ho was the woman who on the night of
that gentleman's assassination screamed out so loudly that the whole
neighbourhood heard her?"

The gasp she gave answered my question in a way she little realized, and
struck as I was by the impalpable links that had led me to the threshold
of this hitherto unsolvable mystery, I was about to press my advantage
and ask another question, when she quickly started forward and laid her
hand on my lips.

Astonished, I looked at her inquiringly, but her head was turned
aside, and her eyes, fixed upon the door, showed the greatest anxiety.
Instantly I realized what she feared. Her husband was entering the
house, and she dreaded lest his ears should catch a word of our
conversation.

Not knowing what was in her mind, and unable to realize the importance
of the moment to her, I yet listened to the advance of her blind husband
with an almost painful interest. Would he enter the room where we were,
or would he pass immediately to his office in the rear? She seemed to
wonder too, and almost held her breath as he neared the door, paused,
and stood in the open doorway, with his ear turned towards us.

As for myself, I remained perfectly still, gazing at his face in mingled
surprise and apprehension. For besides its beauty, which was of a marked
order, as I have already observed, it had a touching expression which
irresistibly aroused both pity and interest in the spectator. This may
have been the result of his affliction, or it may have sprung from some
deeper cause; but, whatever its source, this look in his face produced a
strong impression upon me and interested me at once in his personality.
Would he enter; or would he pass on? Her look of silent appeal showed
me in which direction her wishes lay, but while I answered her glance
by complete silence, I was conscious in some indistinct way that the
business I had undertaken would be better furthered by his entrance.

The blind have often been said to possess a sixth sense in place of the
one they have lost. Though I am sure we made no noise, I soon perceived
that he was aware of our presence. Stepping hastily forward he said, in
the high and vibrating tone of restrained passion:

"Zulma, are you there?"

For a moment I thought she did not mean to answer, but knowing doubtless
from experience the impossibility of deceiving him, she answered with a
cheerful assent, dropping her hand as she did so from before my lips.

He heard the slight