"
"They are not engaged, then?"
"I think not. They say he proposes regularly once a week. But she
holds him off."
Arrived at the _Golden Lion_ they went straight up to Kelson's room,
where with more curiosity than he quite cared to show, Gifford settled
himself to hear what the other had to tell him.
"I dare say you noticed how worried Muriel looked all dinner-time,"
Kelson began. "I thought that what had happened in the house had got on
her nerves; but it was something worse than that; I mean touching her
more nearly."
"Tell me," Gifford said quietly.
"You know," Kelson proceeded, "they are going to this dance at Hasborough
to-morrow. Well, it appears that when her maid was overhauling her
ball-dress, the same she wore here the other night, she found blood
stains on it."
"That," Gifford remarked coolly, "may satisfactorily account for the
marks on your cuff."
Kelson stared in surprise at the other's coolness.
"I dare say it does," he exclaimed with a touch of impatience. "I had
hardly connected the two. But what do you think of this? How in the name
of all that's mysterious can it be accounted for?"
"Hardly by the idea that Miss Tredworth had anything to do with the late
tragedy," was the quiet answer.
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