ere, her opinion would not turn me from the
course I have laid out for myself. Does the doctor--Dr. Carpenter, I
presume,--venture to say how long Carmel's present delirium will hold?"

"He cannot, not knowing its real cause. Carmel fell ill before the news
of her sister's death arrived at the house, you remember. Some frightful
scene must have occurred between the two, previous to Adelaide's
departure for The Whispering Pines. What that scene was can only be told
by Carmel and for her account we must wait. Happily you have an alibi
which will serve you in this instance. You were at the station during
the time we are speaking of."

"Has that been proved?"

"Yes; several men saw you there."

"And the gentleman who brought me the--her letter?" It was more than
difficult for me to speak Carmel's name. "He has not come forward?"

"Not yet; not to my knowledge, at least."

"And the ring?"

"No news."

"The nurse--you have told me nothing about her," I now urged, reverting
to the topic of gravest interest to me. "Is she any one we know or an
importation of the doctor's?"

"I did not busy myself with that. She's a competent woman, of course. I
suppose that is what you mean?"

Could I tell him that this was not what I meant at all--that it was her
qualities as woman rather than her qualifications as nurse which were
important in this case? If she were of a suspicious, prying
disposition, given to weighing every word and marking every gesture of
a delirious patient, what might we not fear from her circumspection
when Carmel's memory asserted itself and she grew more precise in the
frenzy which now exhausted itself in unintelligible cries, or the
ceaseless repetition of her sister's name. The question seemed of such
importance to me that I was tempted to give expression to my secret
apprehension on this score, but I bethought myself in time and passed
the matter over with the final remark:

"Watch her, watch them all, and bring me each and every detail of the
poor girl's sickness. You will never regret humouring me in this. You
ordered the flowers for--Adelaide?"

"Yes; lilies, as you requested."

A short silence, then I observed:

"There will be no autopsy the papers say. The evidences of death by
strangulation are too well defined."

"Very true. Yet I wonder at their laxity in this. There were signs of
some other agency having been at work also. Those two empty glasses
smelling of cordial--innocent perhaps--