Her first impulse was to shriek, but, by a powerful exercise of will,
she checked herself, and, ringing frantically for the servants who slept
on the top-floor of the house, flew to the nearest window and endeavored
to open it. But the shutters had been bolted so securely by Mr.
Hasbrouck, in his endeavor to shut out light and sound, that by the time
she had succeeded in unfastening them, all trace of the flying murderer
had vanished from the street.

Sick with grief and terror, she stepped back into the room just as the
three frightened servants descended the stairs. As they appeared in the
open doorway, she pointed at her husband's inanimate form, and then, as
if suddenly realizing in its full force the calamity which had befallen
her, she threw up her arms, and sank forward to the floor in a dead
faint.

The two women rushed to her assistance, but the old butler, bounding
over the bed, sprang to the window, and shrieked his alarm to the
street.

In the interim that followed, Mrs. Hasbrouck was revived, and the
master's body laid decently on the bed; but no pursuit was made, nor any
inquiries started likely to assist me in establishing the identity of
the assailant.

Indeed, every one, both in the house and out, seemed dazed by the
unexpected catastrophe, and as no one had any suspicions to offer as to
the probable murderer, I had a difficult task before me.

I began, in the usual way, by inspecting the scene of the murder. I
found nothing in the room, or in the condition of the body itself, which
added an iota to the knowledge already obtained. That Mr. Hasbrouck had
been in bed; that he had risen upon hearing a noise; and that he had
been shot before reaching the door, were self-evident facts. But there
was nothing to guide me further. The very simplicity of the
circumstances caused a dearth of clues, which made the difficulty of
procedure as great as any I ever encountered.

My search through the hall and down the stairs elicited nothing; and an
investigation of the bolts and bars by which the house was secured,
assured me that the assassin had either entered by the front door, or
had already been secreted in the house when it was locked up for the
night.

"I shall have to trouble Mrs. Hasbrouck for a short interview," I
hereupon announced to the trembling old servitor, who had followed me
like a dog about the house.

He made no demur, and in a few minutes I was ushered into the presence
of the newly ma