was in New York.
Naturally--"

"Just a moment, Judge. You say she was introduced to you as Nita Leigh.
Then you knew her as an actress, I presume?"

"I refuse to submit to such a cowardly attack, sir!"

"_Attack_, Judge?" Dundee repeated with assumed astonishment. "I merely
thought you might be able to shed a little light on the past of the
woman who has been murdered here today, with a weapon you admit to
having owned.... However--"

The elderly ex-judge stared at his tormentor for a moment as if murder
was in his heart. He gasped twice, then suddenly his whole manner
changed.

"I apologize, Dundee. You must realize how--But that is beside the
point. I met Nita Leigh at--er--at a social gathering, arranged by some
New York friends of mine. She was young, attractive, more refined
than--er--than the average young woman in musical comedy. Naturally I
told her if she was ever in Hamilton to look me up. And she did."

"And because she was 'more refined than the average young woman in
musical comedy'--than the average chorus girl, to put it simply," Dundee
took him up, "you co-operated with Mrs. Dunlap to introduce her to your
most intimate friends--including your wife?"

"Oh, Hugo! Why didn't you tell me?" Karen Marshall wailed.

"You see, sir, what you are doing!" Judge Marshall stormed.

"I am truly sorry if I have distressed you, Mrs. Marshall," Dundee
protested sincerely. "But--" He shrugged and turned again to the
husband. "I understand you were Mrs. Selim's landlord.... May I ask how
much rent she paid?"

"The house rents for one hundred dollars a month--furnished."

"And did Mrs. Selim pay her rent promptly?" Dundee persisted.

"Since this is the 24th of May, sir, Mrs. Selim's rent for June was not
yet due."

Not before poor little Karen could Dundee force himself to ask what,
inevitably, would have been his next question--one which could not have
been evaded, as the ex-judge had evaded the other two questions: "_Is it
not true, Judge Marshal, that Nita Leigh Selim paid you no rent at
all?_" But there were other ways to find out....

"Look here, Dundee!" a brusque voice challenged, and the detective
whirled to face Polly Beale. It was like her, he thought with a slight
grin, to address him as one man to another....

"Yes, Miss Beale?"

"I'm no fool, and I don't think any of my friends here are
either--though two or three of them have acted like it today," the
masculine-looking girl stated flatly.