Miss Butterworth, could not have been a simple one under any
circumstances. But conceived as this one was by a man of more than
ordinary intelligence, and carried out with a skill and precaution
little short of marvellous, the features which it presents are of such a
varying and subtle character that only by the exercise of a certain
amount of imagination can they be understood at all. Such an imagination
I possess, but how can I be sure that you do?"

"By testing it," I suggested.

"Very good, madam, I will. Not from actual knowledge, then, but from a
certain insight I have acquired in my long dealing with such matters, I
have come to the conclusion that Franklin Van Burnam did not in the
beginning plan to kill this woman in his father's house.

"On the contrary, he had fixed upon a hotel room as the scene of the
conflict he foresaw between them, and that he might carry it on without
endangering their good names, had urged her to meet him the next morning
in the semi-disguise of a gossamer over her fine dress and a heavy veil
over her striking features; making the pretence, no doubt, of this being
the more appropriate costume for her to appear in before the old
gentleman should he so far concede to her demands as to take her to the
steamer. For himself he had planned the adoption of a disfiguring duster
which had been hanging for a long time in a closet on the ground-floor
of the building in Duane Street. All this promised well, but when the
time came and he was about to leave his office, his brother unexpectedly
appeared and asked for the key to their father's house. Disconcerted no
doubt by the appearance of the very person he least wished to see, and
astonished by a request so out of keeping with all that had hitherto
passed between them, he nevertheless was in too much haste to question
him, so gave him what he wanted and Howard went away. As soon after as
he could lock his desk and don his hat, Franklin followed, and merely
stopping to cover his coat with the old duster, he went out and hastened
towards the place of meeting. Under most circumstances all this might
have happened without the brothers encountering each other again, but a
temporary obstruction on the sidewalk having, as we know, detained
Howard, Franklin was enabled to approach him sufficiently close to see
him draw his pocket-handkerchief out of his pocket, and with it the keys
which he had just given him. The latter fell, and as there was a great