now saw that his
usually sallow face was flushed up to the roots of his long dry hair and
almost colorless whiskers, as if he had been drinking liquors.
Forgetting to use the tablets, Calvin spoke aloud, but not in as high a
key as formerly:

"Mr. Salter, Agnes Wilt has no heart. She was a step-niece of the late
Mrs. Zane--her brother's daughter. The girl's father was a poor
professional man, and died soon after his child was born, followed at no
great distance to the grave by his widow. While a child, Agnes was cold
and subtle. She professed to love me--that was the understanding in our
childhood. She has forgotten me as she has forgotten many other men. But
she is beautiful, and I want to marry her. You can help me."

"What do you want with a cold and calculating woman?" wrote Duff Salter
stiffly. "What do you want particularly with such a dangerous woman--a
demon, as you indicate?"

"I want to save her soul, and retrieve her from wickedness. Upon my
word, old man, that's my only game. You see, to effect that object would
set me up at once with the church people. I'm told that a little
objection to my prospects in the governor's church begins to break out.
If I can marry Agnes Wilt, she will recover her position in Kensington,
and make me more welcome in families. I don't mind telling you that I
have been a little gay."

"That's nothing," wrote Duff Salter smilingly. "So were the sons of
Eli."

"Correct!" retorted Calvin. "I need a taming down, and only matrimony
can do it. Now, with your aid I can manage it. Miss Wilt does not fancy
me. She can be made to do so, however, by two causes."

"And they are--"

"Her fears and her avarice. I propose to bring this murder close home to
her. If not a principal in it, she is an undoubted accessory after the
fact. Andrew Zane paid her a visit the night the dead bodies were
discovered in the river."

"You are sure of this?"

"Perfectly. I have had a detective on his track; too late to arrest the
rascal, but the identity of a sailor man who penetrated into the house
by the coal-hole is established by the discovery of the clothing he
exchanged for that disguise--it was Andrew Zane. Concealment of that
fact from the law will make her an accessory."

"Jericho! Jericho!" sneezed Duff Salter, but with a pale face, and said:

"That fact established would be serious; but it would be a gratuitous
and vile act for you, who profess to love her."

"It is love that prompts me-