made recurred to me at that moment, and I felt dazed and bewildered. This painted and powdered person could surely not be my wife, when I loved Mabel Anson with all my soul! Only yesterday I had sat at her side at dinner, and had felt the pressure of her soft, delicate hand upon mine. No; it could not be that I was actually married. Such a thing was utterly impossible, for surely no man could go through the marriage ceremony without knowing something about it. Hickman's treachery angered me. Why, I wondered, had he enticed me to his rooms in order to make that extraordinary attempt upon my life? The wound upon my head was undoubtedly due to the blow he had dealt me. The theory that I had accidentally knocked my head against the marble statue and broken it was, I felt assured, only one of that fool Britten's brilliant ideas with which he misled his too-confiding patients. If this were so, then all the incidents subsequent to my recovery of consciousness were part of the conspiracy which had commenced on the previous night with Hickman's attempt. We descended the stairs, passing the footman Gill, who with a bow, said-- "I hope, sir, you feel better." "A little," I answered. "Bring me a whisky and soda to the library." And the man at once disappeared to do my bidding. "I suppose he think's I'm mad," I remarked. "This is a very remarkable _menage_, to say the least." In the great hall, as I walked towards the library, was a long mirror, and in passing I caught sight of my own figure in it. I stopped, and with a loud cry of wonder and dismay stood before it, glaring at my own reflection. The bandages about my head gave me a terribly invalid appearance, but reflected by that glass I saw a sight which struck me dumb with amazement. I could not believe my eyes; the thing staggered belief. On the morning before I had shaved as usual, but the glass showed that I now wore a well cut, nicely reddish-brown beard! My face seemed to have changed curiously. I presented an older appearance than on the day before. My hair seemed to have lost its youthful lustre, and upon my brow were three distinct lines--the lines of care.