I was so moved by this discovery that I was not myself for several
moments.

The reading of these words over the body which had been laid away under
the Flower Parlor was in keeping with the knot of crape on the
window-shutter and argued something more than remorse on the part of
some one of the Knollys family. Who was this one, and why, with such
feelings in the breast of any of the three, had the deceit and crime to
which I had been witness succeeded to such a point as to demand the
attention of the police? An impossible problem of which I dared seek no
solution, even in the faces of these seemingly innocent girls.

I was, of course, in no position to determine what plan Mr. Gryce
intended to pursue. I only knew what course I myself meant to follow,
which was to remain quiet and sustain the part I had already played in
this house as visitor and friend. It was therefore as such both in heart
and manner that I hastened from my room late in the afternoon to inquire
the meaning of the cry I had just heard issue from Lucetta's lips. It
had come from the front of the house, and, as I hastened thither, I met
the two Misses Knollys, looking more openly anxious and distraught than
at any former time of anxiety and trouble.

As they looked up and saw my face, Loreen paused and laid her hand on
Lucetta's arm. But Lucetta was not to be restrained.

"He has dared to enter our gates, bringing a police officer with him,"
was her hoarse and almost unintelligible cry. "We know that the man with
him is a police officer because he was here once before, and though he
was kind enough then, he cannot have come the second time except to----"

Here the pressure of Loreen's hand was so strong as to make the feeble
Lucetta quiver. She stopped, and Miss Knollys took up her words:

"Except to make us talk on subjects much better buried in oblivion. Miss
Butterworth, will you go down with us? Your presence may act as a
restraint. Mr. Trohm seems to have some respect for you."

"Mr. Trohm?"

"Yes. It is his coming which has so agitated Lucetta. He and a man named
Gryce are just coming up the walk. There goes the knocker. Lucetta, you
must control yourself or leave me to face these unwelcome visitors
alone."

Lucetta, with a sudden fierce effort, subdued her trembling.

"If he must be met," said she, "my anger and disdain may give some
weight to your quiet acceptance of the family's disgrace. I shall not
accept his denunciations quietly,