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“I didn’t encourage Fraser–or try to discourage him. But I could see that it lay between Fraser and Irving.”

“And the rather strange circumstances of the death of Evans, as well as of the steward, occasioned a good deal of gossip, I suppose,” chimed in Kennedy.

“Yes. Somehow, people began to whisper that it was revenge or hate or jealousy that had prompted the blow,–that perhaps the steward, Benson, who was very popular with the young men, knew or had seen something that made him dangerous.

“Anyhow, gossip grew until it seemed that, in some way which no one has ever said definitely, a deliberate attempt was made on Irving Evans’s life, and finally the local authorities, rather glad to take up a scandal in the Club set, took action and arrested my Fraser–under a charge of homicide.”

She blurted the words out fiercely and defiantly, but it was all assumed. Underneath, one could see the woman fighting loyally with every weapon for her son, keenly alive to the disgrace that even the breath of scandal unrefuted might bring to his name.

“How about the other admirers?” asked Craig quickly.

“That’s another queer thing,” she replied eagerly. “You see, they have all suddenly become very busy and have made perfect alibis. But there was Allan Wyndham–he’s a friend of the Allisons,–why shouldn’t they suspect him? In fact, there was quite a group of young fellows closely associated with Dean Allison in speculation. Irving Evans was one. But,” she added, with a glance at Kennedy as if she realized that it was like catching at a straw, “with Fraser, of course,–there is that blow. We can’t deny that.”

“What does Miss Allison think?” queried Craig.

“Oh, I believe Anita is all broken up by the tragedy to her fiance. She was at the Club at the time–in the tea room. No one dared to tell her until Irving had been taken home. Then her brother, who was in the gymnasium when the thing happened and had been one of those to carry Irving into the locker-room, was naturally chosen by the rest, after they had done all they could to revive Irving, to break the news as gently as he could to his sister. She took it calmly. But I think it would have been better if she had given way to her real feelings. They say she has secluded herself in the Allison house and won’t see a soul.”

Kennedy’s brow puckered in thought.

“You can’t imagine what a terrible shock this thing has been to me,” pleaded Mrs. Ferris. “Oh, the horror of it all! You must come out to Briar Lake with me!”

There was, naturally, no doubt of the poignancy of her feelings as she looked from Kennedy to myself, imploringly. As for Craig, he did not need to betray the sympathy he felt not only for the young man who had been arrested and his mother, but for the poor girl whose life might be blasted by the tragedy and the unhappy victim who had been snatched away so suddenly almost on the very eve of happiness.

It was not half an hour later, that, with a very grateful mother, we were on our way out to Briar Lake in Mrs. Ferris’s touring car.

As we whirled along past the city limits, Kennedy leaned back on the cushions and for some minutes seemed absorbed in thought.

“Of course it is possible,” he remarked at length, noticing that both Mrs. Ferris and I were watching him nervously, “that Miss Allison may know something that will throw some light on the affair. But it may be of an entirely private nature. I don’t know how we’ll get her to talk, but we must–if she knows anything. I’d like to stop at the Allison house, first.”

“Very well,” agreed Mrs. Ferris, leaning forward and directing the chauffeur to turn off before we reached Briar Lake on the main road.

We sped along and I could not help feeling that the young man who was driving the car was quite as eager as anyone else to bring help to his young master.