rt about and started off again in the desired direction.

"Sooner done, sooner paid," shouted the lawyer, as lad and cart went
jolting off. "Remember to ask for Lawyer Harper when you come back. I
won't be far from the office."

The fellow nodded; gave one grinning look back and whipped up his nag.
The lawyer and Ransom eyed one another. "It's only a possibility,"
emphasized the former. "Don't lay too much stress upon it."

"Let us speak plainly," urged Ransom. "Mr. Harper, are you sure that you
know just what my thought is?"

"The time has not come for discussing that question. Let us defer it.
There is a fact to be settled first."

"Whether the girl--"

"No; this! Whether your wife could have jumped from her window to the
balcony, as Anitra said. It did not look feasible from below, but as I
then remarked to you, our opinion may change when we consider it from
above. Will you go up-stairs with me to your wife's room?"

"I will go anywhere and do anything you please, so that we learn the
exact truth. But spare me the curiosity of these people. The crowd on
this side is increasing."

"We will go in by the kitchen door. Some one there will show us the way
up-stairs."

And in this manner they entered; not escaping entirely all curious looks,
for human nature is human nature, whether in the kitchen or parlor.

In the hall above Mr. Ransom took the precedence. As they neared the
fatal room he motioned the lawyer to wait till he could ascertain if Miss
Hazen would be disturbed by their intrusion. The door, which had been
broken in between the two rooms, could not have been put back very
securely, and he dreaded incommoding her. He was gone but a minute.
Almost as soon as the lawyer started to follow him, he could be seen
beckoning from poor Georgian's door.

"Miss Hazen is asleep," whispered Ransom, as the other drew near. "We can
look about this room with impunity."

They both entered and the lawyer crossed at once to the window.

"Your wife could never have taken the leap ascribed to her by the woman
you call Anitra," he declared, after a minute's careful scrutiny of the
conditions. "The balustrade of the adjoining balcony is not only in the
way, but the distance is at least five feet from the extreme end of this
window-ledge. A woman accustomed to a life of adventure or to the feats
of a gymnasium might do it, but not a lady of Mrs. Ransom's habits. If
your wife made her way from this room to the balcony ou