appearance. As the last turn was
made, the sea burst upon the view--a somewhat tumultuous sea, for the
wind was keen that day and whipped the waves into foam and froth from the
horizon to the immediate shore-line. To add to the scene, a low black
cloud with coppery edges hovered at the meeting of sea and sky, between
which and themselves one taut sail could be seen trailing its boom in the
water.

To one of them--to Mr. Gryce, in fact, upon whose age Fancy had begun to
work, this battling craft presented an ominous appearance. It was doomed.
The gale was too much for it. Did he see in this obvious fact a prophecy
of what lay before the man upon whose privacy they were on the point of
intruding?

The house was so arranged that to reach the main entrance it was
necessary to pass a certain window. As they did so, the figure of Mr.
Roberts could be seen in the room beyond moving about in an interested
survey of its new furnishings and present comfortable arrangement. To
these men bent on an errand as far as possible removed from interests of
this kind, this evidence of Mr. Roberts' pleasure in the promise of
future domesticity gave a painful shock, and raised in the minds of more
than one of them a doubt--perhaps the first in days--whether a man so
heavily weighted with a burden of unacknowledged guilt could show this
pleasurable absorption in his new surroundings.

However, when they came to see him nearer, and marked the stiffening of
his body and the slight toss-up of his head, as he noted the number and
the exact character of his guests, their spirits fell again, for he was
certainly a broken man, however much he might seek to disguise it. Yet
there was something in this extraordinary man's personality--a force or
a charm wholly dissociated it may be from worth or the sterling qualities
which insure respect--which appealed to them in spite of their new-found
prejudice, and prevented any dallying with his suspense or the use of any
of the common methods usually employed in an encounter of this kind.

The Chief Inspector to whom the first say had been given faced the
director squarely, as he saw how the hand which had just welcomed the
District Attorney fell at his approach.

"You are surprised, Mr. Roberts, and rightly, to see me here not only in
connection with the Prosecuting Attorney of the City of New York, but
with a member of my own force. This, you will say, is no political
delegation such as you have been le