eply. I saw her lips part and her eyes
take on the look which precedes a direct avowal, but, as chance would
have it, we came at that moment upon the thicket inclosing the bungalow,
and the sight of its picturesque walls, showing brown through the
verdure of the surrounding shrubbery, seemed to act as a check upon her,
for, with a quick look and a certain dry accent quite new in her speech,
she suddenly inquired if I did not want to see the place from which
Gwendolen had disappeared.

Naturally I answered in the affirmative and followed her as she turned
aside into the circular path which embraces this hidden retreat; but I
had rather have heard her answer to my question, than to have gone
anywhere or seen anything at that moment. Yet, when in full view of the
bungalow's open door, she stopped to point out to me the nearness of the
place to that opening in the hedge we had just been making for, and when
she even went so far as to indicate the tangled little path by which
that opening could be reached directly from the farther end of the
bungalow, I considered that my question had been answered, though in
another way than I anticipated, even before I noted the slight flush
which rose to her cheek under my earnest scrutiny.

As it is important for the exact location of the bungalow to be
understood, I subjoin a diagram of this part of the ground:

[Illustration: LAWN EXTENDING TO THE HIGHWAY.

A The Ocumpaugh mansion. B The Bungalow. C Mrs. Carew's house. D Private
path. E Gap in hedge leading to the Ocumpaugh grounds. F Gap leading
into Mrs. Carew's grounds. G Bench at end of bungalow.]

As I took this all in, I ventured to ask some particulars of the family
living so near the Ocumpaughs.

"Who occupies that house?" I asked, pointing to the sloping roofs and
ornamental chimneys arising just beyond us over the hedge-rows.

"Oh, that is Mrs. Carew's home. She is a widow and Mrs. Ocumpaugh's
dearest friend. How she loved Gwendolen! How we all loved her! And now,
that _wretch_--"

She burst into tears. They were genuine ones; so was her grief.

I waited till she was calm again, then I inquired very softly:

"What wretch?"

"You have not been inside," she suggested, pointing sharply to the
bungalow.

I took the implied rebuke and entered the door she indicated. A man was
sitting within, but he rose and went out when he saw us. He wore a
policeman's badge and evidently recognized her or possibly myself. I
noted,