I paused. Bemis was taking in my every word with a canny understanding of what I said, and also of what I didn't say. "Where do your suspicions tend, Mr. Calhoun?" he said smoothly. "Frankly, Mr. Bemis, I don't know. I am an acquaintance of Miss Van Allen and I cannot reconcile the idea of crime with her happy, gentle nature. Nor can I see any reason to suspect the waiter who first told of the matter. But might not some person, some enemy of Mr. Schuyler, have been secreted in the house--" "A plausible theory," agreed Bemis, "even an obvious one, but almost no chance of it. I've seen the caterer's people, and they were in charge of the basement rooms and the dining-room all the evening. Unless it were one of the guests at the party, I think no intruder could have gotten in." "Well," I returned, uneasily, for I wished he would go, "it isn't up to us to invent theories or to defend them. I will answer your necessary questions, but pardon me, if I remind you that I am a busy man and I haven't yet had my breakfast." Bemis took the hint, and after a string of definite and pertinent questions, he left. Winnie tried to detain him, but my curt courtesy made it difficult for him to linger. "Oh, Chessy," cried my sister, as soon as Bemis had gone, "it's awful, I know, but _isn't_ it exciting?" "Hush, Winnie," reproved Aunt Lucy. "A girl of your age should know nothing of these things, and I want you to put it out of your mind. You can be of no help, and I do not want your nerves disturbed by the harrowing details." "That's all right, Aunt Lucy," I put in, "but this is going to be a celebrated case, and Winnie can't be kept in ignorance of its developments. Now be a good sort, Auntie--accept the inevitable. Try to realize that I must do what seems to me my duty, and if that brings us more or less into the limelight of publicity, it is a pity, but it can't be helped." "I agree to all that, Chester, dear. But you are so mixed in it socially. Why did you ever get into that set?" "It isn't a bad set, Aunt Lu. It isn't a fast set, by any means." "You wouldn't see Winnie or me there." "No, but a decent man goes to places where he wouldn't take his women people. Now, let up, Auntie. Trust your good-for-nothing nevvy, and just do all you can to help--by doing nothing." "I'll help you, Chessy-Cat. I'll do exactly as you tell me, if you'll only let me know about it, and not treat me like a baby," said Winnie, who was wheedlesomely assisting my breakfast arrangements. She sugared and creamed my cereal, and, as I dispatched it, she buttered toast and poured coffee and deftly sliced off the top of a soft-boiled egg. I managed to eat some of these viands between answers to their rapid-fire volley of questions and at last I made ready to go down town.