er eyes a look which he hated to
see, a look which seemed to confirm a suspicion already in his mind.

CHAPTER XVII

WHAT A GIRL SAW

With Morriston's departure a rather uncomfortable silence fell upon the
party left in the room. Every one seemed to feel that there was
something in the air, the shadow of a possibly serious development in
the case. Even Kelson, who was otherwise inclined to be jubilant over
the freeing of his fiancee from suspicion, seemed to feel it was no time
or place just then for gaiety, and his expression grew as grave as that
of the rest.

"I wonder what these fellows have come to say," he observed as he
paced the room.

"Let's hope to announce that at last they are going to leave you in
peace, Edith," Miss Tredworth said.

Edith Morriston did not alter her position as she stood looking out of
the window. "Thank you for your kind wish, Muriel," she responded in a
cold voice; "but I'm afraid that is too much to hope for just yet."

"Yet one doesn't see what else it can be," Kelson observed reflectively.
"They can hardly have found out exactly how the man came by his death;
much more likely to have abandoned their latest theory, eh, Hugh?"

Gifford was looking, held by the grip of his imagination, at the tall
figure by the window; wondering what was passing behind that veil of
impassiveness. "I don't see what they can have found out away from this
house," he said, rousing himself by an effort to answer; "and they don't
seem to have been here lately."

"Well, we shall see," Kelson said casually. "Ah, here comes Dick
back again."

Morriston hurried in with a serious face. In answer to Kelson's, "Well,
Dick?" he said.

"It appears a rather extraordinary piece of evidence has just come to
light; one which, if true, completely solves the mystery of the locked
door. I asked Freeman if there was any objection to you fellows coming
to the library and hearing the story; he is quite agreeable. So will you
come? You too, Edith, and Miss Tredworth; there is nothing at all
horrible in it so far."

For the first time Edith Morriston turned from the window. "Is it
necessary, Dick?" she protested quietly. "I'd just as soon hear it
all afterwards from you. These police visitations are rather getting
on my nerves."

"Very well, dear; you shall hear all about it later on," her brother
responded, and led the way down to the library. Gifford was the last to
leave the room, and his glance back s