"Well," I began, "the Leithcourts took Rannoch Castle, close to my
uncle's place, near Dumfries. I got to know them, of course, and often
shot with his party. One day, however, I was amazed to notice in one of
the rooms the photograph of a lady, the exact counterpart of that
picture which, I recollect, I told you when in Leghorn I had found torn
up on board the _Lola_. You recollect what I narrated about my strange
adventure, don't you?"
"I remember every word," was his answer. "Go on. What did you do?"
"Nothing. I held my tongue. But when I discovered that the fellow who
called himself Woodroffe--the man who had represented himself as the
owner of the _Lola_, and who, no doubt, had had a hand in breaking open
Hutcheson's safe in the Consulate--was engaged to Muriel, I became full
of suspicion."
"Well?"
"Woodroffe, after meeting me, disappeared--went to Hamburg, they said,
on business. Then other things occurred. A man and woman were found
murdered up in the wood about a mile and a half from the castle.
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