or us."

"Miss Tredworth--?"

"Is utterly unable to account for the state of her dress," Kelson
declared promptly. "She is positive that if she noticed the man she never
spoke a word to him, nor danced with him. She says that if she ever met
him before, as according to that girl the other day was the case, she had
quite forgotten the circumstance. So the sooner we communicate this
discovery to the police the better. As it is, they say the servants are
talking of it; so the present position is quite intolerable."

In the library they found Morriston and his sister with the Tredworths.
The situation was discussed and there seemed no doubt in the mind of
any one of the party that the only thing to be done was to inform the
police at once.

"The whole affair is so mysterious," Morriston said, "that all sorts of
absurd rumours will be afloat if we don't take a strong, straightforward
line at once. Don't you agree, Edith?"

"Certainly I do," Miss Morriston answered with decision. "I don't
suppose," she added with a smile, "that any one would be mad enough to
suggest, my dear Muriel, that you were in any way implicated in the
affair; but the world is full of stupid and ill-natured people and one
can't be too careful to put oneself in the right. Don't you agree,
Captain Kelson?"

"Most decidedly," Kelson replied, with a troubled face. Charlie Tredworth
was also quite emphatically of opinion that his sister should make no
secret of what had been found.

"The inspector, who is here," Morriston said, "tells me that Major
Freeman, our chief constable, intends to come here this morning. I'll say
we want to see him directly he arrives."

It was not long before the chief constable was shown into the library.
Morriston lost no time in telling him of the mysterious circumstance
which had come to light. Major Freeman, a keen soldierly man, with the
stern expression and uncompromising manner naturally acquired by those
whose business is to deal with crime, received the information with grave
perplexity. He turned a searching look upon Muriel Tredworth.

"I understand you are quite unable to account for the stains on your
dress, Miss Tredworth?" he asked in a tone of courteous insistence.

"Quite," she answered. "I did not speak to Mr. Henshaw or even notice him
in the ball-room."

"You had--pardon these questions; I am putting this in your own
interest--you had at no time any acquaintance with Mr. Clement Henshaw?"

"I can