The House Opposite

ng in the country, my Sunday in tow

wing May Derwent as I did, I had felt sure from the very first that she must have entertained the liveliest feelings of trust and liking-to say the least-for the man whom she permitted to visit her on that Tuesday evening. That the cu

al Register or the Directory, but I thought that by visiting the various studio

. As I sat down to my breakfast with a hopeful heart and an excellent appetite, I little

e showed no signs of surprise at my early appearance, and invited me to share his meal with simple courtesy. As I had hurried off without stopping to eat anything,

ytale about Greywood? I see from the papers that you

, while there is still some doubt about it, I thought it as well f

you do not believe the murdere

I'm afr

o?" I

es

day, you were equally sure

e the young lady guilty; I merely say that I believe Maurice

think that she kill

ty that Allan Derwent (for we will assume that he was the

d, "that had not

s by far the most probable. You see," he continued, "you allow your judgment to be wa

so," I ac

k with you I have become convinced that the murder was committed in her parlour, and nowhere else." Mr.

angrily, "then y

ocence; I still do so. I said that the information I had received from you materially helped her case, which it most assuredly did. H

y?" I i

ief in her innocence rested on no more solid foundation than what

except that a negro boy thought th

ge that her visito

what of it? I am convinced

in the Rosemere for twenty-four hours. Where could it have been more easily secreted than in the Derwents' apartment, into which no outsider or servant entered? And lastly, it would have required two people to carry, even for a short dist

en killed?" I asked. "What possi

to him, and with whom she is engaged in a bitter dispute. The instinct to protect her rises within him. His eyes fall on a weapon, lying, let us suppose, on the parlour table. He seizes it, and in his drunken rage, staggers across the room and plunges it into Greywood's heart. What girl could be placed in a more terrible position? She is naturally forced to shield her brother. So she hits on a plan for diverting suspicion from him, which would have been successful, if Fate had not intervened in the most extraordinary way. You remember, that it came out that on Wednesday she went in and out of the building very frequently. During one of these many comings and goings, she manages

he didn't find it

," asserted the det

And wha

more accurate, the hea

laimed; "you fo

the dead man's trousers an

e pretty s

on the table a jewelled dagger-hi

temptuously; "why, that

the head of one of those jewelled hat-pins that have been so fashionable of late.

the pin itse

the detective ans

for the handle being

it fell, and its loss was not discovered till the victim had been disposed of. Young Derwent evidently expected the place to be searched, which accounts for the care with which he tried to remove all traces

I inquired: "And what

, it is as you supposed;-the man you saw leaving the building was no tradesman, so he is probably the pers

such flimsy evidence, and for a crime you do not bel

this affair, and think that this is the surest way of getting hold of the precious couple. I can't allow a criminal to slip through my fingers for sentimental reas

I think I can easily prove to you that you are wrong. For since Friday I, too, have thought of a

s fact I am quite certain, that the victim met

slight start, a

his time. Did not the doctor find tra

ective, "alcohol was fo

e been drunk, or that, being in that condition, she should not have noticed it, which she cou

d point," said

ation of prolonged dissipation. Now, n

done so, for all th

persist in believing the murdered man to be Greywood, you must also believe that Miss Derwent lured him to her rooms, while he was so intoxicated as to be almost, if not quite helpless, and there, either killed him herself or allowed he

s about offering him the means of becoming still more so? And please notice another thing. You told me yourself that Mrs. Atkins had spent the greater part of her life among a very fast lot-so that it is perfectly natural to find a man of the deceased's habits am

I do not infer from this that she killed the man, but I do say that it proves that the man was no stranger to her. And now I come to the hat-pin. You assume, because you find a certain thing, and I saw a search carried on, that the man was looking for the object you found. What reason have you for believin

y remarkable coincidence, and one that would te

n. But I want to call your attention to another point. If two people have identified the body as the young artist, so have two

inquired M

admit that; consequently, I consider Joe's word in this case better than Jim's, and Mrs. Atkins is certainly a

Merritt, "but Mrs. Atkins emphatic

louder than words? By the way, I gather from your still being willing to discuss

out is, that the berth on the Boston train wh

l think of arresting Miss Derwent; of bligh

be decisive. Should the body not be that of her son (and you have almost convinced me that it is not), then Miss Derwent's affa

e sure that talent of a superior order lay dormant within me. Only the great difficulty was to know where to begin. I must get nearer the scene of the tragedy

e I could have sworn he was not in sight. It was quite uncanny. His wife started and glanced fearfully at him, then tossing her head defiantly she swept past me with a beaming bow. He took off his hat most respectfully, and his long sallow face remained as expressionless as a mask. But I was sure that his piercing black eyes looked at me with secret hostility. The whole incident only occupied a minute, but it left a deep impression upon me, and started me off on an entirely new train of thought. What had the detective said? The guilty person must have been able to procure, for some time, however short, the key to the vacant apartment. We only knew of three people who were in a po

and I at once recognised Mr. Stuart. The very person, of all others, I most wanted to see. Fate was certainly in a kindly mood to-day, and I determined it should not be my fault if I did not make the most of the opportunity thus unexpectedly afforded me. So when I caught his eye I bowed, and walked boldly up to

ooked inquiringly at me th

sday at the Rosem

of my being a detective suggested itsel

ding, so, probably on account of my proximity, I was called in to see the vic

!" he r

ncouraging, bu

, isn't it?" I said, tr

nt business," he

aroused, so I drew a

pertinent if I ask you whether you have any re

ed thorough

y do yo

ntity of the dead man has never

ust reading an account of how it has been ascertai

read to the end, you will find that they admit that the police place no c

he detectiv

I ans

interesting man. I sh

the short, clean-shaven man who stood be

I have always taken a great interest in the man.

a nice fellow, too, and terribly keen about this murder," I adde

nfess that to have a thing like that occur in a building where one lives

id, with a laugh; "but, all the same, I

y?" he cautio

d his wife get alo

sked, in his turn. I told him w

ife, whom he regards as the most fascinating of her sex, and has a hab

y quarr

ot so bad that I was forced to tell them that if I h

as it as ba

ieks coming from the kitchen, and, on investigating,

all

lack and blue from the beating he gave her. It was some trouble about a cousin, I believe; but, as th

een on amicable

like. Even in the old days, she would flirt and he would beat her, and then they wo

e overcome his aversion or distrust, and detained

onversation around to gossip about the different people in the building. This was no easy matter, for the fellow considered it either impolitic or disloyal to discuss his tenants, but, luckily, when I broached the subject of the Argots, he unbosomed him

stopped quarr

But Argot's been terrible to her lately. Why, they made such a row that I had to go in there the other day and tell him if he didn't shut up I'd complai

have seen nothing of

bothering me to death about tha

et out of him. Not muc

y of yet another man. That he had not entered by the front door was certain; very well, then, he must have come in by the back one. Of course, that there should have been three people answering to the same description in the building at the time when the murder occurred seemed an incredible conglomeration of circumstances, but had not the detective himself suggested such a possibility? The most serious objections to the supposition that Argot had murdered the man were: first, the smallness of the wound, and, secondly,

wife's connivance, have secreted him in one of the closets which his master never opened, and then (having procured a duplicate ke

d with this theory,