've
seen that from the first. You've even feared to uncover little things
which might be truths because you did not know just where they would
lead."

Scanlon paused and regarded his friend with troubled eyes.

"You are right," said he. "From the very first I've been as nervous as a
roomful of old maids with dinner ten minutes late. It had a queer look,
somehow; and as I've seen more of it, the queerness don't get any less."

"Just at this point," spoke the investigator, "we reach a sort of
crisis. Certain things must be faced. What you have been fearing and
what I have been realizing with increasing clearness with every step we
took must now be considered openly and freely."

Bat cleared his throat, huskily.

"You mean Nora Cavanaugh," he said.

"I mean Nora Cavanaugh," replied the other, evenly.

Scanlon resumed his pacing.

"I can't deny it," said he. "She's keeping something back. I saw
that--or rather, I felt it--from the start. I don't understand why she's
doing it, and I can't imagine what it is. But she ain't told all she
knows; and she don't mean to tell it." At Ashton-Kirk's side the man
paused and laid a hand upon his arm. "And now that we're on this
subject," said he, "and talking plain, what did you get from the marks
on her temple?"

"She said it was an accident, due to her maid's carelessness. The maid,
when questioned, showed clearly that she knew nothing of it. That
convinced me that Miss Cavanaugh desired to hide the cause of the
bruise. Her refusal to permit the girl to touch her hair on the morning
after the murder makes it plain that she had some reason for desiring
the mark to remain unseen."

"I'm on that she didn't get the mark as she said," said Scanlon. "But
how _did_ she get it?"

"That is another thing which it is impossible to make sure of at this
time," replied Ashton-Kirk. "But, merely as a suggestion, mind you, I
recall that the' Bounder' visited her on the night it happened."

"He struck her, you mean!" Bat's hands clenched and his great shoulders
heaved. "The infernal cur! that would be just like him!"

"Another suggestion which I'd like to make," spoke Ashton-Kirk, "is one
which may or may not be significant. The maid said Miss Cavanaugh put
her jewels in a bank vault the morning after his visit."

Bat Scanlon stiffened up; an exclamation upon his lips; one fist smacked
into an open palm as he cried:

"You've hit it! She just came in from the theatre, and she was wea