ite at a loss. Then
he went on:

"Wait a moment! A man had been dining with them at night--oh yes, I
begin to remember."

Harold Hazlewood made a tiny movement and would have spoken, but Margaret
held out a hand towards him swiftly.

"Yes, a man called Thresk," said Pettifer, and again he was silent.

"Well," asked Hazlewood.

"Well--that's all I remember," replied Pettifer briskly. He rose and put
his chair back. "Except--" he added slowly.

"Yes?"

"Except that there was left upon my mind when the verdict was published a
vague feeling of doubt."

"There!" cried Mrs. Pettifer triumphantly. "You hear him, Harold."

But Hazelwood paid no attention to her. He was gazing at his
brother-in-law with a good deal of uneasiness.

"Why?" he asked. "Why were you in doubt, Robert?"

But Pettifer had said all that he had any mind to say.

"Oh, I can't remember why," he exclaimed. "I am very likely quite wrong.
Come, Margaret, it's time that we were getting home."

He crossed over to Hazlewood and held out his hand. Hazlewood, however,
did not rise.

"I don't think that's quite fair of you, Robert," he said. "You don't
disturb my confidence, of course--I have gone into the case
thoroughly--but I think you ought to give me a chance of satisfying you
that your doubts have no justification."

"No really," exclaimed Pettifer. "I absolutely refuse to mix myself up in
the affair at all." A step sounded upon the gravel path outside the
window. Pettifer raised a warning finger. "It's midnight, Margaret," he
said. "We must go"; and as he spoke Dick Hazlewood walked in through the
open window.

He smiled at the group of his relations with a grim amusement. They
certainly wore a guilty look. He was surprised to remark some
embarrassment even upon his father's face.

"You will see your aunt off, Richard," said Mr. Hazlewood.

"Of course."

The Pettifers and Dick went out into the hall, leaving the old man in his
chair, a little absent, perhaps a little troubled.

"Aunt Margaret, you have been upsetting my father," said Dick.

"Nonsense, Dick," she replied, and her face flushed. She stepped into the
carriage quickly to avoid questions, and as she stepped in Dick noticed
that she was carrying a little paper-covered book. Pettifer followed.
"Good-night, Dick," he said, and he shook hands with his nephew very
warmly. In spite of his cordiality, however, Dick's face grew hard as he
watched the carriage drive away. Stella