“What is it?  Perhaps I can help you.  The old adage of two heads, you know—­”

“Yes.  It still holds good.  Well, the question I am trying to solve is why did she say:  ‘No alimony!’”

“’No alimony’?” repeated the colonel, puzzled.

“Yes.  Just that.  As you may have guessed, it’s a divorce case I have just finished, and so quietly that it hasn’t become public property yet.  When it does it will create a sensation.”

“No alimony, eh?  I suppose the lady—­there is a lady in it, of course?” questioned the colonel.

“Of course—­as is usual in a divorce case.  And there’s no reason you shouldn’t know.  It’s Mrs. Larch, wife of Langford Larch, the wealthy hotel owner.  She has just been granted, on my application before the vice chancellor, a separation from her husband, but she refused to accept alimony, and for the life of me, with all Larch’s wealth, I can’t see why.  That’s my problem, Colonel!”

CHAPTER XII

THE ODD COIN

Colonel Ashley fished for a time in silence, broken only by the gentle snores of Shag, farther back in the field, and by the murmur of the water.  The old colored man, wrapped in a warm coat, for it was not summer yet, seemed to be enjoying his siesta when, with a suddenness that was startling in that solitude, the military detective uttered a cry of: 

“I’ve got it!”

“What?” called Kenneth.  “The solution to my problem?”

“No!  My fish!” chuckled the colonel, as he skilfully played the luckless trout, now struggling to get loose from the hook.

And when the fish was landed, panting on the grass, and Shag had been roused from his slumber to slip the now limp fish into the creel, Colonel Ashley gave a sigh of relief and remarked: 

“I think I see it now.”

“The reason she asked no alimony?” inquired Kenneth.

“No.  I wasn’t thinking of that.  But I have been gathering up some loose ends, and I think I know where to tie them together.  However, don’t think I’m not interested in your case.  I’ve fished enough for to-day.  Not that, ordinarily, I’m satisfied with one, but I’m not working the rod now.  I am, as Shag calls it, ‘detectin’,’ and I just came out here to clarify my thoughts.  Having done that, I’m at your service, if I can help.”

“Well, I don’t know that you can.  As I said, the facts of the separation of the Larchs will soon be heralded all over the city, for the final papers were filed to-day, and the reporters will be sure to see them.  So there is no harm in my telling you about it.  It’s a plain and sordid story enough, with the exception of her refusal of alimony, and that I can’t understand.  Do you care to hear about it?”

“Certainly, my dear Kenneth.”

“It has no connection with the Darcy murder, and so I didn’t mention it to you before.”