I think it is almost unnecessary to add that
in the present case we know precisely who--"
At this point the tension was so great that it snapped. Miss La
Neige, who was sitting beside me, had been leaning forward
involuntarily. Almost as if the words were wrung from her she
whispered hoarsely: "They put me up to doing it; I didn't want
to. But the affair had gone too far. I couldn't see him lost
before my very eyes. I didn't want her to get him. The quickest
way out was to tell the whole story to Mr. Parker and stop it. It
was the only way I could think of to stop this thing between
another man's wife and the man I loved better than my own
husband. God knows, Professor Kennedy, that was all--"
"Calm yourself, madame," interrupted Kennedy soothingly. "Calm
yourself. What's done is done. The truth must come out. Be calm.
Now," he continued, after the first storm of remorse had spent
itself and we were all outwardly composed again, "we have said
nothing whatever of the most mysterious feature of the case, the
firing of the shot. The murderer could have thrust the weapon
into the pocket or the folds of this coat"--here he drew forth
the automobile coat and held it aloft, displaying the bullet
hole--"and he or she (I will not say which) could have discharged
the pistol unseen.
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