in heaven's name
didn't he keep quiet about it? What good could come from Edyth's
knowing it?"

Then the fact that Morris had apparently tried to keep his secret from
Miss Vale presented itself. But Pendleton dismissed it with contempt.

"Tried!" he said to himself. "Of course; but how? By marching up and
down the floor. By a great parade of tragic despair; by sighs and the
wringing of his hands. I've always suspected Morris of being a bit
theatrical--and now I am sure of it."

He roused himself for a moment, lighted a fresh cigarette and settled
back once more.

"I'm not Kirk by any means," he reflected, "and this sort of thing is
altogether out of my line. But it seems clear that Edyth--after
leaving here yesterday--received some unexpected news. When she was
here, consulting Kirk, she was, to all appearances, in a
quandary--helpless. She did not know how to proceed; she understood
nothing. But her darting off alone that way after midnight proves that
some sort of a crisis had come up. She had heard something--more
than likely through Morris. He probably," with great contempt,
"became hysterical again, couldn't contain himself and blabbed
everything--whatever it was."

Then he burst out aloud, angrily.

"She went to Hume's last night because she had reason to think Morris
would be there. And if the truth were known, Morris _was_ there."

"My dear fellow," said the voice of Ashton-Kirk, "the truth, upon that
particular point, at least, is known. Allan Morris was at Hume's last
night. He was the man whom Berg saw enter after the musician."

"How do you know?" asked Pendleton, astonished.

"Fuller, with a report which he recently made upon Morris, handed me a
photograph of that gentleman. While we were at dinner, Berg identified
the portrait as being that of Hume's secret visitor."

"I was right, then. Edyth _did_ go there expecting to meet him--to
protect him, perhaps. If you knew her as well as I do, Kirk, you'd
realize that it's just the sort of thing she'd do. But," positively,
"she did not find him there."

"What makes you think that? There was still one of Hume's visitors
left, when she got there. It may have been Morris."

"It was Spatola," answered Pendleton, with conviction. "The scream of
the cockatoo which came from Hume's rooms when the pistol was
discharged proves it. When Spatola went in, Berg said he was carrying
something under his coat. Brolatsky told the coroner this morning that
the It