The Spectator., 1915-06-25
CHAPTER VI.-Contjnued.

S''TNT Gh Ni.-NOUttHueO.
 at once gladly accepted her invi- tation to investigate the curious dis appearance of the body of poor Olin- JOS fellow-victim, determined to ob- tain the secret knowledge possessed by that smart, handsome girl before me. That her suspicious were in the right direction l felt confident, yet if the dead woman had been removed and hidden by the assassin 1t must have been after the discovery made by me. The fellow must have actually dared to return to the spot and carry of the victim. Yet if he had done that, why did he allow the corpse of the Italian to remain and await discovery? He might perhaps have been disturbed and compelled to make good his escape.
 You tell me, Miss Muriel that you suspect the truth, and yet you deny all knowledge of the murdered mani" l exclaimed in a tone of slight re- proach
 Until we have cleared up the mys- tery of the woman can say nothing. was her answer. T can only tell you, Mir Gregg, that if what suspect is true, then the affair will be found to be one of the strangest, most startling and most ingenious plots ever devised by one man against the life of an other"
 Then man is the assassin. you think?" l exclaimed quickly.
 Il believe so. But even of that l am not at all sure. We must first find the woman"
 
 Rannoch wood was already in its gold-brown glory of autumn, and as l stood with Mvriel Leithcourt on the edge of it. near the spot where Olinto San!ini had fallen, the morning sun was shining in a cloudless sky. asked her opinion which was the most likely corner, but she replied:
 'I know so little of this place, MT Gregg. You have known 1t for years while this is only my first season here."
 Very we'll" l answered. Let us start here. and first take a small circle examining every bush carefully. The body may have easily been pushed in beneath a thicket and we'll escape ob servation."
 And so together after taking our bearings. we started of, working our way into the thick undergrowth. beat ing with our sticks, and making mi mute examination of every bush or heap of dead leaves. All through the morning we walked on, our hands badly torn by brambles My own coat was badly torn. and more than once was compelled to scramble through almost impossible thickets; yet we found no trace of any previous in truder. and having completed ou, circle were compelled to admit that the gruesome evidence of the second crime did not exist at that spot
 Muriel was untiring in her activity Hither and thither she went, beating down the high bracken and tangles oi weeds, poking with her stick into ev cry hole and corner, and going far ther and farther into the wood in the certainty that the body was therein concealed.
 Soon we came to a deep wooded ra vine of the existence of which l was in ignorance. It was kind of small glen through which rivulet flowed but the banks were covered with a thick. impenetrable undergrowth.
 This is most likely place." de clared my dainty little companion as we approached it. Anything could easily be concealed in that high bracken down there. Let us search the whole glen from end to end" she cried with enthusiasm.
 Acting upon her suggestion and withcnt thought of luncheon, we made a descent of the steep bank until we reached the. rocky bed of the stream Undaunted, she went on 1. springisg g from stone to stone and steadying herself with her stick. II we could 1nly discover the body of the dead woman. then the rest would be clear. she declared. She would openly denounce the assassin.
 The sun had set. and the sky above showed the crimson of the distant afterglow. warning us- that 1t was time we began to think of how to make ouI exit. We were passing around sharI bend in the glen where the powders were co thickly moss grown that our