that grows each day more and more inscrutable."

I glanced sharply at her in surprise. Was she trying to mislead me, or
were her words spoken in real earnest? I could not determine.

"Yes," I acquiesced. "The mystery is as complete as ever."

"Has no single clue been found, either by the police or by your
friend--Jevons is, I think, his name?" she asked, with keen anxiety.

"One or two points have, I believe, been elucidated," I answered; "but
the mystery still remains unsolved."

"As it ever will be," she added, with a sigh which appeared to me to
be one of satisfaction, rather than of regret. "The details were so
cleverly arranged that the police have been baffled in every
endeavour. Is not that so?"

I nodded in the affirmative.

"And your friend Jevons? Has he given up all hope of any satisfactory
discovery?"

"I really don't know," I answered. "I've not seen him for quite a long
time. And in any case he has told me nothing regarding the result of
his investigations. It is his habit to be mute until he has gained
some tangible result."

A puzzled, apprehensive expression crossed her white brow for a
moment; then it vanished into a pleasant smile, as she asked in
confidence:

"Now, tell me, Ralph, what is your own private opinion of the
situation?"

"Well, it is both complicated and puzzling. If we could discover any
reason for the brutal deed we might get a clue to the assassin; but as
far as the police have been able to gather, it seems that there is an
entire absence of motive; hence the impossibility of carrying the
inquiries further."

"Then the investigation is actually dropped?" she exclaimed, unable to
further conceal her anxiety.

"I presume it is," I replied.

Her chest heaved slightly, and slowly fell again. By its movement I
knew that my answer allowed her to breathe more freely.

"You also believe that your friend Jevons has been compelled, owing to
negative results, to relinquish his efforts?" she asked.

"Such is my opinion. But I have not seen him lately in order to
consult him."

In silence she listened to my answer, and was evidently reassured by
it; yet I could not, for the life of me, understand her manner--at one
moment nervous and apprehensive, and at the next full of an almost
imperious self-confidence. At times the expression in her eyes was
such as justified her mother in the fears she had expressed to me. I
tried to diagnose her symptoms, but they were too complicated