Still followed by Mr. Grimm, the chief entered the room, and together they bent over the wounded man.  The bullet had entered the torso just below the ribs on the left side.

“It’s a clean wound,” the physician was explaining.  “The bullet passed through.  There’s no immediate danger.”

Senor Alvarez opened his eyes, and stared about him in bewilderment; then alarm overspread his face, and he made spasmodic efforts to reach the inside breast pocket of his coat.  Mr. Grimm obligingly thrust his hand into the pocket and drew out its contents, the while Senor Alvarez struggled frantically.

“Just a moment,” Mr. Grimm advised quietly.  “I’m only going to let you see if it is here.  Is it?”

He held the papers, one by one, in front of the wounded man, and each time a shake of the head was his answer.  At the last Senor Alvarez closed his eyes again.

“What sort of paper was it?” inquired Mr. Grimm.

“None of your business,” came the curt answer.

“Who shot you?”

“None of your business.”

“A man?”

Senor Alvarez was silent.

“A woman?”

Still silence.

With some new idea Mr. Grimm turned away suddenly and started out into the hall.  He met a maid-servant at the door, coming in.  Her face was blanched, and she stuttered through sheer excitement.

“A lady, sir—­a lady—­” she began babblingly.

Mr. Grimm calmly closed the door, shutting in the wounded man, Chief Campbell and the others.  Then he caught the maid sharply by the arm and shook some coherence into her disordered brain.

“A lady—­she ran away, sir,” the girl went on, in blank surprise.

“What lady?” demanded Mr. Grimm coldly.  “Where did she run from?  Why did she run?” The maid stared at him with mouth agape.  “Begin at the beginning.”

“I was in that room, farther down the hall, sir,” the maid explained.  “The door was open.  I heard the shot, and it frightened me so—­I don’t know—­I was afraid to look out right away, sir.  Then, an instant later, a lady come running along the hall, sir—­that way,” and she indicated the rear of the house.  “Then I came to the door and looked out to see who it was, and what was the matter, sir.  I was standing there when a man—­a man came along after the lady, and banged the door in my face, sir.  The door had a spring lock, and I was so—­so frightened and excited I couldn’t open it right away, sir, and—­and when I did I came here to see what was the matter.”  She drew a deep breath and stopped.

“That all?” demanded Mr. Grimm.

“Yes, sir, except—­except the lady had a pistol in her hand, sir—­”

Mr. Grimm regarded her in silence for a moment.

“Who was the lady?” he asked at last.

“I forget her name, sir.  She was the lady who—­who fainted in the ball-room, sir, just a few minutes ago.”

Whatever emotion may have been aroused within Mr. Grimm it certainly found no expression in his face.  When he spoke again his voice was quite calm.