ow tone, with a glance in the direction
of the lawyer, who was just re-entering the house, after an unsuccessful
effort to rejoin the person of whom they were speaking. "She is a Miss
Dare, a young lady much admired in this town, and believed by many to be
on the verge of matrimony with----" He nodded toward Mr. Orcutt, and
discreetly forbore to finish the sentence.

"Ah!" exclaimed the youthful detective, "I understand." And he cast a
look of suddenly awakened interest at the man who, up to this time, he
had merely regarded as a more than usually acute criminal lawyer.

He saw a small, fair, alert man, of some forty years of age, of a good
carriage, easy manner, and refined cast of countenance, overshadowed now
by a secret anxiety he vainly tried to conceal. He was not as handsome
as Coroner Tredwell, nor as well built as Mr. Ferris, yet he was,
without doubt, the most striking-looking man in the room, and, to the
masculine eyes of the detective, seemed at first glance to be a person
to win the admiration, if not the affection, of women.

"She appears to take a great interest in this affair," he ventured
again, looking back at Mr. Ferris.

"Yes, that is woman's way," replied the other, lightly, without any hint
of secret feeling or curiosity. "Besides, she is an inscrutable girl,
always surprising you by her emotions--or by her lack of them," he
added, dismissing the topic with a wave of his hand.

"Which is also woman's way," remarked Mr. Byrd, retiring into his shell,
from which he had momentarily thrust his head.

"Does it not strike you that there are rather more persons present than
are necessary for the purposes of justice?" asked the lawyer, now coming
forward with a look of rather pointed significance at the youthful
stranger.

Mr. Ferris at once spoke up. "Mr. Orcutt," said he, "let me introduce to
you Mr. Byrd, of New York. He is a member of the police force, and has
been rendering me assistance in the case just adjourned."

"A detective!" repeated the other, eying the young man with a critical
eye. "It is a pity, sir," he finally observed, "that your present duties
will not allow you to render service to justice in this case of
mysterious assault." And with a bow of more kindness than Mr. Byrd had
reason to look for, he went slowly back to his former place near the
door that hid the suffering woman from sight.

However kindly expressed, Mr. Byrd felt that he had received his
dismissal, and was abou