“Yes?” said he, eagerly. “I am anxious to hear anything which may be of the slightest assistance. You are no doubt wondering why I retired so abruptly to-night. My reason was this: I could see that you were full of some story which you had learned from Miss Beverley, and I was anxious to perform my tour of inspection with a perfectly unprejudiced mind.” “You mean that your suspicions rested upon an inmate of Cray’s Folly?” “Not upon any particular inmate, but I had early perceived a distinct possibility that these manifestations of which the Colonel complained might be due to the agency of someone inside the house. That this person might be no more than an accomplice of the prime mover I also recognized, of course. But what did you learn to-night, Knox?” I repeated Val Beverley’s story of the mysterious footsteps and of the cries which had twice awakened her in the night. “Hm,” muttered Harley, when I had ceased speaking. “Assuming her account to be true----” “Why should you doubt it?” I interrupted, hotly. “My dear Knox, it is my business to doubt everything until I have indisputable evidence of its truth. I say, assuming her story to be true, we find ourselves face to face with the fantastic theory that some woman unknown is living secretly in Cray’s Folly.” “Perhaps in one of the tower rooms,” I suggested, eagerly. “Why, Harley, that would account for the Colonel’s marked unwillingness to talk about this part of the house.” My sight was now becoming used to the dusk, and I saw Harley vigorously shake his head. “No, no,” he replied; “I have seen all the tower rooms. I can swear that no one inhabits them. Besides, is it feasible?” “Then whose were the footsteps that Miss Beverley heard?” “Obviously those of the woman who, at this present moment, so far as I know, is in the smoking-room with Colonel Menendez.” I sighed wearily. “This is a strange business, Harley. I begin to think that the mystery is darker than I ever supposed.” We fell silent again. The weird cry of a night hawk came from somewhere in the valley, but otherwise everything within and without the great house seemed strangely still. This stillness presently imposed its influence upon me, for when I spoke again, I spoke in a low voice. “Harley,” I said, “my imagination is playing me tricks. I thought I heard the fluttering of wings at that moment.” “Fortunately, my imagination remains under control,” he replied, grimly; “therefore I am in a position to inform you that you did hear the fluttering of wings. An owl has just flown into one of the trees immediately outside the window.” “Oh,” said I, and uttered a sigh of relief. “It is extremely fortunate that my imagination is so carefully trained,” continued Harley; “otherwise, when the woman whose shadow I saw upon the blind to-night raised her arms in a peculiar fashion, I could not well have failed to attach undue importance to the shape of the shadow thus created.” “What was the shape of the shadow, then?”