"Aldean is like the fat boy in Pickwick," said Mallow, and quoted, "I wants to make your flesh creep.'"
"Is that the Athelstane Place crime, Lord Aldean?" asked Olive.
"Yes. Fellow was killed with a knitting-needle. I wonder who did it?"
"A woman, you may be sure."
"What makes you think so, Miss Bellairs?" demanded Mallow, quickly.
"Because men don't use knitting-needles, and women do," replied the girl. "I dare say it was a case of jealousy."
"Perhaps; but even a jealous woman would hesitate to cut off the right hand of a dead lover."
"Unless she came from the East," said Aldean, suddenly.
"Why should she come from the East?"
"Well, the Morning Planet says that the man came from India."