of being an assassin. He was
at home last night, was he?" I added casually.

"Of course. Don't you recollect that when you called he chatted with
you? I did some typewriting for him in the study, and we were together
all the afternoon--or at least till nearly five o'clock, when we went
out into the hall to tea."

"Then what is your theory regarding the affair?" I inquired, rather
puzzled why she should so decisively prove an alibi for her father.

"It seems certain that the poor fellow went to the wood by appointment,
and was killed. But have you been up to the spot since the finding of
the body?"

"No. Have you?"

"Yes. The affair interested me, and as soon as I recognized the old
Italian knife in the hand of the keeper, I went up there and looked
about. I am glad I did so, for I found something which seems to have
escaped the notice of the detectives."

"And what's that?" I asked eagerly.

"Why, about three yards from the pool of blood where the unfortunate
foreigner was found is another small pool of blood where the grass and
ferns around are all crushed down as though there had been a struggle
there."

"There may have been a struggle at that spot, and the man may have
staggered some distance before he fell dead."

"Not if he had been struck in the heart, as they say. He would fall,
would he not?" she suggested. "No. The police seem very dense, and this
plain fact has not yet occurred to them. Their theory is the same as
what you suggest, but my own is something quite different, Mr. Gregg. I
believe that a second person also fell a victim," she added in a low,
distinct tone.

I gazed at her open-mouthed. Did she, I wondered, know the actual truth?
Was she aware that the woman who had fallen there had disappeared?

"A second person!" I echoed, as though in surprise. "Then do you believe
that a double murder was committed?"

"I draw my conclusion from the fact that the young man, on being struck
in the heart, could not have gone such a distance as that which
separates the one mark from the other."

"But he might have been slightly wounded--on the hand, or in the
face--at first, and then at the spot where he was found struck
fatally," I suggested.

She shook her head dubiously, but made no reply to my argument. Her
confidence in her own surmises made it quite apparent that by some
unknown means she was aware of the second victim. Indeed, a few moments
later she said to me:

"It is for this reason, M