he got ahead so fast.

"Well, to cut the story short, Templeton met the Wainwright girls again
last summer at a resort on Long Island. They had just returned from a
long trip abroad, spending most of the time in the Far East with their
father, whose firm has business interests in China. The girls were very
attractive. They rode and played tennis and golf better than most of the
men, and this fall Templeton became a frequent visitor at the Wainwright
home in Williston.

"People who know them best tell me that his first attentions were paid
to Marian, a very dashing and ambitious young woman. Nearly every day
Templeton's car stopped at the house and the girls and some friend of
Templeton's in the country club went for a ride. They tell me that at
this time Marian always sat with Templeton on the front seat. But
after a few weeks the gossips--nothing of that sort ever escapes
Williston--said that the occupant of the front seat was Laura. She often
drove the car herself and was very clever at it. At any rate, not long
after that the engagement was announced."

As he walked up from the pretty little Williston station Kennedy asked:
"One more question, Mr. Whitney. How did Marian take the engagement?"

The district attorney hesitated. "I will be perfectly frank, Mr.
Kennedy," he answered. "The country-club people tell me that the girls
were very cool toward each other. That was why I got that statement from
Mrs. Wainwright. I wish to be perfectly fair to everyone concerned in
this case."

We found the coroner quite willing to talk, in spite of the fact that
the hour was late. "My friend, Mr. Whitney, here, still holds the poison
theory," began the coroner, "in spite of the fact that everything points
absolutely toward asphyxiation. If I had been able to discover the
slightest trace of illuminating-gas in the room I should have pronounced
it asphyxia at once. All the symptoms accorded with it. But the asphyxia
was not caused by escaping illuminating-gas.

"There was an antique charcoal-brazier in the room, and I have
ascertained that it was lighted. Now, anything like a brazier will,
unless there is proper ventilation, give rise to carbonic oxide
or carbon monoxide gas, which is always present in the products of
combustion, often to the extent of from five to ten per cent. A very
slight quantity of this gas, insufficient even to cause an odour in a
room, will give a severe headache, and a case is recorded where a whole