am can take me."

"And that one thing, Mr. Cleek? May I ask what it is?"

"Yes, certainly. It is to discover Lord St. Ulmer's part in this elusive
business, and then to be absolutely certain of getting at the man who
killed the Count de Louvisan, and at the reason for the crime."

"The reason? The man?" repeated Ailsa in utter bewilderment. "I thought
you said just now that you were satisfied regarding that? Why, then,
should you speak as if there were a possibility of Lord St. Ulmer being
concerned in the murder if you are seemingly so sure that General Raynor
did it?"

"General Raynor? Good heavens above, Miss Lorne, get that idea out of
your mind! Why, General Raynor is no more guilty of the murder of De
Louvisan than you are!"

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

LOISETTE IS VINDICATED

Ailsa caught her breath with a faint, little, sobbing sigh at this, and
even if the moon had not chosen just then to slip out from the screen of
the enveloping clouds and throw a dusk of silver over everything, so
that he could see her face and the deep look of relief in her uplifted
eyes, he still would have known what a load his declaration of the
General's innocence had lifted from her mind.

"Oh, I am so glad," she said fervently; "so very, very glad! Do you
know, I made sure from the manner in which you spoke that, horrible as
it seemed, it must surely be he; that you must certainly have discovered
something which left no room for doubt in your own mind; otherwise you
would not have told me all these terrible things regarding the forged
letter and the drugged drink and his meeting with Lady Clavering at the
wall door. And now to know that you do not suspect him, that you are
sure it was not he that killed De Louvisan, ah, I can't tell you how
glad I am."

"How loyal you are to your friends," he said admiringly. "You needn't
assure me of your gladness; I can read it in your voice and face. No,
General Raynor is not guilty, although I am very positive that he not
only was out last night, but was actually at Gleer Cottage; but I am
absolutely certain his was not the hand that killed De Louvisan. I will
even go further, and say that it would not surprise me to learn that he
was not even present at the time of the killing, though there is, of
course, always the possibility, in the light of my theory of the whys
and wherefores of the case, that he was."

"You have a theory regarding it, then?"

"Yes. I had a vague one in the b