"What does it mean ?" Greig bounded out of his seat as if released by a spring.

He stood a moment as if to fling out a loud cry of exultation, but the serious expression on the faces of the others checked his ardor.

A shade of doubt flitted across his face, but vanished instantly and was succeeded by a look which seemed to imply a sudden clearness of vision.
"Yes, by George! it's as plain as daylight!" he burst forth.

"She's the one--I suspected her all the time! Now we have it--the motive and the explanation of her silence! Her brother a bankrupt, perhaps a defaulter.
A fugitive, too! Her money sunk, her husband's money lost! She knew she was the chief beneficiary of the will--don't you see what Whitmore's death meant to her?
We've deluded ourselves into the belief that it was to her interest to keep Whitmore alive.

What chumps we were." Britz's glance was alternating between the excited Greig and the impassive Manning, contrasting the riotous enthusiasm of the one with the quiet deliberation of the other.
"What do you think of it, chief ?" he asked.
"I think we ought to put it up to her good and strong," advised Manning.
"Threaten to lock her up if she doesn't explain." "She's a clever one, all right," pursued Greig.