"Did she hear anything in the library?"
"She thinks she heard something, but is not sure. She was practicing a very difficult piece by Wagner—"
"And it was loud enough to drown out every other sound."
"That's it. When the clock struck twelve she stopped practicing to learn if lunch was ready. She also wanted to speak to her father, and so crossed the hallway and opened the library door." The young man's voice began to tremble a little. "She found her father stretched lifeless in an armchair."
"How had he been killed?"
"That is a part of the mystery. He was either choked or smothered to death, or else he was poisoned. The doctors don't seem to be able to get at the bottom of it."
For the first time since Raymond Case had begun his recital Adam Adams began to show an interest.
"If the man was strangled his throat should show the marks," he observed.
"There are no marks, and the doctors have found no trace of poison."
"Humph!" The detective rubbed his chin reflectively. "What next?"
"Margaret Langmore was so horrified she ran from the room screaming wildly. Her shrieks brought the servant to the spot, and a minute later two of the neighbors, Mrs. Bardon and her son Alfred, came over from next door."
"Where was Mrs. Langmore at this time?"
"Nobody knew. Alfred Bardon is a physician, and, thinking there might still be a spark of life in Mr. Langmore, did all he possibly could to resuscitate the gentleman. The servant girl ran upstairs to find some drugs for him and in the upper hallway stumbled over the dead body of Mrs. Langmore."
"And how had she died?"
"In the same manner as her husband. This news of a double tragedy was too much for Margaret, and she fainted. The others notified more of the neighbors and the police, and of course, the news spread like wildfire. I was stopping at the Beechwood Hotel at the time and as soon as I heard of the tragedy, I jumped into an automobile that was handy and rode over."
"Then you arrived at the house about as soon as the police?"
"A little before."
"What did you see?"
"Just what I have told you. The doctor had been trying to bring Mr.
Langmore around but had suddenly been taken sick and could do nothing."
"Humph, sick, eh? Did he say what made him sick?"
"He did not know. He thought it might be from leaning over the dead man, or from working in that position. I think the sudden sickness frightened him a little."
"When the police arrived what did they find of importance?"
"Nothing."
"Had anything been stolen?"
"Nothing, so far as they could learn."
"Of course, you must have known these folks pretty well to take such an interest."
"I knew Mr. Langmore very well and I was acquainted with his wife."
Adam Adams knit his brow for a moment and tapped lightly on his desk with his forefinger.
"Have the police any idea as to how the murderer got into the house and got out again?" he asked.
At this question Raymond Case's face flushed.
"They do not think the murderer left the house," he answered in a low tone.
CHAPTER II
LOVE UNDER A SHADOW
Raymond Case dropped back into his chair and buried his face in his hands. Adam Adams eyed him curiously and with something of a fatherly glance.
"It is plain to see what his trouble is," thought the detective. "He is in love."
He was right, Raymond Case was furiously, desperately, hopelessly in love. He had met Margaret Langmore at Bar Harbor but a few short weeks before, and it had been a case of love at first sight upon both sides. A few automobile rides and a few dances, and he had proposed and been accepted, and he had counted himself the happiest man in all this wide world. And now—
"Then they suspect the servant girl?" queried Adam Adams, knowing they did nothing of the sort.
"No!" came sharply. "They suspect Margaret—Miss Langmore."
"Ah!"
"Yes. It is—is preposterous—absurd, but they insist. And that is what has brought me to you. I want to prove her innocence to the world. Do that, and you can name your own price, Mr. Adams."
"You have a high regard for the young lady—you are close friends?"
"More. I may as well tell you, though so far Margaret and I have kept the matter more or less a secret. I love her and we are engaged to be married."
"Did Mr. Langmore know of his daughter's engagement?"
"He did, and he approved of it."
"And what of Mrs. Langmore, didn't she approve?"
"She did not know of it. Margaret did not tell her."
"Why not?"
"Because—well, the young lady and her stepmother did not get along very well together. Margaret wanted to be friendly, but Mrs. Langmore was very dictatorial, and besides she loved her own children better than Mr. Langmore's."
"Let me ask, was the daughter on good terms with her father?"
"Yes, excepting on one point. He wished her to obey her stepmother and that she was not always willing to do. This brought on a run of petty quarrels which fairly made Margaret sick."
"And this is the reason why the police think Miss Langmore the guilty person?"
"It is. Their theory is that she first quarrelled with her stepmother and murdered her, and then struck down her father to cover her guilt, he having discovered what she was doing."
"How old is Miss Langmore?"
"She has just passed her twenty-third birthday."
"Humph! Rather young to commit such a cold-blooded crime as this."
"She never did do it—I'll wager my life on it! Oh, it's absurd—insulting! But what are you going to do with a lot of pig-headed country police—"
"How did they come to suspect her? Was there nothing else?"
"Yes, there was. Mrs. Bardon, the woman who lives next door, is a great gossip and one who is continually poking her nose into other folks' business. She told the police that she was out in the garden cutting a bouquet early in the morning, and she heard a violent quarrel going on at the breakfast table between Mrs. Langmore and Margaret, and that Mr. Langmore took his wife's part. Margaret wished to give a small house party and Mrs. Langmore would not listen to it."
"Did Mrs. Bardon hear all that was said?"
"No, only enough to make her run to the police with the tale."
"Is any other house near by?"
"The Harrison mansion, but it is locked up, as the family is in Europe."
"Did you hear if Mrs. Bardon and her son were home all morning?"
"They were, excepting when the doctor went out to make some calls, between nine and eleven."
"Did they see any suspicious characters around the Langmore mansion?"