e that, being soiled and faded, had
evidently been placed there to fill the empty frame.

Whose hand had secured that portrait before the Leithcourt's flight?
Why, indeed, should I, for the second time, discover the unhappy girl's
picture missing?

"Has the gentleman who called on the evening of Mr. Leithcourt's
disappearance been back here again since he left the hospital?" I
inquired as a sudden idea occurred to me.

"Yes, sir. He called here in a fly on the day he came out, and at his
request I took him over the castle. He went into the library, and spent
half-an-hour in pacing across it, taking measurements, and examining
the big cupboard in which he was found insensible. It was a strange
affair, sir," added the young woman, "wasn't it?"

"Very," I replied.

"The gentleman might have been in there now had I not gone into the
library and found a lot of illustrated papers, which I always put in the
cupboard to keep the place tidy, thrown out on to the floor. I went to
put them back but discovered the door locked. The key I afterwards found
in the grate, where Mr. Leithcourt had evidently thrown it, and on
opening the door imagine the shock I had when I found the visitor lying
doubled up. I, of course, thought he was dead."

"And when he returned here on his recovery, did he question you?"

"Oh, yes. He asked about the Leithcourts, and especially about Miss
Muriel. I believe he's rather sweet on her, by the way he spoke. And
really no better or kinder lady never breathed, I'm sure. We're all very
sorry indeed for her."

"But she had nothing to do with the affair."

"Of course not. But she shares in the scandal and disgrace. You should
have seen the effect of the news upon the guests when they knew that the
Leithcourts had gone. It was a regular pandemonium. They ordered the
best champagne out of the cellars and drank it, the men cleared all the
cigar-boxes, and the women rummaged in the wardrobes until they seemed
like a pack of hungry wolves. Everybody went away with their trunks full
of the Leithcourt's things. They took whatever they could lay their
hands on, and we, the servants, couldn't stop them. I did remonstrate
with one lady who was cramming into her trunk two of Miss Muriel's best
evening dresses, but she told me to mind my own business and leave the
room. One man I saw go away with four of Mr. Leithcourt's guns, and
there was a regular squabble in the billiard-room over a set of pearl
and emerald