“I see you are not to say another word, Miss Austin,” Trask decreed. “I’m very sorry I asked Mr. Stone to take up this case. However, I shall take you home now, then I’ll come back and I hope I can persuade Mr. Stone to discontinue his work. If I’d had any idea of these disclosures you’ve made, I never should have engaged his services. Come, Anita, I will take you home. Mr. Stone, await my return. I shan’t be long.” The two went, and Stone, pacing up and down the long room said musingly, “All centers round that girl.” “Righto,” said Fibsy, “but she didn’t kill the man.” “The trouble is, Terence, your saying that doesn’t make it so.” “No, but its being so makes me say it.” Gordon Lockwood came in, his face full of anxiety. “I’m glad to see you alone for a moment, Mr. Stone,” he said. “I saw Trask taking Miss Austin home. Now, tell me, please, can you get at the truth about that girl?” “I haven’t as yet. She’s as great a mystery as the death of Doctor Waring.” “She is. But I have every faith in her. She is the victim of some delusion—” “Delusion?” “Yes; I mean she’s under a mistaken sense of duty to somebody, or—” “State your meaning more definitely, will you?” “I’m not sure that I can. But I’m positive—” “Ah, now, Mr. Lockwood,” this from Fibsy, “you’re positive the young lady is an angel of light, because you’re head over heels in love with her. That’s all right, and I don’t blame you—but, take it from me, you’ll prove your case quicker, better and more surely, if you investigate the secret of Miss Mystery, than if you just go around babbling about her innocence and purity.” Lockwood looked at the boy, ready to resent his impudence. But Fibsy’s serious face and honest eyes carried conviction and the secretary at once took him for an ally. “You’re right, McGuire,” he said; “and, I for one am not afraid of the result of a thorough investigation of Miss Austin’s affairs.” “You’ve reason to be, though,” Stone observed. “I can’t be sure, of course, but many stray hints and bits of evidence, to my mind point to Miss Austin’s close connection with the whole matter.” “What is your theory as to the death, Mr. Stone,” Lockwood asked. “Suicide or murder?” “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m quite ready to form an opinion when I get some real evidence. I’m through questioning Miss Austin—I shouldn’t have let her go otherwise. I want next to do a lot of further questioning. And I’d very much like to get hold of that servant, Nogi.” “You think he’s implicated?” Lockwood stared. “Why else would he run away? He must be found. He is probably the key to the whole situation.” “Guilty?” “Maybe and maybe not. If he and Miss Austin were in collusion—” “I beg your pardon, Mr. Stone, but I cannot have any thing said in my presence that reflects on that young lady’s good name. We are engaged to be married—that is, I consider myself bound to her, and hope to win her full consent.” “But I understood—I thought, Trask—”