ils you give
are so open to question, and the conclusions you expect us to draw from
them are so serious, that I wish, for your own sake, we had heard
something of the Urquharts, and your doubts and suspicions in their
regard, before we had made the discovery which points to death and
crime. You see I speak plainly, Mrs. Truax."

"You cannot speak too plainly, Doctor Kenyon; and my opinion so entirely
coincides with yours that I am going to furnish you with what you ask."
And without heeding their looks of astonishment, I rang the bell for one
of the girls, and sent her to a certain drawer in my desk for the folded
paper which she would find there.

"Here!" I exclaimed, as the paper was brought, "read this, and you will
soon see how I felt about the Urquharts on the evening of the day they
left us."

And I put into their hands the record I had made of that day's
experience.

While they were reading it, I puzzled myself with questions. If this
body which we had just found sepulchered in my house was, as the
initials in the ring seemed to declare, that of Honora Urquhart, who was
the woman who passed for her at the time of the departure of this
accused couple from my doors? I was with them, and saw the lady, and
supposed her to be the same I had entertained at my table the night
before. But then I chiefly noted her dress and height, and did not see
her face, which was hidden by her veil, and did not hear her voice
beyond the short and somewhat embarrassed laugh she gave at some little
incident which had occurred. But Hetty had seen her, and had even
received money from her hand; and Hetty could not have been deceived,
nor was Hetty a girl to be bribed. How was I, then, to understand the
matter? And where, in case another woman had taken Mrs. Urquhart's
place, had that woman come from?

I thought of the low window, and the ease with which any one could climb
into it; and then, with a flash of startled conviction, I thought of the
huge box.

"Great heavens!" I ejaculated, feeling the hair stir anew on my
forehead. "Can it be that he brought her in that? That she was with them
all the time, and that the almost hellish tragedy to which this ring
points was the scheme of two vile and murderous lovers to suppress an
unhappy wife that stood in the way of their desires?"

I could not think it. I could not believe that any man could be so void
of mercy, or any woman so lost to every instinct of decency, as to plan,
and t