ey which must
be looked into."

Immediately a universal murmur swept through the room, testifying to the
acquiescence of all present. The little juryman hastily rising proposed
that an instant search should be made for it; but the coroner, turning
upon him with what I should denominate as a quelling look, decided
that the inquest should proceed in the usual manner, till the verbal
testimony was all in.

"Then allow me to ask a question," again volunteered the irrepressible.
"Mr. Harwell, we are told that upon the breaking in of the library door
this morning, Mr. Leavenworth's two nieces followed you into the room."

"One of them, sir, Miss Eleanore."

"Is Miss Eleanore the one who is said to be Mr. Leavenworth's sole
heiress?" the coroner here interposed.

"No, sir, that is Miss Mary."

"That she gave orders," pursued the juryman, "for the removal of the
body into the further room?"

"Yes, sir."

"And that you obeyed her by helping to carry it in?"

"Yes, sir."

"Now, in thus passing through the rooms, did you observe anything to
lead you to form a suspicion of the murderer?"

The secretary shook his head. "I have no suspicion," he emphatically
said.

Somehow, I did not believe him. Whether it was the tone of his voice,
the clutch of his hand on his sleeve--and the hand will often reveal
more than the countenance--I felt that this man was not to be relied
upon in making this assertion.

"I should like to ask Mr. Harwell a question," said a juryman who had
not yet spoken. "We have had a detailed account of what looks like the
discovery of a murdered man. Now, murder is never committed without some
motive. Does the secretary know whether Mr. Leavenworth had any secret
enemy?"

"I do not."

"Every one in the house seemed to be on good terms with him?"

"Yes, sir," with a little quaver of dissent in the assertion, however.

"Not a shadow lay between him and any other member of his household, so
far as you know?"

"I am not ready to say that," he returned, quite distressed. "A shadow
is a very slight thing. There might have been a shadow----"

"Between him and whom?"

A long hesitation. "One of his nieces, sir."

"Which one?"

Again that defiant lift of the head. "Miss Eleanore."

"How long has this shadow been observable?"

"I cannot say."

"You do not know the cause?"

"I do not."

"Nor the extent of the feeling?"

"No, sir."

"You open Mr. Leavenworth's letters?"

"I do."

"Ha