"'I will take it with me.'
"The account was made out, settled, and receipted, and our reporter, thanking the manager, left the shop--which, in accordance with modern ideas, was called an 'Emporium'--with the suit of clothes under his arm. He had a distinct motive in making the purchase. The inspector might take it into his head to make inquiries at the establishment, and our reporter had removed the only evidence of direct identification it could furnish.
"It was now six o'clock. His appointment with Mrs. Weston in Forston Street was fixed for eight. He had an hour and a half to spare, sufficient time to take a chop and a pancake and to arrange his ideas. Selecting a quiet-looking restaurant, he took a seat at an unoccupied table, ordered his chop and pancake, and began to write in the convenient reporter's book which he always kept about him. He did this for clearness; he felt that he was approaching an important point in the mission he had taken upon himself, and that his interview with Mrs. Weston was destined to be pregnant in results. It would be of assistance to him to set things down in writing instead of trusting entirely to memory. The memoranda he made are now set forth:
"Heads of circumstantial evidence which lead me to the belief that Mrs. Mary Weston, otherwise E. B. (initials worked in lady's handkerchief), is directly connected with the incidents which happened in Mrs. Middlemore's house in Gerard Street, Soho, on the night of the death of M. Felix.
"First--On that night a man was seen making a hurried escape from the house at the moment (presumably) M. Felix was drawing his last breath. The only description, if description it can be called, that has been given of this man is that he wore round his neck a red scarf.
"Second--Last night, or rather early this morning, on the occasion of my visit to Mrs. Weston's lovely daughter, I observed, before I left the young lady, a red silk scarf. Query: Might not this red scarf be the same as that which the man who escaped from the house in Gerard Street wore round his neck?
"Third--There was blood on the floor of M. Felix's room. There was no wound on the body of M. Felix. The blood, therefore, proceeded from a wound inflicted on the person of M. Felix's visitor. My discovery in M. Felix's room of the dagger, with a handle resembling a twisted snake and a ruby in its head to represent an eye, led to the incontrovertible conclusion that it was the weapon with which this wound was inflicted. The blood stains on the blade prove it. M. Felix, snatching up the dagger, flung it at his visitor.
"Fourth--Mrs. Weston has on her left arm a wound which is not yet healed. When I inadvertently grasped her arm she cried from pain. Inquiring whether I had hurt her she replied that her arm had 'been cut to the bone.' Query: Might not this be the wound that was inflicted by M. Felix's dagger?
"Fifth--In that case Mrs. Weston must have paid a visit to M. Felix on the night of his death. Query: Might she not have paid this visit disguised in a man's clothes?
"Sixth--The circumstantial evidence upon which this assumption is based: In the first place, Mrs. Weston last night, believing herself to be unobserved, threw a bundle into the River Thames. She refused to state what this bundle contained. I asked her. 'Will you tell them' (the policemen) 'what it was you threw into the river?' She replied, 'I cannot tell them. It might injure--it might ruin me.' Deduction--that if it were proved that the suit of clothes found in the river this morning belonged to her she would be placed in a position of extreme danger. The second piece of circumstantial evidence in connection with this suit of man's clothing comes from the establishment in Tottenham Court Road at which it was purchased. The salesman says that the purchaser was a lady. Mrs. Weston is a lady. She paid for it with a bank note, the number of which can be traced. The suit would fit a person of her height and build. In the third place--She gave a false name. This circumstance, supposing that she has committed a wrongful act, would weigh heavily against her. In the fourth place--She carried about with her an advertisement relating to the death of M. Felix, in which the proprietors of the Evening Moon pledged themselves to give the best legal assistance to any person or persons who are in any way interested in the death of M. Felix. Reasonable deduction--That this lady, having taken the trouble to cut out and preserve the advertisement with such conspicuous care, must be interested in his death.