CHAPTER III
THE GATHERING CLOUDS
Thus, it befell that Grant was not worried by officialdom until long
after his housekeeper and her daughter had recovered from the shock of
learning that they were, in a sense, connected at first hand with a
ghastly and sensational crime.
Like Bates and their employer, neither Mrs. Bates nor Minnie had heard or
seen anything overnight which suggested that a woman was being foully
done to death in the grounds attached to the house. As it happened,
Minnie's bedroom, as well as that occupied by her parents, overlooked the
lawn and river. Grant's room lay in a gable which commanded, the
entrance. He had chosen it purposely because it faced the rising sun. The
other members of the household, therefore, though in bed, had quite as
good an opportunity as he, working in the dining-room beneath, of having
their attention drawn to sounds disturbing the peace of the night in a
quiet and secluded spot. Moreover, none of them was asleep. Minnie Bates,
in particular, said that the "grandfather's clock" in the hall struck
twelve before she "could close an eye."
At last, just as Grant was rising from an almost untasted luncheon, Mrs.
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