“That’s so,” agreed Driscoll.  “Who went with you to the play, Mrs, Embury?”

“My aunt, Miss Ames; also a friend, Mrs, Desternay.  And, I understand you went yourself, Mr. Driscoll.  Why single out me for a suspect?”

The haughty face turned to him was quite severely critical.

“True, Mrs, Embury, why should I?  The answer is, motive.  You must admit that I had neither motive nor opportunity to kill your husband.  Mrs, Desternay, let us say, had neither opportunity nor motive.  Miss Ames had opportunity but no motive.  And so you, we must all admit, are the only human being who had both opportunity—­and motive.”

“I did not have motive!” Eunice flushed back.  “You talk nonsense!  I have had slight differences of opinion with my husband hundreds of time, but that is not a motive for murder!  I have a high temper, and at times I am unable to control it.  But that does not mean I am a murderess!”

“Not necessarily, but it gives a reason for suspecting you, since you are the only person who can reasonably be suspected.”

“But hold on, Driscoll, don’t go too fast,” said Mason Elliott; “there may be other people who had motives.  Remember Sanford Embury was a man of wide public interests outside of his family affairs.  Suppose you turn your attention to that sort of thing.”

“Gladly, Mr. Elliott; but when we’ve proved no outsider could get into Mr. Embury’s room, why look for outside motives?”

“It seems only fair, to my mind, that such motives should be looked into.  Now, for instance, Embury was candidate in a hotly contested coming election—­”

“That’s so,” cried Hendricks; “look for your murderer in some such connection as that.”

“Election to what? “growled Shane.

“President of the Metropolitan Athletic Club—­a big organization—­”

“H’m!  Who’s the opposing candidate?”

“I am,” replied Hendricks, quietly.

“You!  Well, Mr. Hendricks, where were you last night, when this man was killed?”

“In Boston.”  Hendricks did not smile, but he looked as if the question annoyed him.

“You can prove that?”

“Yes, of course.  I stayed at the Touraine, was with friends till well after midnight, and took the seven o’clock train this morning for New York, in company with the same men.  You can look up all that, at your leisure; but there is a point in what Mr. Elliott says.  I can’t think that any of the club members would be so keen over the election as to do away with one of the candidates, but there’s the situation.  Go to it.”

“It leaves something to be looked into, at any rate,” mused Shane.

“Why didn’t you think of it for yourself?” said Hendricks, rather scathingly.  “It seems to me a detective ought to look a little beyond his nose!”

“I can’t think we’ve got to, in this case,” Shane persisted; “but I’m willing to try.  Also, Mrs, Embury, I’ll ask you for the address of the lady who went with you to see that play.”