ome of the ladies go up-stairs yesterday evening to see it?' I
asked. 'I thought I heard Miss Rachel warning them to keep clear of the
door.'

"'None of the ladies made the smear,' Penelope answered. 'I left Miss
Rachel in bed at twelve last night. And I noticed the door, and there
was nothing wrong with it then.'

"'Oughtn't you to mention this to Mr. Seegrave, Penelope?'

"'I wouldn't say a word to help Mr. Seegrave for anything that could be
offered to me!'

"She went to her work, and I went to mine."

"My work, sir, was to make your bed, and to put your room tidy. It was
the happiest hour I had in the whole day. I used to kiss the pillow on
which your head had rested all night. No matter who has done it since,
you have never had your clothes folded as nicely as I folded them for
you. Of all the little knick-knacks in your dressing-case, there wasn't
one that had so much as a speck on it. You never noticed it, any more
than you noticed me. I beg your pardon; I am forgetting myself. I will
make haste, and go on again.

"Well, I went in that morning to do my work in your room. There was your
nightgown tossed across the bed, just as you had thrown it off. I took
it up to fold it--and I saw the stain of the paint from Miss Rachel's
door!

"I was so startled by the discovery that I ran out with the nightgown
in my hand, and made for the back stairs, and locked myself into my own
room, to look at it in a place where nobody could intrude and interrupt
me.

"As soon as I got my breath again, I called to mind my talk with
Penelope, and I said to myself, 'Here's the proof that he was in
Miss Rachel's sitting-room between twelve last night, and three this
morning!'

"I shall not tell you in plain words what was the first suspicion that
crossed my mind, when I had made that discovery. You would only be
angry--and, if you were angry, you might tear my letter up and read no
more of it.

"Let it be enough, if you please, to say only this. After thinking it
over to the best of my ability, I made it out that the thing wasn't
likely, for a reason that I will tell you. If you had been in Miss
Rachel's sitting-room, at that time of night, with Miss Rachel's
knowledge (and if you had been foolish enough to forget to take care of
the wet door) SHE would have reminded you--SHE would never have let you
carry away such a witness against her, as the witness I was looking at
now! At the same time, I own I was not completely certa