They parted. Brett was promptly admitted by Mrs. Crowe, and walked rapidly
up the avenue.

Winter watched his retreating figure.

"He's smart, I know he's smart," mused the detective. "But he doesn't know
everything about this affair. He doesn't know, I'll be bound, that David
Hume-Frazer waited for his cousin that night outside the library. I didn't
know it--worse luck!--until after he was acquitted. And he doesn't know
that Miss Nellie Layton didn't reach home until 1.30 a.m., though she left
the ball at 12.15, and her house is, so to speak, a minute's walk distant.
And she was in a carriage. Oh, there's more in this case than meets the
eye! I can't say which would please me most, to find out the real
murderer, if Hume didn't do it, or prove Mr. Brett to be in the wrong!"




CHAPTER VII

HUSBAND AND WIFE


Brett did not hurry on his way to the Hall. Already things were in a
whirl, and the confusion was so great that he was momentarily unable to
map out a definite line of action.

The relations between Capella and his wife were evidently strained almost
to breaking point, and it was this very fact which caused him the greatest