On the way, I came to the conclusion that it would do no harm to have a talk with Parmalee.

I had not much confidence in his detective ability, but he knew the people better than I did, and might be able to give me information of some sort.

After I reached the Sedgwick Arms I telephoned Parmalee to come over and dine with me, and he readily consented.

During dinner I told him all that I had learned from Elsa and Louis.  Of course I had no right to keep this knowledge to myself, and, too, I wanted Parmalee’s opinion on the situation as it stood at present.

“It doesn’t really surprise me,” he said, “for I thought all along, Miss Lloyd was not telling the truth.  I’m not yet ready to say that I think she killed her uncle, although I must say it seems extremely probable.  But if she didn’t commit the deed, she knows perfectly well who did.”

“Meaning Hall?”

“No, I don’t mean Hall.  In fact I don’t mean any one in particular.  I think Miss Lloyd was the instigator of the crime, and practically carried out its commission, but she may have had an assisting agent for the actual deed.”

“Oh, how you talk!  It quite gives me the shivers even to think of a beautiful young woman being capable of such thoughts or deeds.”

“But, you see, Burroughs, that’s because you are prejudiced in favor of Miss Lloyd.  Women are capable of crime as well as men, and sometimes they’re even more clever in the perpetration of it.  And you must admit if ever a woman were capable of crime, Miss Lloyd is of that type.”

“I have to agree to that, Parmalee,” I admitted; “she certainly shows great strength of character.”

“She shows more than that; she has indomitable will, unflinching courage, and lots of pluck.  If, for any reason, she made up her mind to kill a man, she’d find a way to do it.”

This talk made me cringe all over, but I couldn’t deny it, for so far as I knew Florence Lloyd, Parmalee’s words were quite true.

“All right,” I said, “I’ll grant her capability, but that doesn’t prove a thing.  I don’t believe that girl is guilty, and I hope to prove her innocence.”

“But look at the evidence, man!  She denied her presence in the room, yet we now know she was there.  She denied the ownership of the gold bag, yet probably she was also untruthful in that matter.  She is a woman of a complex nature, and though I admire her in many ways, I shouldn’t care to have much to do with her.”

“Let us leave out the personal note, Parmalee,” I said, for I was angry at his attitude toward Florence.

“All right.  Don’t you think for a moment that I don’t see where you stand with regard to the haughty beauty, but that’s neither here nor there.”

“Indeed it isn’t,” I returned; “and whatever may be my personal feeling toward Miss Lloyd, I can assure you it in no way influences my work on this case.”