her promise, and I waited eagerly her report.

"Miss Lloyd bids me tell you," she said, "that she knows nothing of what
you call the twelfth rose. She did not count the roses, she merely took
two of them to pin on her dress, and when she retired, she carelessly
threw those two in the waste basket. She thinks it probable there
were only eleven in the box when it arrived. But at any rate she knows
nothing more of the matter."

I thanked Mrs. Pierce for her courtesy and patience, and feeling that I
now had a real problem to consider, I started back to the inn.

It could not be that this rose matter was of no importance. For the
florist had assured me he had sold exactly twelve flowers to Mr. Gregory
Hall, and of these, I could account for only eleven. The twelfth rose
must have been separated from the others, either by Mr. Hall, at the
time of purchase, or by some one else later. If the petals found on the
floor fell from that twelfth rose, and if Florence Lloyd spoke the
truth when she declared she knew nothing of it, then she was free from
suspicion in that direction.

But until I could make some further effort to find out about the missing
rose I concluded to say nothing of it to anybody. I was not bound to
tell Parmalee any points I might discover, for though colleagues, we
were working independently of each other.

But as I was anxious to gather any side lights possible, I determined to
go for a short conference with the district attorney, in whose hands the
case had been put after the coroner's inquest.

He was a man named Goodrich, a quiet mannered, untalkative person, and
as might be expected he had made little or no progress as yet.

He said nothing could be done until after the funeral and the reading of
the will, which ceremonies would occur the next afternoon.

I talked but little to Mr. Goodrich, yet I soon discovered that he
strongly suspected Miss Lloyd of the crime, either as principal or
accessory.

"But I can't believe it," I objected. "A girl, delicately brought up,
in refined and luxurious surroundings, does not deliberately commit an
atrocious crime."

"A woman thwarted in her love affair will do almost anything," declared
Mr. Goodrich. "I have had more experience than you, my boy, and I advise
you not to bank too much on the refined and luxurious surroundings.
Sometimes such things foster crime instead of preventing it. But the
truth will come out, and soon, I think. The evidence that seem