"It _was_ an accident, then." Mrs. Parsons raised her scented handkerchief and touched her lips. "I thought--it just occurred to me that he might have tried suicide." Mitchell regarded her fixedly for a second. "You haven't a great admiration for Edward Rodgers," he remarked dryly. "No, it was _not_ a case of suicide." He stepped to the sidewalk. "Thanks very much, Mrs. Parsons, for bringing me down. Good morning." Mrs. Parsons controlled her impulse to stop him. "Good morning," she answered, and her voice was honey sweet, but her chauffeur, happening to meet her glance, quailed at the flash of rage which darkened her eyes and then was gone. "'Rose Hill,' Perkins." The sharp command caused him to thank his stars that he had left his engine running. Mrs. Parsons' uncertain temper had not endeared her to her servants. The trip to Georgetown consumed less than ten minutes and Mrs. Parsons had assumed her ordinary expression of tranquil boredom when Perkins returned with the message that "Miss Baird would be happy to see Mrs. Parsons." It was the first time Mrs. Parsons had been to call upon Kitty since the murder of her aunt, and she could not repress curious glances about her as she passed Mandy and went into the familiar library. She had hardly seated herself before the sound of a light footstep on the staircase leading down from the gallery into the library caused her to look up and she saw Kitty. "My dear child!" she exclaimed, advancing with outstretched hands which Kitty grasped while submitting gracefully to the dainty kiss which accompanied her greeting. "My heart aches for you. Your face tells me how you have suffered!" and she traced the dark circles under Kitty's eyes with her finger-tip. "Is there nothing I can do for you?" Kitty did not reply at once; instead she busied herself in pulling forward a chair. She was given to acting upon impulse and Mrs. Parsons' unexpected appearance clinched a half-formed resolve made in the early hours of the morning while watching by Edward Rodgers' bedside. "There is something you can do," she said, and her smile was very winning. "Tell me why you wrote a note of warning to Leigh Wallace?" The question was unexpected and Mrs. Parsons was taken off her guard. "He showed it to you!" she gasped. "How dared he?" Kitty watched the color come and go in Mrs. Parsons' white cheeks with interest. It was seldom that the widow showed emotion. "I am waiting for an answer to my question," she reminded her quietly. "Let Leigh Wallace supply the answer." Mrs. Parsons had herself in hand again. "He can--if he has not already left town." Kitty did her best to repress a start, but the keen eyes watching her under half-closed lids detected it. "Suppose we leave Leigh out of the question," Kitty controlled her voice admirably. "Would you rather answer me or the police?" "The police?" Mrs. Parsons laughed tolerantly. "Dear child, the strain you have been under distorts your ideas. Why the police?"