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"With making away with Mr. Neville St.- Oh, come, you can't be

charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of

it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been

twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake."

"If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime

has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally

detained."

"No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said

Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife."

"It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner.

"God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My

God! What an exposure! What can I do?"

Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him

kindly on the shoulder.