“Father!”

He lifted his hand, a heavy weight it seemed, and motioned her away.  “The Colossus is ruined!” he hoarsely whispered.  “Ruined.  They’ll try to mix me up in it.  Ruined!”

“You can’t be mixed up in it, and the Colossus will not be ruined,” Henry replied.

“Yes, ruined.  You haven’t brought me anything but bad luck.”

“I have brought you the best luck of your life.  I have helped you to get rid of a vampire.”

“You have?” He turned his lusterless eyes upon Henry.

“Yes, I have, and if you will be patient for a few moments I will make it plain to you.  But wait, you must not think of going down-town to-night.  Will you listen to me?”

“Yes.”

“I was not the only one who suspected that Brooks had something to do with the murder.  Many people, in fact—­it seemed that almost everybody placed him under suspicion.  But there was no evidence against him; there was nothing but a strong supposition.  You remember one evening not long ago when Ellen said that he objected to the preacher’s coming to pray for Mrs. Colton.  This was enough to stamp him a brute.  Give that sort of a man the nerve and he won’t stop short of any cruelty or any crime.”

“Are you going to tell me something or do you simply intend to preach?” Witherspoon asked.  His voice had returned.

“Father, he’s telling you as fast as he can.”

“And I must tell it my own way,” Henry said.  “That same evening I learned the name of the doctor—­the great specialist employed by Brooks to treat the old lady.  But I inquired about him and found that he was simply a cheap quack.  This was additional cause for suspicion.  I called on a detective and told him that I suspected Brooks.  At this he smiled.  Then I said that if he would agree to give half the reward to any charity that I might name, in the event of success, I would submit my plan, and then he became serious.  I convinced him that I had not only a plausible but a direct clue, and he agreed to my proposal.  I then told him about the doctor; I expressed my belief that the old woman must know something and urged that this might be brought out if we could get her away and place her under the proper treatment.  Well, we learned that she had a sister living in New Jersey.  The detective went to see her, and you know the result—­the old lady’s removal.  Recently we received word that she was so much improved that she could mumble in a way to be understood, and last week the detective and I went to see her.  This was my apparently inconsistent business out of town.”

“But tell us what she said,” Witherspoon demanded.

“Her deposition is in the hands of the law.”  He said this with a sly pleasure—­Witherspoon had so often spoken of the law as if it were his agent.  “I can simply tell you,” Henry continued, “that she saw Brooks when he shot the old man.”

“But how can that be?  Brooks and his wife ran into the room at the same time.  They were together.”