I set before him, to the best of my ability, the various elements of suspicion which I had collected from the evidence at the Trial; and I laid especial stress on the fact (sworn to by the nurse) that Mrs. Beauly was missing exactly at he time when Christina Ormsay had left Mrs. Eustace Macallan alone in her room. “You have hit it!” cried Miserrimus Dexter. “You are a wonderful woman! What was she doing on the morning of the day when Mrs. Eustace Macallan died poisoned? And where was she during the dark hours of the night? I can tell you where she was _not_--she was not in her own room.” “Not in her own room?” I repeated. “Are you really sure of that?” “I am sure of everything that I say, when I am speaking of Mrs. Beauly. Mind that: and now listen! This is a drama; and I excel in dramatic narrative. You shall judge for yourself. Date, the twentieth of October. Scene the Corridor, called the Guests’ Corridor, at Gleninch. On one side, a row of windows looking out into the garden. On the other, a row of four bedrooms, with dressing-rooms attached. First bedroom (beginning from the staircase), occupied by Mrs. Beauly. Second bedroom, empty. Third bedroom, occupied by Miserrimus Dexter. Fourth bedroom, empty. So much for the Scene! The time comes next--the time is eleven at night. Dexter discovered in his bedroom, reading. Enter to him Eustace Macallan. Eustace speaks: ‘My dear fellow, be particularly careful not to make any noise; don’t bowl your chair up and down the corridor to-night.’ Dexter inquires, ‘Why?’ Eustace answers: ‘Mrs. Beauly has been dining with some friends in Edinburgh, and has come back terribly fatigued: she has gone up to her room to rest.’ Dexter makes another inquiry (satirical inquiry, this time): ‘How does she look when she is terribly fatigued? As beautiful as ever?’ Answer: ‘I don t know; I have not seen her; she slipped upstairs, without speaking to anybody.’ Third inquiry by Dexter (logical inquiry, on this occasion): ‘If she spoke to nobody, how do you know she is fatigued?’ Eustace hands Dexter a morsel of paper, and answers: ‘Don t be a fool! I found this on the hall table. Remember what I have told you about keeping quiet; good-night!’ Eustace retires. Dexter looks at the paper, and reads these lines in pencil: ‘Just returned. Please forgive me for going to bed without saying good-night. I have overexerted myself; I am dreadfully fatigued. (Signed) Helena.’ Dexter is by nature suspicious. Dexter suspects Mrs. Beauly. Never mind his reasons; there is no time to enter into his reasons now. He puts the ease to himself thus: ‘A weary woman would never have given herself the trouble to write this. She would have found it much less fatiguing to knock at the drawing-room door as she passed, and to make her apologies by word of mouth. I see something here out of the ordinary way; I shall make a night of it in my chair. Very good. Dexter proceeds to make a night of it. He opens his door; wheels himself