e well enough to say that he was either very cold or very much
done up and that he wore a greatcoat with the collar pulled up about his
ears. When he came back with the whip he seemed more cheerful than when
he asked for it, but had no "thank you" for the favor done him, or if he
had, it was lost in his throat and the piercing gale.

The communication, which was regarded by the police as a matter of the
highest importance, had been found in her hand by the coroner. It was a
mere scrawl written in pencil on a small scrap of paper. The following
facsimile of the scrawl was given to the public in the hope that some
one would recognize the handwriting.

The first two lines overlapped and were confused, but the last one
was clear enough. Expect trouble if--If what? Hundreds were asking the
question and at this very moment. I should soon be asking it, too, but
first, I must make an effort to understand the situation,--a situation
which up to now appeared to involve Mr. Durand, and Mr. Durand only, as
the suspected party.

This was no more than I expected, yet it came with a shock under the
broad glare of this wintry morning; so impossible did it seem in the
light of every-day life that guilt could be associated in any one's mind
with a man of such unblemished record and excellent standing. But the
evidence adduced against him was of a kind to appeal to the common
mind--we all know that evidence--nor could I say, after reading the full
account, that I was myself unaffected by its seeming weight. Not that my
faith in his innocence was shaken. I had met his look of love and tender
gratitude and my confidence in him had been restored, but I saw, with
all the clearness of a mind trained by continuous study, how difficult
it was going to be to counteract the prejudice induced, first, by his
own inconsiderate acts, especially by that unfortunate attempt of his to
secrete Mrs. Fairbrother's gloves in another woman's bag, and secondly,
by his peculiar explanations--explanations which to many must seem
forced and unnatural.

I saw and felt nerved to a superhuman task. I believed him innocent,
and if others failed to prove him so, I would undertake to clear him
myself,--I, the little Rita, with no experience of law or courts or
crime, but with simply an unbounded faith in the man suspected and in
the keenness of my own insight,--an insight which had already served me
so well and would serve me yet better, once I had mastered the deta