“We can shelve ‘George Headland’ in this instance, Mr. Narkom,” he said, as the superintendent led forward the pair for the purpose of introducing them, and suffered himself to be presented in the name of Cleek.

The effect of this was electrical; would, in fact, had he been a vain man, have been sufficient to gratify him to the fullest, for the girl, with a little “Oh!” of amazement, drew back and stood looking at him with a sort of awe that rounded her eyes and parted her lips, while the man leaned heavily upon the back of a convenient chair and looked and acted as one utterly overcome.

“Cleek!” he repeated, after a moment’s despairful silence.  “You, sir, are that great man?  This is a misfortune, indeed.”

“A misfortune, my friend?  Why a ‘misfortune,’ pray?  Do you think the riddle you have brought is beyond my powers?”

“Oh, no; not that—­never that!” he made reply.  “If there is any one man in the world who could get at the bottom of it, could solve the mystery of the lion’s change, the lion’s smile, you are that man, sir, you.  That is the misfortune:  that you could do it, and yet—­I cannot expect it, cannot avail myself of this great opportunity.  Look!  I am doing it all on my own initiative, sir—­all for the sake of Zelie and that dear, lovable old chap, her father.  I have saved fifty-eight pounds, Mr. Cleek.  I had hoped that that might tempt a clever detective to take up the case; but what is such a sum to such a man as you?”

“If that is all that stands in the way, don’t let it worry you, my good fellow,” said Cleek, with a smile.  “Put your fifty-eight pounds in your pocket against your wedding-day, and—­good luck to you.  I’ll take the case for nothing.  Now then, what is it?  What the dickens did you mean just now when you spoke about ‘the lion’s change’ and ’the lion’s smile’?  What lion—­Nero?  Here, sit down and tell me all about it.”

“There is little enough to tell, Heaven knows,” said young Scarmelli, with a sigh, accepting the invitation after he had gratefully wrung Cleek’s hand, and his fiancee, with a burst of happy tears, had caught it up as it slipped from his and had covered it with thankful kisses.  “That, Mr. Cleek, is where the greatest difficulty lies—­there is so little to explain that has any bearing upon the matter at all.  It is only that the lion—­Nero, that is, the chevalier’s special pride and special pet—­seems to have undergone some great and inexplicable change, as though he is at times under some evil spell, which lasts but a moment and yet makes that moment a tragical one.  It began, no one knows why nor how, two weeks ago, when, without hint or warning, he killed the person he loved best in all the world—­the chevalier’s eldest son.  Doubtless you have heard of that?”

“Yes,” said Cleek.  “But what you are now telling me sheds a new light upon the matter.  Am I to understand, then, that all that talk, on the bills and in the newspapers, about the lion being a savage and a dangerous one is not true, and that he really is attached to his owner, and his owner’s family?”