the hall where he could see the front door. It was his hope, his belief now, that the thief would speedily effect an entrance; and from the darkness of his lair the major could see and identify him, let him in, follow him on tiptoe to the dining-room, there seize and confound him in the very act, and so, fastening the crime on some one guilty man, dispel at once and for all the cloud of suspicion that hovered over a woman's fair fame. Click, click, again. What was the matter? Would the stubborn lock not yield? or was this a 'prentice hand, and his tools unsuited to the job? In his wild impatience he could have rushed to the door and hurled it open, but that would have only spoiled the game. He could have caught his prowler, but proved nothing. No, patience! patience! A burst of jolly Ethiopian laughter from the distant kitchen drowned for a moment other sounds and possibly unnerved the operator at the door. Did he hear quick, light footsteps hurrying away? There was a broad "stoop" there, quite a wide veranda in fact, since the unsightly wooden storm-door had been removed. For an instant he certainly thought he heard scurrying footfalls. Not the steps themselves, but the creak of the dry woodwork underneath them. He listened intently another moment, but the attempt had apparently been abandoned. Then--there it was again. Surely he heard a light footfall on the steps,--on the piazza itself. He could bear the suspense no longer, and, springing into the hall where the hanging lamp shed its broad glare over every object, hurled open the door,--and recoiled in mingling agony and horror. God of heaven! There stood Fanny Forrest! "Major Miller!" she gasped, affrighted at his vehemence and the ghastly look with which he greeted her. "How--how you startled me! Why, what has happened? where were you going in such--why, major--what is the matter?" and now there was something imperious in the demand. For all answer he could only pass his hand over his quivering face in a dazed, dumb sort of way a moment. Then, rallying suddenly, he stepped forward, giving his head a shake and striving to be cool and calm. "You are more startled than I, Miss Forrest. I never thought to find you at that door." "And why not me? I have not seen Nellie since her illness, and came over at taps to inquire if she would not receive me a moment." "Why--why didn't you ring?" he hoarsely asked. "Ring! What opportunity had I? My foot had hardly touched the piazza before the door opened in my face and revealed you looking--well, pardon me, Major Miller--as if you had suddenly encountered a ghost." "Do you mean you have only just come?" he asked. "Certainly." "And you saw no one? There was no one here as you came in the gate?" "Not a soul,--stop a minute though,--there was something----"