"I did not say that, but I have him under such surveillance that he cannot get away. There are some other matters to be discussed. Granting Tracy's guilt, what do you ascribe as a motive?" There was a profound silence. What could have been the motive for a perfect stranger to kill with deliberation two people who had never injured him in any way, and from whose death he could expect no pecuniary advantage? "Look here," said Wynne Landon, suddenly, "Mr. Tracy went away from here because the spectre appeared to him. How do you account for that?" "Mr. Tracy _said_ so," returned Wise, "but that story of his ghostly vision was made up out of the whole cloth,--which was all of the 'cloth' with which he ever had to do." "He made up that yarn, then, as an excuse to get away?" said Hardwick. "He did just that," replied Wise. "But what has any one to suggest as Mr. Tracy's motive for the crimes he committed?" "Plain homicidal mania," offered Hardwick, at last, as no one else spoke. "No," said Wise, "John Tracy is not of that type. Such people are abnormal, they have special physical characteristics, and they are easily recognized, once suspicion is attached to them. Tracy is a quiet, even debonair character, he is even-tempered, gentle-mannered and though deeply clever he hides it under a mask of kindliness and consideration. Victims of what is called homicidal mania are not at all like this. They are difficult to get along with, they do queer, inexplicable things, and most of all, they show in their faces the traits that lead them to their villainous deeds. You all know Tracy is not of this type. Therefore you must look further for his motive." "Did he receive any bequest from Mr. Bruce's will?" asked Hardwick, wonderingly. "Certainly not," asserted Landon. "He didn't know Mr. Bruce until we came up here, and that would have been no motive for his killing Vernie. Nor can there be any personal motive, Mr. Wise, for that. Shall we not have to ascribe it to some form of degeneracy, whether that seems plausible or not?" "No," decreed Wise, looking sternly from one to another. "No; John Tracy's motive for those two inhuman murders was the motive that is oftenest the reason for murder--money lust!" Eve Carnforth gave a scream and buried her face in her hands. Milly Landon turned white and swayed as if about to faint, but her husband caught her in his arms and supported her. "What can he mean?" said Norma, turning to Braye, "how could Mr. Tracy have done it for money? Who would give him money?" "Hush, Norma," said Braye, in a low voice, and Norma remembered it was the same tone he had used, when she had before asked questions of him. She had thought over his words on that occasion, and had concluded he meant she must not say anything that seemed to throw suspicion toward Wynne Landon. She looked at the sobbing Milly, and the pained, strained face of Wynne, who was trying to soothe her, and then Norma turned to Eve.