. He has a very murderous look."

"And a very feeble arm, Miss Butterworth. You are safe under my
protection. My arm is not feeble."

[Illustration: A-Table. B-Small Stand. C-Door to Bedroom. D-Evelyn's
Picture E-Loophole on Stair Landing. F-Entrance to Study.] [1]

[Footnote 1: Since my readers may not understand how an opening above
the stairway might communicate with Mr. Adams's study, I here submit a
diagram of the same. The study walls were very high, forming a rounded
extension at the back of the house.]

CHAPTER IX.

HIGH AND LOW.

At the foot of the stairs, Mr. Gryce excused himself, and calling in two
or three men whom he had left outside, had the valet removed before
taking Miss Butterworth back into the study. When all was quiet again,
and they found an opportunity to speak, Mr. Gryce remarked:

"One very important thing has been settled by the experiment we have
just made. Bartow is acquitted of participation in this crime."

"Then we can give our full attention to the young people. You have heard
nothing from them, I suppose?"

"No."

"Nor from the old man who laughed?"

"No."

Miss Butterworth looked disappointed.

"I thought--it seemed very probable--that the scrap of writing you found
would inform you who these were. If it was important enough for the
dying man to try to swallow it, it certainly should give some clew to
his assailant."

"Unfortunately, it does not do so. It was a veritable scrawl, madam,
running something like this: 'I return your daughter to you. She is
here. Neither she nor you will ever see me again. Remember Evelyn!' And
signed, 'Amos's son.'"

"Amos's son! That is Mr. Adams himself."

"So we have every reason to believe."

"Strange! Unaccountable! And the paper inscribed with these words was
found clinched between his teeth! Was the handwriting recognized?"

"Yes, as his own, if we can judge from the specimens we have seen of his
signature on the fly-leaves of his books."

"Well, mysteries deepen. And the retaining of this paper was so
important to him that even in his death throe he thrust it in this
strangest of all hiding-places, as being the only one that could be
considered safe from search. And the girl! Her first words on coming to
herself were: 'You have left that line of writing behind.' Mr. Gryce,
those words, few and inexplicable as they are, contain the key to the
whole situation. Will you repeat them again, if you please, sentence by
se