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eve that ill-luck follows a premature exposure of one's plans," he said. His excuse was a lame one--a very lame one. I smiled--in order to show him that I read through such a transparent attempt to mislead me. "I might have refused to show you that letter of Ethelwynn's," I protested. "Yet our interests being mutual I handed it to you." "And it is well that you did." "Why?" "Because knowledge of it has changed the whole course of my inquiries." "Changed them from one direction to another?" He nodded. "And you are now prosecuting them in the direction of Ethelwynn?" "No," he answered. "Not exactly." I looked at his face, and saw upon it an expression of profound mysteriousness. His dark, well-marked countenance was a complex one always, but at that moment I was utterly unable to discern whether he spoke the truth, or whether he only wished to mislead my suspicions into a different channel. That he was the acme of shrewdness, that his powers of deduction were extraordinary, and that his patience in unravelling a secret was almost beyond comprehension I knew well. Even those great trackers of criminals, Shaw and Maddox, of New Scotland Yard, held him in respect, and admired his acute intelligence and marvellous power of perception. Yet his attempt to evade a question which so closely concerned my own peace of mind and future happiness tried my patience. If he had really discovered some fresh facts I considered it but right that I should be acquainted with them. "Has your opinion changed as to the identity of the person who committed the crime?" I asked him, rather abruptly. "Not in the least," he responded, slowly lighting his foul pipe. "How can it, in the face of the letter we burnt?" "Then you think that jealousy was the cause of the tragedy? That she----" "No, not jealousy," he interrupted, speaking quite calmly. "The facts I have discovered go to show that the motive was not jealousy." "Hatred, then?" "No, not hatred." "Then what?" "That's just where I fail to form a theory," he answered, after a brief silence, during which he watched the blue smoke curl upward to the sombre ceiling of my room. "In a few days I hope to discover the motive." "You will let me assist you?" I urged, eagerly. "I am at your disposal at any hour." "No," he answered, decisively. "You are prejudiced, Ralph. You unfortunately still love that woman." A sigh escaped me. What he said was, alas!
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