eal any easier, and when I noticed the effect of witness
after witness leaving the stand without having improved Mr. Durand's
position by a jot or offering any new clue capable of turning suspicion
into other directions, I felt my spirit harden and my purpose strengthen
till I hardly knew myself. I must have frightened my uncle, for his hand
was always on my arm and his chiding voice in my ear, bidding me beware,
not only for my own sake and his, but for that of Mr. Durand, whose eye
was seldom away from my face.

The verdict, however, was not the one I had so deeply dreaded. While it
did not exonerate Mr. Durand, it did not openly accuse him, and I was on
the point of giving him a smile of congratulation and renewed hope when
I saw my little detective--the one who had spied the gloves in my bag at
the ball--advance and place his hand upon his arm.

The police had gone a step further than the coroner's jury, and Mr.
Durand was arrested, before my eyes, on a charge of murder.

* Mr. Durand's visits to the curio-shops, as explained by
him, were made with a view of finding a casket in which to
place his diamond. This explanation was looked upon with as
much doubt as the others he had offered where the situation
seemed to be of a compromising character.

IX. THE MOUSE NIBBLES AT THE NET

The next day saw me at police headquarters begging an interview from the
inspector, with the intention of confiding to him a theory which must
either cost me his sympathy or open the way to a new inquiry, which I
felt sure would lead to Mr. Durand's complete exoneration.

I chose this gentleman for my confidant, from among all those with whom
I had been brought in contact by my position as witness in a case of
this magnitude, first, because he had been present at the most
tragic moment of my life, and secondly, because I was conscious of
a sympathetic bond between us which would insure me a kind hearing.
However ridiculous my idea might appear to him, I was assured that he
would treat me with consideration and not visit whatever folly I might
be guilty of on the head of him for whom I risked my reputation for good
sense.

Nor was I disappointed in this. Inspector Dalzell's air was fatherly and
his tone altogether gentle as, in reply to my excuses for troubling him
with my opinions, he told me that in a case of such importance he
was glad to receive the impressions even of such a prejudiced little
parti