greatly interested, of course, and had plenty to think of till I saw George again and learned the result of the latest investigations.     

       Miss Challoner had been shot, not stabbed. No other deduction was possible from such facts as were now known, though the physicians had not yet handed in their report, or even intimated what that report would be. No assailant could have approached or left her, without attracting the notice of some one, if not all of the persons seated at a table in the same room. She could only have been reached by a bullet sent from a point near the head of a small winding staircase connecting the mezzanine floor with a coat-room adjacent to the front door. This has already been insisted on, as you will remember, and if you will glance at the diagram which George hastily scrawled for me, you will see why.     

       A. B., as well as C. D., are half circular openings into the office lobby. E. F. are windows giving upon Broadway, and G. the party wall, necessarily unbroken by window, door or any other opening.     

       _____________________G.______      |         ===desk        |      |                        |      |    Where Miss C Fell-x o      |                        A o      |                         o E o      |     _____                   |      |    |_____|table             |      |                        o      |                           o      |                        B o      |                        o      | ________ H ________ |      |   ***          |       |      | **    **            |elevator    |      | **    staircase      | **   ** X.     |_________|_____C_________D____      |   ***      F Musician’s Gallery      |____ ______________ ________________ ______      |      |                   Dining Room Level With Lobby 

       It follows then that the only possible means of approach to this room lies through the archway H., or from the elevator door. But the elevator made no stop at the mezzanine on or near the time of the attack upon Miss Challoner; nor did any one leave the table or pass by it in either direction till after the alarm given by her fall.     

       But a bullet calls for no approach. A man at X. might raise and fire his pistol without attracting any attention to himself. The music, which all acknowledge was at its full climax at this moment, would drown the noise of the explosion, and the staircase, 

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