with Frenchies, and if you don't get out quietly, why, I'll have to
put you out.'

"'I must see Mistaire Vangtine,' she says, very fast. 'I must see
Mistaire Vangtine. It is most necessaire that I see Mistaire
Vangtine.'

"'Then I'll have to put you out,' says I, and took hold of her arm.
And at that she screamed and jerked herself away; and I grabbed her
again, and just then Mr. Vantine opened the door there and came out
into the hall.

"'What's all this, Rogers?' he says. 'Who is this party?'

"But before I could answer, that wild cat had rushed over to him and
begun to reel off a string of French so fast I wondered how she got
her breath. And Mr. Vantine looked at her kind of surprised at first,
and then he got more interested, and finally he asked her in here and
shut the door, and that was the last I saw of them."

"You mean you didn't let the woman out?" demanded Grady.

"Yes, sir, that's just what I mean. I thought if Mr. Vantine wanted
to talk with her, well and good; that was his business, not mine; so
I went back to the pantry to help the cook with the silver, expecting
to hear the bell every minute. But the bell didn't ring, and after
maybe half an hour, I came out into the hall again to see if the
woman had gone; and I walked past the door of this room but didn't
hear nothing; and then I went on to the front door, and was surprised
to find it wasn't latched."

"Maybe you hadn't latched it," suggested Grady.

"It has a snap-lock, sir; when that woman slammed it shut, I heard it
catch."

"You're sure of that?"

"Quite sure, sir."

"What did you do then?"

"I closed the door, sir, and then come back along the hall. I felt
uneasy, some way; and I stood outside the door there listening; but I
couldn't hear nothing; and then I tapped, but there wasn't no answer;
so I tapped louder, with my heart somehow working right up into my
mouth. And still there wasn't no answer, so I just opened the door
and looked in--and the first thing I see was him--"

Rogers stopped suddenly, and caught at his throat again.

"I'll be all right in a minute, sir," he gasped. "It takes me this
way sometimes."

"No hurry," Grady assured him, and then, when his breath was coming
easier, "What did you do then?"

"I was so scared I couldn't scarcely stand, sir; but I managed to get
to the foot of the stairs and yell for Parks, and he come running
down--and that's all I remember, sir."

"The woman wasn't here?"

"No,