"You are still determined to find out the cause of his death?" she said, slowly. "I don't think there is any question on that point," he replied, with emphasis. "He was shot, and I want to find out who shot him." "What good will that do?" "It will set Kaituna's mind at rest." His listener played with the plain gold ring on her finger--the ring which had been the symbol of her marriage with the murdered man--and frowned. "If I were you, I'd let sleeping dogs lie," she said, at length, without raising her eyes. "No! I will not! See here, Mrs. Belswin, I know quite well that Kaituna is anxious to find out the murderer of her father. If she does not it will embitter her whole life. She cannot bear to think of him lying unavenged in his grave. Herself, she can do nothing, but I, her promised husband, can." "I'm afraid you over-calculate your powers as a detective." "Perhaps I do," he answered, calmly; "but I'm going to try, at all events, and see if I can unravel this mystery. Did I intend to let sleeping dogs lie, as you phrase it, I would have gone out to Australia myself to look after the silver mines, but as Clendon has taken that trouble off my hands I am going to devote myself to finding out the man who murdered Sir Rupert." He spoke with such determination that she felt convinced he would carry out his intention, and fidgeted about in her seat for a few moments, then, walking to the window, stood looking out into the dull street, while she made her next remark. "I don't think it will do any good. Where the police have failed you cannot hope to succeed." "I hope to do so, with your help." "My help?" she echoed, facing round suddenly so that her back was to the light and her face comparatively in the shadow. "What can I tell you?" "Mrs. Belswin," said Maxwell, gravely, "you were one of the last people who saw Sir Rupert alive." "Yes, that is so," she answered without moving a muscle, "but I told all I knew at the inquest." "I suppose you did; but can you think of nothing else?" She looked at him with a piercing glance, as if trying to read his soul, but saw nothing that could make her think that he suspected her in any way of being connected with the murdered man. "I told all I knew at the inquest," she repeated. "I had an interview with Sir Rupert about your marriage with Kaituna. He refused his consent, and I left the study. Kaituna had gone to bed with a bad headache, so I did not wish to make it worse by my ill news. Therefore I retired to rest at once, and knew nothing more until the next morning." "You heard no pistol shot?" "None." "Strange!" said Maxwell, thoughtfully: "no one seems to have heard a pistol shot, and yet such an unusual thing must have attracted attention." "You forget that Sir Rupert's study was some distance away from the sleeping apartments, and I think at the time he was killed every one was in bed." "But he was not shot in the room, but from the terrace." Mrs. Belswin started again,