ws for Ida. But how did she know anything about Ida's
engagement to Edward Cossey? And, by Jove! what did the woman mean
when she asked what he would do if he had killed the only thing he
loved in the world? Cossey must be the "only thing she loved," and now
he thought of it, when she believed that he was dead she called him
"Edward, Edward."

Harold Quaritch was as simple and unsuspicious a man as it would be
easy to find, but he was no fool. He had moved about the world and on
various occasions come in contact with cases of this sort, as most
other men have done. He knew that when a woman, in a moment of
distress, calls a man by his Christian name it is because she is in
the habit of thinking of him and speaking to him by that name. Not
that there was much in that by itself, but in public she called him
"Mr. Cossey." "Edward" clearly then was the "only thing she loved,"
and Edward was secretly engaged to Ida, and Mrs. Quest knew it.

Now when a man who is not her husband has the fortune, or rather the
misfortune, to be the only thing a married woman ever loved, and when
that married woman is aware of the fact of his devotion and engagement
to somebody else, it is obvious, he reflected, that in nine cases out
of ten the knowledge will excite strong feelings in her breast,
feelings indeed which in some natures would amount almost to madness.

When he had first seen Mrs. Quest that afternoon she and Cossey were
alone together, and he had noticed something unusual about her,
something unnatural and intense. Indeed, he remembered he had told her
that she looked like the Tragic Muse. Could it be that the look was
the look of a woman maddened by insult and jealousy, who was
meditating some fearful crime? /How did that gun go off?/ He did not
see it, and he thanked heaven that he did not, for we are not always
so anxious to bring our fellow creatures to justice as we might be,
especially when they happen to be young and lovely women. How did it
go off? She understood guns; he could see that from the way she
handled it. Was it likely that it exploded of itself, or owing to an
accidental touch of the trigger? It was possible, but not likely.
Still, such things have been known to happen, and it would be very
difficult to prove that it had not happened in this case. If it should
be attempted murder it was very cleverly managed, because nobody could
prove that it was not accidental. But could it be that this soft,
beautiful, ba