l; to appeal to your hospitality; to renew an acquaintance, which
in the beginning did me honor; and to quiz you unmercifully."

"Then I forgive you," grandiloquently. "And my doors are open to you,
and my hand is extended, and the secrets of my bosom are laid bare. But
Miss Wardour has something to say; I see it trembling on her lips."

"Right," smiles Constance. "I was about to ask if Mr. Bathurst, having
effected his object thus far independently, will be satisfied to inspect
my dressing room, the real scene of action, in the ordinary manner and
without any obstacles in the way."

"Perfectly," says the detective, dropping his tone of badinage and
becoming alert and business like at once. "And the sooner the better. I
am anxious to complete my deductions, for my time is limited, and I must
wait for daylight to overlook the grounds more closely than I could
venture to do to-day."

"We are all anxious for your opinion, and so, will you take one of those
lamps and my keys, or will you have an escort?"

"I wish you to point out to me the exact position of everything this
morning, Miss Wardour. I think we may all go up."

So they all ascended to the disordered dressing room, and the detective
seats himself, deliberately, upon the first unoccupied chair, and begins
to look slowly about him. It is not a long survey, and then the safe is
examined. Here he looks at Constance.

"This has not been done without noise; not loud enough to be heard
across the hall, perhaps, but enough to be heard by a light sleeper, or,
indeed, any one who did not sleep too soundly and with muffled ears,
say, in that room," pointing through the curtained arch which divided
the dressing from the sleeping room.

"Did you sleep there, Miss Wardour?"

Constance nods, then goes through the arch and returns with a little
phial of chloroform, and a fragment of cambric in her hand.

She places them before him, telling him quietly how they were found
before her that morning.

The detective takes them, turns them over in his hand, and examines them
closely.

"Ah!" he exclaims, drawing out the fancifully carved stopper, "this
phial is one of a set."

[Illustration: "Ah! this phial is one of a set."]

Doctor Heath nods. "So I thought," he says, glancing at Constance.

Once more, and in silence, the detective examines the safe, then he goes
quietly about the room not overturning or handling, simply observing
closely; then he says:

"Now, I th