my
shoulders, and I would have left the young man to his fate in peace. But
now I would be criminally at fault if I were to let him drift hopelessly
to his doom, when by a lift of my finger I might possibly turn the
attention of justice toward the real culprit."

Yet the making up of his mind to interfere was a torture to Horace Byrd.
If he was not conscious of any love for Imogene Dare, he was
sufficiently under the dominion of her extraordinary fascinations to
feel that any movement on his part toward the unravelling of the mystery
that enveloped her, would be like subjecting his own self to the rack of
public inquiry and suspicion.

Nor, though he walked the streets for hours, each moment growing more
and more settled in his conviction of Mr. Hildreth's innocence, could he
bring himself to the point of embracing the duty presented to him, till
he had subjected Miss Dare to a new test, and won for himself absolute
certainty as to the fact of her possessing a clue to the crime, which
had not been discovered in the coroner's inquiry.

"The possibility of innocence on her part is even greater than on that
of Mr. Hildreth," he considered, "and nothing, not even the peril of
those dearest to me, could justify me in shifting the weight of
suspicion from a guiltless man to an equally guiltless woman."

It was, therefore, for the purpose of solving this doubt, that he
finally sought Mr. Ferris, and after learning that Mr. Hildreth was
under surveillance, and would in all probability be subjected to arrest
on the morrow, asked for some errand that would take him to Mr. Orcutt's
house.

"I have a great admiration for that gentleman and would like to make his
acquaintance," he remarked carelessly, hiding his true purpose under his
usual nonchalant tones. "But I do not want to seem to be pushing myself
forward; so if you could give me some papers to carry to him, or some
message requiring an introduction to his presence, I should feel very
much obliged."

Mr. Ferris, who had no suspicions of his own to assist him in
understanding the motives that led to this request, easily provided the
detective with the errand he sought. Mr. Byrd at once started for the
lawyer's house.

It was fully two miles away, but once arrived there, he was thankful
that the walk had been so long, as the fatigue, following upon the
activity of the afternoon, had succeeded in quieting his pulses and
calming down the fierce excitement which had hel