relieved us of his company. Little
did he think as he went whistling up the stairs that he had just shown
Mr. Gryce where to search for whatever might be lying under the broad
sweep of that cellar-bottom.

That night--it was after supper, which I did not eat for all my natural
stoicism--Hannah came rushing in where we all sat silent, for the girls
showed no disposition to enlarge their confidences in regard to their
mother, and no other topic seemed possible, and, closing the door behind
her, said quickly and with evident chagrin:

"Those men are here again. They say they forgot something. What do you
think it means, Miss Loreen? They have spades and lanterns and----"

"They are the police, Hannah. If they forgot something, they have the
right to return. Don't work yourself up about that. The secret they have
already found out was our worst. There is nothing to fear after that."
And she dismissed Hannah, merely bidding her let us know when the house
was quite clear.

Was she right? Was there nothing worse for them to fear? I longed to
leave these trembling sisters, longed to join the party below and follow
in the track of the tiny impressions made by the tacks I had driven into
William's soles. If there was anything hidden under the cellar-bottom,
natural anxiety would carry him to the spot he had most to fear; so they
would only have to dig at the places where these impressions took a
sharp turn.

But was there anything hidden there? From the sisters' words and actions
I judged there was nothing serious, but would they know? William was
quite capable of deceiving them. Had he done so? It was a question.

It was solved for us by Mr. Gryce's reappearance in the room an hour or
so later. From the moment the light fell upon his kindly features I knew
that I might breathe again freely. It was not the face he showed in the
house of a criminal, nor did his bow contain any of the false deference
with which he sometimes tries to hide his secret doubt or contempt.

"I have come to trouble you for the last time, ladies. We have made a
double search through this house and through the stables, and feel
perfectly justified in saying that our duty henceforth will lead us
elsewhere. The secrets we have surprised are your own, and if possible
shall remain so. Your brother's propensity for vivisection and the
return and death of your mother bear so little on the real question
which interests this community that we may be able to