e undertaken it, and that is all there is to it," he said.

"Well," Van Bult replied, "we won't say anything more about it, but
before I leave you, let me offer a suggestion that does not seem to have
occurred to Dallas with all his theorizing."

"What is that?" I asked.

"Only that it seems to me if you be right in your opinion that Winters
is not guilty, and the criminal some person who was involved in trouble
with White or bore ill-will to him, that in such case the most likely
person from whom to seek information should be Belle Stanton."

He paused, but seeing that we were expectantly waiting for him to go on,
continued:

"She must know what person, if any, was likely to have left the ulster
at her house, that is if she did not do so herself. She probably had a
key to White's room. If he had a secret she more likely than any one
else shared it with him; and if his affections for her were waning or
straying, she could well have felt both the spirit of hate and revenge.
'Hell knows no fury like a woman scorned,'" he finished, impressively.

"All you say is true," I answered, "and most of the arguments you have
advanced occurred to me, and for that reason, as I have told you, I had
Miles interrogate her closely, and you know the result; he believes she
knows nothing of the murder."

"I believe she does, nevertheless," he replied.

"You are wrong, Van," Littell put in, "for, even admitting the force of
your arguments, the woman must have been mad to have taken the ulster
home with her after the deed; she would sooner have dropped it on the
street than have left such tell-tale evidence on her own premises."

Van Bult shrugged his shoulders as he replied:

"You men overreach yourselves with your refinements of reasoning, and
attribute to criminals red-handed from crime the same cleverness that
you display yourselves when calmly analyzing their acts. A woman who has
just committed a murder is apt to lose her mental balance and to do many
irresponsible things. I do not mean to say, however," he continued,
"that she is guilty, for it still looks to me as though Winters were,
but if you and Dallas are right in your belief in his innocence, then
you will find that it is through that woman you must trace the criminal.
If White did not leave the ulster at her house, she did or knows who
did!" and giving us no time to argue further with him, he left us.

Littell and myself, without continuing the discussion, then took