§4
The Old Man in the Corner ceased talking, and became once more absorbed in his favourite task of making knots in a bit of string.
"I see in the papers," I now put in thoughtfully, "that Miss Louisa Smithson has overcome her grief for the loss of her aristocratic lover by returning to the plebeian one."
"Yes," the funny creature replied dryly, "she is marrying Henry Carter. Funny, isn't it? But women are queer fish! One moment she looked on the man as a murderer, now, by marrying him, she actually proclaims her belief in his innocence."
"It certainly was abundantly proved," I rejoined, "that Henry Carter could not possibly have murdered Prince Orsoff."
"It was also abundantly proved," he retorted, "that no one else murdered the so-called Prince."
"You think, of course, that he was an ordinary impostor?" I asked.
"An impostor, yes," he replied, "but not an ordinary one. In fact I take off my hat to as clever a pair of scamps as I have ever come across."
"A pair?"
"Why, yes! It could not have been done alone!"