took the 3:05 express this morning.  He said she had begged permission to stay in the waiting-room, but that at 2:30 A.M., when he went back to open the ticket office, she was nowhere to be found; and that later, he saw her coming down the railroad track.  She must have gone back to Elm Bluff after I passed her on the road, and effected an entrance through the window on the front piazza, as it was found open; and the awful work of robbery and murder was accomplished during the storm, which you know was so frightful that it drowned all minor sounds.  This morning when the General did not ring for his hot water at the usual time, it was supposed that he was sleeping late, but finally old Bedney knocked.  Unable to arouse his master, he opened the door, and found our old friend lying on the floor, near the fireplace.  He had been dead for hours, and close to his head was a heavy brass andiron, which evidently had been snatched from the hearth by the murderess, who must have dealt the fatal blow with it, as there was a dark spot on his temple, and also on the left side near the heart.  The room was in disorder, and two glass vases on the mantel were shivered, as though some missile had struck them—­probably a heavy ledger which was found on the floor.”

“How horrible!  But no woman could have overpowered a man like General Darrington.”

“Physically, his granddaughter was more than a match for him, especially since his last illness; and I assure you she looks like some daughter of the Vikings.  She certainly is a woman of grand proportions, and wonderfully symmetrical.”

“What is her age?”

“About eighteen, I should think; though her size and a certain majestic bearing might convey the impression that she was older.”

“How can you connect so dreadful a crime with a young and beautiful woman, of whom you know absolutely nothing?”

“My theory is, that she intended merely to get possession of the will, the contents of which had been made known to her—­and of the money, that she knew or surmised was kept in the vault.  When the effect of the chloroform wore off, and the General waked to find her at the vault; a struggle evidently took place, and in desperation at the thought of being detected, she killed him.  You do not understand all the bearings of even slight circumstances in a case like this, but we who make a study of such sad matters, know the significance of the disappearance of the will; the destruction of which could benefit only her mother and herself.  The vault was open; the gold, silver, some valuable jewelry, and the will are missing from the tin box.  All the other papers were left, even a package of bonds, amounting to thousands of dollars.  She seemed to know that the bonds might lead to detection, hence she did not take them.  On the floor, and in the bottom of the tin box were found two twenty-dollar gold pieces.  We are collecting all the evidence, and it constitutes a powerful array of proof.”