rk:

"You're overstepping your dooty. I don't know who you are or what you
want with me, but you're overstepping your dooty."

"He's right," muttered Hexford. "Better let the fellow go. See! one of
the maids is beckoning to him."

"He shall go, and welcome, if he will tell me where he gets his taste for
this especial brand of whiskey." Sweetwater had crossed to the cupboard
and taken down the lower half of the broken bottle which had attracted
his notice on his first entrance, and was now holding it out, with a
quizzical look at the departing coachman.

Hexford was at his shoulder with a spring, and together they inspected
the label still sticking to it--which was that of the very rare and
expensive spirit found missing from the club-house vault.

"This is a find," muttered Hexford into his fellow detective's ear. Then,
with a quick move towards Zadok, he shouted out:

"You'd better answer that question. Where did this bit of broken bottle
come from? They don't give you whiskey like this to drink."

"That they don't," muttered the coachman, not so much abashed as they had
expected. "And I wouldn't care for it if they did. I found that bit of
bottle in the ash-barrel outside, and fished it out to put varnish in. I
liked the shape."

"Broken this way?"

"Yes; it's just as good."

"Is it? Well, never mind, run along. We'll close the stable-door for
you."

"I'd rather do it myself and carry in the key."

"Here then; we're going to the funeral, too. You'd like to?" This latter
in a whisper to Sweetwater.

The answer was a fervent one. Nothing in all the world would please this
protean-natured man quite so well.

XII

"LILA--LILA!"

O, treble woe
Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,
Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense
Depriv'd thee of!--Hold off the earth awhile,
Till I have caught her once more in my arms.

_Hamlet_.

"Let us enter by the side door," suggested Sweetwater, as the two moved
towards the house. "And be sure you place me where I can see without
being seen. I have no wish to attract attention to myself, or to be
identified with the police until the necessity is forced upon me."

"Then we won't go in together," decided Hexford. "Find your own place;
you won't have any difficulty. A crowd isn't expected. Miss Cumberland's
condition forbids it."

Sweetwater nodded and slid in at the side door.

He found himself at once in a narrow hall, from the end of which opened a