d
like to see Margeret and Captain Monroe here; later I may question
Madame Caron."

His voice was very quiet and steady, but he scarcely lifted his eyes
from the picture; something about it puzzled him; the longer he looked
at it the less striking was the likeness--the character of Judithe's
face, now, was so different.

He was still holding it at arm's length on the table when Margeret
noiselessly entered the room. She came back of him and halted beside
the table; her eyes were also on the picture, and a smothered
exclamation made him aware of her presence. He closed the frame and
picked up the report Masterson had given him.

"Margeret," he said, looking at her, curiously, "have you seen Madame
Caron today?"

"Yes, Colonel McVeigh;" she showed no surprise at the question, only
looked straight ahead of her, with those solemn, dark eyes. He
remembered the story of her madness years ago, and supposed that was
accountable for the strange, colorless, passive manner.

"Did she speak to you?"

"No, sir."

Judithe opened the door and looked in; seeing that McVeigh was
apparently occupied, and not alone, she was about to retire when he
begged her to remain for a few minutes. He avoided her questioning
eyes, and offered her a chair, with that conventional courtesy
reserved for strangers. She noted the papers in his hand, and the odd
tones in which he spoke; she was, after all, debarred from confessing;
she was to be accused!

"A slight mystery is abroad here, and you appear to be the victim of
it, Madame," he said, without looking at her. "Margeret, last night
when Miss Loring sent you into the corridor just before the shot was
fired, did you see any of the ladies or servants of the house?"

"No, sir."

There was not the slightest hesitation in the reply, but Judithe
turned her eyes on the woman with unusual interest. Colonel McVeigh
consulted his notes.

"Miss Loring distinctively heard the rustle of a woman's dress as her
door opened; did you hear that?"

"No, sir."

"You saw no one and heard no one?"

"No one."

There was a pause, during which he regarded the woman very sharply.

Judithe arose.

"Only your sister or myself could have been in that corridor without
passing Miss Loring's door; is Miss Loring suspicious of us?--Miss
Loring!"--and her tone was beyond her control, indignant; of all
others, Miss Loring! "Margeret, whatever you saw, whatever you heard
in that corridor, you must tell Colone