ut it is true."

Mr. Ferris, struck aghast, looked at the detective with severe
disapprobation.

"Is it possible," he asked, "that you have allowed yourself to give any
credence to the delirious utterances of a man suffering from a wound on
the head, or to the frantic words of a woman who has already abused the
ears of the court by a deliberate perjury?" While Dr. Tredwell, equally
indignant and even more impatient, rapped with his knuckles on the table
by which he stood, and cried:

"Pooh, pooh, the man cannot be such a fool!"

A solemn smile crossed the features of the detective.

"Many persons have listened to the aspersion you denounce. Active
measures will be needed to prevent its going farther."

"I have commanded silence," said Dr. Tredwell. "Respect for Mr. Orcutt
will cause my wishes to be obeyed."

"Does Mr. Orcutt enjoy the universal respect of the town?"

"He does," was the stern reply.

"It behooves us, then," said Mr. Gryce, "to clear his memory from every
doubt by a strict inquiry into his relations with the murdered woman."

"They are known," returned Mr. Ferris, with grim reserve. "They were
such as any man might hold with the woman at whose house he finds it
convenient to take his daily dinner. She was to him the provider of a
good meal."

Mr. Gryce's eye travelled slowly toward Mr. Ferris' shirt stud.

"Gentlemen," said he, "do you forget that Mr. Orcutt was on the scene of
murder some minutes before the rest of you arrived? Let the attention of
people once be directed toward him as a suspicious party, and they will
be likely to remember this fact."

Astounded, both men drew back.

"What do you mean by that remark?" they asked.

"I mean," said Mr. Gryce, "that Mr. Orcutt's visit to Mrs. Clemmens'
house on the morning of the murder will be apt to be recalled by persons
of a suspicious tendency as having given him an opportunity to commit
the crime."

"People are not such fools," cried Dr. Tredwell; while Mr. Ferris, in a
tone of mingled incredulity and anger, exclaimed:

"And do you, a reputable detective, and, as I have been told, a man of
excellent judgment, presume to say that there could be found any one in
this town, or even in this country, who could let his suspicions carry
him so far as to hint that Mr. Orcutt struck this woman with his own
hand in the minute or two that elapsed between his going into her house
and his coming out again with tidings of her death?"

"Those