rate it. I've searched! Mr. Delaney has searched. Do you
want us to search again?" Drew's lips were drawn with doubt as he
stared anxiously from Loris to Nichols. "I'll do it, captain, if you
say so. I think we've done enough work, however. The thing is to get
this fellow to talk. I don't want to give him over to Fosdick and the
third degree till we see if he is going to treat us right. He can turn
state's evidence on Morphy, who blundered. Then he'll get off lightly.
Morphy is the master mind."

"He only smiles," said Nichols, tapping his breast suggestively. "I've
a gun here and I've a mind to use it. Do you think I want Miss
Stockbridge murdered like her father was murdered? I'll shoot that cur!
He's a whispering snake! A Hun!"

"Don't!" sobbed Loris, as Nichols thrust his hand in his coat and drew
out a flat automatic of .44 caliber. "Don't, Harry! Perhaps this man is
innocent."

"Innocent!" declared Nichols. "Why, Loris--why, Miss Stockbridge, you
don't think _that_, after all the things Mr. Drew has discovered. I'll
wager my commission he's guilty as Hell, and I mean it, Loris."

"He's that!" Delaney declared. "He and his brother the devil are one in
sin. They're lost spirits."

"Now everybody," said Drew, gathering in the group with his eyes, which
were strangely bright. "Everybody keep very quiet for a minute. Let me
think."

"Sure and I will, Chief. I'm thinking I want to think, myself."

Drew frowned at Delaney. He dropped his eyes and studied the prisoner's
hands. They were strangely white and remarkably small for a man who had
labored at telephone-repairing. The detective's glance rested on the
ink-stained thumb. His mind swung with this thought to the footprints.
Following the train he arrived at the first conclusion that an expert
in telephony could devise most any kind of a practical method for
opening a window or a ventilator. He dismissed this theory with a
glance about the room. The ventilator was well-hidden and inaccessible
to any one without a step-ladder. Considerable time devoted in climbing
upon a chair and a case of jade ornaments might reach it, but the
trouble-man had not been alone in the room when he inspected the
telephone.

Drew went over the salient details of the Stockbridge tragedy. One fact
stood out. The windows had been well locked. The sashes were covered
with snow. A climber, even on the face of the house, would have
difficulty in springing a catch by a secret method, rai