"Rubbish! The first effect of such a fright would be a fearful outcry on Miss Carrington's part, and immediate discovery of the plot. Moreover, if Miss Stuart bought that snake for any such purpose, she would have bought it secretly; at some little, obscure shop, not at a well-known emporium. No, sir, the snake is the key to the puzzle, but how? That is the question. You see, the doctors are pretty sure that the thing was put round the lady's neck before she died. Therefore she was either unconscious at the time, or,--she was willing." "Never! Everybody says her fear of the things would never let her have it put on her willingly." "I know they say so, but they may be mistaken. I'm beginning to evolve a theory that will fit the facts, queer as they are. But my theory needs a whole lot of other facts to back it up, and those facts I can't seem to find." "Does your theory implicate Miss Stuart?" "It does not." "I thought not." "You thought quite right. It does not implicate Miss Stuart, because she is in no way responsible for her aunt's death. But she may have knowledge, or she may think she has, that is leading her to shield somebody else." "Whom?" "I don't know. She is rather a puzzling creature. Is she--is she in love with that cousin of hers?" "Haviland?" "No, the one in Egypt." "Oh, Loria. I don't know, I'm sure. You read his letter to her, it wasn't in any sense a love-letter." "No, but it was evidently a letter written with the idea of other people reading it, because of the circumstances. Of course, he wouldn't put any intimate talk in it. And it was typewritten, so I couldn't judge anything of the man from his chirography." "Does handwriting mean much to you?" "Yes, indeed. It is a wonderful expression of character. But I don't suppose it would declare his adoration of a lady, unless he put it in words also." "You don't connect Loria with the crime in any way, do you?" "I don't see how I can, unless in collusion or through the assistance of Miss Stuart. And I'm not ready to do that. I'm working now on that conversation overheard by Miss Frayne." "You accept that whole, then?" "Yes, for the simple reason that she would not have invented all that talk. Even if she were in the room herself, and the remarks were addressed to her, she might be trying to lay the blame elsewhere; to create that conversation out of her own brain is too preposterous. You see, Hardy, these things must be weighed in the balance of probability. If Miss Frayne had set out to invent a lot of stuff which she merely pretended to overhear, she would have had two sides to the conversation. It is that unusual effect of one voice only that gives her story the stamp of truth." "But there must have been another voice, even though inaudible to her."