He had resolved, however, that he would not tell her of his own connection with the message that lay on the table before them.

He needed time in which to consider; he must not add a pebble's weight to an avalanche that might go crashing down upon the innocent.

His training had made him wary of circumstantial evidence; after all it was possible that this was not the letter he had carried to Professor Kelton.

It would be very like Mrs.Owen, if she saw that anything could be gained by such a course, to go direct to Fitch and demand to know the source of the offer that had passed through his hands so mysteriously; but Fitch had not known the contents of the letter, or he had said as much to Harwood.

There was also the consideration, and not the lightest, that Dan was bound in honor to maintain the secrecy Fitch had imposed upon him.