It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested, and the fashionable worlddismayed, by the murder of the Honourable Ronald Adair under most unusual and inexplicablecircumstances.

The public has already learned those particulars of the crime which came out in thepolice investigation, but a good deal was suppressed upon that occasion, since the case for theprosecution was so overwhelmingly strong that it was not necessary to bring forward all the facts.Only now, at the end of nearly ten years, am I allowed to supply those missing links which make upthe whole of that remarkable chain.

The crime was of interest in itself, but that interest was asnothing to me compared to the inconceivable sequel, which afforded me the greatest shock andsurprise of any event in my adventurous life.

Even now, after this long interval, I find myselfthrilling as I think of it, and feeling once more that sudden flood of joy, amazement, and incredulitywhich utterly submerged my mind.

Let me say to that public, which has shown some interest inthose glimpses which I have occasionally given them of the thoughts and actions of a veryremarkable man, that they are not to blame me if I have not shared my knowledge with them, for Ishould have considered it my first duty to do so, had I not been barred by a positive prohibitionfrom his own lips, which was only withdrawn upon the third of last month.