looked significantly at
Ross, whose face went suddenly scarlet.

"I say--if you dare to accuse--_me_...."

"Not so fast, my friend; I'm accusing nobody," returned Cleek serenely,
"and too much protestation often hides a guilty conscience. Please say
nothing until you are questioned. It is the safest way. First--the
stiletto."

He drew it from his pocket and held it aloft where they could all see
it, the sunshine fighting upon its fine blade and turning it into a
narrow ribbon of brilliancy.

"Can any one claim this, please?"

There was an instant's hush of amazement as all looked at the thing, as
of the stillness before the storm, and then Maud Duggan hurried forward
and seized it in her two hands.

"It is my stepmother's!" she exclaimed emphatically, and at the sound of
her voice Lady Paula sprang to her feet, instantly upon the defense, and
her faintness forgotten in this exciting moment.

"Mine--mine! Oh, of course it is mine!" she shrilled like a veritable
harpy. "Every one of you would like to accuse me of this terrible crime,
I suppose. Mine?--yes, it is mine. But who had it last, I ask you? That
is another question to answer. Who but yourself, Maud?"

"Not yesterday, Paula."

"The day before, then----"

"It was I you lent it to the day before, if you remember, Paula," struck
in Ross's voice quietly. "Please try to stick to facts as much as
possible."

"Well, you, then--or your wretched sister--one or the other of you," she
returned vehemently, stung out of all thought of good-breeding by the
sudden appearance of this thing of ill-repute. "What does it matter, so
long as it was used by one of you?"

"And you will remember, if you think back, that I myself brought it up
to your boudoir and handed it to you, Paula, and I myself saw you place
it in your top drawer," interposed Ross, still in that ice-cold terrible
voice which is so much more horrible to bear than red-hot anger.

"You lie!--you lie!"

"He does not!" It was Johanna McCall who spoke at this
juncture--Johanna, with two red spots of colour in her usually pale
cheeks and her eyes fairly blazing. "I saw him do it, too-- _I_ saw you,
Mr. Duggan. Don't believe what she says, Mr. Deland! It is she who
lies-- I swear that!"

To and fro the evil words flew like vultures seeking to peck each
other's hearts out in the combat. In the sudden hush which followed this
last denouncement, while Lady Paula was accumulating her forces to
retaliate, Cl