of the body revealed that his face was slightly
discoloured, and the cause of death was given by the physician as
apoplexy. He had evidently been dead about eight or nine hours when
discovered.

Mr. Fletcher is survived by a nephew, John G. Fletcher, II., who is the
Blake professor of bacteriology at the University, and by a grandniece,
Miss Helen Bond. Professor Fletcher was informed of the sad occurrence
shortly after leaving a class this morning and hurried out to
Fletcherwood. He would make no statement other than that he was
inexpressibly shocked. Miss Bond, who has for several years resided with
relatives, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Greene of Little Neck, is prostrated by
the shock.

"Walter," added Kennedy, as he laid down the paper and, without any more
sparring, came directly to the point, "there was something missing from
that safe."

I had no need to express the interest I now really felt, and Kennedy
hastened to take advantage of it.

"Just before you came in," he continued, "Jack Fletcher called me up
from Great Neck. You probably don't know it, but it has been privately
reported in the inner circle of the University that old Fletcher was
to leave the bulk of his fortune to found a great school of preventive
medicine, and that the only proviso was that his nephew should be dean
of the school. The professor told me over the wire that the will was
missing from the safe, and that it was the only thing missing. From his
excitement I judge that there is more to the story than he cared to
tell over the 'phone. He said his car was on the way to the city, and he
asked if I wouldn't come and help him--he wouldn't say how. Now, I know
him pretty well, and I'm going to ask you to come along, Walter, for
the express purpose of keeping this thing out of the newspapers
understand?--until we get to the bottom of it."

A few minutes later the telephone rang and the hall-boy announced that
the car was waiting. We hurried down to it; the chauffeur lounged down
carelessly into his seat and we were off across the city and river and
out on the road to Great Neck with amazing speed.

Already I began to feel something of Kennedy's zest for the adventure.
I found myself half a dozen times on the point of hazarding a suspicion,
only to relapse again into silence at the inscrutable look on Kennedy's
face. What was the mystery that awaited us in the great lonely house on
Long Island?

We found Fletcherwood a splendid estate direc