“Oh, that dratted thing! That throws the whole matter into another category. That watch is my hope and my stumbling block, both.” “You’ve been mysterious before, Kee, about that watch. Now out with it. What’s the separate mystery of the watch in the pitcher?” “_Quid pro quo_,” said Kee, smiling at me. “You tell me what you’re concealing up your sleeve and I’ll divulge the dark hint suggested to me by the watch.” I hesitated, but my disinclination to tell of the canoe incident was too strong. I couldn’t bring myself to let loose a torrent of suspicion that might engulf Alma. “Can’t do it,” I said, honestly. “I would, if I thought it my duty as a citizen or as your friend, Kee. But, as I see it, it’s better left untold.” “You remind me,” Kee said, smiling, “of Jurgen, who said, ‘I do my duty as I see it. But there is a tendency in my family toward defective vision.’ That isn’t quoted _verbatim_, but nearly so. All right, old son, keep your guilty secret and I’ll keep mine.” “Do. What’s next on your sleuthing program?” “I’m going to interview Mrs. Dallas.” “How will she like that?” “I daresay she won’t be any too well pleased. But, unless she refuses to see us, we can’t help learning something. Will you go with me?” “Of course,” I returned, glad he wanted me. I truly desired to help, so long as the work didn’t touch on the girl I cared for. The talk with them about her had, in a way, crystallized my feelings, and I knew now I loved her, a fact of which I had before been only vaguely aware. Also, I was prepared to fight for her. And if the fight could be helped on by incriminating some one else, so much the better. We started for Mrs. Dallas’s home, which was only a short walk along the lake shore. Keeley was quiet as usual, and gave me fully to understand that he bore no ill will over my refusal to confide in him more fully. “You see, Gray,” he said, talking things over with me in the old, friendly fashion, “there’s no use blinking the accepted fact that those who benefit most by the death of a rich man are the ones to be suspected. I know how you feel about Alma, but as you care for her, you, of course, deem her innocent. Therefore you can’t feel that she is in any danger from an investigation by detectives. If I were you I should welcome all possible questioning of her, feeling sure that she would have satisfactory explanation for anything that might seem suspicious.” “That’s all very well, Kee, if the detectives were not such dunderheaded idiots. You know I don’t mean you, but that March Hare and that Hart that panted at the inquest, have it in for the girl, and they are ready to turn anything she may say against her.” “Oh, not so bad as that. But it complicates things, your having gone dotty over her.” “Sorry for the complications, but not sorry for the rest of it. I say, old man, do you suppose she’d look at me?” “She might do worse,” said Kee, as he eyed me appraisingly.