"Honestly, Count Charlier?" and Stone looked at him with a man-to-man glance that caused the Count to hesitate in his protestations. "Well, I was considering the matter in my own mind. You know, Mr. Stone, it is a great responsibility, this seeking a wife. And Miss Carrington was not--not in her first youth. Of a fact, her years outnumbered my own. So, I asked myself was it wise, was it altogether just to the lady to----" "Never mind all that, Count," said Stone, a little impatiently, "just give me a few details of that evening, so far as your actions were concerned. You were at the house till midnight?" "Yes, Mr. Illsley and I left together. We had spent the evening there at cards and music." "You had had any private conversation with Miss Carrington during the evening?" "Yes, we walked alone in the conservatory for a time,----" "You proposed marriage?" "Not exactly that,--but I may have hinted at such an event." "And the lady seemed agreeable?" "Entirely so. If I may say it, she met my advances half-way, and I could not misunderstand her feeling toward my unworthy self." "She spoke to you of money matters? Of her will?" "Yes, to my surprise, she told me she had bequeathed to me ten thousand dollars." "Was not this a strange bequest to a casual acquaintance?" "Oh, we were more than casual acquaintances. I have known Miss Carrington for two or three months." "Which? two or three?" "Perhaps nearer two," and the Count showed a slight embarrassment. "Do your friends often leave you large sums of money on such short acquaintance?" "It has never happened before," and now the Count's dignity was touched and he spoke shortly and coolly. "Then, of course, it struck you as peculiar," and Stone's smile assumed an acquiescence. But the Count returned: "Not at all. Miss Carrington was an unusual woman, and I never expected her behavior to be entirely conventional. When she told me of this I was simply and honestly grateful, as I should have been to any one who showed me such a kindness." "You were glad to get the money, then?" "Yes, indeed!" the Count exclaimed, with sparkling eyes, then realizing his slip, he hastily added: "that is, I was glad of the knowledge that it would come to me some day. Surely I did not want the lady to die, that I might receive it, but I was pleased to know she thought enough of me to make the direction." "What did she mean by saying 'To-morrow all will be different'?" "That I do not know. Could she have meant----" "She did say it, then? You admit she said it to you?" Breathlessly, Fleming Stone waited the answer. Miss Carrington had said this to the person who was with her behind her closed door at one o'clock! Could the Count be going to incriminate himself? "Not to me only. She said it to all who were present. It was while we were playing bridge." "She said it again to the man who killed her!" "Of that I know nothing," said Count Charlier, politely. "Bother!" said Fleming Stone, inaudibly.