wed politely, and glancing at a well-spread tea table, he said:
"Mrs. Wilmott, if you think so well of me, perhaps you won't mind giving me
a cup of tea. The fact is, I have been so busy with this case I forgot to
eat and I--I feel a little faint." He pressed a hand against his forehead
and Pussy saw that he was very white.

"You poor man!" she cried in concern. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I'll
fix it myself. There! Take some of these toasted muffins. What an
extraordinary life you must lead! I can almost forgive you for being so
outrageous because you're so--so interesting." She let her siren eyes shine
on him in a way that had wrought the discomfiture of many a man.

M. Paul smiled. "I can return the compliment by saying that it isn't every
lady who could throw a clumsy thing like an auger from a moving cab over a
wide roadway and a stone wall and land it in a river. I suppose you threw
it over on the right-hand side?"

"Yes."

"How far across the bridge had you got when you threw it? This may help the
divers."

She thought a moment. "We were a little more than halfway across, I should
say."

"Thanks. Now who bought this auger?"

"Martinez."

"Did _you_ suggest the holes through the wall?"

"No, he did."

"Are you sure?"

"Quite sure."

"But the holes were bored for you?"

"Of course."

"Because you wanted to see into the next room?"

"Yes," in a low tone.

"And why?"

She hesitated a moment and then burst out in a flash of feeling: "Because I
knew that a wretched dancing girl was going to be there with----"

"Yes?" eagerly.

"With my husband!"

CHAPTER XV

PUSSY WILMOTT'S CONFESSION

"Then your husband was the person you thought guilty that night?"
questioned Coquenil.

"Yes."

"You told M. Kittredge when you called for him in the cab that you thought
your husband guilty?"

"Yes, but afterwards I changed my mind. My husband had nothing to do with
it. If he had, do you suppose I would have told you this? No doubt he has
misconducted himself, but----"

"You mean Anita?"

It was a chance shot, but it went true.

She stared at him in amazement. "I believe you are the devil," she said,
and the detective, recalling his talk with M. Gritz, muttered to himself:
"The tall blonde! Of course!"

And now Pussy, feeling that she could gain nothing against Coquenil by ruse
or deceit, took refuge in simple truth and told quite charmingly how this
whole tragic adventure had grown