Keith saw the distended veins in McDowell's clenched hands, and he knew
that he was speaking under a tremendous strain.

"I watched the Kirkstone home--personally. Three times in that same
month Shan Tung visited her there. The third time I entered boldly with
a fraud message for the girl. I remained with her for an hour. In that
time I saw nothing and heard nothing of Shan Tung. He was hiding--or
got out as I came in."

Keith was visioning Miriam Kirkstone as he had seen her in the
inspector's office. He recalled vividly the slim, golden beauty of her,
the wonderful gray of her eyes, and the shimmer of her hair as she
stood in the light of the window--and then he saw Shan Tung,
effeminate, with his sly, creeping hands and his narrowed eyes, and the
thing which McDowell had suggested rose up before him a monstrous
impossibility.

"Why don't you demand an explanation of Miss Kirkstone?" he asked.

"I have, and she denies it all absolutely, except that Shan Tung came
to her house once to see her brother. She says that she was never on
the little stairway back of Shan Tung's place."

"And you do not believe her?"

"Assuredly not. I saw her. To speak the cold truth, Conniston, she is
lying magnificently to cover up something which she does not want any
other person on earth to know."