in
a twinkling in one of utter and overwhelming surprise at learning that
it was _green_! Pink, white, and green, here were three evening dresses
called into the snare of this night's mystery; and yet a _third_ woman
now involved. White satin, that had been Lady Katharine Fordham's gown
to-night; pink chiffon, that had been Ailsa Lorne's. Who then was the
wearer of the pale green satin gown? Here was the riddle of the night
taking yet another perplexing turn.

A clatter of hasty footsteps came along the drive and up the steps to
the veranda, and Narkom, in a state of violent excitement, stood beside
him.

"All right," he said, answering Cleek's inquiring glance. "I headed the
taxi off and set Dollops to work as you suggested--and a blessed good
thing I did, too, otherwise we might have lost valuable clues."

"There _were_ footsteps then?"

"Footsteps? Great Scott, yes, heaps of them: the absolute continuation
of those which led me and my men to this house. But the madness of the
thing, the puzzle of the thing! No man on earth can run away in two
directions, yet there the blessed things are, going down the road at
full tilt and coming back up it again still on a dead run. Two lines of
them, old chap, one going and the other returning and both passing by
the gate of this house. By it, do you hear?--_by_ it, and never once
turning in; yet in the garden we have found marks that correspond with
them to the fraction of a hair, and we know positively that the fellow
_did_ come in here. It licks me, Cleek--it positively licks me. It's
beyond all reason."

"Yes," admitted Cleek, thinking of the green satin dress. "It is, Mr.
Narkom, it certainly is."

"Dollops will bring the drawings he's making to you as soon as he has
covered all the ground," resumed the superintendent almost immediately.
"Clever young dog that and no mistake. But to return to our muttons, old
chap. Did you get anything out of this poor fellow? Any clue to the
party who assaulted him?"

"None. He doesn't know. For one thing, the mist prevented him seeing his
assailant, and for another, he was first shot down by some one who was
running toward him and answered his challenge with a bullet, and then
pounced upon by somebody else who was behind him and floored him with
the hammer. I take it that the person who was running and who fired the
shot was advancing toward him from this direction--was, in fact, the
actual assassin--and that having discharged the