frightened you; took my lamp and investigated. I found him lying dead
on the floor of the rear room. He had been shot in the back of the
head through an open window."

"Merciful God! and the body still there."

"No, but its disappearance only adds to the mystery. I dared not
create an alarm at once, as we were in a strange house, and I had no
means of knowing where to find either Coombs or the housekeeper. Nor
did I venture to leave you alone unguarded. As soon as daylight came I
went in there again to convince myself the murder was not a dream. The
man's body lay there undisturbed. I turned him over, and examined the
wound. Then I went out and found Coombs, who sleeps in one of the
negro cabins. He sneered at my discovery, but finally accompanied me
back to the house. I could not have been absent to exceed thirty
minutes, and yet, when we opened the door of that rear room, the body
had disappeared--vanished completely. Not a thing remained to tell of
any tragedy."

"It had been dragged into some other room; hidden away in some closet.
The woman did it."

"That was my thought at first. As soon as I got free from Coombs I
searched this floor, every inch of it, and found nothing, not even so
much as a stain of blood. The dead man was heavily built, and Sallie
could never have lifted him alone. There were others--men--concerned
in the affair."

"And you saw none?"