“He inherited the title on the death of Sir Burnham, whilst he was on service in Archangel.  Being in Russia, I conclude that he was not accessible from the Eurasian doctor’s point of view.  Directly he became accessible, this invitation arrived; and it is perfectly clear that the fate intended for him was that which so nearly befell yourself!  Remember, I have seen the gun mounted on the tower of Friar’s Park and I assure you it was not placed there yesterday.  In short, I have no doubt that it was put there in anticipation of Sir Marcus’s visit and only employed in your case as a sort of afterthought.

“The Red House plot was the next move on the part of the Eurasian, and it succeeded almost faultlessly.  The accident at the docks prevented the scheme being carried out in all its details, but it did not entirely dislocate the murderer’s arrangements, for it left us with no better clew to his identity than the statuette of the cat.”

“The presence of that statuette calls for some explanation, Gatton,” I said.

Gatton very carefully lighted his pipe.

“That is true,” he admitted, “but I will come to this side of the case later; at present I am summing up the evidence against Damar Greefe—­who is certainly the acting partner in this series of outrages against the members of the house of Coverly.  Observe the ingenuity of the Red House plot.

“He hoped by this not only to bring about the death of Sir Marcus, but also, by conviction for his murder, the death of the next heir, Mr. Eric Coverly!  In fact, so well was his plan conducted, that even now—­although we know poor Sir Eric to have been innocent—­you will note that he has been unable to establish an alibi even by a full confession of his movements on the night of the crime!  In other words, if he had not fallen a victim to the precipitancy of his enemies, to-day his name would be under as black a cloud as ever.  It was with the idea of clearing him that I caused those paragraphs to be distributed to the press, in which I anticipated the existence of such a confession as he had actually made—­but, I may add, of one more convincing than that which we heard Miss Merlin read.”

“Do you mean, Gatton,” I said, looking hard at him, “that by professing to have established the innocence of Eric Coverly, you hoped to draw down upon him the renewed activities of his enemies?”

Gatton looked rather guilty, but: 

“I do admit it!” he said.  “Nevertheless he did not fall a victim to this trap which I had laid for him in his own best interests.  After all, you must admit that his death was an accident; for he suffered the penalty of your misdeeds.”

“My misdeeds!” I cried.

Gatton smiled grimly.