entrance?"

"Well, you see, the assassin could not have sounded that bell and have
escaped by the front door. Had he done so, he would have met Susan
Grant answering the call. Therefore, he must have escaped in some
other way. The windows of both rooms are out of the question."

"Yes. But I understood that the assassin escaped at half-past ten."

"According to the evidence it looks like that. But who then sounded
the bell?"

Juliet shook her head. "I can't say," she said with a sigh. "The whole
case is a mystery to me."

"You don't know who killed Miss Loach? Please do not look so
indignant, Miss Saxon. I am only doing my duty."

The girl forced a smile. "I really do not know, nor can I think what
motive the assassin can have had. He must have had some reason, you
know, Mr. Jennings."

"You say 'he.' Was the assassin then a man?"

"I suppose so. At the inquest the doctor said that no woman could have
struck such a blow. But I am really ignorant of all, save what
appeared in the papers. I am the worst person in the world to apply to
for information, sir."

"Perhaps you are, so far as the crime is concerned. But there is one
question I should like to ask you. An impertinent one."

"What is it?" demanded the girl, visibly nervous.

"Why do you refuse to marry Mallow?"

"That is very impertinent," said Juliet, controlling herself; "so much
so that I refuse to reply."

"As a gentleman, I take that answer," said Jennings mildly, "but as a
detective I ask again for your reason."

"I fail to see what my private affairs have to do with the law."

Jennings smiled at this answer and thought of the knife which he had
found. A less cautious man would have produced it at once and have
insisted on an explanation. But Jennings wished to learn to whom the
knife belonged before he ventured. He was sure that it was not the
property of Juliet, who had no need for such a dangerous article, and
he was equally sure that as she was shielding someone, she would
acknowledge that she had bought the weapon. He was treading on
egg-shells, and it behooved him to be cautious. "Very good," he said
at length, "we will pass that question for the present, though as
Mallow's friend I am sorry. Will you tell me to whom you gave the
photograph of Mallow which he presented to you?"

"How do you know about that?" asked Miss Saxon quickly. "And why do
you ask?"

"Because I have seen the photograph."

"That is imp