For a long time the two men discussed the situation. But the more they talked the less they seemed able to form any plausible theory of the crime. At last Fessenden said, “There is one thing certain: if we are to believe Harris’s statement about the locks and bolts, no one could have entered from the outside.”

“No,” said Carleton; “and so we’re forced to turn our attention to someone inside the house. But each one in turn seems so utterly impossible. We cannot even suggest Mrs. Markham or Miss Morton⁠—”

“I don’t altogether like that Miss Morton. She acted queerly from the beginning.”

“Not exactly queerly; she is not a woman of good breeding or good taste, but she only arrived that afternoon, and it’s too absurd to picture her stabbing her hostess that night.”

“I don’t care how absurd it is; she profited by Miss Van Norman’s death, and she was certainly avid to come into her inheritance at once.”