uld each, perhaps, be worthier of the other.

I returned to the empty house that night and sat down to look the facts
squarely in the face. I had hitherto been so occupied with the necessary
preparations for the funeral, and with instituting a search for Cat-Eye
Mose, that I had scarcely had time to think, let alone map out any
logical plan of action. Radnor was so stunned by the blow that he could
barely talk coherently, and as yet I had had no satisfactory interview
with him.

Immediately after the Colonel's death, I had very hastily run over his
private papers, but had found little to suggest a clue. Among some old
letters were several from Nannie's husband, written at the time of her
sickness and death; their tone was bitter. Could the man have
accomplished a tardy revenge for past insults? I asked myself. But
investigation showed this theory to be most untenable. He was still
living in the little Kansas village where she had died, had married
again, and become a peaceful plodding citizen. It required all his
present energy to support his wife and children--I dare say the brief
episode of his first marriage had almost faded from his mind. There was
not the slightest chance that he could be implicated.

I sifted the papers again, thoroughly and painstakingly, but found
nothing that would throw any light upon the mystery. While I was still
engaged with this task, a message came from the coroner saying that the
formal inquest would begin at ten o'clock the next morning in the
Kennisburg court-house. This gave me no chance to plan any sort of
campaign, and I could do little more than let matters take their course.
I hoped however that in the progress of the inquest, some clue would be
brought to light which would render Radnor's being remanded for trial
impossible.

So far, I had to acknowledge, the evidence against him appeared
overwhelming. A motive was supplied in the fact that the Colonel's death
would leave him his own master and a rich man. The well-known fact of
their frequent quarrels, coupled with Radnor's fierce temper and
somewhat revengeful disposition, was a very strong point in his
disfavor; added to this, the suspicious circumstances of the day of the
tragedy--the fact that he was not with the rest of the party when the
crime must have been committed, the alleged print of his boots and the
finding of the match box, his subsequent perturbed condition--everything
pointed to him as the author of the crim