"You don't say so! When?"
"Miss Cotoner received a cablegram while I was there," said Ronald, "and her sister is on her way now."
"What the deuce does she mean by running her head into the lion's mouth?" observed Foster, in a puzzled tone. "She must know that such a crime cannot be passed over in silence."
Ronald looked up suddenly.
"What are you going to do next?" he asked, wearily.
"Wait, and see Roper. He is on his way also, and I should not be surprised if he came in the same boat with her. So he may, perhaps, give us clearer information than we have already received."
Ronald groaned.
"This is the irony of fate," he said, in a dull voice. "Had I known how this case was likely to affect the woman I love best in the world, I would not have undertaken it, and the thing might have remained a mystery for ever."
"Possibly," replied Foster, pointedly; "but you forget, others might have taken it up. Besides, when you started in the case you did not love Miss Cotoner, and, moreover, did not know how closely she was connected with the author of the crime."
Ronald rose to his feet and took his hat and stick.