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Rh in his condition, perhaps to a morbid extent, and would collect all the data he could find bearing on his case; but what if Rannie had gone further in his study of medicine? If his library contained any volumes on toxicology it would open up a new field of conjecture.

Odell dismissed the matter from his thoughts for the time being and started upstairs. He would have liked to investigate it at once; but Richard Lorne had summoned him in the first place, and he had not yet had an opportunity of hearing his version of the mystery.

At the top of the stairs, however, he all but collided with Smith, who with finger on lip beckoned him into an alcove formed by the bay window over the entrance door.

"Something's up, Sergeant," he whispered hurriedly. "Taylor told me you were here, and I was just coming down to find you."

"The chief told me about Miss Chalmers's attempt to elude you yesterday"—Odell was beginning, but the operative cut him short.

"I mean to-day, now! She never left her room yesterday after that scene with her aunt when she got home, and this morning she went down to breakfast with a face like a thundercloud. I was sitting in the hall outside the dining-room door reading my paper and waiting to see what her next move would be, when that housemaid, Jane, came running up the back stairs.

"She was all excited and smiling, but when she saw me she changed like a shot; gave me a cool little nod, and then got a duster out of the hall closet and began fussing around and humming as if there was nothing on her mind but her