u've been
so kind!"

"No, no!" interrupted Alicia quickly. "You've said nothing--done
nothing--you've had a great deal to bear--a great deal to bear. I
understand that perfectly." Taking her companion's hand in hers, she
went on, "Tell me, what do they say about the woman who went to see
Robert Underwood the night of the tragedy?"

"The police can't find her--we don't know who she is." Confidently she
went on: "But Judge Brewster will find her. We have a dozen detectives
searching for her. Captain Clinton accused me of being the woman--you
know he doesn't like me."

The banker's wife was far too busy thinking of the number of detectives
employed to find the missing witness to pay attention to the concluding
sentence. Anxiously she demanded:

"Supposing the woman is found, what can she prove? What difference will
it make?"

"All the difference in the world," replied Annie. "She is a most
important witness." Firmly she went on: "She must be found. If she
didn't shoot Robert Underwood, she knows who did."

"But how can she know?" argued Alicia. "Howard confessed that he did it
himself. If he had not confessed it would be different."

"He did not confess," replied the other calmly. "Mrs. Jeffries--he never
confessed. If he did, he didn't know what he was saying."

Alicia was rapidly losing her self-possession.

"Did he tell you that?" she gasped.

Annie nodded.

"Yes. Dr. Bernstein says the police forced it out of his tired brain. I
made Howard go over every second of his life that night from the time he
left me to the moment he was arrested. There wasn't a harsh word between
them." She stopped short and looked with alarm at Alicia, who had turned
ashen white. "Why, what's the matter? You're pale as death--you----"

Alicia could contain herself no longer. Her nerves were on the point of
giving way. She felt that if she could not confide her secret to some
one she must go mad. Pacing the floor, she cried:

"What am I to do? What am I to do? I believed Howard guilty. Why
shouldn't I? I had no reason to doubt his own confession! Every one
believed it--his own father included. Why should I doubt it. But I see
it all now! Underwood must have shot himself as he said he would!"

Annie started. What did Mrs. Jeffries mean? Did she realize the
tremendous significance of the words she was uttering?

"As he said he would?" she repeated slowly.

"Yes," said Alicia weakly.

Annie bounded forward and grasped her com