u hear, Raymond, I had
killed them!" She sat up and motioned him away. "Do not touch me! Do
not come near me!"

"Margaret!" he interrupted appealingly.

"No! no! It is too late, too late!" Her voice sank to a hoarse
whisper. "I see it all--the blood on the ring, the chloroform, our
quarrels, and what she said to me, and then, and then--" She gave
another scream. "Go away! go away! You must not come near me again!"

"But Margaret, dear--"

"No, I cannot listen! You must go away, and let them take me to
prison, let them hang me if they will!" Her voice sank still lower.
"There is nothing else to do--I see the end. They have cornered me,
have found me out! Yes, they have found me out!" She gave a wild,
uncanny laugh that made his flesh creep. "Ha! ha! I thought they
could not do it, but they did. They have found me out! They have
found me out!" And then, with another scream, she pitched back and lay
again like one dead.

CHAPTER XV

LOVE VERSUS BUSINESS

"Uncle Adam, you must tell me everything. Do you hear?--everything!"

"But my dear Letty, I am not sure of these things. I only want you to
wait. That's easy enough, isn't it?"

"It will be, if you tell me everything. But I can't wait if I am kept
in the dark." The girl raised her tear-stained face to that of the
detective. "Oh, I am sure you will do the best you can and all
that--you have always been so kind to me. But--but I must know the
details."

A half hour had passed since he had discovered that Letty Bernard was
in love with Tom Ostrello, that she had been in love with the traveling
man ever since they had first met. He had heard her whole tale, how
the young man had taken her out and how they had planned for the
future--a tale not uncommon even in these plain, common-sense days,
when Romance lingers only on the outskirts of society. He had been
tremendously interested, as much so as if the girl was his own flesh
and blood.

"Of course, he invited me to the theatre before he knew of the death of
his mother," Letty went on. "And I suppose he has been so upset he
hasn't thought to notify me. But he might have sent me word," she
added wistfully. "I should have done so if it was my mother."

"He is not like you, Letty."

"Well, he is just as good."

"That remains to be seen."

"Are you going to tell me what you have in your mind or not, Uncle
Adam?"

He gazed at her fondly. How could he tell her? And yet, if