irl, and regarded her as a sister."

Phil uttered these words with a ringing sincerity which it was
impossible to doubt. But that statement, Colwyn reflected, did not carry
them very far. The speaker might honestly believe that the feeling
existing between himself and Hazel Rath was like the affection of
brother and sister, but he was speaking for himself, and not for the
girl. Who could read the secret of a woman's heart? The real question
was, did Hazel Rath love Philip Heredith? There lay a motive for the
murder, if she did.

"Does Hazel Rath still refuse to explain how her brooch came to be found
in Mrs. Heredith's bedroom and subsequently disappeared?" inquired
Colwyn after a short pause.

"I understand that she persists in remaining silent," returned the young
man. "Oh, I admit the case seems suspicious against her," he continued
passionately, as though in answer to a slight shrug of the detective's
shoulders. "It is for that reason I have come to you. I believe her
innocent, and I want you to try and establish her innocence."

"I am afraid I must decline, Mr. Heredith." A sympathetic glance of
Colwyn's eyes softened the firm tone of the refusal. "Apart from your
own belief in Miss Rath's innocence, you have very little to go upon."

"There is more than that to go upon," said Phil. "There is the question
of the identity of the revolver. Hazel is supposed to have obtained it
from the gun-room."

"I know that from the newspaper reports."

"Yes, but you do not know that the detectives have not been able to
establish the ownership of the weapon until to-day. They were under the
impression that it belonged to the moat-house, but neither my father nor
aunt was able to settle the point. Detective Caldew visited the
moat-house to-day to see if I could identify it. I immediately
recognized it as the property of Captain Nepcote."

"Who is Captain Nepcote?"

"He is a friend of mine. I knew him in London before I was married. He
was a friend of my wife's also. He was one of our guests at the
moat-house until the day of the murder."

"Did he leave before the murder was committed?"

"Yes; some hours before."

"Then how did Hazel Rath obtain possession of his revolver?"

"That is what I do not know. I must tell you that the day before the
murder some of our guests spent a wet afternoon amusing themselves
shooting at a target in the gun-room. They were using Captain Nepcote's
revolver. When I told Detective Caldew