The magnanimity of this sudden outburst of confidence in my integrity was somewhat lessened by the fact that, while affecting to turn over some books on the side-table, she had all the time been scanning an evening newspaper which lay neatly folded on the top of a pile of books. I had purchased a copy of the same journal earlier in the evening, and was well aware that a paragraph, describing the finding of the three bodies, was printed in large type at the top of the first page. Folded as the paper was, this paragraph was the most prominent item of news, and could scarcely fail to catch even a cursory eye. Possibly the reading of the paragraph sufficiently confirmed my story to assist her to a decision. "Come here, young man. I want to have a look at you," she said peremptorily, walking over to the light. I obeyed, and for half a minute was subjected to the scrutiny of her keen but not unkindly eyes. "That'll do!" she said, pushing me away testily. "I'm going to make a fool of myself; but anyhow, I'm going to trust you, fool or no fool. And now tell me what it is you want." Some instinct told me that she was a woman to gain whose confidence one must give one's confidence. Looking her full in the face I made answer boldly: "I want to marry your niece." CHAPTER XIII. THE FACE AT THE BROKEN WINDOW. Miss Clara sat down--perhaps I should say collapsed down. But for the fact that a huge Chesterfield stood immediately at her back, ready to receive the fair burden of her charms, I am persuaded that her ultimate destination would have been the floor. The suddenness of my statement "dropped" her as neatly as a good marksman "drops" his bird. Sinking--"all of a flutter," as she afterwards described it, thus unconsciously confirming the aptness of my bird imagery--upon the Chesterfield, this truly remarkable woman merely observed, "Well, I never!" and then as speedily recovering herself, sat up and said, quietly: "I knew there was something behind it all along." This was said, I may observe, not in relation to the Chesterfield which had so fortunately been behind _her_, but to my story. "Of course you did," I said. "Anyone could see that with half an eye. There are two things behind it. First, I want you to help me to marry your niece, and second, I want to help you to get your brother out of the hands of these blackmailers." In thus coupling our common interests, and in thus bespeaking, if not assuming, her assistance on my behalf, I was taking a good deal for granted, but she did not seem to resent it. "You have plenty of impudence, young man," she said, smiling grimly. "You'll be wanting someone to help you to marry me next." "That," I answered, "is the one regret I shall have, if I succeed in winning your niece. It will prevent me from ever hoping to win the heart and hand (and what a pretty hand it is too!) of her charming and accomplished aunt."