up your mother."

And, adapting himself to this emergency as to all others, he talked with
the astounded and incredulous woman before him till she was in a
condition not only to listen to his explanations, but to discuss the
problem of a crime so seemingly without motive. He then said, with easy
assurance:

"Your mother does not know that Mr. Orcutt is dead?"

"No, sir."

"She does not even know he was counsel for Craik Mansell in the trial
now going on."

"How do you know that?" inquired Miss Firman, grimly.

"Because I do not believe you have even told her that Craik Mansell was
on trial."

"Sir, you are a magician."

"Have you, madam?"

"No, sir, I have not."

"Very good; what _does_ she know about Mr. Orcutt, then; and why should
she connect his name with Mrs. Clemmens?"

"She knows he was her boarder, and that he was the first one to discover
she had been murdered."

"That is not enough to account for her frequent repetition of his name."

"You think not?"

"I am sure not. Cannot your mother have some memories connected with his
name of which you are ignorant?"

"No, sir; we have lived together in this house for twenty-five years,
and have never had a thought we have not shared together. Ma could not
have known any thing about him or Mary Ann which I did not. The words
she has just spoken sprang from mental confusion. She is almost like a
child sometimes."

Mr. Gryce smiled. If the cream-jug he happened to be gazing at on a tray
near by had been full of cream, I am far from certain it would not have
turned sour on the spot.

"I grant the mental confusion," said he; "but why should she confuse
those two names in preference to all others?" And, with quiet
persistence, he remarked again: "She may be recalling some old fact of
years ago. Was there never a time, even while you lived here together,
when she could have received some confidence from Mrs. Clemmens----"

"Mary Ann, Mary Ann!" came in querulous accents from the other room, "I
wish you had not told me; Emily would be a better one to know your
secret."

It was a startling interruption to come just at that moment The two
surprised listeners glanced toward each other, and Miss Firman colored.

"That sounds as if your surmise was true," she dryly observed.

"Let us make an experiment," said he, and motioned her to re-enter her
mother's room, which she did with a precipitation that showed her
composure had been sorely shaken by these un