of that
sturdy paper-cutter with its long and very slender blade, will make me
believe that she willingly took her own life. You do not know, cannot
know, the rare delicacy of her nature. She was a lady through and
through. If she had meditated death--if the breach suggested by the one
letter I have mentioned, should have so preyed upon her spirits as to
lead her to break her old father's heart and outrage the feelings of all
who knew her, she could not, being the woman she was, choose a public
place for such an act--an hotel writing-room--in face of a lobby full
of hurrying men. It was out of nature. Every one who knows her will tell
you so. The deed was an accident--incredible--but still an accident."

Mr. Gryce had respect for this outburst. Making no attempt to answer it,
he suggested, with some hesitation, that Miss Challoner had been seen
writing a letter previous to taking those fatal steps from the desk
which ended so tragically. Was this letter to one of her lady friends,
as reported, and was it as far from suggesting the awful tragedy which
followed, as he had been told?

"It was a cheerful letter. Such a one as she often wrote to her little
protegees here and there. I judge that this was written to some girl
like that, for the person addressed was not known to her maid, any
more than she was to me. It expressed an affectionate interest, and it
breathed encouragement--encouragement! and she meditating her own death
at the moment! Impossible! That letter should exonerate her if nothing
else does."

Mr. Gryce recalled the incongruities, the inconsistencies and even the
surprising contradictions which had often marked the conduct of men and
women, in his lengthy experience with the strange, the sudden, and
the tragic things of life, and slightly shook his head. He pitied Mr.
Challoner, and admired even more his courage in face of the appalling
grief which had overwhelmed him, but he dared not encourage a false
hope. The girl had killed herself and with this weapon. They might not
be able to prove it absolutely, but it was nevertheless true, and this
broken old man would some day be obliged to acknowledge it. But the
detective said nothing of this, and was very patient with the further
arguments the other advanced to prove his point and the lofty character
of the girl to whom, misled by appearance, the police seemed inclined to
attribute the awful sin of self-destruction.

But when, this topic exhausted, Mr.