orothy might have possessed such
a motive in the danger of losing an inheritance, depending upon her
immediate marriage. He could not dismiss the thought that she had
suddenly found herself in need of a husband, probably to satisfy
conditions in her uncle's will; that she had paid Mr. Hardy a visit as
a bride, but _without her husband_, and had since been obliged to come
to himself and procure his professional services _as such husband_,
presumably for a short time only.

She was cheating the Robinsons now through him.

Of this much there could be no denial. She was stubbornly withholding
important information from himself as the masquerading husband. She
was, therefore, capable of craft and scheming. The jewel mystery was
equally suspicious and unexplainable.

And yet, when his memory flew to the hour in which he had met her for
the very first time, his faith in her goodness and honesty swept upon
him with a force that banished all doubt from his being. Every word
she had uttered, every look from her eyes, had borne her sincerity in
upon him indelibly.

This was his argument, brought to bear upon himself. He did not
confess the element of love had entered the matter in the least.

And now, as he walked and began to try to show himself that she could
not have done this awful crime, the uppermost thought that tortured his
mind was a fear that she might have a _genuine_ husband.

He forced his thoughts back to the box of cigars, through the medium of
which John Hardy's death had been accomplished. What a diabolically
clever device it had been! What scheme could be more complete to place
the deadly poison on the tongue of the helpless victim! The cigar is
bitten--the stuff is in the mouth, and before its taste can manifest
itself above the strong flavor of tobacco, the deadly work is done!
And who would think, in ordinary circumstances, of looking in a cigar
for such a poison, and how could such a crime be traced?

The very diabolism of the device acquitted Dorothy, according to
Garrison's judgment. He doubted if any clever woman, perhaps excepting
the famous and infamous Lucrezia Borgia, could have fashioned a plan so
utterly fiendish and cunning.

He began to reflect what the thing involved. In the first place, many
smokers cut the end from every cigar, preliminary to lighting up to
smoke. The person who had loaded this cigar must have known it was
John Hardy's habit to bite his cigars in the old-fas