ir."

"Is _this_ it?" exclaimed a voice over my shoulder.

It was Mr. Gryce, and he was holding up into view a half-burned
paraffine candle.

"Yes, sir; lor', where did you find it?"

"In the grass of the carriage yard, half-way from the kitchen door to
the street," he quietly returned.

Sensation. A clue, then, at last! Something had been found which seemed
to connect this mysterious murder with the outside world. Instantly the
backdoor assumed the chief position of interest. The candle found lying
in the yard seemed to prove, not only that Hannah had left the house
shortly after descending from her room, but had left it by the backdoor,
which we now remembered was only a few steps from the iron gate opening
into the side street. But Thomas, being recalled, repeated his assertion
that not only the back-door, but all the lower windows of the house,
had been found by him securely locked and bolted at six o'clock that
morning. Inevitable conclusion--some one had locked and bolted them
after the girl. Who? Alas, that had now become the very serious and
momentous question.

V. EXPERT TESTIMONY

"And often-times, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths;
Win us with honest trifles, to betray us
In deepest consequence."

Macbeth.

IN the midst of the universal gloom thus awakened there came a sharp
ring at the bell. Instantly all eyes turned toward the parlor door,
just as it slowly opened, and the officer who had been sent off so
mysteriously by the coroner an hour before entered, in company with a
young man, whose sleek appearance, intelligent eye, and general air of
trustworthiness, seemed to proclaim him to be, what in fact he was, the
confidential clerk of a responsible mercantile house.

Advancing without apparent embarrassment, though each and every eye in
the room was fixed upon him with lively curiosity, he made a slight bow
to the coroner.

"You have sent for a man from Bohn & Co.," he said.

Strong and immediate excitement. Bohn & Co. was the well-known pistol
and ammunition store of ---- Broadway.

"Yes, sir," returned the coroner. "We have here a bullet, which we must
ask you to examine, You are fully acquainted with all matters connected
with your business?"

The young man, merely elevating an expressive eyebrow, took the bullet
carelessly in his hand.

"Can you tell us from what make of pistol that was delivered?"

The young man r