a long way--a very long way--if any one she loved
were threatened. The fact that she had good Italian blood in her veins
was very present in his mind.

Again, it would be a matter of sudden impulse, not of grave deliberation.
The irritating sound of Lord Loudwater's snores and the sight of the
gleaming knife-blade on the library table coming together after their
painful and moving discussion of their dangers might awake the impulse to
be rid of him, at any cost, in full strength. He was not disposed to
underrate the suggestion of that naked knife-blade on them when they
were strung to such a height of emotion. Again, he asked himself, had
either of them murdered Lord Loudwater to save the other?

At any rate, they knew who had committed the murder. Of that he was sure.

Could they be shielding a third person? If so, who was that third person?

CHAPTER XII

Mr. Flexen sat pondering this question of a third person for a good
twenty minutes.

It could not be Hutchings. There would be no reason to shield Hutchings
unless they had instigated or employed him to commit the murder, and that
was out of the question. He was not sure, indeed, that Hutchings was not
the murderer; the snores and the knife were as likely to have excited the
murderous impulse in him as in them. He was quite sure that if Dr.
Thornhill had been able to swear that the wound was not self-inflicted,
he could have secured the conviction of Hutchings. But it was incredible
that Lady Loudwater or Colonel Grey had employed him to commit the
murder. No; if they were shielding a third person, it must be the
mysterious, unknown woman who had come with such swift secrecy and so
wholly disappeared.

It grew clearer and clearer that there most probably lay that solution
of the problem. If that woman herself had not murdered Lord Loudwater,
as seemed most likely, she might very well give him the clue for which
he was groping. He must find her, and, of course, sooner or later he
would find her. But the sooner he found her, the sooner would the
problem be solved and his work done. Till he found her he would not find
its solution.

It still seemed to him probable that somewhere among Lord Loudwater's
papers there was information which would lead to her discovery, and he
went into the library to confer again with Mr. Carrington on the matter.
He found him discussing the arrangements for tomorrow's funeral with Mrs.
Carruthers and Wilkins.

When they h