maids, startled by the sudden
summons from below, or some one else--some involuntary witness of the
crime, whose testimony had been suppressed at the inquest, by fear or
influence?

The possibility of having come upon a clue even at this late day, so
fired my ambition, that I took the first opportunity of revisiting
Lafayette Place. Choosing such persons as I thought most open to my
questions, I learned that there were many who could testify to having
heard a woman's shrill scream on that memorable night just prior to the
alarm given by old Cyrus, but no one who could tell from whose lips it
had come. One fact, however, was immediately settled. It had not been
the result of the servant-women's fears. Both of the girls were positive
that they had uttered no sound, nor had they themselves heard any, till
Cyrus rushed to the window with his wild cries. As the scream, by
whomever given, was uttered before they descended the stairs, I was
convinced by these assurances that it had issued from one of the front
windows, and not from the rear of the house, where their own rooms lay.
Could it be that it had sprung from the adjoining dwelling, and that----
My thoughts went no further, but I made up my mind to visit the Doctor's
house at once.

It took some courage to do this, for the Doctor's wife had attended the
inquest, and her beauty, seen in broad daylight, had worn such an aspect
of mingled sweetness and dignity, that I hesitated to encounter it under
any circumstances likely to disturb its pure serenity. But a clue, once
grasped, cannot be lightly set aside by a true detective, and it would
have taken more than a woman's frown to stop me at this point. So I rang
Dr. Zabriskie's bell.

I am seventy years old now and am no longer daunted by the charms of a
beautiful woman, but I confess that when I found myself in the fine
reception parlor on the first-floor, I experienced no little trepidation
at the prospect of the interview which awaited me.

But as soon as the fine commanding form of the Doctor's wife crossed the
threshold, I recovered my senses and surveyed her with as direct a gaze
as my position allowed. For her aspect bespoke a degree of emotion that
astonished me; and even before I spoke I perceived her to be trembling,
though she was a woman of no little natural dignity and self-possession.

"I seem to know your face," she said, advancing courteously towards me,
"but your name"--and here she glanced at the car