negro guilty. He foresaw that the
papers sooner or later would get hold of the fact that Braceway was after
Morley.

And, although they had hinted at mystery and uncertainty this morning,
they had printed their stories so as to show that Greenleaf, backed by
Bristow, would try to get Perry. The duel between himself and Braceway
was on. He remembered he had discounted at the beginning the idea of the
negro's guilt, but that had been before the discovery of the fragment of
the lavalliere chain.

Now, he was disposed, determined even, to treat everything as if Perry
were the guilty man. He would work with that idea always in mind. In
the meantime he would go with Braceway as long as the Braceway theories
seemed to have any foundation at all. He did not want to run the risk of
being shown up as a bungler. He was anxious to be "in on" anything that
might happen.

"So," he concluded, "if Perry is finally convicted, I get the credit. If
Morley is sent up, I'll get some of the credit for that also. I won't
lose either way.

"Now, about Withers? I've got to handle him by myself. If I were
analyzing this case from the newspaper accounts of it, I'd say at first
blush that either Withers did the thing or Perry did it. That's what the
public's saying now.

"But Braceway stands as a fence between Withers and me. He's a friend of
Withers and in love with Withers' sister-in-law. And he believes Withers
innocent. That's patent. For the present, I can't do anything in that
direction. I've got to dig up everything possible on Morley and the
negro--and, in spite of the check business, the chances are against the
negro."

He called to Mattie whom he heard moving about in the dining room.

"Lucy Thomas," he said, "is out of jail now. I wish you'd go look for her
right away. The inquest is over by this time, and she'll be at home by
the time you get there. Bring her back here with you. Tell her it's by
order of the police, and I only want to talk to her a few minutes."

"Yas, suh," said Mattie.

"I'm not going to hurt her, Mattie," he said. "Be sure to tell her so."

"Yas, suh, Mistuh Bristow; I sho' will tell her. I 'spec' dat po' nigger
is done had de bre'f skeered outen her already."

His eye was caught by the figures of Braceway and Mr. Fulton leaving No.
5. They turned and started up the walk toward No. 9.

"Mr. Fulton," Braceway explained, after the introduction to Bristow,
"wants to tell you something about his--about M