as with me all night."

Carroll gazed at the girl before him with new interest. Out of her
chatter he had at last garnered one important fact. His mind, trained to
seize upon the vital and instantly discard the inconsequential, clutched
the bit of information, and turned it over. From the first Carroll had
scouted the idea that the dead man's fiancee might have been responsible
for his death; but still it was a line of investigation which demanded
examination, and his pretty young visitor was making that road
exceedingly simple. He injected all the warmth of his friendly, sunny
nature in the smile which he bestowed upon her.

"You have helped me tremendously with that piece of information,
Miss Rogers."

"I don't see how, particularly. No one with any sense--provided they knew
Hazel, of course--could even imagine her killing any one, and least of
all an adorable boy like Roland. She was so much in love with him!"

"Of course, I haven't the pleasure of Miss Gresham's acquaintance."

"Of course not. You'll have to meet her, though. She's a darling!
Naturally, she's all broken up this morning because her wedding date
was all set. Now all her plans have gone smash, and she really was
_terribly_ fond--"

"You say you spent the night with Miss Gresham?"

"Certainly, and--"

"Where?"

"At her house."

"And you are sure she was there all night?"

"Of course! We slept in the same bed--and that's certainly proof enough,
isn't it?"

"I suppose so."

"You _suppose_? My goodness gracious! Don't you _know_?"

"Well--yes. If you're sure--"

"Why, my dear Mr. Carroll, we didn't even actually go to bed until a
quarter before twelve. At ten o'clock we made some waffles
downstairs--Hazel has just bought a perfectly _darling_ aluminum electric
waffle-iron. It makes the most toothsome waffles--all crisp and
everything. And you know when you use aluminum you don't need any grease,
so that makes the waffles much nicer. I'm getting horribly domestic since
Hazel became engaged, because she is learning--"

"And after you made the waffles?"

"Oh! After that we went up-stairs to her room, and put on our kimonos,
and had a heart-to-heart talk. I can't tell you what we talked about,
because sometimes--well, it was atrociously risque--as women will, you
know, and--"

"At a quarter before twelve you were still sitting up talking, and you
had your kimonos on?"

"Yes, and--oh, you just ought to see Hazel's new kimono--pink _cre