coleridge lane, hampstead, was named after the great poet, who had once resided in the neighbourhood. if he lived in this special locality, he could not have found it congenial to his muse, for the crooked, winding, sloping passage could hardly be called a lane, much less a road. also, it was damp by reason of the ancient trees that nearly met overhead. on either side were small cottages standing amidst weedy gardens, the survivals of a far-off age, when a wide view and careful drainage were not considered as necessary to any human habitation. an air of melancholy hung over the place, and only because the rents were low did the cottages contain tenants.

before the gate of one of these cottages stood inspector derrick one summer's morning. he was in private clothes, and looked, as usual, smart and alert. with a sharp look on his stern face he stared at the damp, discoloured walls of the cottage, which matched with a moss-grown thatched roof. yet, in spite of the apparent decay of the house, there was evidence that the occupier had some idea of tidiness and comfort. the garden was well weeded, and filled with homely cottage flowers now in full bloom. a green-painted fence divided the garden from the lane, and there was a narrow gate which bore the name "fairy lodge." the windows were draped with lace curtains tied with smart pink ribbons. the brass door-knocker was well polished, and the step thoroughly whitewashed. apparently the landlord would not, and the tenant could not, renovate the cottage, but much had been done to render it a little less melancholy than the neighbouring houses.

derrick stood enjoying the cool breeze and sunshine on that bright morning, and wondering if the person he had appointed to meet him there would come. it was already five minutes past the hour of eleven, so the person was late. but even while the inspector looked at his watch, the individual appeared. he was an old man, thin and weather-worn, dressed in shabby clothes, and looking as though he had not enough to eat. he appeared to be almost as shabby as the neighbourhood, and hobbled towards derrick coughing, and limping with the aid of a stout stick. as soon as he came within eyeshot--for his sight did not seem to be good--he halted mistrustfully. derrick, guessing that he was the man who was to meet him, advanced. "you are mr. webb?" said he briskly.

"i might be," returned the old fellow cautiously, "if you are mr. derrick i wrote to at a certain place."

"i am inspector derrick, and i come in answer to your letter about mrs. brand and the white room."

"will there be any reward for my setting the police on the track?" asked webb cunningly.

"well, i can hardly say. mr. fane, in whose house this woman was murdered, promised to recompense me should i discover anything likely to lead to the detection of the assassin. i dare say he will give me a hundred pounds."

"halves," said the old man, coughing, "or i don't let you in."

"i fear you won't be able to stop me," said derrick, smiling. "on the strength of your letter i procured a search-warrant. i represent the law, you see. you should have made a bargain before you wrote the letter, mr. webb."

"rogues, thieves, and liars, the lot of you," said the old man, striking the ground violently with his stick. "what about my rent?"

"i don't owe you any. did this woman?"

"no. she's paid me up to date. but here's my cottage without a tenant. i'll find it difficult to let it again, if she was done to death as the papers said."

"we don't know that mrs. brand is the same woman."

"well, mrs. brand hasn't been seen since the day that crime took place," retorted webb, "and then there's the room, you know."

"ah! i want to see the room. it is strange she should have been killed in a room similar to that occupied by herself. i can't understand it."

"if you made it worth my while i might assist you. i am poor; oh! how poor i am. look at my clothes. you wouldn't pick them off a dunghill--not you. and i live on sausages. they're cheap, but not filling. do you know of anything that taken at one meal would keep me going for a week?"

"no," said derrick abruptly, and thinking the old man a queer character. "show me the house."

"all in good time," said the ancient, hobbling to the gate. "ah!" he wheeled round and shook his fist at a butcher's boy. "hear that brat. why don't you run him in for insulting language?"

"miser! miser!" chanted the boy, leering across the lane at the old creature, who shook his fist in impotent rage. "golly, what clothes. say, mister"--this was to derrick--"if i come across to deliver the meat, will you stop the old cove from pitching into me?"

"i'll bash your head, you imp," yelled webb, quivering with rage.

"leave him alone," said derrick good-humouredly. "boys will be boys. now then, young shaver, come along!"

but the boy declined. he darted across the road, thrust a chop into the inspector's hand, and darted back. "you give it to mrs. brand, governor," said the boy, grinning; "the old cove's got his bleary eye on yours truly."

"beast of a boy," said webb, and entering the gate he hobbled up to the door.

derrick lingered behind, and produced a shilling. "see here, boy," he remarked persuasively, "do you deliver meat to mrs. brand every day?"

"every second day," said the boy advancing, lured by the shilling.

"has the meat been taken in as usual?"

"no, it ain't. not for over a week. nearly a fortnight, you might say. i brings them though--the chops, i mean--and puts them in the meat-safe at the back of the house. there's lots there, but she ain't bin home to eat them."

"when did you last see her?"

"over a fortnight ago," said the boy, counting on his fingers, and apparently not very sure as to his dates. "on a thursday that was. she took the chop in as usual. on saturday i brought a steak late--somewhere about six--so that it might be quite fresh for sunday, and she wasn't in. ain't seen her since. say, mister, if y' know her, say as master 'ull charge her for the meat. it's her own fault she ain't eaten it."

"why didn't she leave a servant in charge?"

"too poor," said the boy, taking the shilling and spitting on it for luck. "she always did the housework herself. but she was a real lady for all that. say, mister"--the boy stared--"nothing ain't gone wrong with her?"

"no. i merely called to see her."

"well, she ain't at home as i can see. there ain't no smoke coming from the chimney, though to be sure she may be saving the coals. i thought the miser might have done away with her. he's an old rip as ought to be in gaol. i saw him making eyes at her."

"ah! then mrs. brand is a pretty woman?"

"yes, in a kind of delicate sort of way. brown hair and blue eyes and pale and little. looked like a widder," said the boy confidentially, "but she wasn't. bless you, no! her husband's a commercial gent as comes home every now and then. but he's away for the most part of the time."

"have you ever seen him?"

"in the dark i did. a tall gent. but i can't tell you his looks."

"you are a smart boy," said derrick, taking out his note-book. "i should like to see more of you."

"my name's potter," said the boy, grinning at this praise. "i work for old rams the butcher."

"ah, i know the shop," said derrick, noting this. "i once lived in hampstead, and dealt with mr. rams."

"my, ain't he sharp over the money. but mrs. brand always paid up like a lady. guess the miser got his rent."

"webb hailed derrick at this moment. are you going to talk to that brat all day, officer?" he inquired shrilly, peering out of the open door.

at the word "officer" potter backed with a look of apprehension. "i say, you're a peeler. lor! anything wrong?"

"no," said derrick, vexed at being thus betrayed. "hold your tongue about this conversation. i'll make it worth your while."

"i'm fly," said master potter, with a whistle and an easier look. he showed a disposition to linger at the gate; but derrick ordered him sway sharply, and he departed, casting looks over his shoulder, too amazed at his discovery of derrick's profession to call old webb bad names. derrick went inside.

"if mr. brand arrives i can show him this as my authority for entering the cottage," said derrick, displaying a search-warrant.

"brand! mrs. brand?"

"mister! the husband."

"never saw him," grumbled webb. "mrs. brand said she had one, but she paid the rent and looked after the house, and kept very much to herself. i never set eyes on him."

"he's a commercial traveller," the boy said.

"the boy's a liar," retorted the agreeable mr. webb. "mrs. brand was too much the lady to marry a commercial. she used to talk of her husband, but she never let on his employment."

"did she rent the cottage in her own name?"

"yes. i don't believe she had a husband."

"what reference did she give."

"six months' rent in advance. stop! she did refer me to a schoolmaster."

"a schoolmaster? what is his name?"

"professor bocaros."

"a professor--of what?"

"lord," said webb testily, "how do i know? any one can call themselves professors if they've a mind to--especially foreigners."

derrick, who was standing in the small hall, started, and remembered what miss mason had said when he mentioned the stiletto. "is this professor a foreigner?" he asked eagerly.

"a greek. bocaros means bull's head or bull's tail--at least it did when i was at school. ah! i've been educated, though you mightn't think so, mister inspector."

derrick passed over this remark. "did you see this man?"

"no. my time's too valuable to run after foreigners. i wrote to him at the address given by mrs. brand. she said he was a cousin of hers. he wrote back saying that she was a respectable person. i dare say she was, but i don't believe she had a husband. if she had, why didn't he show? a commercial gent! bah! don't tell me."

"what address did mrs. brand give you?"

"now that's queer. she gave me ulysses street, troy!"

this time derrick could not suppress an exclamation. "why, that is only a stone-throw from achilles avenue. it's near meadow lane."

"i said it was queer," remarked webb, nodding. "perhaps he did her to death. what do you think?"

"i think you may have put a clue into my hand," said the inspector, noting the address in his useful little book. "don't speak of this to any one. i'll make it worth your while."

"halves," said the miser again; "though it's only fifty pounds. i think mr.--what's his name?--fane should give me the whole hundred."

"oh, indeed." derrick put the book into his pocket. "and what about me, mr. webb, if you please?"

"you're paid for finding criminals, i ain't," said webb, entering a side door. "come and look at the room. my time's valuable. i can't stand talking to you all day. the drawing-room this is."

"ha!" derrick stood at the door, and looked at the small room, which was furnished in the same fashion as the larger one in ajax villa, though not in so costly a manner. the walls and hangings were white, the carpet and furniture also, and even the piano was cased in white wood. in all respects, save in the way of luxury, the room was the same. it was strange that mrs. brand should have been killed in a room similar to her drawing-room, and in a house situated at the other end of london. "though we don't know if the dead woman is mrs. brand," said derrick, looking round.

"that's easily settled," said webb, who had taken up his position in a cane chair. "there's her portrait."

on the mantel-piece were two silver frames, one on either side of a gimcrack french clock. the frame to the left contained the photograph of a pretty slight woman, in whom derrick immediately recognised the dead unknown. "that's her sure enough," said he, taking a long look. "i wonder how she came to die in a room similar to this," and he glanced around again. "the mystery is growing deeper every discovery i make. what of the other silver frame?"

"it's got the photograph of a man--the husband, i suppose."

"no." derrick took down the frame. "the photograph has been removed."

"lord!" said webb, when a close examination assured him of this fact. "why, so it has. but she showed it to me one day when i asked about mr. brand, and said it was his picture."

"do you remember what the man was like in looks?" said the inspector, replacing the frame, much disappointed.

"no," replied the old man; "my eyesight's that bad as i can hardly tell a from b. it was the picture of a bearded man."

"a pointed beard?"

"i can't say. he had a beard, that's all i know. mrs. brand said that his business took him away a good deal. but she didn't say he was a commercial gent."

"did mrs. brand, go out much?"

"not at all. i told you so before. she kept very much to herself, in a haughty kind of way. thought herself a fine lady, i suppose, and there's no denying she was a lady. she has been my tenant for over five years, and always paid regular, but she knew no one, and when any one called she never would let them in. i only got to know of this room because i came for my rent."

"did she pay her bills regularly?"

"yes. i asked that, being fearful for my rent. she always paid up like a lady. not that she took much in. generally she lived by herself, so didn't eat much, keeping no servant either."

"did she ever go out to concerts or theatres or anywhere?"

"when her husband came home she used to enjoy herself. i believe she went to the opera, or to concerts, being fond of music."

"ah!" derrick recalled the song. "did she sing?"

"not that i ever heard of. she told me very little about herself, and what i know i had to drag out of her. she came five years ago and took this cottage by herself. afterwards her husband, as she called him, came. i never saw him, and she always paid her rent regularly. that's all i know."

"why do you think mr. brand was not her husband?"

"i never said he wasn't. i don't know. she seemed a respectable person, and was very quiet in her living and dress. sometimes she shut up the cottage and went away for a week."

"always for a week?"

"yes. she never was absent long. i suppose she and her husband had a jaunt all to themselves. she had no children. but ain't you going to look at the rest of the house?"

"yes." derrick cast his eyes round the room again. on the round white wood table was a photograph album bound in white leather. he opened this, and found that all the portraits therein--the book was only half full--were those of women. several were of mrs. brand as child and girl and woman. spaces showed that five or six portraits had been removed. derrick noted this, and then left the drawing-room thoughtfully. it seemed to him as though all the male portraits had been removed on purpose. and the chances were that in an album belonging to the wife, portraits of the husband might be found. at the door of the white room he cast his eyes on the ground. "has it been raining?" he asked.

webb, who was already in the passage, came back, and stared at the footmarks--muddy footmarks which were printed on the white carpet. "it's not been raining for over a week," he said. "strange that there should be this mess. mrs. brand was always a particularly tidy woman. she never let a spot of dirt remain in this room."

"we've had a dry summer," said derrick, pinching his lip.

"very dry," assented webb. "to be sure, there was that big thunderstorm eight days ago."

"and before that we had three weeks of sunshine."

"yes." the old man stared. "what of that?"

"it seems to me----" said derrick; then he paused, and shook his head. "let us examine the rest of the house."

webb, not knowing what was passing in the officer's mind, stared again and hobbled round as cicerone. they went to the small kitchen, to the one bedroom, to the tiny dining-room, and examined the small conservatory opening out of this last. at the back of the house there was a small garden filled with gaudy sunflowers and tall hollyhocks. the red brick walls which enclosed the plot of ground scarcely larger than a handkerchief were draped with ivy, carefully trimmed and tended. the conservatory was filled with cheap flowers neatly ranged. apparently mrs. brand, judging by the conservatory and the back and front gardens, was fond of flowers, and made it the pleasure of her life to tend them.

the kitchen and the dining-room were plainly furnished. in the meat-safe outside the back door were the chops and steaks left by the butcher's boy, and also loaves of bread. a milk-can was on the ground and empty, showing that probably all the cats in the place had been enjoying themselves. derrick found that a narrow passage between the enclosing wall and the house led from the front garden to the back. having assured himself of this, he re-entered the house, and examined the bedroom.

this was better furnished than the rest of the house. there was a smart dressing-table decked with muslin and pink ribbons. on it were articles of female toilette. several dresses (plain for the most part) were hanging up in the wardrobe, and there was a warm but untrimmed dressing-gown in the bathroom. but derrick could not see any male apparel, and pointed this out to webb.

"perhaps mr. brand wasn't her husband after all," said the old man. "he may have been a friend of hers, and came here occasionally. but he didn't live here."

"the boy said he did sometimes."

"the boy's a liar," said webb vindictively.

"hum! i don't know that. i have an idea."

"of what?"

"i'll tell you directly." derrick opened all the drawers in the bedroom. he found linen, hats, handkerchiefs, ribbons--all articles of female attire, but again nothing appertaining to a man's dress.

"where's her desk?" he asked abruptly.

"in the white room. i was sitting near it."

"the inspector, having searched the bedroom again to see if he could find any papers, led the way back to the drawing-room. the desk was near the window, and unlocked; that is, it opened easily enough, and derrick thought it was unlocked. but a glance showed him that the lock was broken. the desk has been forced," he said, and threw wide the lid, "and the contents have been removed," he added.

webb stared at the empty desk. there were a few bundles of receipted bills, some writing-paper and envelopes, and a stick or two of red sealing-wax. but no scrap of writing was there to reveal anything about mrs. brand. yet on a knowledge of her past depended the discovery of the reason she had been stabbed in troy. the inspector looked at the desk, at the floor, and drew his own conclusions. "some one has been here eight days ago, and has removed all papers and pictures likely to give a clue to the past of this woman and to the identity of the husband."

"how do you know?" asked webb, startled.

derrick pointed to the muddy marks on the carpet. "the fact that the carpet is white betrays the truth," said he. "for the last month or so, that is, before and since the murder, we have had only one storm--that was eight days ago. the person who removed the portraits from the album and from the silver frame, who forced the desk and destroyed the papers, came on that day----"

"the thunderstorm was at night," interrupted webb.

"then at night, which would be the better concealment of his purpose. he came here with mud on his boots, as is proved by these marks. he wished to remove all evidence of mr. brand's identity. therefore----"

"well," said webb, seeing that derrick hesitated. "i believe that brand himself did so, and that brand is the man who killed his wife in ajax villa."