"Thank you," and Lois breathed a sigh of relief. "I feel quite certain that it will be valuable evidence."
"Now, I wonder what that chap wanted that envelope for?" Andy mused.
"To leave it by old David's body, of course, and to throw the blame on
Mr. Randall."
"Yes, that no doubt was his idea. But why did he want to do that? And if he committed that deed, why did he do it? What object did he have in murdering an innocent old man who never injured anybody, as far as I know?"
"That is the puzzling thing which must be solved," Lois replied. "But I must go home now, Mr. Forbes, and I thank you very much for what you have told me this afternoon."
She left the store with a lighter heart than she had entered it, and walked briskly up the road. She somehow felt that what Andy had told her would be of great value in freeing Jasper and bringing home the crime to the right person. But something more must be done, and she knew that it would be quite necessary to find the motive which prompted Bramshaw to pick up that letter and to commit the deed.
As Lois came to the road leading to the Haven, she found Betty waiting there for her. The girl seemed brighter than she had been since the night of the murder, and Lois wondered what was the cause of it. Had she heard some good news? she asked herself.
"Oh, Miss Lois," Betty cried, "I have been waiting a long time for you and I thought you would never come. May I go home with you?"
"Certainly, I shall be delighted to have you. But you look brighter,
Betty, than you did when I left you. Have you heard anything new?"
"Oh, yes, Miss Lois, I have," the girl replied. "The captain told me that he has gone away."