south or west, and he was here; but why here? That is what
I knew you would want to know, and it was just what I wanted to know
myself. So I kept my place, which was good enough, and just listened,
for I could not see.

"What was his errand? What did he want in this empty house at midnight?
Papers first, and then clothes. I heard him at his desk, I heard him
in the closet, and afterward pottering in the old trunk I had been so
anxious to look into myself. He must have brought the key with him, for
it was no time before I heard him throwing out the contents in a wild
search for something he wanted in a great hurry. He found it sooner than
you would believe, and began throwing the things back, when something
happened. Expectedly or unexpectedly, his eye fell on some object which
roused all his passions, and he broke into loud exclamations ending in
groans. Finally he fell to kissing this object with a fervor suggesting
rage, and a rage suggesting tenderness carried to the point of agony. I
have never heard the like; my curiosity was so aroused that I was on the
point of risking everything for a look, when he gave a sudden snarl and
cried out, loud enough for me to hear: 'Kiss what I've hated? That is as
bad as to kill what I've loved.' Those were the words. I am sure he said
kiss and I am sure he said kill."

"This is very interesting. Go on with your story. Why didn't you collar
him while he was in this mood? You would have won by the surprise.

"I had no pistol, sir, and he had. I heard him cock it. I thought he
was going to take his own life, and held my breath for the report. But
nothing like that was in his mind. Instead, he laid the pistol down and
deliberately tore in two the object of his anger. Then with a smothered
curse he made for the door and turret staircase.

"I was for following, but not till I had seen what he had destroyed in
such an excess of feeling. I thought I knew, but I wanted to feel sure.
So, before risking myself in the turret, I crept to the room he had left
and felt about on the floor till I came upon these."

"A torn photograph! Mrs. Fairbrother's!"

"Yes. Have you not heard how he loved her? A foolish passion, but
evidently sincere and--"

"Never mind comments, Sweetwater. Stick to facts."

"I will, sir. They are interesting enough. After I had picked up these
scraps I stole back to the turret staircase. And here I made my first
break. I stumbled in the darkness, and the man below h