"She was in love with the Count, of course?" "Yes; as she was in love with any man she could attach. No, that's not quite true. Miss Lucy cared only for interesting men, but if she could corral one of those, she used every effort to snare him." "Is the illustrious Count interesting?" "She found him so. And, yes, he always entertained us. She made that bequest to attract his attention and lure him on. And then----" "Well, and then?" "Oh, then he couldn't withstand the temptation and he shuffled her off, to make sure of the money now." "You think he killed her, then?" "Who else? Those girls never used a black-jack----" "But the poison?" "Had it been poison alone, there might be a question. But that stunning blow has to be remembered. And neither Miss Stuart nor Miss Frayne can be thought of for a moment in connection with that piece of brutality." "But the snake? The queer costume?" "The costume wasn't so queer--for a boudoir garb. The snake _is_ inexplicable,--unless the man has a disordered mind, and used insane methods to cover his tracks. Then there's the glove, you can't get around that!" "That glove might have been put in her hand by anybody." "That's so! By a professional burglar, say! I really believe----" "Oh, let up on that professional burglar business! No burglar is going off without his loot, when he has uninterrupted time enough to kill a person twice, with poison and then, to hide that, with a fractured skull! How do you explain, even in theory, those two murderous attacks?" "Good Lord, man, _I_ don't know! It's all the most inexplicable muddle. I don't see how any of the things could happen, but they _did_ happen! You're the detective, not I! Aren't you ever going to discover anything?" "I may as well own up, Mr. Haviland, I am beyond my depth. There is a belief among detectives that the more bizarre and amazing the clues are, the easier the deduction therefrom. But I don't believe that. This case is bizarre enough, in all conscience, yet what can one deduce from that paper snake and that squeezed-up glove? It was all up in a little wad, you know, not at all as if it were carelessly drawn from a man's hand, or pulled off in a struggle." "There was no struggle. The features were composed, even almost smiling." "I know it. That proves it was no burglar. Well, I'm up a tree. I wish you felt inclined to call in Fleming Stone. He's the only man on this continent who could unravel it all." "I want to get him, but Miss Stuart won't hear of it. I'd have to have either her authority or Loria's." "But Mr. Loria gave you full swing, in that cable." "Yes, for ordinary business matters. But this is different. I'd have to have assurance that he'd pay the bills before I engaged Stone. I've heard he's some expensive." "I've heard that, too. But, by Jove, I'd like to work with him! Or under him. I say, I wish you could bring it about."