took some lessons once in power of will--concentration and all that
sort of thing. It made me feel wickedly old; but I learned a great deal
about keeping my mind on one subject all the time. You know, it doesn't
matter what you concentrate on--even if it's only making biscuits, or
something messy and domestic like that--it does you good. It trains you
not to waste words, and to store up your mental energy, and all that sort
of thing. And all the time I was studying that course, I was thinking how
perfectly glorious modern science is. Just suppose Shakespeare had been
able to concentrate like us moderns can! His plays would have been
utterly _marvelous_, wouldn't they?"

"I suppose they would. And now let's try concentrating on the
Warren case."

"That's what I've been leading up to. You see, I knew Mr. Warren very
well. In fact, he was awfully friendly with me. To tell you the
strict truth, and absolutely in confidence, I really believe he was
in love with me!"

"No?"

"Yes, truly! We women have a way of knowing when a man is in love with
us. He used to be around at the house all the time. Of course, he
pretended that he came around because he liked Sis and Gerald--"

"Gerald?"

"That's Mr. Lawrence. He's my brother-in-law--Sis's husband.
Insufferably old-timy. Don't think of anything but business. Used to look
at me through his horn-rimmed glasses and say I was entirely too young to
be receiving attentions from a man as old as Mr. Warren; but he didn't
know. I'm not young, really, you know. Of course, I'm not twenty yet, but
a girl can be under twenty and yet be a woman, can't she?"

"Yes"--dryly--"especially after she learns to concentrate."

"And as intimately as I knew Roland--that's Mr. Warren, you know--of
course I didn't call him Roland to his face. Not that he didn't want me
to, but then Sis and Gerald would have disapproved--old frumps! Knowing
him so intimately, and really believing that he was in love with
me--although, of course, the minute he became engaged to Hazel Gresham I
didn't even flirt with him any more--not the least little tiny harmless
bit well, I find it excruciatingly hard to believe that he is dead!"

"He is--quite. We're trying to discover who killed him."

"I know it. That's what I came to see you about."

"So you did. I'd quite forgotten--"

"You ought to learn to concentrate, Mr. Carroll. It's really
ridiculously easy after you've studied it a little bit. Now if I had been
y