ry of that sort
when my dear girl had been dragged away from me as though I were a
leper. Good God, Mr. Narkom! _you_ don't believe I had anything to do
with this awful thing, do you?"

Cleek took the reins before Narkom could utter so much as a single word.

"Of a certainty he does not, monsieur. Who could on so slight a thing as
the mere hot-headed outburst of an excited young man?" he said suavely,
making, as was his way, a cunning hazard that should at once prove or
disprove a suspicion that lay at the back of his head. "And to base it
upon no stronger circumstance than that you afterward left the
drawing-room and did not return! Ridiculous! One might as well suspect
Lady Clavering herself when she, too, was obliged to retire and leave
her guests for the time, if merely absenting one's self is to be
regarded as suspicious. It is what you Anglais shall call 'tommyrot,'
that, eh?"

"Of course it is, monsieur--er--what's-your-name--of course!" assented
Geoff gratefully, rather liking this suave and gentle Frenchman who
seemed bent upon coming to his rescue and showing him the way out
whenever matters took an awkward turn. "You're a jolly, sharp-sighted
chap, you are, and you spot the weak points in these affairs like a
shot. My stepmother doesn't often suffer from headaches, but just as it
happens, she was so queer that she had to lie down for about an hour;
but her maid can prove that she stopped in her room, just as Purviss can
vouch for it that I remained in mine."

The curious one-sided smile moved up Cleek's left cheek, then vanished
again.

"Quite so, quite so," he said blandly. "Besides, it is not with Lady
Clavering that we are concerned, but with the owner of a jewel that we
found on the spot--a little gold scent bangle that smelt of violets----"

"My God! Kathie's! She said she lost it!" cried Geoffrey through his
clenched teeth; then realizing what his words meant, he turned on the
two men fiercely.

"What do you mean? What are you trying to infer? That she--my dear
girl---- Good heavens! but if you dare to bring her name into this
horrible business, I'll throttle the pair of you! You shan't connect her
with the abominable affair! By God, you shan't!"

"M'sieur is too quick with his threats," put in Cleek suavely. "Would it
not be as well to wait? Unfortunately, we have only too much proof that
a woman was concerned in the murder, and----"

"But it was not Lady Katharine. That I swear!" The young