not
forget, and the slight gesture with which she had passed me at the
close of the short conversation I have given above had a suggestion of
triumph in it which seemed to contain whole volumes of secret and
mysterious hate. I went into Miss Wilcox's room very thoughtful.

"I am going--"

But here the nurse held up her hand. "Hark," she whispered; she had
just set the clock, and was listening to its striking.

I did hark, but not to the clock.

"Whose step is that?" I asked, after she had left the clock, and sat
down.

"Oh, some one in the next room. The walls here are very thin--only
boards in places."

I did not complete what I had begun to say. If I could hear steps
through the partition, then could our neighbors hear us talk, and what
I had determined upon must be kept secret from all outsiders. I drew a
sheet of paper toward me and wrote:

"I shall stay here to-night. Something tells me that in doing this I
shall solve this mystery. But I must appear to go. Take my
instructions as usual, and bid me good-night. Lock the door after me,
but with a turn of the key instantly unlock it again. I shall go down
stairs, see that my carriage drives away, and quietly return. On my
re-entrance I shall expect to find Miss Wilcox on the couch with the
screen drawn up around it, you in your big chair, and the light
lowered. What I do thereafter need not concern you. Pretend to go to
sleep."

The nurse nodded, and immediately entered upon the programme I had
planned. I prepared the medicine as usual, placed it in its usual
glass, and laid that glass where it had always been set, on a small
table at the farther side of the bed. Then I said "Good-night," and
passed hurriedly out.

I was fortunate enough to meet no one, going or coming. I regained the
room, pushed open the door, and finding everything in order, proceeded
at once to the bed, upon which, after taking off my hat and cloak and
carefully concealing them, I lay down and deftly covered myself up.

My idea was this--that by some mesmeric influence of which she was
ignorant, the nurse had been forced to either poison the glass herself
or open the door for another to do it. If this were so, she or the
other person would be obliged to pass around the foot of the bed in
order to reach the glass, and I should be sure to see it, for I did
not pretend to sleep. By the low light enough could be discerned for
safe movement about the room, and not enough to make apparent