. He is still on
the Continent. I believe, indeed, he has gone to Russia, where he
sometimes has business."

"I asked you the question, Miss Muriel, because I thought if Mr.
Woodroffe were here, he might object to our searching in company," I
explained, smiling.

Her cheeks flushed slightly, as though confused at my reference to her
engagement, and she said mischievously:

"I don't see why he should object in the least. If you are good enough
to assist me to search for my bracelet, he surely ought to be much
obliged to you."

It was on the tip of my tongue to explain to that dark-eyed, handsome
girl the circumstances in which I had met her lover on the sunny
Mediterranean shore, yet prudence forbade me to refer to the matter, and
I at once gladly accepted her invitation to investigate the curious
disappearance of the body of poor Olinto's fellow-victim.

What secret knowledge could be possessed by that smart, handsome girl
before me? That her suspicions were in the right direction I felt
confident, yet if the dead woman had been removed and hidden by the
assassin it must have been after the discovery made by me. The fellow
must have actually dared to return to the spot and carry off the victim.
Yet if he had actually done that, why did he allow the corpse of the
Italian to remain and await discovery? He might perhaps have been
disturbed and compelled to make good his escape.

"If the woman was really removed the assassin must surely have had some
assistance," I pointed out. "He could not have carried the body very far
unaided."

She agreed with me, but expressed a belief that the double crime had
been committed alone and unaided.

"Have you any idea as to the motive?" I asked her, eager to hear her
reply.

"Well," she answered hesitatingly, "if the woman has fallen a victim,
the motive will become plain; but if not, then the matter must remain a
complete mystery."

"You tell me, Miss Muriel, that you suspect the truth, and yet you deny
all knowledge of the murdered man!" I exclaimed in a tone of slight
reproach.

"Until we have cleared up the mystery of the woman I can say nothing,"
was her answer. "I can only tell you, Mr. Gregg, that if what I suspect
is true, then the affair will be found to be one of the strangest, most
startling and most ingenious plots ever devised by one man against the
life of another."

"Then a man is the assassin, you think?" I exclaimed quickly.

"I believe so. But even of