that he would find a way to get a gun--"

"Have you also found out that he stole Hugo's gun yesterday?"

"I have found that it was possible for him to do so," Dundee said
slowly. "The butler was off for the afternoon until six o'clock. There
was no one in the house but the nursemaid and the-three-months-old
baby."

"Well? And I suppose you think Clive and Polly didn't have a chance to
head Ralph off, as you say, but that they did see him running away after
he killed her?" Her voice was still brittle with anger, but there were
indecision and fear in it, too.

"No," Dundee replied. "I don't think they saw him. I feel pretty sure he
came into the house by the back way, and through the back hall into
Nita's room. He must have known Clive and Polly would be on the lookout
for him.... At any rate, I have proof that whoever shot Nita from in
front of that window near the porch door fled toward the back hall."

And he told her of the big bronze lamp, whose bulb had been broken,
reminding her of its place at the head of the chaise longue which was
set between the two west windows.

"That was the 'bang or bump' Flora Miles heard while she was hiding in
the closet," he explained. "I suppose Flora has told all of you about
it?... I thought so. Muffled as she was in the closet, it is unlikely
that she could have heard Nita's frantic whisperings to Ralph.... I
doubt if he spoke at all. Nita must have been sure he was about to leave
by the porch door--"

Dimly there came the ring of the telephone. With a curt word, Penny
excused herself to answer it. Dundee went on polishing glasses with a
fresh towel....

"Bonnie!" Penny was coming back, walking like a somnambulist, her brown
eyes wide and fixed. "That was--Ralph!... _And he doesn't even know Nita
is dead!_"

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Of course I recognized his voice instantly when he said, 'That you,
Penny?' and it's a wonder I didn't scream," said Penny Crain, fighting
her way up through dazed bewilderment to explain in detail, in answer to
Dundee's pelting questions. "I said, 'Of course, Ralph.... Where _have_
you been?...' And _he_ said, in that coaxing, teasing voice of his that
I know so well: 'Peeved, Penny?... I don't blame you, honey. You really
ought not to let me come over and explain why I stood you up last night,
but you will, won't you?... Ni-i-ze Penny!...' That's exactly how he
talked, Bonnie Dundee! Exactly! _Oh, don't you see he couldn't know that
Nita