remark in bad taste. But she had only herself to blame after all. She
was silent and rather moody after that, until the episode of the
photograph occurred. We were assembled in the drawing-room, and I
suddenly noticed that a photo of Marion which stands on the mantelpiece
had been removed from its frame.

'Why, Marion, what has become of your photo?' I inquired.

There was, after all, nothing unusual in its disappearance. It was one
that she did not like and she had often threatened to remove it. What
was my astonishment now to see her spring to her feet and, going white
with suppressed anger, exclaim, 'Who has dared to take it? It is a
piece of unwarrantable impertinence. Who has _dared_, I say?'

I saw William looking at her in surprise--it was, indeed, something
even deeper than that. Fascinated horror seems a more apt expression.

'I insist on its being recovered,' went on Marion.

A strange exclamation from William made us all look at him. 'Women,'
he said, 'are beyond me--utterly beyond me, I repeat.'

'I'm glad you admit it,' snapped Marion.

'In guile,' he continued coldly. 'I suppose, now, you have never heard
of a woman thrusting her photograph where it is not wanted accompanied
by verse of an amorous character?'

Marion looked contemptuously at him. 'What on earth are you raving
about?' she inquired.

Henry and I intervened at this moment and changed the subject, feeling
that a quarrel between them was imminent. It was all very strange and
puzzling. But the strangest thing was yet to come. I had accompanied
Marion upstairs to put on her cloak before departure, and when we
descended William had vanished. Henry related that he was just
answering a call on the 'phone when he saw William dash past him into
the small lobby off the hall, possess himself of hat and coat, and,
after muttering some words of apology, go forth into the darkness.

'How eccentric--and ill-behaved, too,' I commented. 'It looks almost
as if he wished to avoid accompanying Marion home.'

We were standing in the drawing-room as I spoke. Suddenly I gave a
start as my eye drifted to the mantelpiece. 'What an extraordinary
coincidence!' I exclaimed. A strange eerie feeling came over me.
Marion's lost photo had been restored to its frame.

CHAPTER XII

_William resumes his story_: I am now aware that I should not have
invoked the aid of Elizabeth. A man should work out his own destiny.
Once a woman precip