pistol fired, and before that it was so dark that she could
not have recognized me. If I had thought that she did see me'--

"'What would you have done?' the reporter asked.

"'I don't know,' Brooks answered, 'but it is not reasonable to suppose
that I would have let her go away from home. I acknowledge that I
did not care to see her recover--now that I am acknowledging
everything--for at best she could be only in the way, and naturally,
she would interfere with my management of the estate. But if I had
been anxious that she should die, I could have had her poisoned.
Instead, however, I employed a quack, who I knew pretended to be a
great physician, and who I believed could do her no good. In fact, I
didn't think that she could live but a few days.' After pausing for a
moment he added, 'She must have seen me just as the light blazed up,
and was doubtless standing back from the door. I didn't take any
money.'

"'But why didn't you take the money while the old man was away? Then
you would have run no risk of killing him or of being killed."

"'I could easily have done this, but he was so shrewd. I wanted him to
believe that he had almost caught the robber.'

"'Then there is no such man as Dave Kittymunks,' said the reporter.

"'No,' Brooks answered.

"'But Flummers, the reporter, said that he knew him.'

"'I met Mr. Flummers one evening,' Brooks replied, 'and before we
parted company I think that he must have had in his mind a vague
recollection of having seen such a fellow. The public was eager, and
that was a great stimulus to Mr. Flummers.'

"'Did you feel that you were suspected?' the reporter asked.

"'Not of having committed the murder, but I felt that I was suspected
of having had something to do with it. But I hadn't a suspicion that
any proof existed. I could stand suspicion, especially as I should
receive large pay for it. A number of men in this city are under
suspicion of one kind or another, but it doesn't seem to have hurt
them a great deal. Their checks are good. Men come back from the
penitentiary and build up fortunes with the money they stole. Their
hammered brass fronts and colored electric lights are not unknown to
Clark Street.'

"'But you suffered remorse, of course,' the reporter suggested.

"'I think that there is a great deal of humbug about the remorse a man
feels,' Brooks replied. 'I regretted that I had been forced to kill
the old man, for with all his stinginess he was rather kin