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Rh impressed itself upon all your minds; and when you brought matters to a head last night you precipitated the later events."

"Mother and Julian," the boy breathed but without audible emotion; his tone suggested rather a grim confirmation. "So you got it, did you, Sergeant? I've known it all along; and when the rest talked about fate and coincidence I could have laughed at their smug blindness!"

"How did you know?" the detective asked coolly.

"How do you know someone is staring at you in a crowd when your back is turned?" He twisted uneasily upon the couch. "What makes you conscious of another's presence sometimes when they've entered without a sound? I knew it, that's all. Even before Julian's death I was waiting; I have felt as though there was someone else in the house, another personality hiding behind a familiar one—but all this must sound like rot to you."

"By no means." Odell seated himself where he could see every changing expression on that dark, saturnine, strangely old face. "We know, you and I, that there is someone in this household who if not the prime mover in this series of events is at least an accomplice. You can't shut your eyes to that fact."

"I don't want to, Sergeant," the boy retorted grimly. You say that when I brought matters to a head last night I precipitated the attacks upon Gene and Dad. That presupposes the idea that someone at the dinner-table is guilty. It is rather a rotten thing for a fellow to face, but at any cost this damnable business has got to stop! After all, it is only what has been in the back of my head for more than a week. The devil of it is that I can't see any motive, nor,