u
have seen----"

"Miss Butterworth, you dropped five small spangles from your robe. You
wore a dress spangled with black sequins, did you not? Besides, you
moved the inkstand, and--Well, I will never put faith in circumstantial
evidence again. I saw these tokens of a woman's presence, heard what the
boy had to say of the well-dressed lady who had sent him into the
drug-store with a message to the police, and drew the conclusion--I may
admit it to you--that it was this woman who had wielded the assassin's
dagger, and not the deaf-and-dumb butler, who, until now, has borne the
blame of it. Therefore I was anxious to find her, little realizing what
would be the result of my efforts, or that I should have to proffer her
my most humble apologies."

"Do not apologize to me. I had no business to be there, or, at least, to
leave the five spangles you speak of, behind me on Mr. Adams's miserable
floor. I was simply passing by the house; and had I been the woman I
once was, that is, a woman who had never dipped into a mystery, I should
have continued on my way, instead of turning aside. Sir, it's a curious
sensation to find yourself, however innocent, regarded by a whole city
full of people as the cause or motive of a terrible murder, especially
when you have spent some time, as I have, in the study of crime and the
pursuit of criminals. I own I don't enjoy the experience. But I have
brought it on myself. If I had not been so curious--But it was not
curiosity I felt. I will never own that I am subject to mere curiosity;
it was the look on the young man's face. But I forget myself. I am
rambling in all directions when I ought to be telling a consecutive
tale. Not my usual habit, sir; this you know; but I am not quite myself
at this moment. I declare I am more upset by this discovery of my
indiscretion than I was by Mr. Trohm's declaration of affection in Lost
Man's Lane! Give me time, Mr. Gryce; in a few minutes I will be more
coherent."

"I am giving you time," he returned with one of his lowest bows. "The
half-dozen questions I long to ask have not yet left my lips, and I sit
here, as you must yourself acknowledge, a monument of patience."

"So you thought this deed perpetrated by an outsider," she suddenly
broke in. "Most of the journals--I read them very carefully this
morning--ascribed the crime to the man you have mentioned. And there
seems to be good reason for doing so. The case is not a simple one, Mr.
Gryce; it has