a quiet gesture. "I beg your pardon," said she; "but you make a
mistake. I know little or nothing of Eleanore's personal feelings. The
mystery must be solved by some one besides me."

I changed my tactics.

"When Eleanore confessed to you that the missing key had been seen in
her possession, did she likewise inform you where she obtained it, and
for what reason she was hiding it?"

"No."

"Merely told you the fact, without any explanation?"

"Yes."

"Was not that a strange piece of gratuitous information for her to
give one who, but a few hours before, had accused her to the face of
committing a deadly crime?"

"What do you mean?"' she asked, her voice suddenly sinking.

"You will not deny that you were once, not only ready to believe her
guilty, but that you actually charged her with having perpetrated this
crime."

"Explain yourself!" she cried.

"Miss Leavenworth, do you not remember what you said in that room
upstairs, when you were alone with your cousin on the morning of the
inquest, just before Mr. Gryce and myself entered your presence?"

Her eyes did not fall, but they filled with sudden terror.

"You heard?" she whispered.

"I could not help it. I was just outside the door, and----"

"What did you hear?"

I told her.

"And Mr. Gryce?"

"He was at my side."

It seemed as if her eyes would devour my face. "Yet nothing was said
when you came in?"

"No."

"You, however, have never forgotten it?"

"How could we, Miss Leavenworth?"

Her head fell forward in her hands, and for one wild moment she seemed
lost in despair. Then she roused, and desperately exclaimed:

"And that is why you come here to-night. With that sentence written upon
your heart, you invade my presence, torture me with questions----"

"Pardon me," I broke in; "are my questions such as you, with reasonable
regard for the honor of one with whom you are accustomed to associate,
should hesitate to answer? Do I derogate from my manhood in asking you
how and why you came to make an accusation of so grave a nature, at a
time when all the circumstances of the case were freshly before you,
only to insist fully as strongly upon your cousin's innocence when
you found there was even more cause for your imputation than you had
supposed?"

She did not seem to hear me. "Oh, my cruel fate!" she murmured. "Oh, my
cruel fate!"

"Miss Leavenworth," said I, rising, and taking my stand before her;
"although there is a temporary estra