Mr. Barker had no interest in the
Azalea Woods Estates. He had nothing to do with it."

The old man pursed out his lips and raised his brows:

"I see, one of those groundless rumors that gather about a sensational
event. It probably started from the fact, mentioned in the papers, that
Barker was in your office that afternoon."

"Probably. He came to see me about a house he was going to build in the
tract. Of course that's all ended in nothing now."

He looked at her from under his bushy brows, a kind, fatherly glance:

"I was very sorry to hear, Miss Whitehall, that you were one of the
sufferers in this double disaster we are trying to settle."

"Oh, I!" she gave a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I'm wiped out."

"Tch!" he shook his head frowningWe all
started forward to pick it up but she was too quick for us and had it
before any of us could reach it. As she righted herself from the sudden
stoop her face was deeply flushed. "Yes, of course, I must have been in
the elevator," she finished with a slight gasp as if the quick movement
had impeded her breathing.

"I see, of course," agreed the chief moving beside her to the door. "It
merely interested me as a student of morbid psychology. I'd like to have
known how a man of Harland's type looked, moved, comported himself,
while such a struggle went on in his mind."

At the door there were general good-byes, a very cordial parting all
round. I slipped out behind her to escort her through the hall to the
elevator. As we brushed