I don't see," she faltered, very much frightened; then quickly: "Show
me, show me."

I pointed out the marks in the heavy dust of the long neglected floor;
they were unmistakable.

"Oh!" she cried, "what it is to be a detective! But who could have been
here? Who would want to be here? I think it is horrible myself, and if I
were alone I should faint from terror and the close air."

"We will not remain much longer," I assured her, going straight to the
couch. "I do not like it either, but--"

"What have you found now?"

Her voice seemed to come from a great distance behind me. Was this on
account of the state of her nerves or mine? I am willing to think the
latter, for at that moment my eye took in two unexpected details. A dent
as of a child's head in one of the mangy sofa-pillows and a crushed bit
of colored sugar which must once have been a bit of choice
confectionery.

"Some one besides a lady has been here," I decided, pointing to the one
and bringing back the other. "See! this bit of candy is quite fresh. You
must acknowledge that. _This_ was not walled up years ago with the rest
of the things we see about us."

Her eyes stared at the sugary morsel I held out toward her in my open
palm. Then she made a sudden rush which took her to the side of the
couch.

"Gwendolen here?" she moaned, "Gwendolen here?"

"Yes," I began; "do not--"

But she had already left the spot and was backing toward the opening up
which we had come. As she met my eye she made a quick turn and plunged
below.

"I must have air," she gasped.

With a glance at the floor over which she had so rapidly passed, I
hastily followed her, smiling grimly to myself. Intentionally or
unintentionally, she had by this quick passage to and fro effectually
confused, if not entirely obliterated, those evidences of a former
intrusion which, with misguided judgment, I had just pointed out to her.
But recalling the still more perfect line of footprints left below to
which I had not called her attention, I felt that I could afford to
ignore the present mishap.

As I reached the cellar bottom I called to her, for she was already
half-way across.

"Did you notice where the boards had been sawed?" I asked. "The sawdust
is still on the floor, and it smells as fresh as if the saw had been at
work there yesterday."

"No doubt, no doubt," she answered back over her shoulder, still
hurrying on so that I had to run lest she should attempt the steps in
utt