“Certainly, pray ask as many as you please,” replied Mr. Ludgrove with a smile.

“How did you learn of my interest in this affair? So far as I am aware, it is not common property.”

“I am afraid that Inspector Hanslet was indiscreet,” replied Mr. Ludgrove. “When he first took over the case, he came here and had a long talk with me. He said then that he would put the facts before one whose powers of deduction were unrivalled. When I next saw him, he happened to mention your name, which I already knew as that of the boldest and most enterprising scientist of the age. It required very little intelligence on my part to infer that you would be interested in these extraordinary happenings, and that you were scarcely likely to accept the official explanation of them.”