.

"Yes, Harry, I'll go with you. Oh, poor Aunt Mary! This will be a
terrible shock to her. I--"

"I'll telephone," offered Dr. Lambert. "She'll know when you arrive. And
I'll be over to see you, Viola, as soon as I make some arrangements."

"And will you look after--after poor father?"

"Yes, you may leave it all to me."

And so, while the body of the dead clubman remained at the nineteenth
hole, Viola Carwell was taken to 'The Haven' by Harry Bartlett, while
Captain Poland, nodding farewell to LeGrand Blossom and some of his
other friends, left the grounds in his gray car.

And as he rode down past the inlet where the tide was now running out to
the sea, he saw an osprey dart down and strike at an unseen fish.

But the bird rose with dripping pinions, its talons empty.

"You didn't get any one that time!" murmured the captain.

CHAPTER III. "WHY?"

Through the silent house echoed the vibration of the electric bell,
sounding unnecessarily loud, it seemed. The maid who answered took the
caller's card to Miss Mary Carwell, Viola's aunt.

"He wants to see Miss Viola," the servant reported. "Shall I tell her?"

"You had better, yes. She went to lie down, but she will want to see
Captain Poland. Wait, I'll tell her myself. Where is he?"

"In the library, ma am.

"Very well. I'll see him."

Mr. Carwell's sister literally swept down the stairs, her black silk
dress rustling somberly and importantly. She was a large woman, and her
bearing and air were in keeping.

"It was very good of you to come," she murmured, as she sank, with more
rustling and shimmerings, into a chair, while the captain waited for her
to be settled, like a boat at anchor, before he again took his place.
"Viola will be down presently. I gave her a powder the doctor left for
her, and she slept, I hope, since we were both awake nearly all of last
night."

"I should imagine so. The strain and shock must have been intense. But
please don't disturb her if she is resting. I merely called to see if I
could do anything."

"Thank you so much. We are waiting for the doctors' report. It was
necessary to have an autopsy, I understand?" she questioned.

"Yes. The law requires it in all cases of sudden and mysterious death."

"Mysterious death, Captain Poland!"

Mary Carwell seemed to swell up like a fretful turkey.

"Well, by that I mean unexplained. Mr. Carwell dropped dead suddenly and
from no apparent cause."

"But it was heart d