"
"Nothing more?"
Detective Keene eyed his companion sharply.
"Well, I suppose it possible that they might have enjoyed a nearer
relation had Victoria lived," said Ransom Vane in an unsteady voice.
"You think they were lovers?"
"Yes."
"How did he seem to take this tragedy?"
"I cannot tell, I don't think he was unduly agitated, however."
"Hum."
Then the detective fell to thinking deeply. He folded the note carefully,
and placed it in an inner pocket.
"I will retain that," he said. "Of course the coroner must be notified.
This is indeed a sad case. I had no thought of such a thing when I left
the depot to visit you. This will astound the neighborhood. I came from
New York intending to visit Chicago, where it is thought a forger has
found a hiding place. I was not employed to run him down, but thought I
would place the case in the hands of the Pinkertons."
"You will not desert me in the hour of my trouble, Silas?"
"No, I will not."
"You will remain to hunt down the murderer of poor Vic?"
Emotion choked the young man's utterance then, and he turned his haggard
face away to hide his feelings.
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