"Is Mrs. Bowen coming over?"
"Yes, sir, and here she comes now."
The minister's wife came hurrying into the room, and stared at the detective.
"You sent for me, Mr. Stone? I don't know anything—about——"
"Nothing that seems to you important, perhaps. But, please, answer a few simple questions. Did Mrs. Pell wear lace frills at her wrists and throat at dinner that Sunday you were here? I've asked Miss Clyde, and she can't remember."
"Yes, sir, she did. I recollect I had never seen her wearing such full and elaborate ones before."
"Did you notice anything else peculiar about her attire?"
"Only a spot of blood on the instep of her white stocking."
"Did you make any mention of it?"
"No; I thought at the time a mosquito had bitten her. But afterward I heard it remarked at the inquest that her ankles had been tied and cut by cords until they bled a little. I can't see how that could have happened before dinner."