"But how was it that Mr. Mallow smelt sandal-wood on your clothes, if this was so?"
Boldini explained. "There was a smart coloured waistcoat," he said, "which belonged to Carson, which I admired very much. When Drabble took the clothes from me I kept that back without his knowledge. When I met Mr. Mallow I was wearing it, and, of course, it was scented by the box. That was how he noticed the perfume."
"Did you never suspect that this smell was in some way connected with the murder?"
"No; how should I? I did not know that the real Carson had been killed; and, although I myself read the leader in the Morning Planet--which was the only report of the case I did read--I never thought for a moment that the dead man was the one I was representing. When you, Miss Bellairs, spoke to me of this sandal-wood odour and Athelstane Place, I was really and truly ignorant of the murder. It was only on reflection I put two and two together. I remembered the severed hand and the sandal-wood perfume referred to in the paper; I knew also that the Carson I represented came from India. Then it was that I made Semberry tell me the truth. He admitted the murder, but swore he was ignorant as to who committed it. Then I married you, Miss Bellairs, and got the money."
"For the Anarchists or for yourself?"
"For myself and Clara," admitted Boldini, shamelessly. "I hated the Anarchists, and grasped the opportunity to be free from them. I sold out the stocks and shares, and transferred the proceeds to my real name at the Crédit Lyonnais. I have the twenty thousand pounds here in circular notes, because I have to give them to Semberry to-morrow."
"Why did you not give them to-day?"
"Because I would only give them to him in return for the sandal-wood box and the clothes of Carson--which it contains."
"Why do you want that chest?"
Boldini showed himself in his true colours. "I like Carson's clothes," said he, with the simplicity of a child. "He had nice clothes. I am to have them to-morrow, and then I will pay him the twenty thousand pounds."