Page:Alice Stuyvesant - The Vanity Box.djvu/197

 Miss Maunsell, things began to look black against the wanted man. All the evidence so far was purely circumstantial, but there was a good deal of it, and it vas necessary that Sir Ian Hereward's late steward should be found before the inquest, which had been adjourned again for a fortnight in the hope of unearthing him at home or abroad.

"Cupid" Gaylor had done rather well in the case so far, and he meant to do still better. He had a rooted idea that, if he had been on the spot immediately after the tragedy, the murderer would be already in the hands of the police; but it would be a still greater score if, after others had done their best in vain, the brilliancy of his detective talent should throw light into dark places.

No objection had, or could have, been made to the going abroad of Colonel Sir Ian Hereward, or Miss Verney; but they were both pledged to return for the inquest in a fortnight's time. After that, it would depend upon circumstances, over which those two important witnesses might or might not have control, whether they left England again immediately, or remained there.

Meanwhile Scotland Yard did not intend to lose sight of the ex-officer and the late companion of his murdered wife. Sir Ian's movements were more or less "under observation," but it was considered essential to observe those of Miss Verney more minutely. A young man, a friend of Gaylor's, with some French