"Ah!" cried Lucian exultantly, "then Ferruci must have been the man in the back yard!"
"What do you mean by that?" asked Jorce in a puzzled tone.
"Why, that Count Ferruci has had to do with a crime committed some months ago in Pimlico. A man called Mark Vrain was murdered, as you may have seen in the papers, Doctor, and I believe Ferruci murdered him."
"If I remember rightly," said Jorce with calmness, "the man in question was murdered shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve. If that is so, Ferruci could not have killed him, because, as I said before, he was here at half-past ten on that night."
"I don't say he actually killed the man," explained Lucian eagerly, "but he certainly employed some one to strike the blow, else what was he doing in the Jersey Street yard on that night? You can say what you like, Dr. Jorce, but that man is guilty of Mark Vrain's death."
"No," replied Jorce coolly, "he's not, for the simple reason that Vrain is not dead."
"Not dead?" repeated Lucian, recalling Diana's belief.
"No! For the last few months Mark Vrain, under the name of Michael Clear, has been in this asylum!"