"I'll be getting along now, sir," he said. "The commissioner asked me to
give you all the assistance I possibly could, and I hope I have done
so."

"What are you doing in the case of Jasper Cole?" asked Mann quickly.

The detective smiled.

"You ought to know, sir," he said, and was amused at his own little
joke.

"Well, young lady," said Mann, turning to the girl, after the detective
had gone, "I think you know how matters stand. Nash suspects Cole."

"Jasper!" she said, in shocked surprise.

"Jasper," he repeated.

"But that is impossible! He was locked in his room."

"That doesn't make it impossible. I know of fourteen distinct cases of
men who committed crimes and were able to lock themselves in their
rooms, leaving the key outside. There was a case of Henry Burton,
coiner; there was William Francis Rector, who killed a warder while in
prison and locked the cell upon himself from the inside. There was--But
there; why should I bother you with instances? That kind of trick is
common enough. No," he said, "it is the motive that we have to find. Do
you still want me to go with you to-morrow, Miss Nuttall?" he asked.

"I should be very glad if you would," she said earnestly. "Poor, dear
uncle! I didn't think I could ever enter the house again."

"I can relieve your mind about that," he said. "The will is not to be
read in the house. Mr. Minute's lawyers have arranged for the reading at
their offices in Lincoln's Inn Fields. I have the address here
somewhere."

He fumbled in his pocket and took out a card.

"Power, Commons & Co.," he read, "194 Lincoln's Inn Fields. I will meet
you there at three o'clock."

He rumpled his untidy hair with an embarrassed laugh.

"I seem to have drifted into the position of guardian to you, young
lady," he said. "I can't say that it is an unpleasant task, although it
is a great responsibility."

"You have been splendid, Mr. Mann," she said warmly, "and I shall never
forget all you have done for me. Somehow I feel that Frank will get off;
and I hope--I pray that it will not be at Jasper's expense."

He looked at her in surprise and disappointment.

"I thought--" he stopped.

"You thought I was engaged to Frank, and so I am," she said, with
heightened color. "But Jasper is--I hardly know how to put it."

"I see," said Mr. Mann, though, if the truth be told, he saw nothing
which enlightened him.

Punctually at three o'clock the next afternoon, they walked up the step