ous to set so valuable a timepiece; for who
could imagine the scrub-woman engaging in a task requiring such delicate
manipulation.

No! some meddlesome official had amused himself by starting up the
works, and the clue I had thought so important would probably prove
valueless.

There was humiliation in the thought, and it was a relief to me to hear
an approaching carriage just as the clock on my mantel struck twelve.
Springing from my chair, I put out my light and flew to the window.

The coach drew up and stopped next door. I saw a gentleman descend and
step briskly across the pavement to the neighboring stoop. The figure he
presented was not that of the man I had seen enter the night before.

VIII.

THE MISSES VAN BURNAM.

Late as it was when I retired, I was up betimes in the morning--as soon,
in fact, as the papers were distributed. The _Tribune_ lay on the stoop.
Eagerly I seized it; eagerly I read it. From its headlines you may judge
what it had to say about this murder:

A STARTLING DISCOVERY IN THE VAN BURNAM MANSION IN GRAMERCY
PARK.

A YOUNG GIRL FOUND THERE, LYING DEAD UNDER AN OVERTURNED
CABINET.

EVIDENCES THAT SHE WAS MURDERED BEFORE IT WAS PULLED DOWN UPON
HER.

THOUGHT BY SOME TO BE MRS. HOWARD VAN BURNAM.

A FEARFUL CRIME INVOLVED IN AN IMPENETRABLE MYSTERY.

WHAT MR. VAN BURNAM SAYS ABOUT IT: HE DOES NOT RECOGNIZE THE
WOMAN AS HIS WIFE.

So, so, it was his wife they were talking about. I had not expected
that. Well! well! no wonder the girls looked startled and concerned. And
I paused to recall what I had heard about Howard Van Burnam's marriage.

It had not been a fortunate one. His chosen bride was pretty enough, but
she had not been bred in the ways of fashionable society, and the other
members of the family had never recognized her. The father, especially,
had cut his son dead since his marriage, and had even gone so far as to
threaten to dissolve the partnership in which they were all involved.
Worse than this, there had been rumors of a disagreement between Howard
and his wife. They were not always on good terms, and opinions differed
as to which was most in fault. So much for what I knew of these two
mentioned parties.

Reading the article at length, I learned that Mrs. Van Burnam was
missing; that she had left Haddam for New York the day before her
husband, and had not since been heard from. Howard was confident,
how