“I did, dear; yesterday morning, but you were out.” An exclamation broke from Eleanor. “I did not leave any message or name, so you were not told of my visit. Nicodemus told me of my wife’s death, and of your presence in Washington, Eleanor.
“How I kept my hands off Dana I don’t know!” Thornton’s eyes blazed with righteous indignation. “He was the cause of all my misfortunes. When possible I spied upon him; not an honorable occupation, but I felt I must fight the devil with fire. When I entered this room just now I intended to slay him, but Providence intervened and gave him a more merciful death than I would have meted out to him.”
“I don’t know about that,” said Brett; “in the hour of his triumph you snatched his victory from him. God only knows what thoughts were concentrated in his active brain when physical endurance succumbed to the shock of seeing you.”
“Perhaps you are right,” agreed Thornton wearily. “I think that is all I have to tell you, gentlemen.”
“There is one question I feel I must ask,” Brett rose to his feet as he spoke. “Did Annette commit suicide, or was she killed by human or supernatural agency?”
“I think my brother planned her murder; one crime more or less did not trouble his elastic conscience.”
“By Heaven! she brought it on herself by offering to confess to Colonel Thornton what she knew of Senator Carew’s murder. But how the devil did he accomplish it?” questioned Brett. “The only door was locked on the inside, and no one could have entered by the windows. I examined all the wall space, thinking there might be a concealed entrance, but couldn’t find a sign of one.”
“But you did not examine the floor of the closet,” replied Thornton. “It has a trapdoor cleverly concealed. The passage leads to a secret door which opens on the landing of the circular staircase leading from this floor to the next. My idea is that Dana stole into the room, found the maid asleep, and blew out the gas, leaving her to be asphyxiated, and then returned to his room.”
“Did you see him do this?”—sternly.
“Most certainly not. If I had had the faintest idea that he intended to murder the maid, I would have prevented the crime. I stayed downstairs last night, going over some papers in Dana’s desk until nearly three this morning. I was stealing up to my room when I saw Miss Carew coming down the hall, and, when she screamed and roused the household, I bolted into the secret passage opening from the stair landing.”