One can easily imagine that from amongst such a slough might spring at any time the weed of tragedy.
In other words, this man Morris Barnes moved amongst a class of people to whom murder, if it could be safely accomplished, would be little more than an incident." The Colonel lit a cigar and leaned back in his chair.

He was enjoying himself immensely.
"The curious part of the affair is, though," he continued deliberately, "that this murder, as I suppose we must call it, bears none of the hall-marks of rude passion.

On the contrary, it suggests in more ways than one the touch of the finished artist.

The man's whole evening has been traced without the slightest difficulty.

He dined at the Cafe Royal alone, promenaded afterwards at the Alhambra, and drove on about supper-time to the Continental.