On the whole, Steele's evidence didn't get us anywhere. We already knew that Schuyler had gone to Vicky Van's under an assumed name. The reason for this had little, if anything, to do with what had followed. A connection of some sort, between Vicky and Mr. Schuyler must be traced, in order to arrive at her possible motive. A woman does not stab to kill a chance guest whom she has never met before! Bert Garrison came next. His talk ran mostly to eulogies of Vicky. The poor fellow was dead in love with her, and had been for many moons, but though Vicky favored him more than some others, yet she gave him no definite encouragement, as he himself ruefully admitted. But he made a desperate effort to show that a girl of Victoria Van Allen's high character and fine qualities would be incapable of a base deed. The coroner smiled a little at Garrison's vehemence, and let him run on for a time, in praise of the absent Vicky. At last, he said, "And, why, then, Mr. Garrison, in your opinion has Miss Van Allen disappeared?" "The disappearance is not of her own volition," declared Garrison; "she has been taken away by somebody and held against her will, in order to make her appear guilty." This was a new theory. I might have given it serious consideration had I not had speech with the girl herself. It couldn't be that Vicky was held captive, since she was at her own house two nights after the crime. But I could see that the jury, and even the coroner and detectives were interested in this idea. "By whom could she possibly, or theoretically, he thus held?" the coroner asked. "I don't know. But assuming some intruder effected an entrance and stabbed Mr. Schuyler, if surprised during or after the act by the sudden appearance of Miss Van Allen in the dining room, he might in some way have gotten her out of the house, and still be keeping her in a hiding-place." It was perhaps, a possibility, but I didn't see how any intruder could do all that, without being seen by the waiters. Unless, perchance, the waiters had been bribed to silence. And that, in the face of Luigi's earnest, and convincing testimony, I could not believe. It was a fantastic theory, evolved in the brain of Garrison, for the purpose of diverting suspicion from Vicky Van. However, it seemed to impress the coroner, and he made notes as he dismissed the witness. Cassie Weldon added one bit of new information. She said, though with evident reluctance, that she had caught a mere glimpse of somebody running upstairs, just before the waiter had come to call for help. Cassie had not wanted to testify at all. As she had intimated to me, it was detrimental to her work as a concert singer to be mixed up in this affair. But since she had to give her testimony, she apparently felt it her duty to tell the whole truth. "How could you see the stairs from the living-room?" asked the interested coroner.