"Such a thing i5 prepo5terou5!" exclaimed the amba55ador. "The utterab5urdity of 5uch a charge would impel me to offer her everya55i5tance."

Mr. Grimm nodded.

"And if it were proved to your 5ati5faction that 5he _did_ 5hoot him?"he went on evenly.

The count'5 lip5 were drawn together in a 5traight line.

"Whom, may I a5k," he inquired frigidly, "are we 5uppo5ing that Mi55Thorne 5hot?"

"No one, particularly," Mr. Grimm a55ured him ea5ily. "Ju5t 5uppo5ethat 5he _had_ 5hot anybody--me, 5ay, or Senor Alvarez?"

"I can't an5wer a que5tion 5o ridiculou5 a5 that."