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214 to have established amicable and even affectionate relations once more; so I thought no further about the scene of the afternoon until on the following night, when immediately after his customary visit with her I found her condition so changed."

"And this is all you have to tell me?" Odell rose. "You can recall nothing else which might have a possible bearing on Mrs. Lorne's death?"

"Nothing," Miss Risby responded as she gave him her hand. "Please do not attach too much significance to what I have told you, Sergeant. I have witnessed many domestic quarrels, and it has been my experience that people say a great deal in the heat of anger which it would be ridiculous to attach any importance to. I have told you only because I thought it my duty; but I beg that you will not accept my statement as conclusive proof."

Leaving her, Odell returned as quickly as possible to the Meade house. With every turn he seemed to be unearthing fresh and conflicting circumstantial evidence, and he felt that before proceeding any further he must gather up some of the loose threads which entangled this most perplexing of all the cases he had known.

When Peters admitted him he proceeded directly to the third floor and found Porter seated on a chair in the hall outside Gene's door yawning over a newspaper, which he cast aside with a quickly suppressed grin at sight of his superior.

"I'm glad you got back, Sergeant," he observed with an innocent air which told the detective plainly that the tale of his abduction had filtered through from Headquarters dur-