E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Mary Meehan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by Internet Archive/American Libraries (http://www.archive.org/details/americana) Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 35205-h.htm or 35205-h.zip: (https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/35205/pg35205-images.html) or (https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35205/35205-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive/American Libraries. See http://www.archive.org/details/whobyelizabethke00kentiala WHO? by ELIZABETH KENT Author of "The House Opposite," etc. G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press 1912 Copyright, 1912 By G. P. Putnam's Sons The Knickerbocker Press, New York [Illustration: "Here, quick, I hear footsteps on the stairs!" From the drawing by John Cassel, (Chapter XX)] CONTENTS I. THE WOMAN IN THE COMPARTMENT II. "MRS. PETER THOMPKINS" III. THE TRIBULATIONS OF A LIAR IV. ON THE SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY V. THE DETECTIVE DETECTS VI. THE MYSTERIOUS MAID VII. THE INQUEST VIII. LADY UPTON IX. THE JEWELS X. THE TWO FRENCHMEN XI. THE INSPECTOR INTERVIEWS CYRIL XII. A PERILOUS VENTURE XIII. CAMPBELL REMONSTRATES XIV. WHAT IS THE TRUTH? XV. FINGER PRINTS IN THE DUST XVI. THE STORY OF A WRONG XVII. GUY RELENTS XVIII. A SLIP OF THE TONGUE XIX. AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR XX. "I KNOW IT, COUSIN CYRIL" XXI. THE TRUTH XXII. CAMPBELL RESIGNS Who? CHAPTER I THE WOMAN IN THE COMPARTMENT It was six o'clock on a raw October morning, and the cross Channel boat had just deposited its cargo of pale and dishevelled passengers at Newhaven. Cyril Crichton, having seen his servant place his bags in a first-class compartment, gazed gloomily at the scene before him. It was the first time in three years that he had set foot on his native shore and the occasion seemed invested with a certain solemnity. "What a mess I have made of my life! Yet God knows I meant well!" He muttered in his heart. "If I hadn't been such a good-natured ass, I should never have got into all this trouble. But I won't be made a fool of any longer. I will consult Campbell as to what--" He paused. It suddenly occurred to him that he had forgotten to let the latter know of his impending arrival. "I will send him a wire," he decided. The telegraph-office was farther off than he expected, and to Crichton's disgust, he found it shut. He had forgotten that in well-regulated England, even matters of life and death have to wait till the offices open at eight A.M.