come from the rear hall."

"And there was nobody on the steps?"

"No. A gentleman was standing at their foot--Mr. Grey, the
Englishman--but his face was turned another way, and he looked as if he
had been in that same position for several minutes."

"Did this gentleman--Mr. Grey--see you?"

"I can not say, but I doubt it. He appeared to be in a sort of dream.
There were other people about, but nobody with whom I was acquainted."

"Very good. Now for the second visit you acknowledge having paid this
unfortunate lady."

The inspector's voice was hard. I clung a little more tightly to my
uncle, and Mr. Durand, after one agonizing glance my way, drew himself
up as if quite conscious that he had entered upon the most serious part
of the struggle.

"I had forgotten the gloves in my hurried departure; but presently I
remembered them, and grew very uneasy. I did not like carrying this
woman's property about with me. I had engaged myself, an hour before, to
Miss Van Arsdale, and was very anxious to rejoin her. The gloves worried
me, and finally, after a little aimless wandering through the various
rooms, I determined to go back and restore them to their owner. The
doors of the supper-room had just been flung open, and the end of
the hall near the alcove was comparatively empty, save for a certain
quizzical friend of mine, whom I saw sitting with his partner on the
yellow divan. I did not want to encounter him just then, for he had
already joked me about my admiration for the lady with the diamond, and
so I conceived the idea of approaching her by means of a second entrance
to the alcove, unsuspected by most of those present, but perfectly
well-known to me, who have been a frequent guest in this house. A door,
covered by temporary draperies, connects, as you may know, this alcove
with a passageway communicating directly with the hall of entrance and
the up-stairs dressing-rooms. To go up the main stairs and come down
by the side one, and so on, through a small archway, was a very simple
matter for me. If no early-departing or late arriving guests were in
that hall, I need fear but one encounter, and that was with the servant
stationed at the carriage entrance. But even he was absent at this
propitious instant, and I reached the door I sought without any
unpleasantness. This door opened out instead of in,--this I also knew
when planning this surreptitious intrusion, but, after pulling it open
and reaching for the curtain,