She laughed lightly. Theydon was so flurried that he did not realize
the possibility of Evelyn Forbes being as quick to mask her real
feelings as he himself was.

"Dad and I make a point of breakfasting together at nine o'clock every
morning," she said. "We were talking about you, and he told me of the
dreadful thing that happened to Mrs. Lester. I was reading the account
of the tragedy in a newspaper, when I happened to glance at him. He
was going through his letters, and I was just a trifle curious to know
what was in a flat box which came by registered post. He opened it
carelessly and something fell out and rolled across the table. I
picked it up and saw that it was a small piece of ivory, carved with
extraordinary skill to represent a skull. Indeed, it was so clever as
to be decidedly repulsive. I was going to say something when I saw
that the letter which was in the same box had alarmed him so greatly
that, for a second or two, I thought he would faint. But he can be
very strong and stern at times, and he recovered himself instantly,
was quite vexed with me because I had examined the ivory skull, and
forbade my going out until he had returned from the Home Office.
Tomlinson and the other men have orders not to admit any one to the
house, no matter on what pretext, and I'm sure the letter and its
nasty little token are bound up in some way with Mrs. Lester's death.
Won't you let me into the secret? I shan't scream or do anything
foolish, but I do think I am entitled to know what you know if it
affects my father."

A sudden change in the girl's voice warned Theydon of a restraint of
which he had been unconscious hitherto. He tried to temporize, to
whittle away her fears. That was a duty he owed to Forbes, who was