of great agitation, one of the men
hastened down to offer his arm. As she took it, I asked Hibbard,
who had suddenly reappeared upon the scene, who she was.

He said that she was probably the sister of the woman who lay
inside. Upon which I remembered that this lady, under the name of
Miss Tuttle--she was but half-sister to Miss Moore--had been
repeatedly mentioned by the reporters, in the accounts of the
wedding before mentioned, as a person of superior attainments and
magnificent beauty.

This did not take from my interest, and flinging decorum to the
winds, I approached as near as possible to the threshold which she
must soon cross. As I did so I was astonished to hear the strains
of Uncle David's organ still pealing from the opposite side of the
way. This at a moment so serious and while matters of apparent
consequence were taking place in the house to which he had himself
directed the attention of the police, struck me as carrying stoicism
to the extreme. Not very favorably impressed by this display of
open if not insulting indifference on the part of the sole remaining
Moore,--an indifference which did not appear quite natural even in
a man of his morbid eccentricity,--I resolved to know more of this
old man and, above all, to make myself fully acquainted with the
exact relations which had existed between him and his unhappy niece.

Meanwhile Miss Tuttle had stepped within the circle of light cast
by our lanterns.

I have never seen a finer woman, nor one whose features displayed
a more heart-rending emotion. This called for respect, and I, for
one, endeavored to show it by withdrawing into the background. But
I soon stepped forward again. My desire to understand her was too
great, the impression made by her bearing too complex, to be passed
over lightly by one on the lookout for a key to the remarkable
tragedy before us.

Meanwhile her lips had opened with the cry:

"My sister! Where is my sister?"

The captain made a hurried movement toward the rear and then with
the laudable intention, doubtless, of preparing her for the ghastly
sight which awaited her, returned and opened a way for her into the
drawing-room. But she was not to be turned aside from her course.
Passing him by, she made directly for the library which she entered
with a bound. Struck by her daring, we all crowded up behind her,
and, curious brutes that we were, grouped ourselves in a semicircle
about the doorway as she faltere