ch, if there is any
comfort in it for you. At present there is not enough evidence against
him to warrant his arrest."

The detective said this with a purpose. By relieving this man's mind,
he hoped to make him more communicative. After a pause he asked:

"You have known Mr. Mitchel for a number of years, I believe?"

"No, not more than a year and a half. He has not been in New York two
years."

"Oh! I see. A Boston man?"

"No, I think he came from New Orleans."

A curious sensation passed over Mr. Barnes. There is a superstitious
belief, much esteemed by many, that a shudder or chill of this character
means that some one is walking over the spot where the person affected
is to be buried. Therefore an uncanny thought accompanies it. With Mr.
Barnes it is different. He is free from all such notions, yet insensibly
he is moved when this occurs to him, because it has so often happened
that at the time he just hit upon a clew. Therefore he stopped to
consider. All that Mr. Randolph had said was that Mr. Mitchel, he
thought, had come from New Orleans. In a moment it flashed across Mr.
Barnes's mind that the dead woman had told him that she had lived in New
Orleans. Was there any significance in this fact? Did the man and the
woman know each other in the southern city?

"How do you know that he is a Southerner?" asked Mr. Barnes.

"Oh! That was easily discovered by his accent," replied Mr. Randolph.
"Besides he claims to be from the South, though I think he is rather
inclined not to speak of his home. I have an indistinct recollection of
his telling me once that he was born in New Orleans and that he had some
painful recollection of the place. That is the only time that he ever
alluded to it, however."

"I would like to ask you a question about another man, Mr. Randolph. I
wonder whether you have met him. His name is Thauret?"

"Alphonse Thauret? Yes I know him, and I do not like him."

"Why not?"

"I don't exactly know. Perhaps it is only a prejudice. Still we are apt
to form quick estimates of men, and I have distrusted this man from the
first instant that I met him."

"Distrusted him?"

"Yes. I may be entirely wrong, and perhaps I should not tell you the
story, but I will do so. It was at one of my clubs about two weeks ago.
Some gentlemen were playing whist, and this Thauret was of the number.
Others were looking on. The stakes were small, still there was money up.
Thauret and his partner seemed to have