spoke with an accent."

"Then it couldn't have been Peter," said De Soto positively. "He's
old, right enough, but he is as big as the side of a house, with a
face like a full moon, and he is Yankee to his toes. By gad, Barnes,
the plot thickens! A woman has been added to the mystery. Now, who the
devil is she and what has become of her?"




CHAPTER VI

CHARITY BEGINS FAR FROM HOME, AND A STROLL IN THE WILDWOOD FOLLOWS


Mr. Rushcroft as furious when he arose at eleven o'clock on the
morning after the double murder, having slept like a top through all
of the commotion. He boomed all over the place, vocal castigations
falling right and left on the guilty and the innocent without
distinction. He wouldn't have missed the excitement for anything in
the world. He didn't mind missing the breakfast he was to have had
with Barnes, but he did feel outraged over the pusillanimous trick
played upon him by the remaining members of his troupe. Nothing was to
have been expected of Putnam Jones and his damnation crew; they
wouldn't have called him if the house was afire; they would let him
roast to death; but certainly something was due him from the members
of his company, something better than utter abandonment!

He was still deep in the sulks when he came upon Barnes, who was