Page:O'Higgins--The Adventures of Detective Barney.djvu/217

 watched Harper, you ’d have seen that when I questioned him about those anonymous letters, I purposely looked him square in the eye. He at once became uneasily conscious of the facts that were concealed behind his eyes. And his natural impulse was to look away from me. He was able to control that impulse. But in controlling it he overdid it. He stiffened the muscles. His eyes set. That might be an innocent reflex in the case of a suspect who knew he was unjustly suspected. But Harper had no reason to suppose that I suspected him. Why should he? Therefore the idea of guilt must have come from his own thoughts. Understand?”

Barney said he did.

“He pretended that he did n’t suspect his brother-in-law of sending the letters, but when he saw me apparently taking up that idea, his face— Look at me. At my eyes. I ’m watching you, intently. You say something that I secretly wished you to say. Do you see the change in the eye? It relaxes—almost