by it; his
interest in the murder, if interest at all, was a secret one; and though
he walked the streets, studied the papers, and haunted the vicinity
of the house in Fifth Avenue, he not only refrained from actually
approaching it, but made no attempt to communicate with any of the
family. Meanwhile, you crossed my path, and with your determination
incited me to renewed effort. Convinced from Mr. Clavering's bearing,
and the gossip I had by this time gathered in regard to him, that no one
short of a gentleman and a friend could succeed in getting at the clue
of his connection with this family, I handed him over to you, and----"

"Found me rather an unmanageable colleague."

Mr. Gryce smiled very much as if a sour plum had been put in his mouth,
but made no reply; and a momentary pause ensued.

"Did you think to inquire," I asked at last, "if any one knew where Mr.
Clavering had spent the evening of the murder?"

"Yes; but with no good result. It was agreed he went out during the
evening; also that he was in his bed in the morning when the servant
came in to make his fire; but further than this no one seemed posted."

"So that, in fact, you gleaned nothing that would in any way connect
this man with the murder except his marked and agitated interest in it,
and the fact that a niece of the murdered man had written a letter to
him?"

"That is all."

"Another question; did you hear in what manner and at what time he
procured a newspaper that evening?"

"No; I only learned that he was observed, by more than one, to hasten
out of the dining-room with the _Post_ in his hand, and go immediately
to his room without touching his dinner."

"Humph! that does not look---"

"If Mr. Clavering had had a guilty knowledge of the crime, he would
either have ordered dinner before opening the paper, or, having ordered
it, he would have eaten it."

"Then you do not believe, from what you have learned, that Mr. Clavering
is the guilty party?"

Mr. Gryce shifted uneasily, glanced at the papers protruding from my
coat pocket and exclaimed: "I am ready to be convinced by you that he
is."

That sentence recalled me to the business in hand. Without appearing to
notice his look, I recurred to my questions.

"How came you to know that Mr. Clavering was in this city last summer?
Did you learn that, too, at the Hoffman House?"

"No; I ascertained that in quite another way. In short, I have had a
communication from London in regar