rk for me."

"And Joyce? How about him?"

"He had the same opportunities as myself, but we have not reached the
point of mentioning names. I thought it best to consult with you first."

"Good! Then we'll drop it."

It was decisively said, but Gryce gave no signs of yielding.

"I'm afraid that's impossible," said he. Then with the dignity of long
experience, he added with quiet impressiveness:

"I have, as you know, faced crime these many years in all its aspects.
I have tracked the ignorant, almost imbecile, murderer of the slums, and
laid my hand in arrest on the shoulder of so-called gentlemen hiding
their criminal instincts under a show of culture and sometimes of wide
education. Human nature is not so very different in high and low; and
what may lead an irresponsible dago into unsheathing his knife against
his fellow may work a like effect upon his high-bred brother if
circumstances lend their aid to make discovery appear impossible.

"Mr. Roberts is the friend of many a good man who would swear to his
integrity with a clear conscience. I would have sworn to it myself, a
month ago, had I heard it questioned in the slightest manner; and I may
live to swear to it again, notwithstanding the doubts which have been
raised in my mind by certain strange discoveries which link him to this
unhappy affair by what we are pleased to call circumstantial evidence.
For, as I am obliged to acknowledge, the one great thing we rely upon, in
accusations of this kind, is so far lacking in his case: I mean, the
motive.

"I know of none--can, in fact, conceive of none--which would cause a
gentleman of even life and ambitious projects to turn a deadly weapon
upon an innocent child with whom he is not, so far as we can discover,
even acquainted. Dementia only can account for such a freak, and to
dementia we must ascribe this crime, if it is necessary for us to find
cause before proceeding to lay our evidence before the District Attorney.
All I propose to do at present is to show you my reasons for thinking
that the arrow which slew Angeline Willetts--or, as we have been assured
by unimpeachable authority, Angeline Duclos masquerading under the name
of Angeline Willetts--was set to bow and loosed across the court by the
gentleman we have just mentioned."

Here Mr. Gryce stopped for a look of encouragement from the severely
silent man he was endeavoring to impress. But he did not get it. With
a full sense of his years weighing upon