e;
several letters addressed to her had been delivered, but there was no
sign of this one. Now, I can't tell why, but I feel as if I want
somebody in that house. Was there ever anything more utterly
unreasonable than that? I wouldn't dare tell any one but you; I can't
explain it, but neither can I rid myself of the feeling, and I was going
to seek you, to ask if you will undertake this for me. All I want is
that you shall put in whatever time you spend in your own apartment
there. Nothing may come of it, but you have no idea what a relief it
will be to me if you will not be too much inconvenienced, and you have
no dread of the rather morbid associations."

"I'll do it," Carroll answered. "There are too many other people in the
building for me to be afraid of anything alive, and as for the
dead--well, I shouldn't be afraid of her either. I can't tell you why,
but I believe this is a good move." She gave a little shiver. "I hope
the new lock is a strong one, Silvia; I should hate to have the murderer
come back to the scene of his crime."

CHAPTER XVIII

DR. EARL IS INDICTED FOR MURDER

The grand jury returned an indictment against Dr. John Earl for the
murder of Mrs. Emma Bell. There could be but one grade of homicide in
this kind of a case, and he was accordingly charged with murder in the
first degree and his trial was set for Tuesday of the following week.

Frank came to see him early Saturday morning. "The neighbors of Mrs.
Bell will be at the trial in full force to tell of your daily visits
there at all sorts of ungodly hours. Their gossip indicates that they
believe you had a very serious affair on with her, and this, together
with the claim of the surgeons that you botched the operation on the
child's leg, furnishes a fairly powerful motive for the crime, at least
in the public mind. Jack," he asked, with a mixture of doubt and
anxiety, "did you really have an affair with her?"

"Nonsense, Frank, nonsense," answered his brother. "It is true that I
went there at rather unusual hours; I was pretty busy, and when I found
she was in the habit of sitting up until after midnight I used to drop
in there when I was through for the day. I don't think I ever went there
later than nine-thirty or ten, and I seldom stayed more than fifteen or
twenty minutes. Later on I was, and I still am, greatly worried about
the child. Of course my operation didn't produce tuberculosis; that is
silly, but it serves the purpose