THE DIAMOND CROSS

Being a Somewhat Different Detective Story

by

CHESTER K. STEELE

Author of "The Mansion of Mystery, " etc. 

International Fiction LibraryCleveland New YorkPress OfThe Commercial Bookbinding Co. Cleveland

1918

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

 I. The Ticking Watch II. King's Dagger III. The Fisherman IV. Spotty V. Amy's Appeal VI. Grafton's Search VII. The Colonel is Surprised VIII. The Diamond Cross IX. Indicted X. The Death Watch XI. No Alimony XII. The Odd Coin XIII. Singa Phut XIV. The Hidden Wires XV. A Dog XVI. The Colonel Wonders XVII. "A Jolly Good Fellow" XVIII. Amy's Test XIX. Word From Spotty XX. In The Shadows XXI. Swirling Waters XXII. His Last Case

CHAPTER I

THE TICKING WATCH

There was only one sound which broke the intense stillness of thejewelry shop on that fateful April morning. That sound was the tickingof the watch in the hand of the dead woman. 

Outside, the rain was falling. Not a heavy downpour which splashedcheerfully on umbrellas and formed swollen streams in the gutters, whence they rushed toward the sewer basins, carrying with them anaccumulation of sticks, leaves and dirt. Not a windy, gusty rain, thatmade a man glad to get indoors near a genial fire, with his pipe and abook. 

It was a drizzle; a steady, persistent drizzle, which a half-heartedwind blew this way and that, as though neither element cared much forthe task in hand--that of thoroughly soaking the particular part of theuniverse in the neighborhood of Colchester and taking its own time inwhich to do it. 

Early in the unequal contest the sun had given up its effort to piercethrough the leaden clouds, and had taken its beams to other places--tobusy cities, to smiling country villages and farms. Above, around, below, on all sides, soaking through and through, drizzling it, soakingit, sprinkling it, half-hiding it in fog and mist, the rain envelopedColchester--a sodden, damp garment. 

Early paper boys slunk along the slippery streets, trying to protecttheir limp wares from becoming mere blotters. The gongs of the fewtrolley cars that were sent out to take the early toilers to theirtasks rang as though covered with a blanket of fog. The thud of thefeet of the milkmen's horses was muffled, and the rattle of bottlesseemed to come from afar off, as though over some misty lake. 

James Darcy, shivering as he arose, silently protesting, from his warmbed, pulled on his garments audibly grumbling, the grumble becoming avoiced protest as he shuffled in his slippers along the corridor abovethe jewelry shop and went down the private stairs into the mainsales-room. 

The electric light in front of the massive safe seemed to lear at himwith a bleared eye like that of a toper, who, having spent the night inconvivial company, found himself, most unaccountably, on his owndoorstep in the gray dawn. 

"Raining!" murmured James Darcy, as he reached over to switch on thelight above the little table where he set precious stones into gold andplatinum of rare and beautiful designs. "Raining and cold! I wish thesteam was on. "

The fog from outside seemed to have penetrated into the jewelry shop. It swirled about the gleaming showcases, reflected from the cut glass, danced away from the silver cups, broke into points of light from thetimes of forks, became broad splotches on the blades of knives, and, perchance, made its way through the cracks into the safe, where itbathed the diamonds, the rubies, the sapphires, the aqua marines, thepearls, the jades, and the bloodstones in a white mist. Thebloodstones--

Strange that James Darcy should have thought of them as he looked atthe rain outside, heard its drip, drip, drip on the windows, and sawthe fog and swirls of mist inside and without the store. Strangeand--

First, as he gazed at the prostrate body--the horrid red blotch like agay ribbon in the white hair--he thought the small, insistent soundwhich seemed to fill the room was the beating of her heart. Then, ashe listened, his ears attuned with fear, he knew it was the ticking ofthe watch in the hand of the dead woman. 

James Darcy rubbed his eyes, as though to clear them from the fog. Herubbed them again--he passed his hand before his face as if cobwebs haddrifted there--he touched his ears, which seemed not a part of himself. 

"Tick-tick! Tick-tick! Tick-tick!"

The sound seemed to grow louder. It was not her heart!

"Hello! Come here, somebody! Amelia! what's the matter? Sallie!Sallie Page! Wake up! Hello, somebody! She's dead! Killed! There'sbeen a murder! I must get the police!"

James Darcy started to cross the room to reach and fling open the frontdoor leading to the street, that he might call the alarm to others thanthe deaf cook, who had not yet come downstairs. Mrs. Darcy's maid hadgone away the previous evening, and was not expected in until noon. Itwas too early for any of the jewelry clerks to report. Yet Darcy felthe must have some one with him. 

To cross the store to reach the door meant stepping over the body--thegrotesquely twisted body, with the white, upturned face and the littlespot of red, near where the silver comb had fallen from the silveredhair. And so Darcy changed his mind--he ran to the side door, fumbledwith the lock, flung back the portal, and then rushed out in the rainand drizzle, the fog streaming after mm as he parted the mist likelong, white streamers of ribbon, such as they suspend at the door forthe very young or the aged. 

"Hello! Hello!" shouted Darcy into the silent rain and mist of theearly morning street, now deserted save for himself. 

The glistening asphalt, the gleaming trolley rails, the dark and dampbuildings seemed to echo back his words. 

"Hello! Hello!"

"Police!" voiced James Darcy. "There's been a murder!"

"A murder!" echoed the mist. 

There was silence after this, and Darcy looked up and down the street. Not a person--not a vehicle--was in sight. No one looked from thestores or houses on either side or across from the jewelry shop. 

Then a rattling milk wagon swung around the corner. It was followed byanother. 

"Hello! Hello! there--you!" called Darcy hoarsely. 

"What's the matter?" asked the first man, as he swung down from hisvehicle with a wire carrier filled with bottles in his hand. 

"Somebody's been hurt--killed--a relative of mine! I want to tell thepolice. It's in that jewelry store, " and he pointed back toward it, for he had run down the street a little way. 

"Oh, I see! Darcy's! She's killed you say?"

"I'm afraid so. "

"Accident?"

"I don't know. Looks to me more like murder!"

The milkman whistled, set his collection of bottles back in his wagon, and hurried with Darcy toward the store. The other man, bringing hisrattling vehicle to a stop, followed. 

"Where is she?" whispered Casey, as soon as he reached the side of hisbusiness rival, Tremlain. 

"On the floor--right in the middle--between the showcases, " answeredDarcy, and he, too, whispered. It seemed the right thing to do. "There--see her!"

He pointed a trembling finger. 

"Lord! Her head's smashed!" exclaimed Casey. "Look at the blood!"

"I--I don't want to look at it, " murmured Darcy, faintly. 

"Hark!" cautioned Tremlain. "What's that noise?"

They all listened--they all heard it. 

"It's a watch ticking, " answered Darcy. "First I thought it was herheart beating--it sounded so. But it's only a watch. "

"Maybe so, " assented Casey. "We'd better make sure before we telephonefor the police. She may only have fallen and cut her head. "

"You--you go and see, " suggested Tremlain. "I--I don't like to go nearher--I never could bear the sight of dead folks--not even my ownfather. You look!"

Casey hesitated a moment, and then stepped closer to the body. Heleaned over it and put the backs of his hard fingers on the white, wrinkled and shrunken cheeks. They were cold and wax-like to his touch. 

"She's dead, " he whispered softly. "Better get the police right away. "

"Murdered?" asked Tremlain, who had remained beside Darcy near theshowcase where the silver gleamed. 

"I don't know. Her head's cut bad, though there's not so much blood asI thought at first. We mustn't touch the body--that's the law. Got toleave it until the coroner sees it. Where's the telephone?"

"Right back here, " answered Darcy eagerly. "Police headquarters numberis--"

"I know it, " interrupted Casey. "I had to call 'em up once when I hada horse stole. I'll get 'em. What's that watch ticking?" he asked, pausing. "Oh, it's in her hand!" and the other two looked and saw, clasped close in the palm of the woman lying huddled on the floor, awatch of uncommon design. It was ticking loudly. 

"What makes it sound so plain?" asked Tremlain. 

"Cause it's so quiet in here, " answered Casey. "It'll be noisy enoughlater on, though! But it's so quiet--that's what makes the ticking ofthe watch sound so plain. "

"It is quiet, " observed Tremlain. "But in a jewelry store there'salways a lot of clocks making a noise and--Say!" he suddenly cried, "there's not a clock in this place ticking--notice that? Not a clockticking! They've all stopped!"

"You're right!" exclaimed Casey. "The watch is the only thing going inthe whole place!"

The milkmen looked quickly at Darcy. 

"Yes, the clocks have all stopped, " he said, wetting his lips with histongue. "I didn't notice it before, though I did hear the watch in herhand ticking--I thought it was her heart beating--I guess I said thatbefore--I don't know what I am saying. This has upset me frightfully. "

"I should think it would, " agreed Casey. "Funny thing about the clocksall stopping, though. S'pose they all ran down at once?"

"They couldn't, " Darcy answered, "I wound the regulator onlyyesterday, " and he pointed to the tall timepiece in the showwindow--the solemn-ticking clock by which many passersby set theirwatches. "The other clocks--"

"And they've all stopped at different times!" added Tremlain. "That'sfunny, too. "

If anything could be funny in that place of death, this fact might be. And it was a fact. Of the many clocks in the store not one wasticking, and all pointed to different hours. The big regulatorindicated 10:22; a chronometer in a showcase was five hours and someminutes ahead of that. The clock over Darcy's work table noted thehour of 7:56. Some cheaper clocks, alarms among them, on the shelves, which were usually going, showed various hours. 

They had all stopped. Only the watch in the dead woman's hand wasticking, and that showed approximately the right time--a little aftersix o'clock. 

"Well, we've got to get the police, " said Casey. "Then I've got totravel on--customers waiting for me. "

"You--you won't leave me here alone--will you?" asked Darcy. 

"Isn't there any one else in the house?" asked Tremlain, for theliving-rooms were above the jewelry store--a substantial brown stonebuilding of the style of three decades ago. 

"Only Sallie Page, the cook. She's deaf, and she'll be more of anuisance than a help. Mrs. Darcy's maid won't be in until noon. Idon't want to be left--"

"Oh, you won't be alone long, " observed Casey. "The police will behere as soon as we send 'em word. And here's a crowd outside already. "

There was one--made up of men and boys with, here and there, a factorygirl on her way to work. They had seen the two milk wagons in front ofthe jewelry store--the store which, though most of the more valuablepieces were in the safe--still showed in the gleaming windows much thatcaught the eye of the passerby. Some one sensed the unusual. Some onestopped--then another. Some one had caught sight, on peering into thestore, of the prostrate figure with that blotch of red in the whitehair. 

The crowd, increasing each minute, pressed against the still lockedfront doors. Those in the van flattened their noses against the glassin grotesque fashion. 

"Hurry and get the police!" begged Darcy. 

Casey was about to telephone, when Tremlain, who had gone out into thealley from the side door, hurried back to report:

"Here comes a cop now. Saw the crowd I guess. We can just tell himwhat we saw, Casey, and then slide along. I'm late as it is. "

"So'm I!"

The policeman, his heavy-soled shoes creaking importantly, came alongthe street, hurrying not in the least. He knew whatever it was wouldkeep for him. 

"What's the row?" demanded Patrolman Mulligan. 

"Looks like the old lady was murdered, " Casey answered. "I was justgoing to telephone to headquarters. " He told briefly what he knew, which was corroborated by Tremlain, then the two left to cover theirroutes, after giving their addresses to the policeman. 

The crowd grew larger. From outside it looked like a convention ofumbrellas. The rain still drizzled and turned to steam and mist as itwarmed on the many bodies in the throng--a mist that mingled with thatof the rain itself. In spite of the storm, the crowd grew andremained. Those who might be late at bench, lathe or loom unheeded thepassing of time. It was not every day they could be so close to amurder. 

The crowd filled the entire space in front of the jewelry store. Thebolder spirits rattled the knob of the locked portals, and tapped onthe glass that was now misty and grimy from hands and noses pressedagainst it. The crowd began to surge into the alley, whence a sidedoor gave entrance into Mrs. Darcy's place. Some even ventured topress into the store itself--the store where the silent figure layhuddled between the showcases. 

"Now then slide out of here--take a walk!" advised Mulligan, as heshoved out some of the men and boys who had entered. "Get out! Youcan read all about it in the papers. The reporters'll be here soonenough, " he added with a wink at Darcy. "I'll lock the door and keepthe crowd out. The sleuths can knock when they get here. Where's your'phone. I'll have to report to the station. "

Darcy pointed to the telephone, and the policeman, showing no more thana passing interest in the body, at which he glanced casually as hepassed, called up his precinct and reported, being told to remain onguard until relieved. 

"How'd it happen?" he asked, as he came back from the instrument andleaned against a showcase containing much glittering silver. "Who didit--when--how?"

"I haven't the least idea, " replied Darcy, turning away so as not tosee the faces now pressed against both the front and side doors, eachbeing locked from the inside. "I found her just as she is now, andcalled in the milkmen, who happened to be passing. I had come down tothe store early to do a little repair job, and the first thing I sawwas--her!"

"What time did it happen?"

"I don't even know that. All the clocks have stopped. I don't usuallywind the watches that are left for repair, unless I'm regulating them, and I haven't any like that in now. The only thing going is that onewatch. 

"What one watch? I do hear something ticking, " and the policemanlooked at Darcy. "What watch?"

"The one--in her hand. "

"Oh, I see! Hum! Well, we'll leave that for the county physician. He'll be here pretty soon I guess. They'll notify him from theprecinct. Now how about last night--was there any row--any noise? Didyou hear anything?"

"I didn't hear anything--much. There's always a lot of noise aroundhere until after midnight--theaters and moving picture places let outabout 11:30. I awoke once in the night. But I guess that doesn'tmatter. "

"Anybody else in the house besides you?" and the policeman yawned--forhe had gone out on dog-watch--and looked into the wet, shiny, drizzle-swept street. 

"Only Sallie Page, the cook. I'll call her. There's Mrs. Darcy'smaid--Jane Metson. But she went away yesterday afternoon and won't beback until about noon. It's past time Sallie was down to getbreakfast. I'll call her--"

Darcy made a move as though to go to the rear of the store, whence aside door gave entrance to the stairs leading to the rooms above. 

"I'll go with you, " said Mulligan, and he shoved himself to an erectposture by forcing his elbows against the showcase on which he had beenleaning in a manner to give himself as much rest as possible withoutsitting down--it was a way he had, acquired from long patrolling ofcity streets. 

"You--you'll go with me?" faltered Darcy. 

"Yes, to call the cook. _She_ won't run away, " and he nodded towardthe dead woman. 

"Oh!" There was a world of meaning in Darcy's interjection. "You meanthat I--"

"I don't mean nothin'!" broke in Mulligan. "I leave that to thegum-shoe men. Come on, if you want to call what's-her-name!"

It took some little time, by calling and pounding outside her door, toarouse deaf Sallie Page, and longer to make her understand that she waswanted. Then, just as Darcy had expected, she began to cry and moanwhen she heard her mistress was dead, and refused to come from herroom. She had served the owner of the jewelry store for more than ascore of years. 

"Hark!" exclaimed Mulligan, as he and Darcy came downstairs afterhaving roused Sallie Page. "What's that?"

"Some one is knocking, " remarked his companion. 

"Maybe it's the men from headquarters. "

It was--Carroll and Thong, who always teamed it when there was a caseof sufficient importance, as this seemed to be. They were insistentlyknocking at the side door, having forced their way through the crowdthat was still there--larger than ever, maintaining positions in spiteof the dripping, driving, drizzling rain. 

"Killed, eh?" murmured Carroll, as he bent over the body. 

"Gun?" asked Thong, who was making a quick visual inventory of theinterior of the place. 

"No; doesn't seem so. Looks more like her head's been busted in. Hitwith something. Doc Warren can 'tend to that end of it. Now let's getdown to business. Who found her this way?"

"I did, " answered Darcy. 

"And who are you?"

"Her second cousin. Her name was Mrs. Amelia Darcy, and her husbandand my father were first cousins. I have worked for her about sevenyears--ever since just after her husband died. She continued hisbusiness. It's one of the oldest in the city and--"

"Yes, I know all about that. Robbery here once--before your time. Wegot back some of the stuff for the old lady. She treated us prettydecent, too. When'd you find her like this?"

"About half an hour ago. I got up a little before six o'clock to dosome repair work on a man's watch. He wanted to get the early trainout of town. "

"I see! And you found the old lady like this?" asked Carroll. 

"Just like this--yes. Then I called in the milkmen--"

"I saw them, " interrupted Mulligan. "I know 'em. They're all right, so I let 'em go. We can get 'em after they finish their routes. "

"Um, " assented Thong. "Anything gone from the store?" he asked Darcy. 

"I haven't looked. "

"Better take a look around. It's probably a robbery. You know thestock, don't you?"

"As well as she did herself. I've been doing the buying lately. "

"Well, have a look. Who's that at the door?" he asked sharply, for aknock as of authority sounded--different from the aimless and impatientkickings and tappings of the wet throng outside. 

"It's Daley from the Times, " reported Mulligan, peering out. "He's allright. Shall I let him in?"

"Oh, yes, I guess so, " assented Carroll, with a glance at Thong, whoconfirmed, by a nod of his head, what his partner said. "He'll give uswhat's right. Let him in. "

The reporter entered, nodded to the detectives, gave a short glance atthe body, a longer one at Darcy, poked Mulligan in the ribs, lighted acigarette, which he let hang from one lip where it gyrated in eccentriccircles as he mumbled:

"What's the dope?"

"Don't know yet, " answered Carroll. "The old lady's dead--murdered itlooks like--and--"

"What's that?" interrupted Thong. "What's that ticking sound?"

"It's the watch--in her hand, " replied Darcy, and his voice was ahoarse whisper. 

CHAPTER II

KING'S DAGGER

Carroll and Thong, proceeding along the lines they usually followed incases like this, keeping to the rules which had come to them throughthe instructions of superior officers, and some which they had workedout for themselves, had, in a comparatively short time, ascertained thename, age and somewhat of the personal history of Mrs. Amelia Darcy, together with that of her cousin, as the detectives called him, thoughthe relationship was not as close as that. 

Mrs. Darcy, who was sixty-five years of age, had carried on the jewelrybusiness of her husband, Mortimer Darcy, after his death, whichpreceded her more tragic one by about seven years. Mortimer Darcy hadbeen a diamond salesman for a large New York house in his younger days, and had come to be an expert in precious stones. Many good wishes, andnot a little trade, had gone to him from his former employers, and someof their customers bought of him when he went into business for himselfin the thriving city of Colchester. 

Knowing that to start anew in a strange town would mean uphill work forhim and his wife, Mortimer Darcy had awaited an opportunity to buy thebusiness of a man whom he had known for a number of years and to whomhe had sold many diamonds and other stones. This man--Harrison VanDoren by name--had what was termed the best jewelry trade inColchester. The "old" families--not that any of them could trace theirancestry back very far--liked to say that "we get all our stuff at VanDoren's. "

This name, on little white plush-lined boxes, containing pins orsparkling rings, came to mean almost as much as some of the moreexpensive names in New York. Young ladies counted it a point in thefavor of their lovers if the engagement circlet came from Van Doren's. And Mortimer Darcy, knowing the value of that class of trade, had, whenhe purchased Mr. Van Doren's business fostered that spirit. Mrs. Darcy, on the death of her husband, had further catered to it, so thatthe Darcy establishment, though it was not the richest or most showy inColchester, was safely counted the most exclusive--that is, it had afull line of the best goods, be it clocks or diamonds, and it had what, in bygone days, was called a "carriage trade, " but which is nowreferred to as "automobile. "

That is to say, those, aside from a casual trade with people whodropped in as they might have done to a grocery, to get what theyreally needed in the way of jewelry, came in gasolene or electric carswhere their ancestors had come with horses and carriage. 

So Darcy's jewelry store was known, and though a bit old-fashioned in away, was favorably known, not only to the older members of the richfamilies of the place, but to the younger set as well. The prettygirls and their well-groomed companions of the "Assembly Ball" setliked to stop in there for their rings, brooches, scarf pins or cufflinks, and very frequent were the rather languid orders:

"You may send it, charge. "

It was to that class of trade that Mrs. Darcy catered. She understoodit, and it understood her. That was enough. She took a personalinterest in the business to the extent of being in the store almostevery day, as her husband had been before her, to advise and beavailable for consultation, whether it was the buying of a goldteething ring for the newest member of the family, an engagement ringfor the latest debutante, a watch for "son, " attaining his majority, orperhaps new gold glasses for grandpapa or grandmama. 

The store was not a large one, and four clerks, one a young woman, withJames Darcy and an assistant, who looked after the repair work and madeanything unusual in the way of pins or rings, constituted the force. But Mrs. Darcy was as good as a clerk herself, and during the holidayrush she was in the store night and day. This was the easier for her, since she owned the building in which her display was kept, and livedin a quiet and tastefully furnished apartment over the store. 

On the death of her husband, she had sent for his second cousin, who atthat time was in the employ of a well-known New York jewelry house, andhe agreed to come to her. 

Rather more than a repair man and clerk was James Darcy. He was anexpert jewelry designer and a setter of precious stones; and often, when some fastidious customer did not seem to care for what was shownfrom the glittering trays in the showcases, Mrs. Darcy or one of herclerks would say:

"We will have Mr. Darcy design something different for you. "

"That's what I want, " the customer would say--"somethingdifferent--something you don't see everywhere. "

And so the Darcy trade had grown and prospered. 

"Well, let's hear what you have to say, " said Carroll, after JamesDarcy had given what the detectives considered was, for the time, asufficient history of himself and his relative, and had hastily goneover such of the stock as was kept outside the safe. The latter hadnot been forced open--it did not take long to ascertain that. "Isanything gone?"

"I can't say for sure, " answered the young man--he was this side ofthirty. His long, artistic fingers were trembling, and he felt weakand faint. "But if there has been a robbery they didn't get much. Thesafe hasn't been opened, and the best of the goods--all the diamondsand other stones--are in that. Nothing seems to be gone from thecases, though I'd have to make a better search, and go over theinventory, to make certain. "

"Well, let that go for the time. How'd you find things when you camedownstairs? What happened during the night? Any of the doors orwindows forced?" and the detective fairly shot these questions at Darcy, "I think not. The front door was locked, just as it is now. I wentout the side one. That was locked with the spring catch from theinside. "

"Wasn't it bolted?" came sharply from Thong. 

"I didn't notice about that. You see, I was all excited like--"

"Yes, " assented Thong. 

"There's a bolt on the door!" Carroll snapped. 

"Yes, but Mrs. Darcy may have slipped it back herself. She was downfirst, though why, I can't say. She seldom came down ahead of me, especially of late years. I generally opened the store. The clerksreport at eighty-thirty--there's some of 'em now. "

More knockings had sounded on the front door, and the faces of twoyoung men peered in through the misty glass, the crowd having made alane for them on learning that they worked in the place of death. 

"Let 'em in, sure!" assented Thong. "We got to talk to all of 'em!Let 'em in!"

Darcy did so, Mulligan helping him keep back the crowd of curious ones. 

"Here comes Miss Brill, " said one of the men clerks to Darcy. "What'sthe matter? Is Mrs. Darcy--?"

"Dead! Killed, I'm afraid! The store won't open to-day, but thepolice want to see every one. Oh, Miss Brill, come in!" and he heldout his hand to the one young woman clerk, who drew back in horrifiedfright as she saw the silent figure on the floor. 

"Oh--Oh!" she gasped, and then she went into hysterics, adding to theexcitement and giving Mulligan a bad five minutes while he fought tokeep the crowd from surging in. 

But when Miss Brill had been carried to a rear room and quieted, andwhen the shades had been drawn to keep the curious ones from peeringin, the questioning of Darcy was resumed. 

"Did you come directly down to the store from your room?" asked Thong. 

"Yes. As soon as I awakened. "

"Where is your room?"

"In the rear, on the second floor--the one next above. Mrs. Darcy hasher rooms in front. Then come those of her maid, Jane Metson. SalliePage sleeps on the top floor where the janitor's family lives, and he, of course, sleeps up there also. "

"I see, " murmured Carroll. "Then you came downstairs and found Mrs. Darcy lying here--dead?"

"I wasn't sure she was dead--"

"Oh, she was _dead_ all right, " broke in Thong. "No question aboutthat. Did you hear anything?"

"Only the watch ticking in her hand. First I thought it was her heartbeating. "

"No, I mean did you hear anything in the night?" went on the detective. "Any queer noise? It's mighty funny if there was murder done and norobbery. But of course she might have heard a noise if you didn't, andshe might have come down to find out what it was about. She might havecaught a burglar at work, and he may have killed her to get away. Butif it was a burglar it's funny you didn't hear any noise--like a fall, or something. How about that, Mr. Darcy?"

"Well, no. I didn't exactly hear anything. I went to bed about halfpast ten, after working at my table down here awhile. "

"Was Mrs. Darcy in bed then?" Thong asked. 

"I couldn't say. She had gone to her apartment, but I don't have topass near that to get to my room. I came straight up and went to bed. "

"At ten o'clock, you say?"

"A little after. It may have been a quarter to eleven. "

"And you didn't hear anything all night?" Carroll shot this questionat Darcy suddenly. 

"No--no--not exactly, I did hear _something_--it wasn't exactly anoise--and yet it was a noise. "

"What kind of talk is that?" demanded Thong roughly. "Either it was anoise or it wasn't! Now which was it?"

"Well, if you call a clock striking a noise, then it was one. "

"Oh, a clock struck!" and Thong settled back in his chair more at hisease. His manner seemed to indicate that he was on the track ofsomething. 

"Yes, a clock struck. It was either three or four, I can't be surewhich, " Darcy replied. "You know when you awaken in the night, andhear the strokes, you can't be sure you haven't missed some of thefirst ones. I heard three, anyhow, I'm sure of that. "

"Well, put it down as three, " suggested Thong. "Was it the striking ofthe clock that awakened you?"

"No, not exactly. It was more as if some one had been in my room. "

"Some one in your room!" exclaimed both detectives. They werequestioning Darcy in the living-room of Mrs. Darcy's suite, the clerksbeing detained downstairs by Mulligan. The county physician, who wasalso the coroner, had not yet arrived. 

"Yes, at first I thought some one had been in my room, and then, afterI thought about it, I wasn't quite sure. All I know is I slept quitesoundly--sounder than usual in fact, and, all at once, I heard a clockstrike. "

"Three or four, " murmured Thong. 

"Yes; three anyhow--maybe four. Something awakened me suddenly; butwhat, I can't say. I remember, at the time, it felt as thoughsomething had passed over my face. "

"Like a hand?" suggested Carroll. 

"Well, I couldn't be sure. It may have been I dreamed it. "

"But what did it _feel_ like?" insisted Thong. 

"Well, like a cloth brushing my face more than like a hand--or it mayhave been a hand with a glove on it. Yes, it may have been that. ThenI tried to arouse myself, but I heard the wind blowing and a sprinkleof rain, and, as my window was open, I thought the curtain might haveblown across my face. That would account for it I reasoned, so--"

"Yes, it _may_ have been the curtain, " said Thong, slowly. "But whatdid you do?"

"Nothing. I lay still a little while, and then I went to sleep again. I was only awake maybe two or three minutes. "

"You didn't call Mrs. Darcy?"

"No. "

"Nor the servant--what's her name? Sallie?"

"No. There wasn't any use in that. She's deaf. "

"And you didn't call the janitor?"

"No. I wasn't very wide awake, and I didn't really attach anyimportance to it until after I saw her--dead. "

"Um! Yes, " murmured Carroll. "Well, then you went to sleep again. What did you do next?"

"I awakened with a sudden start just before six o'clock. I had not setan alarm, though I wanted to get up early to do a little repair job Ihad promised for early this morning. But I have gotten so in the habitof rousing at almost any hour I mentally set for myself the nightbefore, that I don't need an alarm clock. I had fixed my mind on thefact that I wanted to get up at five-thirty, and I think it was just aquarter to six when I got up. I was anxious to finish the repair jobfor a man who was to leave on an early train this morning. He may bein any time now, and I haven't it ready for him. "

"What sort of a repair job?" asked Carroll. 

"On a watch. "

"Where's the watch now?" and the detective flicked the ashes from acigar the reporter had given him. Daley was down in the jewelry store, interviewing the clerks while Darcy was on the grill up above. 

"The watch, " murmured Darcy. "It--it's in her hand, " and he nodded inthe direction of the silent figure downstairs. 

"The watch that is still ticking?"

"Yes, but the funny part of it is that the watch wasn't going lastnight, when I planned to start work on it. I forget just why I didn'tdo it, " and Darcy seemed a bit confused, a point not lost sight of byCarroll. "I guess it must have been because I couldn't see well withthe electric light on my work table, " went on the jewelry worker. "I've got to get that fixed. Anyhow I didn't do anything to theIndian's watch more than look at it, and I made up my mind to riseearly and hurry it through. So I didn't even wind it. I can'tunderstand what makes it go, unless some one got in and wound it--andthey wouldn't do that. "

"Whose watch is it?" asked Thong. 

"It belongs to Singa Phut. "

"Singa Phut!" ejaculated Carroll. "Crimps, what a name! Who belongsto it?"

"Singa Phut is an East Indian, " explained Darcy. "He has a curio storedown on Water Street. We have bought some odd things from him for ourcustomers, queer bead necklaces and the like. He left the watch withmy cousin, who told me to repair it. It needed a new case-spring andsome of the screws were loose. "

"How did Mrs. Darcy come to have the watch in her hand?" Carrolldemanded. 

"That I couldn't say. "

"What sort of a man is this Indian--Singa--Singa--" began Thong, hesitatingly. 

"Singa Phut is a quiet, studious Indian, " answered Darcy. "He has notlived here very long, but I knew him in New York. He has done businesswith me for some years. "

"Is he all right--safe--not one of them gars--you know, the fellowsthat use a silk cord to strangle you with?" asked Thong, who had someimagination regarding garroters. 

"Not at all like that, " said Darcy, and there was the trace of a smileon his face. "He is a gentleman. "

"Oh, " said Carroll and Thong in unison. 

There came another knock on the side door downstairs. There was lessof a crowd about now, and Mulligan did not have to keep back a rush ashe opened the portal. 

"Dr. Warren, " reported the policeman, calling upstairs to Carroll andThong. 

"The county physician, " explained Carroll. "Better come down and meethim, Mr. Darcy. He'll want to ask you some questions. Then we'll haveanother go at you. Got to ask a lot of questions in a case like this, "he half apologized. 

"Oh, sure, " assented the jewelry worker. 

"Doc Warren, eh, " mused Thong to his partner, as Darcy preceded themdownstairs. "Now we'll know what killed her, and we'll have somethingto start on--maybe. "

"I think we've got something already, " observed Carroll. 

"Oh, yes--maybe--and then--again--maybe _not_. Come on!"

"Morning boys! Nice crisp day--if you say it quick!" cried the countyphysician, as he shook the rain from his coat and tossed his autogloves on a shiny glass showcase. "Second time this week you've got meout of bed before my time. What's the matter, if they've got to have amurder, with doing it in the afternoon? I like my sleep!"

He was smiling and cheerful, was Dr. Warren. Murders and autopsieswere all in the day's work with him. He had been county physician fora number of years. 

"Hum, yes! quite an old lady, " he mused as he took off his coat, whichCarroll held for him. The doctor rolled up his shirt sleeves andstooped down. "Head's badly cut--let's see what we have here. Let'shave a light, it's too dark to see. "

One of the clerks switched on more electric lights, and they glintedand sparkled on the silver and cut glass. They flashed on the white, still face, and the gleams seemed to be swallowed up in that red blotchin the snowy hair. 

"Um, yes! Depressed fracture. Bad place, too. Shouldn't wonder butwhat it had done the trick. Might have been from a black-jack?" and heglanced questioningly at the detectives. 

Carroll shook his head in negation. 

"That'll crack a skull, but it won't draw blood--not if it's usedright, " and he brought from his hip pocket one of the weapons inquestion--a short, stout flexible reed, covered with leather, the endforming a pocket in which was a chunk of lead. 

"I'll gamble it wasn't one of _them_, " said Carroll. 

"Maybe not, " assented the doctor. "Let's look a bit further. "

He glanced at the floor about the body, peered around the edge of ashowcase, underneath which there was a space for refuse--odds and ends, discarded wrapping paper and the like--a place into which neither ofthe detectives had, as yet, glanced. Dr. Warren uttered anexclamation, and drew out a metal statue, about two feet high. 

It was that of a hunter, standing as though he had just delivered ashot, and was peering to see the effect. The butt of his gun projectedbehind him, and as Dr. Warren moved the statue into the light of thejewelry store chandeliers, they all saw, clinging to the stock of thegun, some straggling, white hairs. 

"That's what did it!" exclaimed the county physician. "I'll wager, when I try, I can fit that gun butt into the depression of thefracture. The burglar--or whoever it was--swung this statue as a club. It would make a deadly one, using the foot end for a handle, " and Dr. Warren waved the ornament in the air over the dead woman's head toillustrate what he meant. 

"Don't!" muttered Darcy in a strained voice. 

"Don't what?" asked the physician sharply. 

"Use the statue that way. "

"Why not?"

"Well--er--I--we were going to buy it for our new home. But now--Oh, I never want to see it in the house! I couldn't bear to look atit--nor could she!"

"She? We? What do you mean?" asked Carroll quickly. "Say, do youknow something about this killing that you're keeping back from us?"

He took a step nearer Darcy--a threatening step it would seem, from thefact that the jewelry worker drew back as if in alarm. 

"No, I don't know anything, " said Darcy in a low voice. 

"Then what's this talk about the statue--not wanting it in thehouse--_whose_ house?"

"The house I hope to live in with my wife--Miss Amy Mason, " answeredDarcy, and he spoke in calm contrast to his former excitement, "We aregoing to be married in the fall, " he went on. "I had asked Mrs. Darcyto set that statue aside for me. Miss Mason admired it, and I plannedto buy it. We had the place all picked out where it would stand. But--now--"

He did not finish, but a shudder seemed to shake his frame. 

"It would be a rather grewsome object to have around after it hadkilled the old lady, " murmured the reporter. "But are you sure it did, Doc?"

"Pretty sure, yes. I never make a statement, though, until after theautopsy. No telling what that may develop. I'll get at it right away. I guess you remember that Murray case, " he went on, to no one inparticular. "There they all thought the man was murdered, when, as amatter of fact he had been taken with a heart spell, fell downstairs, and a knife he had in his hand pierced his heart. "

"That wasn't your case, Doc, " observed Carroll. 

"No, it was before my time. But I remember it. That's why I'm sayingnothing until I've made an examination. Better 'phone the morguekeeper, " he went on, "and have them come for the body. "

"Have you--have you got to take her away?" faltered Darcy. 

"Yes. I'm sorry, but it wouldn't do--here, " and the doctor motioned tothe glittering array of cut glass and plate. "You won't keep the storeopen?" he inquired. 

"No. I'll put a notice in the door now, " and Darcy wrote out one whicha clerk affixed to the front door for him. 

"Well, that's all I can do now, " Dr. Warren said, after his veryperfunctory examination. "The rest will have to be at the morgue. Gota place where I can wash my hands?" he asked. 

Darcy indicated a little closet near his work bench. Dr. Warren soonresumed his coat, accepted a cigarette from Daley, slipped into hisstill damp rain-garment and was soon throbbing down the street in hisautomobile, having announced that he was going to breakfast and wouldperform the autopsy immediately afterward. 

Soon a black wagon rattled up to the jewelry store, bringing freshacquisitions to the crowd, which persisted in staying in spite of therain, which had now changed from a drizzle to a more pronounceddownpour. 

More reporters came, and Daley fraternized with them, the newspaper menaside from the police and Jim Holiday, a detective from ProsecutorBardon's office, being the only people admitted to the shop, when theclerks had been sent home. 

The morgue keeper's men lifted the fast stiffening body and were aboutto place it in the wicker carrier when Carroll, who was watching themrather idly, uttered an exclamation. 

"What's up?" asked Thong quickly. He had been strolling about theshop, and had come to a stop near Darcy's work table--a sort of benchagainst the wall, and behind one of the showcases. The bench wasfitted with a lathe, and on it were parts of watches, like the deadspecimens preserved in alcohol in a doctor's office. "What's up, Bill?"

"Look!" exclaimed Carroll, pointing. 

The men from the morgue had the body raised in the air. And then, inthe gleam from the electric lights there was revealed underneath and inthe left side of the dead woman a clean slit through her light dress--aslit the edges of which were stained with blood. 

"Another wound!" exclaimed Daley, his newspaper instincts quicklyaroused by this addition of evidence of mystery. "This is gettinginteresting!"

"It's a cut--a deep one, too, " murmured Carroll, as he drew nearer tolook. "Wonder what did it?"

"Shouldn't wonder but it was done with this!" and Thong held out, onthe palm of his large hand, a slender dagger, on the otherwise brightblade of which were some dark stains. 

"Where'd you get it?" demanded Carroll. 

"Over on the watch repair table. "

Darcy gasped. 

"Is that your dagger?" snapped Carroll at the jewelry worker. 

"It isn't a dagger--it's a paper-cutter--a magazine knife. "

"Well, whatever it is, who owns it?" The words were as crisp as thesteel of the stained blade. 

Darcy stared at the keen knife, and then at the dead woman. 

"Who owns it?" and the question snapped like a whip. 

"I don't! It was left here by--"

There was a commotion at the side door, which had been opened byMulligan in order that the men might carry out the body of Mrs. Darcy. There was a shuffling of feet, and a rather thick and unsteady voiceasked:

"Whash matter here? Place on fire? Looks like devil t'pay! Let mein. Shawl right, offisher. Got a right t' come in, I have! I gotsomething here. 'Svaluable, too! Don't want that all burned--spoilshings have 'em burned. 

"'Lo, Darcy!" went on a young man, who walked unsteadily into thejewelry store. "Wheresh tha' paper cutter I left for you t' 'gravePearl's name on? Got take it home now. Got take her homesome--someshing--square myself. Been out al'night--you know how'tish! Take wifely home li'l preshent--you know how 'tish. Gottaplease wifely when you--hic--been out al' night. Wheresh mygold-mounted paper cutter, Darcy?"

"Harry King, and stewed to the gills again!" murmured Pete Daley. "Wow! he has some bun on!"

"Wheresh my paper cutter, Darcy?" went on King, smiling in a fashionmeant to be merry, but which was fixed and glassy as to his eyes. "Wheresh my li'l preshent for wifely? Got her name all 'graved on itnice an' pretty? Thash what'll square wifely when I beenout--hic--al'night. Wheresh my paper cutter, Darcy, ol' man?"

Silently the jewelry worker pointed to the stained dagger--it wasreally that, though designed for a paper cutter. The detective held itout, and the red spots on it seemed to show brighter in the gleam ofthe electric lights. 

"Is that your knife, Harry King?" demanded Thong. 

"Sure thash mine! Bought it in li'l ole N' York lash week. Didn'thave no name on it--brought it here for my ole fren', Darcy, t'engrave. Put wifely's name on--her namesh Pearl--P-e-a-r-l!" and hespelled it out laboriously and thickly. 

"My wife--she likes them things. Me--I got no use for 'em. Gimmeoyster fork--or clam, for that matter--an' a bread n' butter knife--'nI'm all right. But gotta square wife somehow. Take her home nicepreshent. Thatsh me--sure thash mine!" and carefully trying to balancehimself, he reached forward as though to take the stained dagger fromthe hand of the detective. 

"You got Pearl's name 'graved on it, Darcy, ole man?" asked King, thickly, licking his hot and feverish lips. 

"No, " answered the jewelry worker, hollowly. 

Then Harry King, seemingly for the first time, became aware that allwas not well in the place he had entered. He turned and saw the bodyof the murdered woman as the men from the morgue Started out with it. He started back as though some one had struck him a blow. 

"Is she--is she dead?" he gasped. "Dead--Mrs. Darcy?"

"Looks that way, " said Carroll in cool tones. "You'd better come inhere and sit down a while, Harry, " he went on, and he led the unsteadyyoung man to the rear room, while the men from the morgue carried outthe lifeless body. 

CHAPTER III

THE FISHERMAN

From a little green book, which, from the evidence of its worn covers, seemed to have been much read, the tall, military-appearing occupant ofa middle seat in the parlor car of the express to Colchester scannedagain this passage:

"And if you rove for perch with a minnow, then it is best to be alive, you sticking your hook through his back fin, or a minnow with the hookin his upper lip, and letting him swim up and down about mid-water, ora little lower, and you still keeping him about that depth with a cork, which ought to be a very little one; and the way you are to fish forperch with a small frog--"

"Ah-a-a-a!"

It was a long-drawn exclamation of anticipatory delight, and into theeyes of the military-looking traveler there appeared a soft and gentlelight, as though, in fancy, he could look off across sunlit meadows toa stream sparkling beneath a blue sky, white-studded with fleecyclouds, where there was a soft carpet of green grass, shaded by a nobleoak under which he might lounge and listen to the wind rustling thenewly-born leaves. 

"Ah-a-a-a!"

"Beg pardon, sir, but I--"

"What?"

The military-appearing man sat up with a jerk into sudden stiffness, while the soft light died out of his eyes. 

"New York papers?"

"Don't want the New York papers--any of them!"

The man, after a swift glance from his green-covered book, again lethis eyes seek its pages. The ghost of a smile flickered around hislips. 

"Chicago, then. The latest--"

". . . Your hook being fastened through the skin of his leg, toward theupper part of it; and lastly I will give you--"

"Something livelier in the way of reading, sir, if you wish it!" brokein the voice of the newsboy who had stopped beside the parlor-car chairof the military-looking traveler, interrupting the reading of thelittle green-covered book. "I have a new detective story--"

"Look here! If you interrupt me again when I'm reading my Izaak WaltonI'll have you put off the train! Gad! I will, sir, if I have to do itmyself!"

The military-appearing traveler snapped the green book against the palmof one hand with a report like that of a pistol, thereby causing an oldlady, asleep in a chair across the aisle, to awaken with a start. 

"Are we in? Have we arrived? Is this Colchester?" she asked, sittingup and looking about in startled surprise, her bonnet very much askew. The newsboy, with an abashed air, slid down the aisle. 

"Madam, I sincerely beg your pardon, " said the tall man who had causedthe commotion. He arose, his green book in one hand, and bowed hisapologies. "I regret exceedingly that I startled you. But thatinsufferable young puppy had the extreme audacity to inflict himself onme when I was reading, and I lost my temper. I am sorry but I--"

"You didn't strike him, did you?" asked the old lady, reproachfully. 

"No, madam. Though such conduct would have been justified on my part, I merely spoke to him. It was this--this book that I used ratherroughly and which awakened you. "

"Then aren't we at Colchester yet?"

"No, madam. It is some little ride yet. If you will allow me I shallbe happy to let you know when we arrive. And if you are without anyone to help you off with your luggage, as it is raining and likely tocontinue--"

"Oh, thank you, sir, but Jabez will meet me. I must have dozed off, and when I heard that noise--"

"Which I regret exceedingly, madam, " interposed the military-appearingtraveler with another bow. 

The old lady again composed herself. The tall man bowed again, resumedhis seat and tried to read, but his feelings had been too much ruffled, it was evident, to allow a peaceful resumption of his former mood. 

"The idea! The very idea!" he murmured, speaking to the window, against the glass of which the raindrops were now dashing impotently, and as though angry at not being admitted to the warmth and light ofthe car. For dusk had fallen and the electric lights were aglow in thePullman, making it a very cosy place in contrast to the damp and muddycountry through which the train was rushing. 

"Gad! what's the world coming to when a man can't read what he likeswithout every whippersnapper interrupting him with--Shag! I say, Shag!" he went on, raising his voice from a murmured whisper to alouder command. "Porter, send my man here! Where's that rascal Shag?"

"Yes, sah, Colonel! I'm right yeah! Yeah I is, Colonel!" and a negro, with a picturesque fringe of white, kinky hair, shuffled from theporter's quarters, where he had been enjoying a quiet chat with theblack knight of the whisk broom. "What is you' desire, Colonel?"

"I want peace and quiet, Shag! That's what I want! Twice I've triedto read my book undisturbed, and that insufferable train-boy--thatrascal who probably doesn't know an ant-fly from a piece of cheese--hasbothered me with books and papers. He ought to know I've vowed not tolook at a paper for two weeks, and, as for books--"

Colonel Robert Lee Ashley closed his volume, which bore, in goldletters on the front green cover the words: "Walton's Complete Angler, "and laughed silently, the wrinkles of his face and around hissteel-blue eyes sending the frown scurrying for some unseen trench. 

"Shag, " asked the colonel, still chuckling, "what do you think thatnincompoop had the infernal audacity to offer me in the way of a book?"

"I ain't got no idea, Colonel--not th' leastest in th' world!"

"He offered me a--detective story, Shag!"

"Oh, mah good Lord, Colonel! Not _really_?"

"Yes, he did, Shag! A detective story!"

"Oh, mah good Lord!"

Shag, which was all Colonel Ashley ever called his servant, though thecolored valet rejoiced in the prefixes of George Washington, threw uphis hands in horror, and shook his head. The colonel, after a periodof silent, chuckling mirth, opened his book again and read:

"And, after this manner, you may catch a trout in a hot evening. When, as you walk by a brook, and shall hear or see him leap at flies, thenif you get a grasshopper--"

"Gad! that's the life!" softly voiced the colonel. Then, turning tothe still waiting Shag, he went on: "There's nobody in the wide worldwho can bring peace and quiet to an angry mind like my friend IzaakWalton, is there, Shag?"

"No, sah, Colonel, they isn't! _Nobody_!"

"Of course not! Gad! I'm glad you agree with me, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"Um! Here, you go and give that newsboy a quarter. Tell him I didn'tmean anything; but never again must he interrupt me when he sees mewith Walton in my hand. Anything but that! It's positively indecent!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. I done tell him that. "

"And it--it's sacrilegious, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel; 'tis that!"

"Well, tell him so, and give him a half dollar. Now don't disturb meagain until we get to Colchester. How's the weather, Shag?"

"Well, sah, Colonel, it's--it's sorter--moist, Colonel!"

"Um! Well, it'll be better by to-morrow, I expect, when we go fishing. And be careful of my rods when you take the grips off. If you so muchas scratch the tip of even my oldest one, I--I'll--well, you know whatI'll do to you, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, I knows, Colonel!"

"Very well. Give that boy a dollar. Maybe he never read Walton, andthat's why he's so ignorant. "

Colonel Ashley settled back in his chair, and, with unfurrowed brow, read on:

". . . You shall see or hear him leap at flies, then if you get agrasshopper, put it on your hook with your line about two yards long, standing behind a bush or tree where his hole is--"

Once more the colonel was happy. 

Shag sought out the discomfited newsboy, and, chuckling as had hismaster, handed the lad a dollar. 

"Say, what's this for?" questioned the lad, in astonishment. 

"Colonel done say to give it to you fo' hurtin' yo' feelin's. "

"He did! Great! Say, does he want a book--a, paper? Say, I got aswell detective story--"

The boy started out of the compartment. 

"Oh, mah good Lord! Fo' th' love of honey cakes, don't!" gasped Shag, grabbing him just in time. "Does yo' know who the colonel is?"

"No, but he's mighty white if he wants to buy a dollar's worth of booksand papers. I haven't sold much on this trip, but if he--"

"But he don't want to, boy! Don't you understan'? Jes' listen to meright now! De colonel don't want nothin' but Walton an' his angleworms!"

"Who's Walton? What road's he travel on?"

"He don't travel. He's daid, I reckon. But he done writ a book onfishin' poles, an' dat's all the colonel reads when he ain't workin'much. It's a book 'bout angle worms as neah as I kin make out. "

"You mean Izaak Walton's Complete Angler, I guess, " said a man, whopassed by just then on his way to the smoking compartment, and hesmiled genially at Shag. 

"Dat's it, yes, sah! I knowed it had suffin t' do wif angle worms. Well, boy, dat book's all de colonel ever reads when he's vacationin', an' dat's whut he's doin' now--jest vacationin'. 

"When we start away dis mawnin' he say to me, the colonel did: 'Now, Shag, I don't want t' be boddered wif nuffin'. I don't want t' read nopapers. I don't want t' heah 'bout no battles, murder an' suddendeaths. I jest wants peace an' quiet an' fish!' He done come up heaht' go fishin' laik he go t' lots other places, though he ain't beenheah fo' good many years. An' boy, he specially tell me _not_ t' lethim be boddered wif book agents. "

"I ain't a book agent, " objected the train-boy. 

"I knows you ain't, " admitted Shag. "I knows yo' ain't, but yo' sellsbooks, an' dat's whut's de trouble. Whut kind of a book did yo' offerde colonel jest now?"

"A detective story. And say! it's a swell one, let me tell you!"

"Oh, mah good Lord!" ejaculated Shag. "Dat's de wustest ever!" and hedoubled up with silent mirth. 

"Why, what's the matter with that?" asked the boy. "I've seen heaps ofmen read detective stories. Judge Dolan--he rides on my train alot--and he's always askin' what I got new in detective stuff. "

"Um, yep! Well, dat may be all right fo' Judge Dolan, " went on Shag, slowly recovering from his fit of chuckling, "but mah marster don'twant none of dat kind of readin'. "

"Why?" asked the boy. 

Shag's answer was given in a peculiar manner. He looked aroundcarefully, and saw that the strange man had moved on and they werealone. Then, leaning toward the newsboy and whispering, the negro said:

"My marster, Colonel Brentnall--dat ain't his real name, but it's deone he goes by sometimes--he don't care fo' no detective stories 'causehe done make his livin' an' mine too, at detectin'. He says he don'tever want t' read 'em, 'cause dey ain't at all like whut happens. Decolonel was one of de biggest private detectives in de United States, boy! He's sorter retired now, but still he's chock full of crimes, murder an' stuff laik dat, an' dat's why he done sent yo' away sorterrough-laik. "

"You say he's a private detective?" asked the boy, his eyes openingwide. 

"Dat's whut he is. "

"And his name is Colonel Brentnall?"

"Well, honey, dat ain't his real name. He don't laik t' use datpromiscuious laik, 'cause so many folks bodder him. If I was t' tellyo' his real name yo'd open yo' eyes wider yet. But take it from me, "went on Shag, "he don't need no books t' make excitin' readin' fo' him!He's been froo it fo' yeahs!"

"Sufferin' tadpoles!" murmured the boy. "And to think I was offering_him_ a detective yarn! Say, no wonder he flew at me!"

"He didn't mean nothin', " said Shag, still chuckling as he thought ofthe scene. "It's jest his way. "

The train rumbled on through the early night, and in his comfortablechair Colonel Ashley read his Walton, the ingratiating humor of thedear, old fisherman gradually dispelling all other thoughts. 

Colonel Ashley at this stage of his career, was almost an internationalfigure. Having served with distinction in the Spanish-American war, among his exploits being the capture of a number of spies in asensational manner, he had become the head of the police department ina large city in the East. 

He had continued the work begun in the army--a branch of the secretservice--and had built up the city's detective department in an almostmarvelous manner, he himself being one of its keenest sleuths. Desiring more time to devote to the detection of crimes of other thanordinary interest, and realizing that the routine of police work wastoo hampering for him, the colonel had opened an office in New York, where, straightway, he received from the government and private personsmore work than he could well attend to. Now that he was getting old, he had some able assistants, but most cases still received his ownattention at some stage of their development. This was characteristicof the colonel. He was always going to retire, in fact he said he had, but, somehow or other, it was like a singer's farewell, alwayspostponed. 

"And now, Shag, don't forget what I told you, " he said to his attendantas the train drew into Colchester. "Don't you so much as scratch thevarnish on the tip of one of my rods. And if you let me hear a whisperof anything bordering on a case you and I part company--do you hear?"

"I heahs yo' Colonel!" and the negro saluted, for the detective stillclung to many of his military associations. Then, having kept hispromise in seeing that the old lady was safely helped from the train, Colonel Ashley followed his valet, burdened with bags and rods. 

The fishing rods Shag carried, he must have managed to transport safelyto the hotel the colonel was to occupy for a two weeks' vacation andrest, for the military detective was smiling and good-natured when hetook them from their cases and gently placed them on the bed. 

"Anything else, Colonel?" asked Shag, when he had laid out his master'sclothes, and was preparing to go to his own apartment in an annex tothe hotel. 

"No, I guess that's all, Shag. But what's your hurry? You aren'tusually in such haste to leave me, even if you have laid out all myduds. What's the matter? Got some friends in town?"

"Oh, no, sah, Colonel! No, indeedy! 'tain't dat at all!"

"Well, what is it? Why are you in such haste to get away?"

"Um! Ah! Well, I don't laiks fo' t' tell yo' Colonel!" and Shagseemed uneasy. 

"You don't like to tell me? Look here, you black rascal! don't try tohide anything from me, do you hear? You know me, and--"

"Oh, indeedy I does know yo', Colonel! Dat's jest why I don't wan t'tell yo'! It--it's 'bout one ob dem t'ings!"

"What things? Shag, you rascal, look here! Have you been buying anewspaper?"

"Ye--ye--yes, sah, Colonel, I has! But I done bought it fo' mahse'f. Deed an' I wasn't goin' t' let yo' hab so much as a snift at it, Colonel! De train-boy, whut yo' gib a dollar t', he handed it t' mewhen I was gittin' off. It's one ob de papers gotten out right yeah indis city, an'--"

"Well, out with it, Shag! What's in it that's so mighty interesting?"

"Er--Colonel--yo' see--yo' done tole me--"

"Oh, out with it, Shag! I'll forgive you, I suppose. What is it?"

"Well, Colonel, sah, de paper done got in it an 'count ob a strange an'mysterious murder case, an'--"

"I knew it! I knew it! I could almost have taken my oath on it!"cried the excitable colonel. "Here I come to this place to have somequiet fishing in the suburbs, to get a complete rest, and yet not betoo far from civilization, and no sooner do I get off the train thanthere's a murder mystery thrust right under my nose! Right under mynose! By Gad! I knew it!"

Shag stood, resting his weight first on one foot and then on the other, his head bowed. He was trying to keep from slipping from under hisvest, where he had hidden it, a newspaper, with glaring, blackheadlines. Shag looked timidly at his master. 

Colonel Ashley paced up and down the room, pausing now and then tolisten to the dash of rain against the windows, for the storm, bearingout its promise of the morning, had lasted all day, changing from adrizzle to a downpour and from a downpour to a drizzle with dismalrepetition. The colonel glanced at Shag, and then, drawing from aninner pocket the little green book, read:

"Hunting is a game for princes and noble persons. It hath been highlyprized in all ages. It was one of the qualifications--"

The detective snapped the book shut, and tossed it on the bed. 

"Shag!" he exploded. 

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"You've often heard me talk of fishing and hunting, haven't you?"

"Deed an' I has, Colonel; many a time! Yes, sah!"

"Humph! Yes! Well, detective work is a sort of hunt, isn't it, Shag?"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. Dat's jest what it is! Many an' many a time I'sedone heah yo' say yo's goin' out t' hunt dis man or dat woman!"

"Very good, Shag. And it's a sort of fishing, too, isn't it?". 

"Yes, sah, Colonel! More as once I'se heah yo' say as how yo' had t'fish an' fish an' _fish_ t' git a bit of a clew. "

"I see you remember, Shag. Well, now, you black rascal, did you sayyou've got a newspaper with an account in it of a strange andmysterious murder right here in _this_ city?"

"Yes, sah, Colonel! Right yeah in Colchester, where we done come t'hab puffick rest an' quiet an' fishin', just laik yo' done said on detrain. "

"Humph! A murder mystery right here in town. I thought I heard thenewsboys shouting something about it at the station. But I didn'tlisten. Who's killed, Shag?"

"Why, Colonel, sah, it's a poor ole lady, an'--"

"Stop, Shag! Not another word! How dare you try to get me interestedin a case when I told you if you so much as breathed anything about oneI'd horsewhip you! I told you that, didn't I?"

"Deed an' yo' did, Colonel!"

The detective paced up and down the room. He reached for the littlegreen book. Then, as if in desperation, he turned to the shrinkingnegro and went on:

"You say there's a mystery about it, Shag?"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. Yes, sah!" and he made a motion toward the paperthat was slipping from under his vest. 

"Stop it!" cried the colonel. "I came here to fish and read IzaakWalton in the shade of a big tree along some quiet brook. If you somuch as bring a paper into this room I'll send you back to Virginiawhere you belong, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

The military-looking detective resumed his pacing of the room, hishands behind his back clasping and unclasping nervously. 

"Shag!" he suddenly called. 

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"Is it much of a mystery--I mean--er--anything but the usual blood andthunder stuff?"

"Why, Colonel, " began the black man eagerly, "it's de beatenist mysterydat ever was--all 'bout a murdered jewelry lady, what's got her haidbusted in with a big gold statue, an' a gold knife stab in her side, an' a watch shut up tight in her hand, tickin' an' tickin' an'_tickin'_, laik it was her heart beatin', an' her cousin done find herin a pool of blood on de floor, an' de clocks all stopped, an' a richyoung spendthrift comes in an' claims de dagger, an' de detectives--"

"Shag!" fairly shouted his master. 

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"Out of the room this instant, and don't you dare come back until Isend for you!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

The old colored man turned slowly to the door. His manner wasdejected. Evidently he had given serious offense. 

Silently he turned the knob, but, before he had stepped over thethreshhold, he heard a voice calling softly:

"Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"Eh--Shag--before you go, you--er--you might leave me that paper I seeunder your vest. I may have occasion to--to glance at it, to see whatto-morrow's weather is going to be for fishing. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

And, with a carefully concealed grin on his face, Shag drew theblack-lettered paper from under his waistcoat, and laid it on the bedbeside the "Complete Angler. "

CHAPTER IV

SPOTTY

"Well, now, " observed Detective Thong, and, somehow or other, his voicesounded really cheerful, "let's see where we're at, Mr. Darcy. Haveyou looked over the stock all you want to?"

They were in a room in the rear of the jewelry store--the city andcounty detectives, the reporters and James Darcy--with PolicemanMulligan on guard near the cut glass and silver gleaming in theshowcases. On guard near a dark red stain in the floor, scarcelydry--it was still soaking into the wood. The body of the murderedwoman had been taken away, followed by a sigh of relief from JamesDarcy, who, try as he did, could not keep his eyes from seeking it. 

"The stock is checked up as well as I can do it in a short time, "replied the jewelry worker, who had spent some time going over thestore under the watchful eyes of Carroll and Thong. "I'm not sureanything is taken. If there is, as I said, it can't be much. But I'llgo over everything more carefully, checking up the books. That willtake a few days, but I can do it while I'm here arranging for thefuneral. "

"Not here you can't do it, " broke in Carroll, with a short laugh. 

"Not here?" There was startled amazement in Darcy's question. 

"No. "

"Why not?"

"Because you won't be here. You'd better come with us. You'll haveto, in fact. The captain'll want to have a talk with you, and I guessthe prosecutor the same. How about it, Jim?" and he looked over atHaliday, from the Court House. He was examining the side door leadingto the alley. 

"Oh, sure! he'll have to be held--as a witness, anyhow, " was the easyanswer, and in the same breath he added: "Not a mark! Not a scratch onthe place! It was an inside job all right!"

"Held? I'll have to be--held?" faltered Darcy. 

"Of course, " said Thong. "And, while you're at it, take a friend'sadvice, and keep your mouth shut. "

"You mean anything I say might--might be used--against me?"

"Oh, I wouldn't put it that way exactly. That's moving picturestuff--theater business, you know. We don't go in for that--not me andCarroll. But don't talk too much. Of course you'll have to answer alot of questions, and the easier you do the better for you. But waituntil they're asked. Maybe it's against my interests to say that, butI've sort of took a notion to you. Now you'd better get ready toleave. "

"You mean lock the place up?"

"Oh, no, somebody'll have to stay here. "

"Not me!" interrupted Mulligan. "I haven't had my breakfast. I wasjest comin' in off dog-watch when I happened to see what was goin' onhere--the crowd an' everythin'. I ain't goin' to stay!"

"Well, 'phone in then and get somebody, " advised Carroll testily. "Somebody's got to be here until we can look around more. "

"I'll stay for a while. " said Haliday. "I'd like to look about a bitmyself. I'll probably have to get the case ready for the prosecutor. "

"Well, let's be going then, " suggested Thong. "Shall I ring for thewagon?"

His partner shook his head after a look at Darcy. 

"The trolley'll be all right for him, " he said in a whisper. "We canget out the back way and avoid the crowd, " for the street in front ofthe jewelry store was still thronged, in spite of the ever increasingrain. "As for King, he's asleep, and I guess we can put him to bedhere. If we try to carry him out there'll be more of a push than thereis now. Let him sleep it off, " and he glanced at a huddled figure in acorner chair. 

"Who's asleep?" broke in the thick voice of the wastral. "Whash matteryou fellers, anyhow? Man comes in get li'l preshent for his wife--wifesits up all night waitin'--she's 'titled to li'l preshent. Wheresh mygold knife, Darcy? I give it to you--have 'grave--Pearl'sname--wheresh my knife?"

"You can have it pretty soon, " promised Thong. "Look here, Harry, myboy. You're pretty drunk, for a fact, but do you happen to know whereyou were and what you did last night--and early this morning? Try tothink--it may mean a lot to you!" and he spoke earnestly. "Where wereyou--what did you do?"

"What I did?" He blinked his eyes rapidly, to rid them of the waterwhich poured forth in an effort to assuage their drink-inflamedcondition, and regarded those about him with half-drunken gravity. "What I did? You want to know--what--what I did?"

"Yes. Where were you, and what did you do?" asked Carroll easily. 

"Hu! Got drunk, thash what I did. Can't you see? I'm drunk yet, butI don't care! Ha! Had one swell time, thash what I did! One whale ofa good time! It was _some_ night--a wet night--believe me--a wetnight--awful wet. Never had so mush fun--never! We got ole DocHarrison stewed to the gills--hones' we did--stewed like--likeprunes--apricots! Ho! Thash what we did!"

"Guess he wasn't the only one, " observed Carroll grimly. "Now, lookhere, King. You're pretty drunk yet, but maybe you can get thisthrough your noodle. There's been some nasty business, and you may, ormay not, know something about it, though I don't believe you do, foryou're so pickled now that you must have been loading up ever sincelast week. But you've got to answer some questions--when you'reable--and it's a question of holding you here or--taking you with us. How about it?"

"Look here!" snarled King, and his voice rang out with sudden energy. "Who you talkin' to?"

"Now take it easy, Harry, " advised Thong. "We're talking to you, ofcourse. "

Harry King seemed to begin the process of sobering up. His eyes lostsomething of their bleary, misunderstanding look, and took on adangerous glint. The detectives knew him for a spendthrift, who hadbeen in more than one questionable escapade. He had a violent temper, drunk or sober, once it was roused, and it did not take much liquor tomake him a veritable devil. Though after his first wild burst hebecame maudlin and silly. King came of a good family, but hisrelatives had cast him off after his midnight marriage to an actress ofquestionable morals, with whom it was not a first offense, and he nowlived, after his own peculiar fashion, on the income of an estatesettled on him in his better days by an aunt. Now and then he managedto get larger advances than the stipulated sum from a rascally lawyer, who took a chance of reimbursing himself a hundred per cent. When HarryKing should come to the end of his rope--a time which seemed not faroff, if the present were any indication. He was to inherit the bulk ofhis fortune when he became thirty-five years of age. He was nowthirty-three, but the pace he was going and keeping made his chances ofliving out the stated allotment seem meager. 

"I'm talking to you, Harry, my boy, " went on the detective, "and Iadvise you, for your own good, to keep a civil tongue in your head. Ifyou don't, you may get into trouble. There's been a murder--"

"A murder!" King's voice was more certain now. 

"Yes. You saw the body carried out--or are you still so drunk youcan't remember? It was Mrs. Darcy--the lady who owned this jewelrystore, you know. Now pull yourself together. You've got to come withus and explain a little about this knife of yours. She was stabbedwith that. "

"With my knife--that paper cutter dagger I was giving as a presentto--to my wife?" King's voice was sobering more now. 

"That's the idea, Harry. "

"But I brought that knife to Darcy to have him engrave it. "

"That may be. It was used to cut the old lady, though, and laid backon Darcy's work-table. Come now--brace up, and tell us all you knowabout it. "

"Oh, I--I can brace up all right. So the old lady's dead, is she?Killed--stabbed! Too bad! Many's the trinket I've bought of herfor--for--well, some of the girls, you know, " and he winkedsuggestively at the detectives. "Old lady Darcy's dead! Say, lookhere, boys!" he exclaimed with a sudden change of manner, as somethingseemed to penetrate to his sodden brain, "you--you don't for a minutethink I did this--do you?" and he sat up straight for the first time. 

"Never mind what we think, " said Carroll. "We're not paid for tellingit--like the reporters, " and he grinned at Daley of the Times. "Wewant to get at the facts. Are you in condition to talk?"

"Not here!" interrupted Thong quickly, with a glance at the newspapermen, which they were quick to interpret. "Oh, it's all right, boys, "went on the detective. "We'll let you in for anything that's going assoon as we can--you know that. "

"Sure, " agreed Daley. "But don't keep us waiting all day. The pressesare like animals--they have to be fed, you know. First editions don'twait for gum-shoe men, even if they're of the first water. And I'vegot a city editor who has a temper like a bear with a sore nose inhuckleberry time. So loosen up as soon as you can. "

They took King and Darcy to police headquarters in a taxicab whichKing, with still half-drunken gravity, insisted on paying for. 

Colonel Ashley--or Colonel Brentnall as he had registered at thehotel--having, by means of a more or less adroit bit of camouflage, obtained possession of the newspaper containing an account of themurder of Mrs. Darcy, and of the holding of her cousin and Harry Kingon suspicion, tossed the journal on the bed beside his well-worn copyof the "Complete Angler. " Then, to demonstrate his complete masteryover himself, he picked up the book, never so much as glancing at theblack headlines, and read:

". . . I have found it to be a real truth that the very sitting by theriver's side is not only the quietest and fittest place forcontemplation, but will invite the angler to it; . . . "

"I'm a fool!" exploded the colonel. "I came here to fish, and, firstclick of the reel, I go nosing around on the trail of a murder, when Ivowed I wouldn't even dream of a case. I won't either, --that's flat!I'll get my rods in shape to go fishing to-morrow. It may clear. ThenShag and I--"

Slowly the book slipped from his hand. It fell on the bed with a softthud, and a breeze from the partly opened window ruffled a page of thenewspaper. The colonel, looking guiltily around the room, walkednearer to the bed, and then, as stealthily as though committing atheft, he picked up the _Times_. Softly he exclaimed:

"Gad! what's the use?"

A moment later, pulling his chair beneath an electric light, he beganto read the account of the murder. 

Pete Daley's story of the finding of the dead body of the owner of thejewelry store was a graphic bit of work. He described how Darcy, coming down in the gray dawn, had discovered the woman lying stark andcold, her head crushed and a stab wound in her side. 

None of the details was lacking, though the gruesomeness was skilfullycovered with some well-done descriptive writing. The wounds seemed tohave been inflicted at the same time--one by the metal statue of ahunter found on the floor near the body, the other by a dagger-likepaper cutter, admitted to be owned by Harry King, but which, with theblade blood-stained, was found on the jewelry bench of her cousin JamesDarcy. 

The solution of the murder mystery depended on the answers to twoquestions, the reporter pointed out. First, which wound killed Mrs. Darcy? Second, who inflicted either or both wounds?

There were ramifications from these beginnings--such as the motive forthe crime; whether or not there had been a robbery; and, if so, by whomcommitted. Then, to get to the more personal problem, did either Kingor Darcy commit the murder, and, if so, why?

"Um, " mused the colonel, reading the _Times_ on the evening of the daythe crime was discovered. "It may turn out to be a mystery after all, in spite of the two men who are held. Let's see now, " and he went onwith his perusal of the paper. 

The autopsy had been performed, and Dr. Warren had said either woundmight have caused death; for the skull was badly fractured, and vitalorgans had been pierced by the dagger, which the papers called it, though it really was a paper cutter of foreign make. 

King and Darcy were not, as yet, formally, arrested, being "detained, "merely, at police headquarters as witnesses, though there was noquestion but that suspicion was cast on both. Under the law a formalcharge must be made against them within twenty-four hours, and unlessthis was done King's lawyer threatened to bring _habeas corpus_proceedings for his client. 

"Oh, there'll be a charge made before then all right, " said Thongeasily, when the legal shyster had, with threatening finger under thedetective's nose, made much of this point. "I'm not saying it will beagainst your man, Mr. Fussell, but there'll be a charge made all right. "

It is needless to say that both suspected men protested they knewnothing about the killing. King was frank enough--sober now--to say hehad been drunk all night--spending the hours with boon companions in anotorious resort, a statement which seemed capable enough of proof. 

Darcy told over and over again how he had come downstairs to find hisrelative stretched on the floor of the shop, and, aside from thatlittle restless period of the night, he had heard no disturbance. Sallie Page could tell nothing, the maid was out of the city, and noneof the clerks knew more of what had happened than they were told. 

Playing up Darcy's story, Daley and some of the other reportersspeculated on whether or not a burglar might have entered the store, leaving no trace of his uncanny skill, and, in his wanderings about theplace, have entered Darcy's room. He might even have attempted tochloroform the jewelry worker, it was suggested, and perhaps did, slightly. Then, descending to the store, the intruder might havestarted to loot the safe when he was disturbed by Mrs. Darcy, who mayhave come down to see what the unusual noise was. 

Such, at least, was a theory, and one several took stock in. At anyrate Darcy, after having been aroused, by what he knew not, had gone tosleep again, only to awaken to hurry down to do the repair work on thewatch of the East Indian--the watch that was found so uncannily tickingin the otherwise silent jewelry store, clasped in the hand of the deadwoman. It was mentioned that Singa Phut was being kept underobservation, though no suspicion attached to him. 

Darcy had at first nervously, and then indignantly, protested hisinnocence, King continually doing the latter. Naturally therefollowed, even with the faint suspicions so far engendered, thequestion as to what the possible object for the crime could have been, presuming either man had been involved. 

It was known that King was constantly in debt, in spite of hisallowance and the more substantial advances he received from time totime. He had patronized the jewelry store, and he admitted owing Mrs. Darcy quite a large sum for a brooch he had purchased for his wife sometime before. It was, of course, possible, that he had, in his drunkenstate, gone to the store to get the paper cutter, which some peculiarkink or twist in his drink-inflamed brain had caused him to remember atan odd time. Or perhaps he had run short of money when playing cards, and have gone to Mrs. Darcy's store to borrow or see if he could notget something on which he might raise cash. 

Harry King was known to have been gambling the night before, the gamelasting until nearly morning, and at one stage, when King was "broke, "he had excused himself, gone out into the night alone, and had comeback well supplied with funds. Asked jokingly by his cronies where hehad got the money, he had said "a lady" gave it to him. He resumedplay, only to lose, and had staggered out into the gray dawn, which wasthe last his companions had seen of him. He next appeared at thejewelry store after the murder. 

Sobered, King's explanation was that "a lady" had really given him themoney, but who she was, or why she gave him funds at two o'clock in themorning, he would not say. He admitted calling at the jewelry storesomewhere around eleven o'clock at night for the purpose of seeing ifthe engraving on the paper cutter had been finished. King was not sovery drunk then, he said. He was just "starting in. "

The store was closed, he said, but he added a bit of testimony thatcaused Colonel Ashley, and others, to think a bit. 

King said that, though the front doors to the store were locked, he, knowing the place well, had gone around to the side door in the alley, thinking that might not yet be fastened. He hoped, he said, to be ableto get in and procure the present for his wife. But this door, too, was locked, though, through the glass he could see a light in the rearroom. And he could hear voices, which were raised louder than ordinary. 

The voices, King added, were those of Mrs. Darcy and her cousin, JamesDarcy, and it was evident that a quarrel was in progress. Asked as tothe nature of the dispute King had said he had heard mentioned severaltimes the name "Amy. " There was also something said about money and an"electric lathe. "

Naturally there was an inquiry as to who "Amy" was, and what was meantby the electric lathe. Darcy answered with seeming frankness that theAmy in question was Miss Mason, daughter of Adrian Mason, wealthystockman of Pompey, a village about ten miles from Colchester. Mr. Mason had what was often referred to as a "show place, " with bloodedhorses and cattle, and he was quite a financial figure in Monroecounty, of which Colchester was the county seat. 

Besides this, Amy was well off in her own right, her uncle having lefther a half interest in a valuable mine. 

James Darcy and Amy Mason were engaged to be married, though this factwas known to but few, and made quite a sensation when Darcy admitted itafter his arrest. He and Amy had known each other since childhood, andwhen small had lived near each other. 

Mr. Mason, in spite of his wealth, was a democratic man, and though heknew, and Amy also, that she might have married wealth and position, both were "passed up, " to quote the stockman himself, in favor of areal love match. For that is what it was. 

"He's a _man_, that's what James Darcy is!" Amy's father had said, whensome one hinted that he had neither wealth nor family of which toboast. "He's a _man_! He's got all the family he needs. What's afamily good for, anyhow, after you're grown up? As for money, I've gotmore than I need, and Amy's got a little nest-egg of her own. Besides, Darcy can earn his living, which is a hanged sight more than some ofthese dancing lizards can do if they were put to it. "

It developed that the words over Amy which had occurred, just beforethe murder, between James Darcy and his cousin, had to do with thedifference in the worldly prospects of the two young people. Mrs. Darcy had rather laughed at him, James said, for thinking of marrying agirl so much wealthier than he was. 

"What did you tell her?" asked Carroll. "I mean your cousin. "

"I told her I could support my wife decently well, if not in such stateas that to which she was accustomed in her father's house. As forstyle, neither Miss Mason nor I care for it. And, if things go right, I may be able to bring her as much wealth as she has herself. "

"How do you mean if things go right?" asked the detective. 

"Well, if I can perfect the electric lathe I am trying to patent, " wasthe answer. 

"Oh, so that's what King heard about an electric lathe?"

"I suppose so. It's no great secret. I've been working on it for sometime, but my cousin objected to my spending my time that way. Shethought I should devote it all to her interests, even outside the shop. I told her I had my own future to look to, and we often had words aboutthat. Last night's quarrel wasn't the first, though she was especiallybitter over my work on the lathe. I have been giving it more time thanusual because it is nearly finished, and I want to get it ready to showat a big Eastern jewelry convention. "

"And what was the talk about money?"

"Well, Mrs. Darcy owed me about a thousand dollars. I had done somespecial work on making necklaces for her customers, and she hadpromised, if they were pleased, to pay me extra for the exclusivedesigns I got up. The customers were pleased, and they paid her extrafor the ornaments. So I demanded that she keep her promise, but sherefused, pleading that many other customers owed her and times werehard. I needed that thousand dollars to help complete my lathe model, and--well, we had words over that, too. "

"Then, do I understand, " summed up Carroll, "that the night Mrs. Darcywas killed you had a quarrel with her over Miss Mason, and about themoney and because you spent too much time working on your patent lathe?"

"Well, yes, though I don't admit I spent too much time, and I surelywill claim she owed me that money. As for Miss Mason--I'd prefer tohave her name left out, " faltered the young jeweler. 

"We can't always have what we want, " said Thong, dryly. "Was thequarrel specially bitter?"

"Not any more so than others. I had to speak a little loud, for mycousin was getting a trifle deaf. "

"And after the quarrel you went to bed?"

"Yes. "

"And you didn't see your cousin again until--when?" and Carroll lookedDarcy straight in the eyes. 

"Not until after she was--dead. "

"Um! I guess that's all now. "

They let the young man go, back to his room in police headquarters. Itwas not a cell--yet, though it would seem likely to come to that, forThong observed to his partner as they went downstairs:

"Well, there's a motive all right. "

"Three, if you like. But none of 'em hardly strong enough for murder. "

"Oh, I don't know. I hear he has quite a temper--different from HarryKing's, but enough, especially if he got riled about the old ladytalking against his girl. You never can tell. "

"No, that's so. "

Left alone, James Darcy threw himself into a chair and looked blanklyat the dull-painted wall. 

"This is fierce!" he murmured. "It will be a terrible blow to Amy! Iwonder--I wonder if she'll have anything to do with me after this? Theshame of it--the disgrace! Oh, Amy! if I could only know!" and hereached out his hand as though to thrust them beyond the confines ofthe walls. He bowed his head in his arms and was silent and motionlessa long time. 

Up in his hotel room, Colonel Ashley read the story of the case asprinted in the _Times_. 

"This does begin to get interesting, " he mused, as he finished readingthe account. "There are three possible motives in Darcy's case, andone in King's. And I've known murder to be done on slighterprovocation. Darcy might have resented being called a fortune hunter, which, I suppose, is what the old lady meant, or he may have been stungto sudden passion by the holding back of the thousand dollars and thetaunts about his lathe. Most inventors are crazy anyhow. 

"As for King--if he was drunk enough, and wanted money--or thought hecould get some diamonds--it might be--it might be. I wonder who hislady friend is? He daren't tell, I suppose, on account of his wife. Iwonder--"

"Oh, what am I bothering about it for, anyhow? I came here to rest andfish, and I'm going to. I've resigned from detective work! There!"He tossed the paper behind the bed. "I'll not look at another issue. Now let's see how my rods are. I'm going to get an early start in themorning, if this infernal rain lets up. Blast that Shag! He's jammeda ferrule!" and, with blazing eyes, the colonel looked at one of thejoints of his choicest rod. A brass connection had been bent. 

"That's a shame! It'll never work that way--never! I've got to go outand see if I can't get it mended. Wonder if there's a decent sportinggoods store in this part of town. I'll go out and have a look. "

He made himself ready, taking the two parts of the fishing rod withhim. Inquiry at the hotel desk supplied him with the information as tothe location of the store, and the detective was soon out in the wetstreets, breathing in deep of the damp air--for it was fresh and thatwas what the colonel liked. 

Somehow or other the address of the jewelry store clung to his mind, and, almost unconsciously, he found himself heading in that direction. 

"Well, I am a fool!" he murmured, as he passed the place, now ghostlywith its one light in front of the safe. The police had taken charge, pending the arrival of a relative of Mrs. Darcy's. Inside, the cutglass and silver gleamed as of old, but on the floor, sunk deep in thegrain of the wood now, was the spot of blood--fit to keep company withthe red rubies in the locked safe. 

"Quite a place, " murmured the colonel, as he passed on toward thesporting goods store. "Quite a place! Oh, hang it! I must get it outof my mind!"

In spite of his rather exacting demands regarding a ferrule for hisrod, he found what he wanted and, feeling quite satisfied now, as henoted that the weather showed some slight signs of clearing, thecolonel started back for his hotel, walking slowly, for it was not yetlate. 

Just how it happened, not even Colonel Ashley, naturally the mostinterested person, could tell afterward. But as the detective wascrossing a crowded street a big auto truck swung around a corner, andhe found himself directly in its path as he stepped off the curb. 

Active as he always kept himself, the old detective sprang back out ofthe way. But fate, in the person of a small boy, had just a littlewhile before, dropped a banana skin on the streets. And the colonelstepped squarely on this peeling, as he tried to retreat. 

There was a sudden sliding, an endeavor to retain his footing, and thenColonel Ashley fell prostrate, his fishing rod pieces spinning from hisfingers. Down he went, and the truck thundered straight at him. 

It was almost upon him, and the big, solid, front tires were about tocrush him, in spite of the frantic efforts of the driver to swerve hismachine to one side, when a slim figure dashed from the crowd on thesidewalk, and, with an indistinguishable cry, seized the colonel by theshoulders, fairly dragging him with a desperate burst of strength fromthe very path of death. 

There were gasps of alarm and sighs of relief. The driver of the truckswore audibly, but it was more a prayer than an oath. The colonel, grimy and muddy, was set on his feet by his rescuer, and several mengathered about. The colonel was a bit-dazed, but not so much so thathe could not hear several murmur:

"He saved his life all right!"

Recovering his breath and the control of his nerves at about the sametime, the detective, his voice trembling in spite of himself, turned tothe man who had dragged him from almost under the big wheels and said:

"Sir, you did save my life! You saved me from a horrible death, andsaying so doesn't begin to thank you or tell you what I mean. Ifyou'll have the goodness, sir, to call a taxi for me, and come with meto my hotel, I can then--"

The colonel came to a halting and sudden pause as he saw the face ofthe slim little man who had saved him--a face covered with freckles, which were splotched over the cheeks, the turned-up nose, and reachingback to the wide-set ears. 

"Spotty!--Spotty Morgan!" gasped the detective, as he recognized a NewYork gunman, who was supposed to have more than one killing to hiscredit, or debit, according as you happen to reckon. 

"Spotty Morgan! You--you--here!" gasped the detective. 

The rescuer, who had been grinning cheerfully, went white under hiscopper freckles. 

"My gawd! It's you! Colonel--"

Further words were stopped by the detective's hand placed softly, quickly, and so dexterously as hardly to be seen by those in the crowd, over the mouth of the speaker. 

"No names--here!" whispered the colonel in the big ear of the man whohad saved him from death. 

The slim little man gave a wiggle like an eel, and would have dartedaway through the crowd, but there was a vice-like grip on his shoulderthat he knew but too well. 

"Spotty, my name's Brentnall for the present, " said the colonel, with agrim smile. "And you'd better come with me. How about it?"

Spotty Morgan hesitated a moment, nodded silently, and then, arm in armwith the man whom he had pulled from the path of the big truck, wentdown the street, the mist and rain swallowing them up. 

CHAPTER V

AMY'S APPEAL

Tinkling glasses formed a friendly rampart between Colonel Ashley andSpotty Morgan. Spotty looked narrowly and shrewdly at the detective. 

"I didn't expect to see you here, " remarked the gunman, speaking out ofthe side of his mouth, with scarcely a motion of his lips--a habitacquired through long practice in preventing prison keepers fromfinding out that he was disobeying the rules regarding silence. "Notfor a minute did I expect to run across you here, Colonel As--"

"Not that name, Spotty, if you please, " and the fisherman-detectivesmiled in easy fashion. "You know my little habits in that regard. I'm known here as Brentnall, and, if it's all the same to you, just usethat. As for you, if Spotty--"

"Oh, that suits me as well as any other. I can change whenever Ilike. " Spotty raised a glass to his lips, and, with a murmured "here'show, " let the contents slide down his always-parched throat. 

"That's so, Spotty. Well, I didn't expect to see you here, I give youmy word. When did you leave New York?"

"Well, I come away--"

"Hold on!" interrupted the colonel. "Don't answer. I shouldn't haveasked. I forgot you saved my life just now. Gad! it isn't the firsttime I've nearly passed over, but--not in that way!" and he reached forhis glass to conceal the shudder that passed over him as he thought ofthe rumbling wheels of the thundering truck. 

"Well, Colonel, I--"

"Never mind, Spotty. Perhaps the less you talk the better off you'llbe. Does anybody in town know you're here?"

"Well, my picture--"

"Yes, it is probably down at headquarters. But they're too busy tolook for it now. But they may--later. So far you haven't beenrecognized then?"

"Only by you, and it'd take a pretty clever guy--"

"No compliments, Spotty. We've gotten over that. You disguisedyourself very well, but the freckles show through. "

"Yes, damn 'em!" heartily exploded the gunman. "I can't cover 'em up. I've tried everything, but I guess I'll have to go togged up like acolored man to fool the other bulls. As for you, Colonel--"

"There you go again! Cut it out! This is business. "

"Yes, good business for you, but bad for me. I didn't think you'd getafter me so soon, Colonel!"

"I'm not after you, Spotty. "

The detective spoke quietly, but the effect on the man sitting acrossthe table from him, in one of the less conspicuous cafes in Colchester, had the effect of a shout. 

"Not after me? You _ain't_?" and Spotty drew away from the array ofglasses and bottles so suddenly that he overturned a tumbler with itstinkling chunk of ice. "Not after me, Colonel?"

"No, I came here for a quiet bit of fishing, and I just stumbled onthis case against my will. I'm not even working on it, and I'm notgoing to. Nobody knows I'm in town except my man Shag--and you. Iknow I can depend on Shag, and as for you--"

"I'm with you till the cows come to roost, Colonel. I'm strong feryou! I kin forget I ever saw you. "

"That's good. I thought you'd be that way. So, as no one knows I'm intown (the colonel knew nothing of what Shag had said to the newsboy), Ican keep under cover and have my fishing as I like it--quiet. I don'tintend any one shall know I'm here, either. 

"Now, Spotty, I'm a plain-spoken man when there's occasion for it, andthis is one of those times, I guess. You saved my life just now, Iknow that. Of course I realize I might just have been badly hurt, andperhaps have lingered on in a hospital for some years--but that wouldbe worse than death. I consider that you saved my life. I couldn'thave moved out of the way of that truck any more than I could haveflown. I realize it more and more. You did me the biggest service oneman can do another, and I'm not going to forget it, Spotty. "

"No, I guess remembering is your long suit, Colonel. "

"Well, that's all in a day's work. I didn't forget you, Spotty. Now, as I said, you saved my life. I believe in turning the tables, andthough I can't do for you what you did for me, maybe I can help in away. "

"You kin gamble on that, Colonel!"

"Listen to me, Spotty, " and the detective leaned forward and spoke in alow, tense voice. "Just now, as I say, I'm not in this case. Notbeing a public official, I'm not bound to use what knowledge orsuspicions I have regarding this matter, and I'm not particularlyinterested--as yet. So I'm going to give you a chance, just as yougave me mine now. It isn't exactly the same, for maybe you wouldn'tlose your life. You've been devilishly lucky, and gotten through morenarrow places than I'd ever give you credit for. 

"So it may seem that I'm not quite squaring the account, but it's all Ican do--now. I'm going to give you your chance. I'm not going to askyou any questions. You know what you know and I know what I know. Now, Spotty, streak it out of town as fast as a train can take you, and--_don't come back_!"

Spotty Morgan made little wet rings on the table with his empty glass. A waiter, hovering near by, caught the glint of his eye and brought theliquor. Then Spotty, after a libation, spoke. 

"Colonel, " he said slowly, "most of what you has been spielin' is likethe lawyer guys git off in court. I don't quite tumble, but I take ityou mean you're goin' t' let me go. "

"That's it, Spotty! I'm going to let you go this time!"

"No double crossin'?"

"You know me better than that! I'll give you twenty-four hours to getout of town. After that I may happen to know more than I know now, andit would be my duty--whether I'm officially on the case or not--toarrest you. 

"But now you're free. It's your life and liberty for mine--maybe notquite an even exchange, since you'd have more than even chances if itcame to a trial, I suppose. But it's the best I can do. I'm givingyou this chance. I'd be a dirty dog if I didn't. But remember this, Spotty! I give you only one chance, just as you gave me--just as youtook one and saved me. If I see you again, and this thing hangs overyou, I may have to pull you up. "

"All right, Colonel. That's a square deal. But don't worry. Youwon't see me if I see you first. I didn't dream you'd be after me sosoon for the job I only done last night. I'd oughter cleared out, butI was waitin' for a pal, an--Oh, well, it was just like you to comearound early. "

"Man, don't you understand? I'm not after you! I didn't for aninstant think you had a hand in it until just now. And I'm notadmitting, even yet, that you did have. I haven't done a tap of workon the case, and I'm not going to. My advise to you is to get out oftown before I may get into this thing against my will. Skip, Spotty!It's the only way I can pay my debt to you!"

The colonel made as though to hold out his hand to the freckle-facedman opposite him, and then changed the motion of his arm and picked uphis glass. 

"Skip, Spotty!" he murmured again. 

"All right, Colonel, I will! I know when the goin's good. So long. And--thanks!"

Spotty, still talking through the corner of his mouth, gave a quickglance around the room and slid out of a side door like an eel, disappearing into the rain and mist. 

For some little time the colonel sat before the glasses, in which thecracked ice was rapidly melting. He, too, made little rings of wateron the table. 

"I wonder--" he mused, "I wonder if I did right. "

His hand sought his pocket, and came out empty. 

"I guess I must have left it on the bed, " he murmured. "But I canremember it. "

Then, as though reading from the little green book, he recited:

"But if the old salmon gets to the sea . . . And he recovers hisstrength, and comes next summer to the same river, if it bepossible. . . "

"Spotty is a veritable salmon, " mused the colonel, "even if he isspeckled like a trout. I wonder, if he gets into the sea of New York, if I'll ever be able to land him?

"Well, he gave me my life, and I just _had_ to give him a chance forhis. It was all I could do. Now to fish and forget everything!"

It was a fair morning in April, with the sun just right, with the "windin the west when the fish bite best, " and Colonel Robert Lee Ashley, with the faithful Shag to carry his rods, creel and a lunch basket, sallied forth from his hotel for a day beside a no-very-distant stream, the virtues of which he had heard were most alluring as regarded trout. 

"Shag!" exclaimed the colonel, when they were tramping through a fieldnear the river, having reached that vantage point by a most prosaictrolley car, "this is a beautiful day!"

"It suah am, sah!"

"And I'm going to catch some fine fish!"

"I suah does hope so, Colonel!"

"All right then! Now don't say another word until I speak to you. We'll be there pretty soon, and if there's one thing more than anotherthat I hate, it's to have some one talking when I'm fishing. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"Um! Well, see that you mind!"

Selecting with care a fly from his numerous collection, and hoping theappetites of the fish would incline them to consider it favorably thatmorning, Colonel Ashley proceeded to make his casts, standing not farfrom a bent, gnarled and twisted elm tree, that overhung the bank ofthe stream where the current had cut into the soil, making a deep eddy, in which a lazy trout might choose to lie in wait for some choicemorsel. 

Lightly as a falling feather, the fisherman let his fly come to rest onthe sun-lit water, and, hardly had it sent the first, few faint ripplescircling toward shore than there was a shrill song of the reel, and therod became a bent bow. 

"By the bones of Sir Izaak!" cried the colonel, "I've hooked one, Shag!"

"De Lord be praised! So yo' has, Colonel!" cried the negro. 

"Shut up!" ordered the colonel, who was beginning to play his fish. "Did I tell you to speak?"

But Shag only laughed. He knew his master. 

After ten minutes of skilful work, during which time the trout nearlygot away by shooting under a submerged log like an undersea boat divingbeneath a battle cruiser, the colonel landed his fish, dropping it, panting, on the green grass. Then he looked up at Shag and remarked:

"Didn't I tell you this was a perfectly beautiful day?"

"Yo' suah did, Colonel, " was the chuckling answer. "Yo' suah did!"

And so much at peace with himself and all the world was Colonel RobertLee Ashley just then that, when the crackling of the underbrush behindhim, a moment later, gave notice that some one was approaching, therewas even a smile on his face, though, usually, he could not bear to beintruded upon when fishing. 

Rather idly the colonel, having mercifully killed his fish by a blow ontop of the head and slipped it into the grass-lined creel, looked up tosee approaching a young lady and a tall and somewhat lanky boy. Therewas some thing vaguely familiar about the boy, though the fisherman didnot tax his mind with remembering, then, where or when he had seen himbefore. 

"There he is, " went the words of the boy, as he and the young womancame in sight of the colonel and Shag--but it was at the detective thelad pointed. "There he is!"

The girl rushed impulsively forward, and, as she held out her hands ina voiceless appeal, there was worry and anguish depicted on her face. 

"Are you Colonel Brentnall?" she asked. 

The colonel was sufficiently familiar with his alias not to betraysurprise when it was used. 

"I am, " he said, and the peaceful, joyous look that had come into hiseyes when he had landed his fish gave way to a hard and professionalstare. 

"Oh, Colonel Brentnall! I've come to ask you to help me--help him!You will, won't you? Don't say you won't!"

The girl's face, her blue eyes, the outstretched hands, the very poiseof her lithe, young body voiced the appeal. 

"My dear young lady, " began the colonel. But she interrupted with:

"You're the detective, aren't you?"

"Well--er--I--Say rather _a_ detective, for there are many, and I amonly one. "

"But you are the one from New York?"

"I am though I don't know how you guessed it. I am not hereprofessionally, though--in fact, I've practically retired--and I wouldmuch prefer--"

"But you wouldn't refuse to help any one who needed it, would you? Youwouldn't, I'm sure!" and the girl smiled through the tears in her blueeyes. 

"Oh, of course, as a matter of humanity, I would not refuse to help anyone. But, professionally--well, really, I'm not here in my detectiverole. I really can not consider anything at this time. I don't wantto seem harsh, or impolite, but I can't--"

"Not even for double your usual fee? Listen! I am prepared to paywell for anything you can do for me--and him. My father is well off. I have money in my own right. I'd spend the last dollar of that. Anddad said, when I told him where I was going--Dad said he'd do thesame. We both believe Jimmie is innocent, and we want to prove it toeverybody as soon as we can. That's why I came right on to see you. Icouldn't wait! Oh, perhaps I did wrong, coming this way--I'm sorry ifI've spoiled your fishing. But this is such--such a _big_ thing--itmeans so much to him--to me! I--I--"

She faltered, looking from Shag to the colonel and then to thesympathetic colored man again, for on his face was a look of pity. 

"How did you know I was here?" asked Colonel Ashley. 

"I went to your hotel. The clerk told me you had come to this stream. It's the only good one for trout around here besides the one on myfather's farm. "

"Has your father a trout stream?" and the eyes of the colonel took on akindly gleam. 

"He has, and it's well stocked. But please, won't you help me? Youare the only one who can!"

"I'm not sure of that, my dear young lady. And, really, I hardlyunderstand what it's all about. You say the hotel clerk told you I washere. I can understand that, for I asked him the best way to reachthis place. But how did you know I was a detective and stopping at theAdams House?"

"He told me!" She pointed to the lanky youth. 

The colonel and Shag turned their eyes on him. Shag gave a start ofsurprise. The colonel began to leaf over the brain tablets of hismemory system. He was beginning to place the lad. 

"Mah good land of massy!" ejaculated the negro. "It's de train newsboywhut yo' give a dollar to las' night, Colonel!"

"The one who wanted to sell me a detective story?"

"I'm him, Colonel Brentnall, " answered the lad, a smile of triumphlighting up his face. "Your man told me who you was, and I heard youtell the taxi man where to drive you. I didn't think anything moreabout it until I read about the murder. "

"The murder!" exclaimed the colonel. Somehow that seemed to follow himas a Nemesis. 

"Yes--old Mrs. Darcy--the jewelry store lady, " went on the boy. "Thisyoung lady, " and he nodded toward his companion, "when I told her--"

"Perhaps you had better let me explain, Tom, " broke in the girl. "Yousee it's this way, " she went on, addressing the colonel. "This boy isTom Tracy. He sells papers on the express. He was once a jockey formy father, but he got hurt--stiff arm--and we had to get him somethingelse to do. Dad always looks out for his boys, and so Tom went on theroad. "

"I had to do _something_ that had motion in it, " Tom explained in anaside. 

"Yes, it was as near to horseback riding as he could come, " said thegirl, and she smiled, though the grief did not leave her blue eyes. "Well, as he has told you, he heard who you were, Colonel, from yourman. Then when he read about the murder, and found how--how close homeit came to _me_, he hurried out to our place and said I should engageyou to help--"

"He's the biggest detective in New York!" broke in Tom. "And that'swhat we need--a big New York detective!"

"But what's it all about?" asked the colonel. "This is talking inriddles, though I begin to see a little--"

"I beg your pardon, " said the girl. "I should have told you who I am. My name is Amy Mason, and--"

"Ah! You are engaged to be married to James Darcy, whois--er--detained as a--er--as a _witness_ in the murder of his cousin?"

"I am, " and she seemed to glory in it. "As soon as I heard what hadhappened--to him--I wanted to help. They would not let me see Jimmieat police headquarters, but I sent word that dad and I were going towork for him every minute. "

"That must have cheered him. "

"I hope it did. But I want to do more than that. I want to help him!I want to get the best detective in the country to work on the case andprove that Jimmie didn't do this--this terrible thing of which he isaccused. "

"He isn't exactly accused yet, as I understand it, Miss Mason. "

"Oh, well, it's just as bad. He is suspected. Why, Jimmie wouldn'thave caused Mrs. Darcy a moment of pain, to say nothing of strikingher--killing her! Oh, it's horrible--horrible!" and she covered herface with her hands. 

"I don't quite understand, " began the colonel, "why you came to me, orhow--"

"I told her it was the only thing to do, " broke in the newsboy. "Soonas I read about Carroll and Thong being on the case I knew it wouldtake a fly one to put anything over on them. I tried on the train tosell you a detective book, not knowing who you was. You treated mewhite, and when I heard Miss Mason was in trouble--or her friend was--Isaid to myself right away that you was the one to fix things. I wentout to her farm last night and she was all broke up. "

"It was a terrible shock to me when I heard Jimmie was under arrest, "said the girl. "I didn't know what to do. Tom, here, proposed comingto see you, and when dad heard who you were, though we knew nothing ofyou, he said the same thing. He told me I could have all the money Iwanted, and I have some of my own if his isn't enough. "

"It isn't always a question of money, " began the colonel, gently. 

"I know!" broke in Amy. "But if I add the inducement of all the troutfishing--"

"You are strongly tempting me, my dear young lady. But finish yourstory. "

"Well, there isn't much more to tell. Tom suggested that I come to seeyou and ask you to take Mr. Darcy's case--to prove that he had no handin the murder--for I'm sure he did not. 

"Tom stayed at our house at Pompey all night. I wanted to come to yourhotel at once, but the storm got too bad, so I waited until thismorning, and then we motored in. We found you had gone fishing, and wefollowed you here. It was, perhaps, not just the thing to do. But Iwas so anxious! I want to tell Jimmie that something is being done forhim. You will help us, won't you?" and again she held out her handsappealingly. 

"I don't know anything about police or detectives, " she went on, "butI'm sure there must be some way of proving that my--that Jimmie had nohand in this. Some terrible thief--a burglar--must have killed Mrs. Darcy. Oh, Colonel Brentnall, you will help us--won't you?"

She stood there, a beautiful and pathetic picture. The wind sighedthrough the trees and the murmur of the rippling water filled the air. 

"Please!" she whispered. Her hands seemed to waver. Her body swayed. 

"Shag, you black rascal!" cried the colonel. "The lady's going tofaint! Catch her!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"No! Stand back! I'll attend to her myself! I've given up detectivework, but--"

And a moment later Amy Mason sank limply into the colonel's arms. 

CHAPTER VI

GRAFTON'S SEARCH

The funeral of Mrs. Darcy had been held, attended, as might besupposed, by a large throng of the merely curious, as well as by someof her distant kinsfolk, for she had few near ones. One of therelatives was summoned to take charge of the store and her otherbusiness affairs, for, a formal charge of murder having been madeagainst him, James Darcy was not permitted to attend the finalservices, nor have anything more to do with the jewelry establishment. Harry King, now painfully sober, was likewise held in jail, bail beingfixed, because of his uncertain character, at such a high figure thathe could not secure it. 

The police had been busy, the prosecutor's detectives also, but, sofar, the arrest of Darcy and King had been the only ones made. SingaPhut, whose watch was found clasped in the dead woman's hand, had beenclosely questioned, but had established a perfect _alibi_. 

And the testimony as to this came, not from persons of his ownnationality, but from business men and others, whose words could not bedoubted. So, in the opinion of the authorities, he was not worthconsidering further. He admitted having left his watch at the shop tobe repaired, some days before the murder, and had not called at thestore since, except on the morning of the crime, and some time afterits discovery, to get his timepiece, which, of course, he was not thenallowed to take. 

Darcy had been formally charged with the crime of murder by the policecaptain in whose precinct the happening occurred, and, no bail beingpermissible in murder cases, he must, perforce, remain locked up untilhis indictment and trial. He was transferred from the witness room ofpolice headquarters, the day of the funeral, to the less pleasant jail, and put in a cell, as were the other unfortunates of that institution. 

Jay Kenneth, Darcy's lawyer, a young member of the bar, butenthusiastic and a hard worker, had made a formal entry of a plea ofnot guilty for his client, when the latter had been arraigned beforethe upper court, and had asked for a speedy trial. 

And so, after the first few days of wonder and surmise and ofspeculation as to whether Darcy or King might have committed the crime, or perhaps some desperate burglar, the Darcy case was crowded off thefront page of the newspapers to give way to items of more or less localinterest in Colchester. 

Up and down the narrow cell paced James Darcy. His head was bowed, butat times he raised it to look out through the barred door. All hiseyes encountered, though, was the white-washed wall opposite him--abare, white and glaring wall that made his eyes burn--a wall thatseemed to shut out hope itself--as if it were not enough that it hadbeen at the very bottom of Pandora's box. 

Up and down, down and up, now pausing to take his hands from theirstrained position clasped behind his back that they might grasp thecold bars of his cell door--slim white hands that had set many agleaming jewel in burnished gold or cold, glittering platinum, that itmight grace the person of some sweet woman. And now those whitefingers grasped cold steel, and a keeper, passing up and down on hishalf-hourly rounds, wondered, grimly, if they had been stained with theblood of Mrs. Darcy. 

But though the wall blocked his vision, Darcy saw through and beyondit. He saw the glittering showcases in the store, with their arrays ofcut glass and silver. He saw the gleaming jewels in the safe. 

He saw, too, the stained and keen paper knife which the drunken Kinghad swaggered in to claim that gray morning. He saw the red spot onthe floor--the spot which, even now, in spite of many scrubbings, wasvisible to the men and women who, now that the store was opened forbusiness again, walked in to select some piece of gold or silver, somejewel for their own adornment or that of another. 

And the gray-haired woman, whose pride it had been to display herbeautiful wares to her friends and others, was all alone in a grave farup on the hill--a hill which looked down on Colchester--which lookeddown on the very store itself. 

All of this James Darcy saw, and more. 

There was a brisker step along the flagged corridor in front of thecells of "murderers' row. " Half a dozen men, and one woman, againstwhom such a charge had been made--Darcy among them--looked up with aninterest they had not shown before. Did it mean a visitor for any ofthem? Did it mean their lawyer was coming to bid them cheer up, or totell them it looked black for their chances?

The step was that of the keeper of the outer gate--the larger and moremassively barred gate which gave entrance to the anteroom where, onvisiting days, even those charged with the highest degree of crime werepermitted to see their friends, relatives or counsel. 

"Some one to see you, Darcy!" called the keeper. 

There was the clang of the lock mechanism, and the door swung open. Darcy's eyes brightened, those of the others in the same tier of cellswith him which, for the moment had lighted up, grew dull again. 

"My lawyer?" asked Darcy. 

"Yes. And there's a lady with him. "

"A lady?"

"Yes. Come on!"

Darcy caught sight of Amy before she saw him, for he approached frombehind a line of other prisoners exercising in the space before theircells. She was with Kenneth. 

"Amy!" exclaimed Darcy, as he was allowed to step out into theanteroom, closely followed by a keeper, while a detective from theprosecutor's office stood near. "Amy!" and his eyes flowed. 

"Jimmie boy!"

To the eternal credit of the keeper and the detective be it said that, at this moment, they found something of great interest in the calendarthat hung on the opposite wall, while Kenneth talked earnestly with thewarden. And the prisoners beyond the barred door were too busy withtheir exercise to look around. 

"Jimmie boy!"

"Amy! You--you don't--"

"Of course I don't! Didn't I tell you so in my letter?"

"Yes, but--"

"Now, that isn't the way to talk, especially when I have come to bringyou good news. "

"Good news? You mean your father--"

"Oh, it isn't about dad! I told you he was as firm a believer in youas I am--that he said he'd 'go the limit, ' if you know what that means, to get you free. Jimmie boy, when dad likes a person he likes him!"

"I hope his daughter does the same. "

"Don't you know--_Jimmie_ boy?"

The warden, the detective, the keeper and the lawyer--all now seemedinterested in that prosaic calendar. 

Amy had had but little chance to speak to Darcy since, his arrest. Inpolice headquarters he was kept in seclusion except as to his lawyer, and events had followed one another so rapidly that there had been noother opportunity until now, though the girl had sent him a hasty notein which she said she knew he was innocent and that everything possiblewas being done for him. 

"And now, Jimmie, for the good news. I have engaged the best detectivein this country for you, " and she beckoned to the lawyer to comeforward. 

"The best detective?"

"Yes. You need one as well as a lawyer. They're going to worktogether--aren't you, Mr. Kenneth?"

"Indeed a detective can help us best at this stage of the game, Ithink, Mr. Darcy, " was the lawyer's answer. "I can look after thecourt proceedings, when it comes time for them, but what we want mostis evidence tending to show that some one else, and not you, committedthis crime. "

"As, most assuredly was the case!" and for the first time in daysDarcy's voice had its old ring and vigor in it. 

"Of course, Jimmie boy, " murmured Amy. "Now let me tell you all aboutit. They say I can't stay very long, so I'll have to talk fast, andyou must listen--mostly. Now what do you say to--Colonel Ashley?" andAmy looked triumphantly at her lover. 

"Colonel Ashley?"

"Yes. As the detective who is going to help prove you innocent bydiscovering the real--ugh! I hate to say it--_murderer_?"

"Why, Colonel Ashley is one of the greatest detectives in the UnitedStates--at least, he used to be. He must be pretty old now. "

"I know he is--but not too old to take hold. Now when he comes--"

"But, Amy, my dear! You can't get _him_! Why, he's not only one ofthe highest-priced detectives in the country, but he's retired I'veread, and I doubt if he'd take a case--"

"He's going to take _your_ case, Jimmie boy!" and Amy smiled. 

"But how--how--"

"I think we'll have to give Miss Mason credit for a whole lot in thismatter, " broke in Kenneth. "She surprised me when she told me. And Iwant to say that when the colonel gets going we'll have you out of herein short order, Mr. Darcy!"

"But I don't understand--"

"That's what I came to tell you about, Jimmie boy! Now just keep quietand listen!"

Thereupon Amy went on to relate all that had happened when she soughtout the fisherman at the trout brook--how she had been cared for by himand Shag after her faint, and how, after some persuasion, the greatdetective had agreed to take up the matter of seeking out the realmurderer of Mrs. Darcy. 

"He came here under a different name, " Amy continued, "for he did notwant to be bothered with work. But Tom--he's the little jockey dad gota place for as train-boy--met him on the express and learned that thecolonel was the great detective. Then Tom came and told me when heread of your--of your--"

"Oh, say _arrest_, Amy! I'm getting hardened to it by now. "

"Well, then, your--arrest. I hate the word! Tom came and told me andsaid we must get Colonel Brentnall at once. That was the name he used, but, now he has consented to take your case, he's Colonel Ashley again. "

"And what am I to do, Amy?"

"Just what he tells you--nothing more or less. Tell him everythingfrom the beginning to the end. All about your quarrel with Mrs. Darcy--I read in the papers you had one. Was that so?"

"Yes, and, I am sorry to say, it was partly about you. "

"I don't mind, Jimmie boy. I know it couldn't have been very bad. "

"It wasn't. She--well, she sneered at you for thinking of marryingme--a poor man--and--"

"As if money counted, Jimmie boy!" cried the girl fondly. 

"I know. But it angered me, I admit. However, nothing more came ofthat. And as for her finding fault with me about my electric lathe, and about the money she owed me--well, that was a sort of periodicdisagreement. "

"Tell the colonel all about it. "

"I will. And are you sure your father--"

"Dad's with me in this--with me and you! He'd have come to see youhimself to-day, but I said I wanted to see you first. He'll be alongsoon. So you see, Jimmie boy, things aren't so bad as they seem, though I hate it that you should be in this horrible place. "

"It is horrible, Amy. But now that I know you--you haven't given meup--"

"Don't _dare_ say such a thing, Jimmie boy!" and the girl's eyessparkled with a new light. 

"Well, it won't be so horrible from now on. And is the colonel reallygoing to take my case?"

"Really and truly! I told him he _had_ to if he wanted to fish indad's trout stream, " and she laughed--a strange sound in that gloomyplace. 

Then they talked about many things. James Darcy had read much ofColonel Ashley's achievements in detective work, and the very magic ofthe name was enough to give a prisoner courage. 

Soon it was time to leave, after Kenneth had conferred briefly with hisclient. The prisoner went back to his little cell with a happier lookon his face than when he had left it. 

As for Colonel Ashley, after he had revived Amy from her faint at thestream, he had told Shag to take apart the fishing rod. 

"For, Shag, I guess I won't be needing it for a week or so, " said theold detective, and there was a mingling of two emotions in his voice. 

"Uh, ah!" murmured Shag, as, carefully, he put away the delicate rodand reel. "It's either fishin' or detectin' wif de colonel, dat's whutit suah am! Fishin' or detectin'! De colonel ain't one dat kin carrywatermelons on bof shoulders!"

Returning from his fishing trip with the one, lone specimen, ColonelAshley, having escorted Amy Mason to her automobile, went back to thehotel with Shag. 

"I might have known how it would be, Shag, " he remarked, almostmournfully. "I might have known I'd run into something when I camehere for rest. "

"Dat's right, Colonel. Yo' suah might! But who does yo' s'pect diddish yeah killin'?"

"It's too early yet to tell, Shag, and you know I don't make anypredictions. I want to get a few more facts. "

This the colonel proceeded to do. First having had himself accreditedas working in Darcy's behalf by being introduced by the accused man'slawyer, the detective paid a visit to the jewelry store. The place wasin charge of Thomas Kettridge, a half uncle to Mrs. Darcy. 

The place had been opened for business again after the funeral, andcustomers came in, carefully avoiding the place where a dark staincould be seen in the floor--a stain made all the more conspicuousbecause of the light-colored boards about it. 

The colonel made a careful examination of the premises, and haddescribed to him the exact position of the body, being told all thatwent on that tragic morning. 

It was after this, and following some busy hours spent in various partsof the city, that the defective sent to one of his trusted men in NewYork this telegram:

"Spotty Morgan's vacation is over. Have him spend a few days with youuntil I can invite him to my country place. "

"I hate to do it, after what he did for me, " mused the colonel with asigh. "But business is business from now on. I'm officially in thecase, and I wasn't before. "

Having sent the somewhat cryptic message, the old detective sat in hisroom and took from his pocket a little green book. 

"Well, old friend, I guess I'm not going to have much use for you fromnow on, " he remarked dolefully. He glanced to where his rods and flieswere gathering dust. "Nor you, either, " he went on. "Now for a lastglimpse--"

He opened the book and read:

"And now I shall tell you that the fishing with a natural fly isexcellent and affords much pleasure. "

"It won't do!" ejaculated the colonel as he closed the book and threwit aside. 

One matter puzzled the colonel as well as the other detectives. Therewas no sign of the jewelry store having been entered from the outside, so that if a stranger had come in he must have done so when the doorswere unlocked or made a false key, or else he had forced a passage soskilfully as to leave not a sign. 

Of course this was possible, and it added to the inference of some thata burglar, used to such work, had entered the place, and, beingdetected at work by Mrs. Darcy, had killed her. 

However, there was not so much as a cuff button missing, as far ascould be learned after the contents of the store had been checked up, though of course an intruder might have been frightened off before hehad taken anything. 

Many of Darcy's friends could not help but admit that appearances wereagainst him. He and his cousin had quarreled, somewhat bitterly, overmoney, and about his refusal to give up work on his electric lathe. There was also King's testimony about words over Amy, though Darcycontended that this talk was nothing more than his relative hadindulged in before regarding the unsuitableness of the match. Darcyadmitted resenting his cousin's imputation. 

All this Colonel Ashley had taken into consideration before he sent thetelegram. And, having done that, and having had a talk with Darcy atthe jail, as well as a consultation with the lawyer, having visitedHarry King and seen Singa Phut, the detective paid another visit to thejewelry shop. 

"And what can I do for you to-day, Colonel?" asked Mr. Kettridge, who, by this time, had the business running smoothly again. "Have yougotten any further into the mystery?"

"Not as far as I would like to get. I'm going to browse about here abit, if you have no objection. "

"Not at all. Make yourself at home. "

"I will. First, I'd like to see that statue--the one of the hunter, with which it is supposed Mrs. Darcy was struck. "

"Oh, that is at the prosecutor's office--that and Harry King'sunfortunate paper knife. "

"So they are. I had forgotten. Well, I'll look about a bit then. Don't pay any attention to me. I'll go and come as I please. "

And so he went, seemingly rather idly about the jewelry store, lookingand listening. 

It was not until the third day of his surveillance, during whichpassage of time he had waited anxiously for a message from New Yorkwithout getting it, that the colonel felt his patience was about to berewarded. The detective was a fisherman in more ways than one. 

Trade had been rather brisk in the shop--possibly because of gruesomecuriosity--when, one afternoon, a man entered who seemed to knowseveral in the place. Yet he did not talk with them, beyond a merepassing of the time of day, but went about nervously from showcase tocounter and repeated the journey. When Mr. Kettridge asked him at whathe desired to look he replied there was nothing in particular--that hehad in mind a gift, but, as yet, had decided on nothing. 

"Look about as you please, " was the courteous invitation he received, and the man availed himself of it. 

Of medium build, yet with the appearance of having lived more in theopen than does the average man, his face had, yet, a strange pallor notin keeping with his robust frame. And his manner was certainly nervous. 

"Now what, " mused the colonel to himself, "is _he_ fishing for?"

That day there was more than the usual number of people in thestore--many of them undoubtedly curiosity seekers, who came into pricecertain articles ostensibly, but who, really, wanted to stare at theplace where the bloodstains had been scrubbed away. 

And at this spot the robust man stared longer than did some of theothers, the colonel thought. Did he hope that some spirit of the poor, murdered woman might still be lingering there, to whisper to him whathe sought to learn?

"Who is that man?" asked Colonel Ashley of Mr. Kettridge, who had oftencome to the shop during the holiday seasons to help Mrs. Darcy. 

"Oh, that's Mr. Grafton. "

"Mr. Grafton? Who is he?"

"Aaron Grafton, one of Colchester's best and wealthiest citizens. Heowns the Emporium. "

"That big department store?"

"Yes. He has built it up from a small establishment. I have known hima number of years, and he knew Mrs. Darcy quite well. He often haspurchased diamonds here, though he is not married, and I don't knowthat he is engaged--rather late in life, too, for him to be consideringthat. "

"Oh, well, you never can tell, " and the colonel smiled. 

"So that is Aaron Grafton!" he mused. "Well, Mr. Grafton, in spite ofthe well known reputation you bear, I think you will stand a littlewatching. I must not neglect the smallest clew in a case like this. Yes, decidedly, I think you will bear watching!"

For at that moment the merchant, after another round of the store, seeking for something it seemed he could not find, turned and hurriedout, a much-troubled look on his face. Colonel Ashley followed. 

CHAPTER VII

THE COLONEL IS SURPRISED

"This, " said Colonel Ashley to himself, as he glided rapidly along thestreet, "is very much like old times--very much! I never expected todo any shadowing again. What's that Walton says about man proposingand Providence disposing? Or was it Walton? I must look it up. Meanwhile--"

Continuing his musing, and with a satisfied smile on his face, a smilethat might indicate that the colonel was not so very much averse togiving over his fishing for the time being to take up his professiononce more, he followed Aaron Grafton as the merchant left the jewelrystore. 

"I wonder, " mused the colonel, "what his object was in coming to theDarcy place, and nosing around as he did? There must have been someobject. A man such as he is doesn't do things like that for fun. Andit wasn't mere curiosity, either. If it was, he'd have been at theplace before, when the evidences of the crime were there to be staredat by those who care for such things. 

"And that Aaron Grafton hasn't been there since I was forced into thisthing, I'm positive. For I _was_ forced into it, " grumbled the olddetective. "I just couldn't resist the pleading of her eyes. It isn'tthe first time a man has made a fool of himself over a woman, and itwon't be the last. But maybe I'll make fools of some of these folks, instead of being made a fool of myself. Fooled out of my fishingthough. By gad! that's what I have been!

"But no matter. I must see what friend Aaron is up to and what hislittle game is. Of course, he may have been at the store the day ofthe murder--before I arrived. I must ask Darcy about that. Poor lad, he's in tough luck--just when he ought to be thinking of gettingmarried. Well, I'll do what I can. "

There were few tricks known to modern detectives of which ColonelAshley was not master, among them being the ability to disguisehimself--not by clumsy beards and false moustaches, though he used themat times--but by a few simple alterations to his face and carriage. 

Of course costume played its part when needed, but the time had not yetcome for that. He was now following Grafton without the latter beingaware of it--no very difficult matter in a city the size of Colchester, and on one of its main streets. 

"I think I want to know a little more about him, " mused the colonel. "I'd like to have a talk with him, and see how he acts. But I won'tchance that yet. I'll play 'possum for a while. "

Having followed his man to the latter's store, and even inside it, where he made a trifling purchase, and having seen Mr. Grafton enterhis private office, the detective paid a visit to Darcy in the jail. 

"How is she, Colonel?" were the first words of the prisoner, when theywere in the warden's office with a detective from the prosecutor'soffice seated a few chairs away. It was only under such arrangementsthat visitors were allowed to see the jewelry worker. "How is Amy?"

"Why, she's very well, the last I saw of her. But I came to talk aboutsomething else. "

"I suppose so. This horrible affair. But she still believes in me, doesn't she?" he asked eagerly. 

"As much so as I do, my boy!"

"Thank God for that! I don't know what I'd do if she went back on me!I wouldn't want to live!"

"Tush! Nonsense! Don't get sentimental!"

"I can't help it, Colonel. But as long as Amy thinks I didn't do thishorrible thing--and God knows I didn't--and as long as you believe inme--why I can stand it. Maybe it won't be for long. "

"Well, there's no use buoying you up with false hopes, Darcy. You'llprobably be here all summer. "

"I shan't mind if I'm proved innocent at last. "

"I hope we can manage that all right. "

"Then you do believe in me, Colonel?"

"Of course I do! Otherwise, I wouldn't take up your case. Now don'ttalk too much. I want to ask you a few questions. Answer them, and asbriefly as possible. I'll get you out of here as soon as I can. If Ihadn't been as slow as a carp I might have the right man here now inyour place. "

"What do you mean, Colonel?"

"Eh? What's that? Did I say anything?" and the detective seemedroused from a reverie, for he had spoken his last remarks in a lowvoice. 

"You spoke about a carp--the right man--"

"Oh, I--I was just thinking of something in Walton. Never mind me. It's a bad habit I've been acquiring lately of thinking aloud. Now tobusiness!" and the colonel drew some papers from his pocket. 

Darcy looked at his new friend in some surprise. Certainly the colonelhad spoken as though he might, at one time, have had a chance to getthe "right man. " Did that mean the real murderer?

Darcy shook his head. His nerves were beginning to go back on him hefeared. 

"Do you know Aaron Grafton?" asked the colonel. 

"Oh, yes, " replied Darcy. "Every one in town knows him as one of theprominent merchants. "

"Was he at the store the day of the--the day Mrs. Darcy was killed?"

"I don't remember. So many things happened--there were so many in theplace. As I think back, though, I don't remember seeing him. "

"Very good. Did he ever do any business with you--I mean buy anythingin the store?"

"Why yes, I think very possibly he might. Most every one of prominencein Colchester, at one time or another, has made purchases in ourstore--some more, some less. No particular purchase made by Graftonstands out in my mind, however. "

"How about having his watch repaired?"

"I'd remember, I think, if I had fixed his watch. I'm sure I didn't. He has a fine one, for I've seen him stop in front of our window andcompare his time with our chronometer. "

"I see. Now another matter. Can you, in any way, account for the factthat so many of the clocks in the store--clocks that, as I understandit, ordinarily go for many days--stopped at different hours the nightof the killing? Can you explain that?"

Somewhat to the surprise of the colonel Darcy was silent for a moment. Then the young man slowly answered:

"No. No, I can't explain it. I don't know what did it. "

"Well, then I'll have to fish on that alone, I guess. I thought you, knowing a lot about clock-works, might have some explanation. You knowmost of the timepieces _were_ stopped--all of them, in fact, except thewatch in your cousin's hand?"

"Yes, I remarked that at the time. That watch was going. "

"Yes, so you told me--you thought it was her heart beating. "

"I wish, oh, how I wish, it _had_ been!" exclaimed Darcy in tones ofdespair. "If it had been I wouldn't be here. But it's too late tothink of that now. "

"Do you happen to know what became of that watch--the one in her hand?It belonged to an East Indian, you said. "

"Yes, to Singa Phut. I was to make one little adjustment in it forhim, and he was to come in early to get it. It wasn't much. The hairspring, I think, had become caught up and it ran very fast. I plannedto do it the night before, but the light was too poor. So I made up mymind to get up early and attend to it. But I never got the chance. No, I don't recall what happened to that watch. I suppose thedetectives have it. "

"The prosecutor did take it, but Singa Phut has it now. "

"He has!" cried Darcy. 

"Yes, he called at the court house and begged that it be given to him. Said it was an ancient timepiece, which he had owned for many years, and as it could have no connection with the crime they let him take it. "

"Oh, well, I suppose that was all right. No, Singa Phut didn't have athing to do with the killing, I'm positive of that. "

"And his _alibi_ is perfect, " said the colonel. "Well, I guess you'vetold me all I want to know. You haven't any reason to suspect any one, have you, Darcy?"

"Not a soul! God knows I wouldn't want to name any one, either, muchas I'd like to get out Of here myself. "

"Mrs. Darcy had no enemies?"

"Not a one in the world that I know of. She was a friendly woman. Ofcourse, that was good business policy. No, she had no enemies. Mostpeople liked her. "

"So I've heard. Well, we'll get at the truth somehow. Now brace up. "

"I'm trying to, Colonel. "

"Well, try harder. When I go to see Miss Mason--"

"You are going to see Amy?" cried the prisoner eagerly. 

"Yes. But if I have to tell her you looked as though you had lostevery last friend you had in the world--"

"It's all right, Colonel. Tell her you saw me--laughing!" and Darcydid manage to utter what _might_ pass for a laugh. It was a goodattempt. 

"Good! That's better, though there's room for improvement, " said thedetective. "Now, I'll leave you. I have lots to do. "

"I'm sorry. Colonel, to put you to all this trouble--"

"Pooh! Now I'm in it there's no trouble that's too much. I'll getabout the same fun out of this as I would if I fished--and I'll fishwith greater enjoyment later on--when I've cleared you. "

"I hope you do, Colonel. And if there's anything I can do--"

"Thanks, but Miss Mason has already arranged to have me whip herfather's trout stream when this case is over, and that's reward enoughfor me. Now, sir, one last word to you!" and the colonel assumed themilitary appearance that so well befitted him. "Stop worrying!"

"I'll try, Colonel!"

"Don't try--do it. "

"One question. "

"Well, one only. What is it?

"Do you think Mr. Grafton--"

The detective smiled and shook his finger at Darcy. 

"You just let _me_ do the thinking!" he advised as he turned to go out. 

Colonel Ashley spent two busy days, most of his time being given overto investigating Aaron Grafton. And the more he saw of that gentlemanthe more the detective became convinced that the merchant knewsomething of the crime. 

"I wouldn't admit, even to myself, " mused the colonel, "that he had ahand in it, or that he was an accessory before or after. But hecertainly knows something about it, and enough to make him worry. That's what Aaron Grafton is doing--worrying. And he's worrying aboutsomething that ought to be in the jewelry shop and isn't. Now, what isit?"

This, very evidently, was something for Colonel Ashley to discover, andwith all his skill he set himself to this task. For the time being hedropped several other ends--tangled ends of the skein he hoped tounravel--and devoted his time to Grafton. And, at the end of two daysthe detective learned that the merchant was going to make a hurriedtrip to New York--a trip not directly connected with his store, forthose trips were made at other times of the year. 

"Well, if he goes to New York I go too!" said the colonel grimly. 

And he went, on the same train with Aaron Grafton, though unknown tothe latter. 

It was a skilful bit of shadowing the detective did on the journey tothe metropolis, so skilful that, though the merchant plainly showed byhis nervousness that he thought he might have been followed, he didnot, seemingly, suspect the quiet man seated not far from him, readinga little green book. The colonel had adopted a simple but effectivedisguise. 

In New York, which was reached early in the morning, after a nightjourney, the colonel again took up the trail, keeping near his man. 

"Follow that taxi, " the colonel ordered the driver of his machine as itrolled out of the Pennsylvania station, just a few lengths behind theone in which Grafton rode. 

The following was well done, and, a little later the two machines drewup in front of the big office building in which Colonel Ashley had hisheadquarters. 

"Whew!" whispered the follower of Izaak Walton, "I wonder if he camehere to consult my agency?"

All doubts were dissolved a moment later when, keeping somewhat in thebackground, the detective heard the merchant ask the elevator starteron which floor were the offices of Colonel Ashley's detective agency. 

"He _does_ want to see me!" excitedly thought the colonel. "What inthe world for? This is getting interesting! I've got to do a littlefine work now. He must never suspect, at least for a while, that Ihave been in Colchester. "

Next to the elevator in which Aaron Grafton rode up was another. 

"Tom, you're an express for the time being!" whispered the colonel tothe operator. "There's a man headed for my offices, and I must get inahead of him. Here's a dollar!"

"I get you, Colonel! Shoot!"

And the car shot up with speed enough to cause the colonel to gasp, used as he was to rapid motion. 

He had just time to slide into his quarters by a rear and private door, to make certain changes in his appearance and be calmly sitting at hisdesk smoking a cigar when his clerk brought in the card of AaronGrafton. 

"Tell him to come in, " said the colonel, more and more surprised at theturn affairs were taking. "I'll see this man myself, " he continued, speaking to the man into whose hands he had put the general directionof the agency. "Say to Mr. Grafton, " he said, turning to the clerk, "that Colonel Ashley will see him in a moment. "

CHAPTER VIII

THE DIAMOND CROSS

"Colonel Ashley?" There was a formal, questioning note in themerchant's voice. 

"That is my name, yes, sir. Er--Mr. Grafton, " and, as though torefresh his memory, the colonel glanced at the card on his desk. 

"You are a private detective?"

"Yes. "

Mr. Grafton was evidently sparring for time. He seemed uneasy--helooked uneasy, and it required no very astute mind to know that he wasuneasy--out of his element. 

"For all the world like a gasping fish on the bank, " was the simile thecolonel used. 

"I have a case I wish you would take up for me, " went on the merchant. "It is somewhat peculiar. "

"Most cases that come to us are, " and the colonel smiled. 

"And it is delicate. "

"I could say that of nearly every one, also. "

"So that I may rely on your silence and--er--discretion?"

"Sir!"

The colonel fairly bristled. 

"I beg your pardon! I should not have asked that. But I am all upsetover this matter. "

"Then, sir, let me ease your mind by stating that whatever you tell mewill be in strict confidence, as far as lies in my power to so observeit. I can not compound a felony, so if you have in mind the disclosureof anything that would incriminate you--"

"Incriminate me?"

"Yes, or involve you in any way. If you have anything like that inmind please don't tell me about it. I should feel obliged to make useof my knowledge. But if it is a matter in which you wish my advice, then--"

"I certainly _do_ need advice, Colonel. I have often heard you spokenof, and I have read of more than one of your cases. So when I got inthis--well, I may as well call it trouble--I at once thought of you. Iam fortunate, I believe, in seeing Colonel Ashley, himself, who, Iunderstood, had retired, or perhaps is about to retire. I came hereprepared to pay any reasonable amount, " and the merchant drew out hiswallet. 

The colonel held up a protesting hand. 

"Please don't--not yet, " he said. "I can not accept a retaining feeuntil I have heard more of your case. It may be that I can not serveyou. Give me some inkling of what you want. I hope you are not inserious trouble. "

"It is serious--for me. "

"Then I hope I can help you. Please be as frank as you think best. The franker you are, the fewer questions I shall have to ask. Go on. "

"Well then, I want to find a certain valuable diamond cross. "

"A diamond cross?"

"Yes. I don't know just what it is worth, but I believe a smallfortune. "

"And was it stolen from you?"

"No. Though I do own a store where jewelry is sold, we don't carry anexpensive line. This cross belonged to a friend of mine. She had iton when we were out walking together, and--well, it became damaged andI asked her to let me take it to have it repaired. "

"Nothing very complicated or troublesome in that. I suppose the crosswas stolen from you while it was temporarily in your possession, andyou don't like to let your friend know, for fear she may suspect you. Such things have happened. Did you ever read de Maupassant's 'DiamondNecklace?'"

"I never did. "

"I'd advise you to. Also Walton. "

"Is he a jeweler?"

"Lord, no! But I beg your pardon. Let us keep to the subject. So youdon't dare tell your friend the diamond cross is gone?"

"Oh, yes, she knows it. "

"Then why the worry, except about getting it back?"

"Well, there are complications. You see her husband--"

"Oh, ho!"

There was a world of meaning in that exclamation. Aaron Grafton turneda deep red and bit his lips. Colonel Ashley saw his annoyance. 

"Look here!" exclaimed the old detective. "I really shouldn't havesaid that. But we detectives are used to all sorts of complications, and, more than once, they have to do with women. Often enough there isnothing more serious than a little indiscretion, but I can see whereoutsiders might make trouble--particularly _husbands_. I take it thenthat you and the lady were out together without her husband knowing it. "

"I _hope_ he doesn't know of it, for though, on my honor, there wasnothing wrong in our being together, it might be hard to make _him_believe that. "

"I quite agree with you--particularly if he were jealous, as manyhusbands are. So you want me to try to get this diamond cross, belonging to the married lady, back for you without her husband knowinganything about it?"

"That's it!"

"Where were you when you were robbed of it?"

"I wasn't robbed of it. I never said I was. "

"Oh, I beg your pardon, I must have inferred that. Please go on, and, if you don't mind my asking you, kindly get to the point. "

"I beg your pardon. Perhaps I am beating about the bush. Well, I'llbe as frank as I can. Do you want me to give names?"

"It would be better, since I already know yours. I shall keep them instrict confidence, however, now that I am fairly well assured there isno ulterior motive in your visit to me. Proceed. "

"Well, then, the diamond cross, which is worth I don't know how manythousand dollars, belongs to Mrs. Cynthia Larch, the wife of LangfordLarch, who keeps a large hotel in--"

"Colchester! I know the place. Go on!" interrupted Colonel Ashley. "I have stopped there on fishing trips, " he added, as his caller lookeda bit surprised. 

"Oh, I didn't know that. Well, this was Mrs. Larch's cross. It is afamily heirloom I believe, though many suppose her husband gave it toher for a wedding present. That is not so, however. I know Cynthiahad the cross before she was married. "

"You call her Cynthia?"

"I have known her since we were both children. "

"I see. Pray go on. "

"In fact we were sweethearts, " continued Grafton, "and were engaged. But the match was broken off by her father. I was only a strugglingclerk then, and never dreamed I would get on as I have. Nor did she, Ifancy, though she was willing to take me as I was. But her folks madetrouble. They brought such pressure to bear on her that she gave inand married Larch, who was and is wealthy, but whose social positionwas beneath hers. 

"Don't think I am telling you this out of mere jealousy, " Aaron Graftonwent on, and his manner was earnest. "I loved her deeply andsincerely. I do yet, but in a way that is perfectly right. I have nottold her so--but--" He was silent a moment. 

"I went away after she threw me over, " he resumed. "I couldn't standit to be near her and see her going out--with him. But I came back. Though the old wound still hurt, I tried not to let her see. We becamefriends again--in fact we had never ceased to be friends. 

"Perhaps I have acted foolishly, but, of late, I have seen her quiteoften. I began to feel that her married life was not happy. I tookpains to enquire, and learned that it was not. I tried to make her alittle happier by talking to her. Once or twice she met me and wewalked together in the woods. "

The colonel looked sharply at his caller. 

"Oh, for God's sake don't put any wrong construction on it! I'd givemy very life to make her happy, and do you think I'd--"

"I don't doubt you for a moment, sir!"

"Thank you, " said Mr. Grafton. "It is good to know that there is stillsome truth and honor in the world and that a man and woman can befriends though the circumstances seem peculiar. "

He paused a moment to overcome his emotion and resumed:

"Well, Cynthia and I are friends--good friends. It was to talk overwhat course was best for her to pursue under certain circumstances thatshe and I walked out together. We went in secret, for there aregossiping and wagging tongues in Colchester as elsewhere, and if I, theleading merchant in the town, was seen to be alone with pretty CynthiaLarch, whose husband was a friend of judges and politicians whofrequent his hotel, there would be talk little short of scandal. "

"I quite agree with you. So you walked in secret?"

"Yes. And it was while we were out together that the cross she waswearing became unfastened and fell. I most clumsily, stepped on it, greatly marring the setting. 

"She was distressed, of course, but I said I would take it to ajeweler's and have it repaired without any one being the wiser. Sheagreed that was best. So I took it--"

"To Mrs. Darcy's place, and she was found murdered!" broke in the olddetective quickly. 

Aaron Grafton started from his chair. 

"How in the name of Heaven did you know that?" he cried. "I thoughtthat not a soul but I knew it. I did not even tell Cynthia!"

"The explanation is simple, " said the colonel. "I will be almost asfrank with you as you have been with me. I know more about you thanyou think. Wait a moment. "

The colonel stepped into a closet. He made a few rapid changes in hisclothing and took off a tiny bit of eyebrow, which had been added tohis own a short time before. Then he confronted the merchant. 

"The man I saw in the jewelry store!" gasped Grafton. "I remember, now, seeing you there the day I went to look for the diamond cross. "

"And didn't find it, " said the detective. "I wondered what soperturbed you, but now I know. At first I did think you might knowsomething of the murder--"

"God forbid!" said the merchant earnestly and reverently. 

"Amen!" echoed the colonel. "You have told such a straightforwardstory that I can not doubt you. That is why I revealed myself to you. But you must keep my secret if I am to help you. I am known inColchester as Colonel Brentnall, having registered at the hotel underthat name. I will keep that name for the present. I followed youhere--in fact, I only entered this office a minute or two ahead of you. So it was to find the diamond cross you visited the store of themurdered woman?"

"Yes. When I had damaged the cross by stepping on it, I thought my oldfriend, Mrs. Darcy, would be the best one to keep my secret. I tookthe cross to her the night before she was killed, and she promised tohave her cousin fix it without telling him whose it was and get it backto me, secretly, in a day or so. 

"I thought Cynthia could then wear it again without her husband knowingit had ever been out of her possession. But the murder changed all myplans. As soon as I could, I went to the shop to look for the cross. I thought perhaps it might have been put in one of the showcases, orlaid on the shelf, perhaps forgotten. Really I was so distressed, Ididn't know what to think. I did not want to tell any one what I waslooking for, so I went about quietly. But I could not find it. Then Iwas obliged to ask Darcy about it, secretly, of course, and withouthinting as to the ownership. 

"But he had never seen it. He said Mrs. Darcy had not given it to him, nor asked him to repair it. Nor was it in the shop, as far as he knew, and he went over all the stock to furnish a list to the police, so theycould tell whether or not there had been a robbery. "

"And there was none?"

"None, unless you call the taking of the diamond cross a theft. Forthat alone is missing. And I'd give half my fortune to get it back. Cynthia's husband may ask about it at any moment, and what excuse canshe give?"

"It is rather a ticklish matter, " agreed the detective. "Well, I'llsee what I can do. First I thought you wanted me to work on the murdercase. But as I am already engaged on that, to try to clear Darcy, Ican as well include the diamond cross mystery also. I wonder if theyhave any connection. "

"I don't see how they can have. Mrs. Darcy may merely have put thecross away secretly, and it may take a careful search of the place tofind it. "

"Maybe so. I'll have to nose around a bit. "

There came a knock on the office door. 

"Come!" called out the colonel. 

His clerk handed him a telegram. Tearing it open the detective read amessage from one of his agents in a distant western city: It said:

"Spotty Morgan arrested here to-day. Big diamond cross found on him. Do you want him?"

"Do I want him?" fairly yelled the colonel. "I should say I did!Here, get me Blake on the long distance. This is no time for a wire. I've got to telephone!" And he hurried to a private booth in a backoffice, leaving Grafton to himself. 

After he had telephoned. Colonel Ashley sat in silence in the booth, musing. 

"Now I wonder, " he said to himself, "if Grafton is telling me thetruth. Almost any one would believe his story--it sounds straightenough--and yet I can't take any chances. I guess I mustn't lose sightof you, Aaron Grafton. 

"And perhaps Larch isn't so bad a chap as you'd have me believe. Trusta disgruntled lover for saying the worst about the other chap. Yes, Ican't afford to take any chances. You may know a bit more about thismurder than you're telling me, even considering the latest from myfriend Spotty. Yes, you may be playing a double game, Mr. AaronGrafton. "

CHAPTER IX

INDICTED

"Well, Spotty, I've got to hand it to you! Certainly you did put oneover on me!"

"Not intentional, Colonel. So help me--not intentional!"

"Well, maybe not, but I've got to hand it to you. If I didn't knowthat slip of mine in front of the truck was pure accident, I'd say youstaged it just to make a good get-away. "

"I couldn't do that, Colonel. "

"I don't know, Spotty. You're a clever kid. "

"But I couldn't do that. I was on the level in saving you. You've gotto give me credit for that, " pleaded the gunman. 

"I know you were, Spotty. And that's why I gave you a chance to getaway. But I never thought it was for a job like this--murder. "

"And it wasn't, Colonel--it wasn't! So help me, I never laid eyes onthe old lady--dead or alive! Murder? I should say not!"

"Then how did you get that diamond cross? Answer me!"

Colonel Ashley, with a dramatic gesture, pointed to the glitteringornament that lay on the table between him and the New York crook. Thestones glittered in the electric lights of police headquarters, for itwas there, in the distant city, that this talk took place. 

Confirming over the long distance telephone the news given in hisagent's telegram, Colonel Ashley, without having revealed to Graftonwhat new development had occurred, had made a quick trip to Lango, where Spotty, in response to a quiet but general alarm sent out, hadbeen arrested. 

A diamond cross had been found in his possession, and was bent andflattened--crushed by some heavy foot--though all the stones wereintact. 

Spotty admitted that the ornament might be the very one wanted, but heabsolutely refused to tell how he had come by it. He was mostemphatic, however, in denying that he had taken it from Mrs. Darcy, orthat he had even seen her or been to her store. 

"I'm a bad man, Colonel, you know that, and maybe if I was to go to thechair--or the rope, according, to where I was caught--I wouldn't begetting any more than was comin' to me. But, so help me, I nevercroaked that old lady!"

"Then how did you get that cross?"

"I won't tell you!"

"I'll make you, Spotty!" and there was a dangerous glint in the eyes ofthe colonel. 

"You can't!" defied the crook. "There ain't a man livin' that can! Goon with your third degree if you want to!" he sneered. "But for everyblow you strike--for every hour you keep me awake when I'm dead forsleep--you'll be sorry, Colonel! You'll be sorry when you think ofwhat might have happened back there in Colchester!"

"Spotty, you're right!" faltered the colonel. "I almost wish youhadn't saved me. I've got to do my duty! I've got to break you ifneed be, Spotty, to get at the truth. I want to know who killed Mrs. Darcy and where you got that cross! I want to know, and, by gad! I'mgoing to know!"

"Not from me, Colonel! I never saw the old lady, dead or alive, and Inever knew until just now when you told me, that she'd ever had thiscross. "

"Who gave it to you?"

"Colonel, did you ever know me to split on a pal unless he split first?"

"No, Spotty. I never did. "

"Well, then, you stand a fine chance in getting me to do it now. Go toit if you like. I'm through spielin'!" and the crook turned away withan air of indifference. 

The colonel knew that Spotty never would tell, until he wanted to, butit did not deter him. He "went at" Spotty. What happened in the quietroom, near the police headquarter cells, need not form part of thisrecord. Enough to say that when they let Spotty go staggering back tohis dungeon, a wreck of a man physically and mentally for the timebeing, he had not told. 

And the glittering stones in the crushed cross were not more silentthan he in his misery--deserved perhaps, but none the less misery. 

And when the colonel, rather upset himself by what he had been forcedto go through, started back for Colchester, he took with him the memoryof Spotty's rather sneering face and the echo of his words:

"Well, Colonel, I didn't tell!"

And he had not. The diamond cross still kept its mystery. 

Colonel Ashley fumed, fretted, and fidgeted until he was on the vergeof a sleepless night on his way back in the train. Then he bethoughthimself of his little green book, and he read:

"You are to know, then, that there is a night as well as a day fishingfor a trout, and that in the night the best trout come out of theirholes. "

"Ah, ha, " mused the colonel. "I think I shall have to do a littlenight fishing. "

So saying, having read a little farther in his Izaak Walton, he wentpeacefully to his berth and awoke calmer and himself again. 

But if the colonel felt refreshed on reaching Colchester, it was notbecause he felt that he was in a fair way to solve the problem--or, rather, the many problems connected with the Darcy murder. 

"It's worse tangled than before, " mused the old detective. "I wonderif Grafton-- No, it couldn't be. But I must have a talk with hisfriend Cynthia. Ticklish business when a man goes out walking with amarried woman and steps on her cross. There are complications andcomplications. I wonder when I'll begin to unravel some of them?"

For reasons of his own, the colonel said nothing to the police orcounty authorities in Colchester about the arrest of Spotty, nor did hemention that, nor the finding of the diamond cross, to Darcy orGrafton. He wanted to be sure of his ground before he told of this endof the affair. 

"I wish I knew what to make of Grafton, " mused the colonel, "His sharein it--if share he had--is getting more complicated. Can he and Spottybe up to some trick between them and did the gunman get away with thecross? It wouldn't be the first time Spotty had hired out his servicesto a man who wanted something desperate done! Now in this case, Grafton may have wanted something from Mrs. Darcy she wasn't willing todo. In that case--"

The colonel shook his head. 

"I guess, " he half-whispered, "that Shag was right. This is going tobe a mighty complicated case. Talk about a diamond cross, there may bea double-cross in it on the part of Grafton. I must watch you a bitcloser, my friend. "

The colonel considered that he was working to clear Darcy, and hewanted to do it in his own way. He was willing--perforce--that, forthe time, the young man be considered guilty. He could not help theyoung man by making these few disclosures now. The prisoner would notbe released because Spotty or any one else was suspected, nor would hebe admitted to bail. In any case he must remain in jail. 

The Grand Jury was setting considering the evidence against theprisoner, and against others accused of various crimes. 

"And I suppose they'll indite Darcy, " mused the colonel. "It meansonly another step, however, a step I have already counted on. It won'thelp or hinder the solving of the mystery. Hang Spotty, anyhow! Whycouldn't he keep out of this? He surely has tangled it worse thanever. I wonder if he's telling the truth when he says he didn't gonear the place? It was Spotty, or one of his kind, who got in and outwithout leaving a trace. It took Spotty's skill. But--I don't know. I must have another look around the jewelry store. "

A day or so after his return from the West, the colonel made a closeexamination of the shop. Just what he was looking for he hardly knew, but he was quite surprised when he discovered, connected with the mainlighting wires of the store, other wires which ran to various places inthe shelves and the show windows, where many of the clocks stood. 

"I wonder if that's a new kind of burglar alarm, " thought the colonel. "If it is, it's the first time I've ever seen one hooked up to theelectric light circuit. A bad thing in case of a short circuit. Aperson might get a shock that would knock him down and--"

Something seemed to give the colonel a new idea. He made a hurriedexamination of the wires and then left the store, to be seen a littlelater at the establishment of an electrician, where he stayed some time. 

It was late that afternoon, when the papers, in extra editions, announced the indictment of James Darcy for the murder of his cousin. 

When Colonel Ashley returned to his hotel from the electrician's, hefound Amy Mason waiting for him. 

"Oh, Colonel! isn't this dreadful?" she exclaimed, holding out a paper. "It's so--so--"

"Tut, tut! my dear young lady, this is nothing! It is only a littleshoot on the main stem. Don't let it distress you. It was to beexpected. "

"I know! But it sounds so dreadful! Before, he was only suspected, even though formally charged. Now it seems as if he were found_guilty_!"

"Far from it. The only evidence against him, just as it has been allalong, is circumstantial. They have yet to prove anything, and I don'tbelieve they can. Cheer up! I'll get him off yet!"

"Are you sure, Colonel?" and her eyes were bright with unshed tears. 

"Sure? Why, of course I am!"

And yet the colonel had to force himself a bit to make that soundnatural. Perhaps it was because he had said it so often and was tired. 

Or did it have anything to do with the strange wires that led to thework table of James Darcy?

CHAPTER X

THE DEATH WATCH

Doctor Warren, the county physician, stopping in at policeheadquarters, as he often did on returning from his round of privatevisits, to see if there were any official calls for him, encounteredDetective Carroll. 

"Hello, Doc!" was the genial greeting, for Doctor Warren was more thana physician. He was a politician, and politics and the police were nomore divorced in Colchester than elsewhere. "Seen that colonel guyto-day?" asked Carroll. 

"The colonel guy?" The doctor's voice showed his puzzlement. 

"Yes, the chap that's working with Kenneth on the Darcy case. "

"Seen him? No, I haven't. "

"He was here looking for you a little while ago. Seemed quite anxiousabout meeting you. Here he is now. Say, if he lets out anything wecan use against Darcy--you know, legitimate stuff--pass it on to me andThong, will you? You know we've got to go on the stand, and, betweenyou and me, our case ain't any too strong. "

"That's right. I'll let you know what I hear, " and the two ended theirhalf-whispered talk as Colonel Ashley entered police headquarters. 

It was his third visit to headquarters that day in search of DoctorWarren, and he would state the object of his seeking to none other. Now he smiled at the man he had been looking for. They had metpreviously. 

"Ah, good afternoon, Doctor Warren. I've been looking for you, " wasthe colonel's greeting. "If you're not busy, sir, I'd like just a fewminutes of your time--officially, of course. "

"Always ready for duty, Colonel. I guess you military men know that wedoctors are in a sort of class with yourselves when it comes to that. "

"You're right. Now I won't be much more than a minute, and what I wantto ask you, I can propound right here as well as anywhere. You knowI'm working to save Darcy?"

"So I've heard. "

"Well, you examined Mrs. Darcy soon after she was found dead. You may, or you may not, have formed an opinion as to _who_ killed her, but Ijudge you are positive as to _how_ she was killed--I mean the nature ofthe wound. "

"There were two wounds you know--a fracture of the skull just back ofthe right ear, and a stab wound in the left side which punctured theheart. Either would have caused death. "

"Can you tell which killed her?"

"I should say the stab wound, but I can not be positive. Youunderstand, Colonel, that I am to go on the stand for the prosecutionand tell all I know about this case. "

"Oh, yes, I realize that, of course. You are practically a witnessagainst Darcy. And I don't, for one moment, wish you to think that Iam trying to get advance information to use in his favor. This issimply in the matter of justice, the ends of which I know you wish toserve, as I do myself. So if I ask anything improper please stop me. But since you will testify about these wounds, and since you havealready pretty well described them to the newspaper reporters, it cando no harm to repeat the details to me. "

"None in the least, Colonel. "

"Then you feel sure the stab wound killed her?"

"Reasonably so. Of course, as I said, either blow could have causeddeath, but blows on the head, even when the skull is badly fractured, as in this case, do not invariably cause death instantly. In fact thevictim usually lingers for several hours in an unconscious state. Notso, however, in the case of a stab wound in or near the heart. That isalmost always fatal within a short space of time--a minute or two. So, while it is possible that Mrs. Darcy was first stunned by a blow on thehead, which eventually would have killed her, I think death almost atonce followed the stab wound. "

"Could both have been delivered by the same person?"

"Of course. First the blow on the head, followed by the stab wound. "

"And there were no other injuries on the body?"

"None, except minor bruises caused by the fall to the floor. But theywere superficial. "

"Nothing else?"

"No--um let me see--no, I think not. "

"Are you _sure_, Dr. Warren?"

The colonel's voice had a strange ring in it. 

"Why, yes, I am sure. I was about to say that there was a slightabrasion in the palm of the left hand, a sort of scratch or puncture, as though from a pin, but as she was in the jewelry business and, as Iunderstand it, often made slight repairs herself to brooches and pinsbrought in, this could easily be accounted for. "

"A slight abrasion in the left hand you say?"

"Yes. But I don't attach any importance to that. It was so slightthat I and my assistant only gave it a passing glance. It hardlypenetrated the skin. "

"I see. In the left hand. This is the hand in which the ticking watchwas found, was it not?"

"I believe so. The watch belonging to an Indian named Singa Phut. Bythe way what became of him?" the doctor asked of Detective Carroll, whohad strolled out of the detectives' private room and was listening tothe conversation. 

"Oh, that gink? He made a big howl about getting back his watch, andas he had a perfectly good _alibi_, and we could fasten nothing on him, we give it back to him and told him to beat it. He did, I guess. "

"No, he is still in town, " said Colonel Ashley. "I passed his place awhile ago. He has a pair of beautiful Benares candlesticks, in theform of hooded cobra snakes, that I want to get. Singa Phut is stillin town. "

"Does that answer all your questions, Colonel?" inquired Dr. Warren. "I'll tell you all I can, in reason, but if--"

"Thank you! You've told me all I cared to know. I have some theoriesI want to work on, and I'm not sure how they'll turn out. "

"I s'pose you think Darcy didn't do this job, " cut in Carroll, rathersneeringly. 

"I'm positive he didn't, sir!" and the colonel drew himself up andlooked uncompromisingly at the headquarters detective. "If I thoughthe had done it, I would not be associated with his case. "

"You're going to have a sweet job proving he didn't do it, " laughed theofficer. 

"Maybe, " assented the colonel unruffled. 

"Who else could have croaked her?" pursued Carroll. "Here he goes andhas a quarrel with the old lady just before he goes to bed. He's soreat her because he thinks she's keeping back part of his coin. Thenhe's sore because she made some cracks about his girl--that's enough toget any man riled. I don't blame Darcy for going off his nut. But heshouldn't have croaked the old lady. He done it all right, and we gotthe goods on him! You'll see!"

"Well, it's your business, of course--yours and that of theprosecutor--to prove him guilty, " said the colonel. "And you can'tquarrel with me if I try to prove him innocent. "

"Sure not, Colonel. Every man's got to earn his bread and buttersomehow. Only I hate to see you kid yourself along believing this guydidn't do the job. He done it, I tell you!"

"Maybe, " half assented the colonel. "Thank you, Dr. Warren. We shallmeet again, " and, with a military salute, the colonel went out ofpolice headquarters. As he descended the steps he silently mused:

"I wonder what Carroll and Thong would say if they knew about thediamond cross, and heard that Spotty Morgan had it? I guess they wouldchange some of their theories then. Which reminds me that I have moreirons in the fire than I suspected. I must not lose sight of Cynthia. She will be getting anxious about her diamonds, and I would like to seewhat she says when she hears the truth. "

Though Colonel Ashley had given up all hopes of having a use for hisbeloved fishing rods and flies, at least on this trip to Colchester, hedid not give up his perusal of Walton's book. 

It was one evening while sitting in his room at the hotel, idly turningover the pages, hardly able to concentrate his mind on what he read formuch thinking of the diamond cross mystery, that his eye chanced onpage 170, where he saw the passage:

"There be also three or four other little fish that I had almostforgot, that are all without scales--"

The book dropped from the detective's hand. 

"Gad!" he exclaimed. "That's what I've been forgetting--the _little_fish. I must get after some of them. They may turn the scale in ourfavor. Little fish! That's it. Small fry, when you can't get bigones! I wonder--"

There was a knock at the door and Shag entered, bowing and salutingmilitary style at the same time. 

"Scuse me, Colonel, sah, " he began, "but does yo' want t' heah anynews?"

"Any news, Shag? What sort? Come, speak up, you rascal!"

"Well, sah, Colonel, yo' done tell me, when we come heah, not t'trouble yo' wif any detective news, but--"

"Oh, that was before I got mixed up in this Darcy case, Shag. Theprohibition is off, so to speak. If you have any news--"

"No, sah, Colonel, 'tisn't 'bout po' ole Miss Darcy--leastways not_much_ about her. But dere's been annudder murder in town. "

"Another murder?"

"Yes, Colonel. Boys on de streets yellin' extry papers now, all 'boutde murder. "

"Who is it? Where? When did it happen?"

"Jest 'bout a hour ago. It's a man--a Indian man whut kept a curiosityshop--de same place where yo' an' me was lookin' at dem funny snakecandlesticks las' week. "

"Singa Phut's place? Great Scott, Shag! You don't mean to tell me, _he's_ killed, do you?"

"No, sah, Colonel! Dat Mr. Phut ain't killed. It's his partner. He'sgot a funny name, too. Heah, I done brought yo' a paper, " and Shagpulled out an extra from under his vest, where he had carefully kept itconcealed until he had made sure of his master's frame of mind. 

The colonel scanned the front page with its black type eagerly. Surelyenough, there had been a murder. Shere Ali, Singa Phut's partner, hadbeen found lying on the floor of the little curiosity shop with hishead crushed in. 

"And in the dead man's hand was a ticking watch, " read the colonel. 

For a moment he stared at the words. Then a light seemed to come overhis face. He crushed the paper in his hand, and then spread it out toread again the startling news, while he murmured:

"The watch of death!"

CHAPTER XI

NO ALIMONY

"Shag!" exclaimed the colonel. 

"Yes, sah!"

"We're going fishing tomorrow!"

"Is we, Colonel? Den I s'pects yo'll want t' git--"

"Get everything ready, yes. We'll go again to that place where MissMason found me. There's as good fish in that stream as any I didn'tcatch, and I want to try my luck. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. But, scuse me, didn't yo, figger on doin' somedetectin' an' give up fishin'?" and Shag, with the freedom of an oldservant, stood looking at his master as if not quite understanding thenew twist the affairs had taken. 

"That's all right, Shag. You do as I tell you. I'm going off fishing. I may not catch anything--I may not want to after I get there. But fora quiet place to think, give me a fishing excursion every time! AndI've got to do some tall thinking now. Get ready, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

And, having put himself in a fair way, as he hoped, to solve some ofthe problems connected with the Darcy case, Colonel Ashley went down topolice headquarters to learn more facts in connection with the murderof the East Indian. 

Carroll and Thong were there, and if they did not exactly welcome thecolonel as a kindred spirit they at least accorded him the respect duea fellow craftsman in the peculiar line where talent may be found mostunexpectedly. And Carroll and Thong who, with other headquarters men, now knew the colonel's identity, were not above learning a trick ortwo, even if they had to take them from the book of their rival. Forthey recognized that the colonel would be against them and theprosecutor's detectives when it came to the trial of James Darcy. 

"Well, boys, what's this I hear about another murder?" asked ColonelAshley when he had passed over some of his cigars, the flavor of whichthe two headquarters men had been longing to taste again. 

"Some Dago had his head busted in, " remarked Thong. "It isn't ourcase, so we don't know much about it. "

"No? Who has it?"

"Pinkus and Donovan; haven't they, Carroll?"

"Yep. " Carroll was too much engaged in watching the blue smoke curllazily upward from his cigar just then to say more. 

"Like to talk with 'em about it?" went on Thong, in friendlier tones. 

"If they're here, yes. "

"I think they just came in, " said Thong, bringing his feet down with abang from the table on which he had had them elevated. "Are you goingto work on that case, Colonel?"

"Oh, no. I was just interested, as Singa Phut was one concerned inMrs. Darcy's murder. "

"But he hadn't any more to do with it, Colonel, than that cat!" andCarroll pointed to the headquarters cat which was sleeping near aradiator, for the day had turned cold and steam was on in the place. 

"Perhaps not, " admitted Colonel Ashley. "But there are some peculiarcoincidences and, if you don't mind, I'd like to see what I can findout about them. "

"Go as far as you like, Colonel, " returned Thong, needlessly generous. "We've got our man, and that's all we want. The other isn't our case. Oh, Donovan!" he called, as he saw a fellow sleuth passing through anouter room. "Here's some one to see you, " and the presentation wasquickly and informally made. The two men had seen each other before, but had not spoken. 

"Glad to know you, Colonel Ashley, " said Donovan. "I've read a lotabout you. You're on the Darcy case, they tell me. "

"In a way, yes. I'm working in the interests of the young man. But Ihear you have another murder. "

"Yes, but it's so plain there's no interest in it for you. All we wantto do--Pinkus and me--is to lay our hands on the Dago that done it andgot away. We'll get him, too, before many days. He's the kind of afeller that can't hide very well, unless he goes and kills himself, andhe may do that. "

"How did it happen? And is there any truth in the newspaper storyabout the same watch that was found in Mrs. Darcy's hand being found inthe hand of the dead man?"

"Yes, that part's true enough, but that's all there is to it. It'sjust one of them coincidences like. Singa Phut got back his watchafter the prosecutor decided he didn't need it for evidence. Therewasn't nothing that Singa had to do with the Darcy case anyhow, and heseemed awful anxious to get back that watch. So it was turned over tohim. "

"But did he really kill his partner?"

"Surest thing you know. Busted his head in with a heavycandlestick--one of a pair. I've got 'em here, look, " and, opening acloset where he temporarily kept his collection of evidence, Donovantook out a pair of heavy bronze candlesticks, in the form of hoodedcobras. 

"That's the one that did the business, " said the headquartersdetective, showing one candlestick with something dark and unpleasanton the heavier end. 

"Gad!" exclaimed the colonel. "The very pair I was going to buy!"

"What! You buy?" cried Donovan. "Look here, Colonel! do you knowanything about this?" and the detective's professional instincts gotthe upper hand of his friendliness. 

"Not the least in the world--not as much as you do, " was the coolanswer. "I happened to see those candlesticks in the window of SingaPhut's shop the other day, and I made up my mind to buy them when I hada chance. Now, I'm afraid I won't. But how did it happen?"

"Oh, well, there isn't much of a story to it, " and Donovan's voiceshowed his disappointment. "Phut--I don't know whether that's hisfirst or his last name--anyhow, he had a partner named Shere Ali. Noone knows much about Ali, for he came here just recently. Anyhow, heand Phut didn't get along very well it seems. 

"Neighbors often heard 'em scrappin' a lot, and this afternoon theywent at it again hot and heavy. Then things quieted down, and nobodyheard anything more. Toward dark a man went in to buy a lamp. Hefound the place without a light in it, stumbled over something on thefloor, and there was Ali's body, with the head busted in and this heavycandlestick near it. 

"He raised the howl right off, and Pinkus and I got there as soon as wecould. Of course Phut was gone. But we'll get him!"

"Then you think he did it?"

"Sure he did! Who else?"

"And the watch was in Ali's hand?"

"Sure! Held so tight we could hardly get it out. In fact it was sotight that he's cut his palm grabbin' hold of it. Maybe the fight wasabout who owned the watch, for the Dagos talked in their foreign lingoand none of the neighbors could tell what they were sayin'. "

"I see. And the watch? Have you it?"

"Yes, it's here. Going yet, too. Hear it tick?" and Donovan held openthe door of his closet. From the place, in which hung odd coats, capsand other garments, and from the shelf on which was a collection ofgruesome weapons, came an insistent ticking. 

"That's the watch, " announced the headquarters detective, reaching infor it. "Going yet--see?" and he held it out to Colonel Ashley. 

Somewhat to the surprise of Donovan the military detective accepted thetimepiece on his open palm, and so gingerly that it caused Donovan toremark:

"You're not as squeamish as all that, are you? Just because it was ina dead man's hand--and in a woman's?"

"Oh, not at all, " was the quick answer. "But, as a matter of factthese East Indians are often carriers of bubonic plague, you know, andit's very contagious. Of course neither Shere Ali nor Singa Phut mayhave had the germs about them, but I am a bit squeamish when it comesto contagious diseases of that nature, and I wouldn't like to scratchmyself on that watch. "

"Scratch yourself--on a watch?" and Donovan's voice was plainlyskeptical. 

"Yes. It may have some rough edges on it. And I've read enough aboutgerms to know the danger. I'd advise you to be careful!"

"Ha!" laughed Donovan shortly. "I should worry about that! The watchdon't figure in the case, except maybe they quarreled over who ownedit. "

Colonel Ashley said nothing. He was carefully examining the watch, which he still held in the palm of the hand--holding it as carefully asthough indeed it might be laden with germs the least touch of whichagainst a tiny scratch might produce death. 

"Quite a curiosity, " said the colonel at length. "If you don't mind, Ishould like to examine this a bit. "

"You can't take it away, " said Donovan. "I may need it as evidencewhen we get Mr. Phut, or whatever the Dago's name is. "

"Oh, no, I wouldn't think of taking it away. I'll look at it here. It seems to be a very old timepiece--one of the first made smallerthan the old 'Nuremberg eggs I fancy. Quite an interestingstudy--watches--Donovan. Ever take it up?" and as the colonelquestioned he was looking at the Indian timepiece under a magnifyingglass he took from his pocket. 

"Who? Me study watches? I should say not! It keeps me busy enoughhere without that. "

"Yes, " went on the colonel musingly. "This is an old-timer. The firstwatches, you know, Donovan, were really small clocks, and some were somuch like clocks that the folks who carried them had to hang them totheir belts instead of carrying them in their pockets. That was awayback in the fifteenth century. "

"Before the Big Wind in Ireland, " suggested Thong with a nod at hisIrish compatriot. 

"Slightly, " laughed the colonel. "But, all joking aside, this is quitea wonderful piece of work. I shouldn't be surprised but what it datedback to the time of Queen Elizabeth, though it has been repaired andremodeled since then to make it more up to date. Probably new worksput in. Queen Elizabeth was very fond of watches and clocks, and herfriends, knowing that, used to present her with beautiful specimens. Some of the watches of her day were made in the form of crosses, purses, little books, and even skulls. "

"Pity this one wasn't made that way--like a skull, " mused Carroll, "seeing it's been in on two deaths here and no one knows how manysomewhere else. "

"That's right, " agreed the colonel, as he continued to move hismagnifying glass over the surface of the still ticking watch. And aclose observer might have observed that he did not touch his barefingers to the timepiece, but poked it about, and touched it here andthere, with the end of a leadpencil. 

"Very interesting, " observed the colonel, as he passed the watch backto Donovan, still using only the flat, open palm of his hand on whichto rest it. "Very interesting. And, Donovan, take a friend's adviceand don't be too free with that watch. "

"Too free with it?" asked the surprised detective. 

"Yes. Don't scratch yourself on it, whatever you do. "

"Why not? Not that I'm likely to, for I never heard of being scratchedby a watch, but why not?"

"Simply because this watch--"

But at that moment the doorman of police headquarters stuck his head in"Scotland Yard, " as the patrolmen designated the inner sanctum wherethe detectives had their rooms, and called:

"Donovan!"

"Hello, " answered the sleuth. 

"Some one out here to see you. "

"All right--be there in a second. Excuse me, " he murmured to thecolonel. "Be back in a minute. "

But it was in less time than that that he came returning on the run, and his face showed excitement. 

"What's up?" asked Carroll. 

"Singa Phut, " was the panting answer. "Friend of mine just tipped meoff where I can get him! See you later!" and, making sure that hisblackjack and revolver were in his pockets, Donovan hurried out, followed by the colonel, whose hand had loosely closed over the tickingwatch which, unseen, went out with him. 

Later that night Singa Phut, a silent, shrinking and somewhat patheticfigure, slept in a cell at police headquarters. Donovan, on theinformation brought in by a stool-pigeon, had made the arrest and wasjubilant thereat. 

Colonel Ashley, with Shag at the proper distance in the background, andwith Jay Kenneth as his invited guest, was sitting on the bank of alittle stream, fishing; or, at any rate, he was somewhat idly using arod and line to aid him in his thoughts. 

Following his visit to police headquarters and his return to the hotel, he had called Kenneth on the telephone and arranged to spend a quietday with him in the fields near the stream. 

"I want to talk over Darcy's case with you, " the colonel had said. 

And the two had talked, had thought, had talked again, and now weresilent for a time. 

"What are the chances of getting him off legally if we go at it from anegative standpoint?" asked the colonel. "I mean, Mr. Kenneth, if wecall upon the prosecution to make out their best case, which they cando only by circumstantial evidence, and then put our man on the stand, to deny everything, to have him tell about the noise in the night, about the curious sensation he experienced, about the possibility ofchloroform, call witnesses as to his good character--and so on--whatare the chances?"

"Rather a hypothetical question, Colonel, but I should say it might bea fifty-fifty proposition. At best he would get off with a Scotchverdict of 'not proven, ' but he doesn't want that, nor do I. Andyou--"

"I don't want it, either. But I want to know just where we stand. NowI know. We've got to prove James Darcy innocent by establishing thefact that some one else killed his cousin. "

"Exactly. And can it be done?"

"It can, and I'm going to do it. But I need to do a little moresmoking-out first. Now I want to think. If you'll excuse me I'llpretend I'm fishing, and I may catch something. In fact, I have afeeling that I'll land my fish. And perhaps you have some otherproblems that may be clarified by a dallying along this stream. Ah, there's nothing like the philosophy of my friend Izaak Walton. I'drecommend him to you instead of Blackstone. "

"Thanks!" laughed Kenneth. "I am not altogether unfamiliar with theComplete Angler. And you are right. I have a little problem on myhands. "

"What is it? Perhaps I can help you. The old adage of two heads, youknow--"

"Yes. It still holds good. Well, the question I am trying to solve iswhy did she say: 'No alimony!'"

"'No alimony'?" repeated the colonel, puzzled. 

"Yes. Just that. As you may have guessed, it's a divorce case I havejust finished, and so quietly that it hasn't become public propertyyet. When it does it will create a sensation. "

"No alimony, eh? I suppose the lady--there is a lady in it, ofcourse?" questioned the colonel. 

"Of course--as is usual in a divorce case. And there's no reason youshouldn't know. It's Mrs. Larch, wife of Langford Larch, the wealthyhotel owner. She has just been granted, on my application before thevice chancellor, a separation from her husband, but she refused toaccept alimony, and for the life of me, with all Larch's wealth, Ican't see why. That's my problem, Colonel!"

CHAPTER XII

THE ODD COIN

Colonel Ashley fished for a time in silence, broken only by the gentlesnores of Shag, farther back in the field, and by the murmur of thewater. The old colored man, wrapped in a warm coat, for it was notsummer yet, seemed to be enjoying his siesta when, with a suddennessthat was startling in that solitude, the military detective uttered acry of:

"I've got it!"

"What?" called Kenneth. "The solution to my problem?"

"No! My fish!" chuckled the colonel, as he skilfully played theluckless trout, now struggling to get loose from the hook. 

And when the fish was landed, panting on the grass, and Shag had beenroused from his slumber to slip the now limp fish into the creel, Colonel Ashley gave a sigh of relief and remarked:

"I think I see it now. "

"The reason she asked no alimony?" inquired Kenneth. 

"No. I wasn't thinking of that. But I have been gathering up someloose ends, and I think I know where to tie them together. However, don't think I'm not interested in your case. I've fished enough forto-day. Not that, ordinarily, I'm satisfied with one, but I'm notworking the rod now. I am, as Shag calls it, 'detectin', ' and I justcame out here to clarify my thoughts. Having done that, I'm at yourservice, if I can help. "

"Well, I don't know that you can. As I said, the facts of theseparation of the Larchs will soon be heralded all over the city, forthe final papers were filed to-day, and the reporters will be sure tosee them. So there is no harm in my telling you about it. It's aplain and sordid story enough, with the exception of her refusal ofalimony, and that I can't understand. Do you care to hear about it?"

"Certainly, my dear Kenneth. "

"It has no connection with the Darcy murder, and so I didn't mention itto you before. "

"Go on. "

"It isn't generally known, " went on the lawyer, "that the hotelkeeper's wife has left him. She went away a short time ago, and cameto me and told me her story. It was one of what at first might becalled refined cruelty on her husband's part, degenerating graduallyinto that of the baser sort. "

"You don't mean that Larch struck her--that there was physical abuse, do you?" asked the colonel. 

"That's what he did. He seems to have been decent for a while aftertheir marriage--which marriage was a mistake from the first--I can seethat now. I used to know Cynthia when she was a girl--she was thedaughter of Lodan Ratchford, and her mother had peculiar and, to mymind, wrong ideas of social position and money. Well, poor Cynthia ispaying the penalty now. She was really forced into this marriagewhich, to say the least, must have been distasteful to her. But Idon't suppose more than two or three know that. "

The colonel did not disclose the fact that it was no news to him. Aaron Grafton's statement was being unexpectedly confirmed. Heremembered that Cynthia and Grafton had once been in love with eachother. 

"Well, when Cynthia came to me, in my capacity as lawyer as well as oldfriend, I could hardly believe what she told me about her husband, "went on Kenneth. "She said he had struck her more than once, and shecould stand it no longer. 

"She wanted to apply for a divorce, but when I showed her that thiswould bring about much publicity, and necessitate taking testimony onboth sides with possibly a long-dragged out case, she agreed merely toask for a separation now, on the accusation of cruel and inhumantreatment. On those grounds I went before the vice chancellor, prepared to prove my case by competent witnesses. But they were notneeded. "

"Why not?"

"Because Larch made no defense. He let the case go by default, forwhich I was glad, as it saved Cynthia from telling her story in opencourt. Larch, by refusing to appear, practically admitted the chargesagainst him and did not oppose the separation. 

"Then came the matter of alimony, or, rather, I should call it separatemaintenance, as it is not alimony until a divorce is granted, and thathas not yet been done, though we may apply for that later. 

"I was prepared to ask the vice chancellor for a pretty stiff annualsum for my client, for I know Larch is rich, when, to my surprise, shewould not permit it. She said if she left him it was for good and all, and that she wanted none of his bounty. She had some means of her own, she declared, and would work rather than accept a cent from him. 

"So I had to let her have her way, and we did not ask the court formoney, though I had no such squeamish feelings when it came to mycounsel fee. I got that out of Larch rather than his wife. "

"Did he pay it?"

"No; but he will, or I'll sue him and get judgment. Oh, he'll pay allright. He'll be so tickled to get out of paying his wife a monthly sumthat he'll settle with me. But I can't understand her attitude anymore than I can the change that came over him. For I really think heloved Cynthia once. She was a beautiful girl, and is still a handsomewoman, though trouble has left its mark on her. Well, it's a queerworld anyhow!"

"Isn't it?" agreed the colonel. "And it takes all sorts of persons tomake it up. I'm sorry I can't offer any explanation as to why yourclient wouldn't accept money when she had a perfect right to it. However, as you won your case I suppose it doesn't so much matter. "

"Not a great deal. Still I would like to know. There will be asensation when this comes out. "

And there was, when Daley, of the _Times_, scooped the other reportersand sprang his sensational story of the separation of the Larchs, thecase having been heard in camera by the vice chancellor. 

The murder of Mrs. Darcy had, some time ago, been shifted off the frontpage, though it would get back there when the young jeweler was tried. As for the killing of Shere Ali, that occasioned only passing interest, the murdered man not being well known. 

But the separation of Mr. And Mrs. Larch was different. The finelyappointed hotel kept by Larch, called the "Homestead, " from the name ofan old inn of Colonial days which it replaced, was known for milesaround. It had a double reputation, so to speak. Though it had agrill, in which, nightly, there gathered such of the "sports" ofColchester as cared for that form of entertainment, the Homestead alsocatered to gatherings of a more refined nature. Grave, and evenreverend, conventions assembled in its ballroom, and politicians of theupper, if not better, class were frequently seen in its dining-room orcafe. Being convenient to the courthouse, nearly all the judges andlawyers took lunch there. The place was also the scene of more or lessimportant political dinners of the state, at which matters in no slightdegree affecting national policies were often whipped into shape. 

Larch himself was a peculiar character. In a smaller place he wouldhave been called a saloon keeper. Going a little higher up the scalein population he might have been designated as a hotel proprietor. Butin Colchester, which was rather unique among cities, he was looked upto as one of the substantial citizens of the place, for he owned theHomestead, where Washington, when it was a wayside inn, had stopped onenight--at least such was the rumor--and families socially prominent, some of whose members had very strong views on prohibition, did nothesitate to attend balls given at the hotel. 

And it was this man, rich, it was said, handsome certainly, thatCynthia Ratchford had married. There had been other lovers whom shemight have wedded, it was rumored, and more than one had remarked:

"Why did she take him?"

To this was the answer--whispered:

"Money!"

And, in a way, it was true. The family of Cynthia Larch--at least hermother--was socially ambitious, and she saw that if her daughter becamethe wife of Langford Larch his wealth, combined with her own familyconnections, would give her a chance not only to shine in the way shedesired, but to eclipse some satellites who had outshone her in thesocial firmament. She also saw an opportunity of paying old debts andreaping some revenges. 

All of this she had done, in a measure. After the marriage, which wasa brilliant and gay one, if not happy, the Larch hotel--it could hardlybe called a home--became the scene of many festive occasions. A numberof entertainments were given, remarkable for the brilliant andeffective dresses of the women, the multiplicity and richness of thefood, and the variety of the wines. 

Langford Larch could not himself be called a drinking man. Occasionally, as almost perforce he had to, he drank a little wine. But he was never noticeably drunk. Nor was that side of his businessever accentuated. 

Gradually there had come about little whispers that Cynthia Larch hadmade a mistake in her marriage. There was little that wastangible--mere gossip--a hint that she would have been happier withsome one else, though he had not so much money as had Larch. 

The rumors floated about a bit, seemed to sink, and then started off atfull steam just before the news of the separation became public. Thenit was said of Larch that, soon after the echoes of the wedding chimeshad died away, he had begun to treat his wife with refinedcruelty--that hidden away from the public, underneath his habitualmanner, there was the rawness of the brute. 

But, for a time, the entertainments were kept up, and Cynthia, lovelierthan ever, presided at her husband's table, graced it with herpresence, and laughed and smiled at the men and women who came topartake of their lavish hospitality. 

But it was noticed that the older and more conservative families wereless often represented, and, when they were, it was by some of theyounger members, whose reputations were already smirched or who had notyet acquired any, and were willing to "take a chance. "

And, also, old friends of Mrs. Larch observed that the smile did notlong linger on her face. And that behind the laughter in her eyes wasthe shadow of a skeleton at the feast. Then came the legal separationand the parting. Mrs. Larch, resuming, her maiden name, it wasannounced, had gone to a quiet place to rest. 

To her few intimates it was known that Cynthia had gone to the littlevillage of Pompey, where her father owned a small summer home. As forLarch, he met the various questions fired at him by his friends andothers at the Homestead, as well as he was able. It was all due to amisunderstanding, he said. 

That was before the whole story of his cruel treatment of his wifebecame known. For the papers of her testimony had been sealed, and itwas only by a sharp trick on the part of Daley that he got access tothem. Incidentally the vice chancelor was furious when it became knownthat the documents had been inspected by a reporter, but then it wastoo late. 

The story spread over half the front page of the _Times_, and it wasnoted that the evening the paper came out a dinner which was to havebeen given by the Lawyers' Club at the Homestead was unexpectedlypostponed. 

"It wouldn't do, you know, after that story came out, for me and thevice chancellor who sat in the case, as well as other judges andmembers of the bar, to be seen there, " Kenneth explained to the colonel. 

Slowly and gradually, but none the less surely, a change came over theHomestead. The gathering of congenial spirits, who knew they would beundisturbed by a roistering element, grew less frequent in the grilland Tudor rooms. And it was whispered about:

"Larch is lushing!"

Meanwhile Colonel Ashley was a very busy man, and to no one did he tellvery much about his activities. He saw Darcy frequently at the jail, and to that young man's pleadings that something be done, alwaysreturned the answer:

"Don't worry! It will come out all right!"

"But Amy--and the disgrace?"

"She doesn't consider herself disgraced, and you shouldn't. The bestof police headquarters or prosecutor's detectives make mistakes. I'mgoing to rectify them. But it will take time. "

"Do you know who killed my cousin?"

"I think I do. "

"Then for the love of--"

"I can't tell you yet, Darcy. All in good time. I've got to be sureof my ground before I make too many moves. Oh, I know it's hard foryou to stay here, and hard to have the stigma attached to your name. It's hard for Miss Mason, too, although she's bearing up like a major. Gad, sir, that's what _she's_ doing!

"You've got a friend in her of whom you may be proud. And her father, too--he's with you from the drop of the flag, he told me. Quite aracing man he is, a gentleman and a fine judge not only of whisky, which is good in its place, but of horses and men, too. Darcy, you'vegot good friends!"

"I know it, Colonel, and I count you among the best. "

"Thanks. Then prove it by not asking me to play my hand before I haveall the cards I want. All in good time. I'm working several ends, andthey all must be fitted together, like the old jigsaw puzzle, before Ican act. Besides, anything I could say now wouldn't set you free. Youcan't get out before a trial or before I can produce some one on whom Ican actually fasten the murder. And I can't do that yet. You aren'tthe only suspect, though. There's Harry King, still locked up--"

"No, he isn't, Colonel. "

"He isn't?" cried the old detective, and there was surprise in hisvoice. 

"No. He was bailed out to-day. I thought you knew it. "

"I didn't. I'm glad you told me, though. So King got bail! Who putit up? It was high!"

"Larch!"

"The hotel keeper?"

"So I understand. They took Harry away a while ago. I wish I had beenin his shoes. "

"I'm glad you're not. I don't imagine, for a moment, that fool Kinghad a hand in this affair. In fact I know he didn't. But his arepretty uncertain shoes to be in just the same. Now cheer up! Thissetting him free on bail has given me a new angle to work on. So cheerup, and I'll do the best I can for you. Any message you want to sendto Miss Mason?"

"Only that I--" Darcy hesitated and grew red. 

"I guess I understand, " said the colonel with a laugh. "I'll tell her!"

The colonel spent that evening in the grill room of the Homestead. Though it was not the same as it had been, and though patronage of thebetter sort had fallen off considerably, it was still a jolly enoughsort of place of its character to be in. A number of "men about town, "as they liked to be called, were in, and Colonel Ashley was sipping hisjulep when there entered Mr. Kettridge, the relative of Mrs. Darcy, whose jewelry shop he was managing pending a settlement of her estate. 

"Good evening, Colonel, " he called genially. "Will you join me in aWelsh rabbit?"

"Thank you, no. I'm afraid my digestion isn't quite up to that, asI've had to cut out my fishing of late. But what do you say to ajulep?"

"Delighted, I'm sure, " and they sat down at one of the half-enclosedtables in the grill and ordered food and drink. They had becomefriends since the colonel's first visit to the store, and thefriendship had grown as they found they had congenial tastes. 

The evening passed pleasantly for them. They talked of much, includingthe murder, and the colonel was more than pleased to find that thejeweler had no very strong suspicion against young Darcy. 

"I've known him from a boy, " said Mr. Kettridge, "and, though he hashis faults, a crime such as this would be almost impossible to him, nomatter what motive, such as the dispute over money or his sweetheart. He may be guilty, but I doubt it. "

"My idea, exactly, " returned the colonel. "Now as to certain mattersin the store on the morning of the murder. The stopped clocks, forinstance. Have you any theory--"

Came, at that instant, fairly bursting into the quiet grill room, some"jolly good fellows, " to take them at their own valuation. There werethree of them, the center figure being that of Harry King, and he wasvery much intoxicated. 

"Hello, Harry! Where have you been?" some one called. 

King regarded his questioner gravely, as though deeply pondering overthe matter. It was often characteristic of him that, though he becamevery much intoxicated, yet, at times, under such conditions, HarryKing's language approached the cultured, rather than degenerated intothe common talk of the ordinary drunk. That is not always, butsometimes. It happened to be so now. 

"I beg your pardon?" he said, in the cultured tones he knew so well howto use, yet of which he made so little use of late. 

"I said, where have you been?" remarked the other. "We've missed you. "

"I have been spending a week end in the country, " King remarked, withbiting sarcasm. "Found I was getting a bit stale in my golf, don't youknow--" there was a momentary pause while he regained the use of histreacherous tongue, then he went on--"I caught myself foozling a fewputts, and I concluded I needed to work back up to form. "

There was a laugh at this, for scarcely one in the gilded grill butknew where King had been, and whither he was going. But the laugh wasinstantly hushed at the look that flashed from his eyes toward thosewho had indulged in the mirth. 

King had a nasty temper that grew worse with his indulgence in drink, and it was clear that he had been indulging and intended to continue. 

"I said I was--_golfing_, " he went on, exceedingly distinctly, thoughwith an effort. "And now, Cat, " and he nodded patronizingly to thewhite-aproned and respectful bartender, "will you be kind enough to seewhat my friends will be pleased to order that they may pour out alibation to--let us say Polonius!"

"Why Polonius?" some one asked. 

"Because, dear friend, " replied King softly, "he somewhat resembles acertain person here, who talks too much, but who is not so wise as hethinks. And now--" he raised his glass--"to all the gods that onOlympus dwell!"

And they drank with him. 

Nodding and smiling at his friends, who thronged about him, standingunder the gay lights which reflected from costly oil paintings, HarryKing plunged his hand into his pocket to pay the bill, a check forwhich the bartender had thrust toward him. 

"Gad, but he's got a wad!" somebody whispered, as King pulled forth agreat roll of bills, together with a number of gold and silver coins. 

There was a rattle of coins on the mahogany bar as King sought todisentangle a single bill from the wadded-up currency in his pocket. 

Some coins fell to the floor and rolled in the direction of the tablewhereat sat the colonel and Mr. Kettridge. The latter, with a pityingsmile on his face, leaned over to pick them up. As he did so, andbrought a piece of money up into the light, a curious look came overhis face. He stared at the coin. 

"What is it?" asked Colonel Ashley, noting the unusual look. 

"It's--it's an odd coin--an old Roman one--that Mrs. Darcy had in herprivate collection, kept in the jewelry store safe, " was the whisperedanswer. "I went over them the other day and noticed some were missing, though I saw them all when I paid a visit to her just a short timebefore she was killed. "

"Was this odd coin in her collection?" asked the colonel, as he lookedat the piece which Kettridge handed him. It was of considerable valueto a collector. 

"That was hers, " went on the jeweler. "It must have been taken fromher safe, for she had refused many offers to sell it. And now--"

"Now Harry King has it!" exclaimed Colonel Ashley. "I think this willbear looking into!"

CHAPTER XIII

SINGA PHUT

Mr. Kettridge, his eyes big with unconcealed wonder as he looked at theodd coin, was eager to accost Harry King at once and demand to knowwhence the roysterer had obtained it. In, fact, the jeweler half arosefrom his chair, to approach the three swaggering men in the cafesection of the grill, when Colonel Ashley laid a restraining hand onthe shoulder of his new friend. 

"It won't do now, " he said gently. 

"Why not? I've got to find out how he came by that coin! It's a rareand valuable one I tell you. It's worth all of a thousand dollars to acollector. Lots of them would be glad to pay more. Its catalogueprice is a thousand. And now this drunken fool has it! Hemust--Colonel, don't you see what this means?"

"Yes, Mr. Kettridge, I can very easily see what it _might_ mean. ButKing is in no condition now to approach on such a subject. There is asaying that when the wine is in the wit is out, and it is generallyheld, by some detectives, that then is the proper time to approach asubject for information that would otherwise be withheld. But King isin a sarcastic mood now, and sufficiently able to take care of himselfto be very suspicious if we began to question him, even under the guiseof friendship. "

"I suppose so, " agreed the jeweler, "and yet--"

"Oh, I wish I hadn't got into this!" suddenly exclaimed Colonel Ashley, with almost a despairing gesture. "I started out for some quietfishing, which I very much needed, for I am getting too old for thissort of thing. I ought never to have undertaken it! I'm almostresolved to give it up. I believe I will!" he said suddenly, slappinghis hand on the table, at the sound of which a waiter hurried up. 

"No--nothing now, " went on the colonel, waving the man away. "Yes, I'll give this case up!" he went on, with a sigh. "In the morning I'llget Shag to lay out my rods and we'll go fishing. I was foolish to letmyself be dragged into this. It would have been all right five yearsago. But now--well, I'm through--that's all!"

Mr. Kettridge regarded his companion with amazement. 

"But what can we do without you?" he asked. "Oh, I'll send you one ofmy best men, " was the answer. "I'll wire for Kedge. You can rely onhim. He's solved more cases like this than I can remember. Yes, I'llsend for Kedge. This is no place for me. I'm too old. "

"Too old, Colonel?"

"Yes, too old! And I've grown too fond of fishing. Yes, I'll letKedge finish this up. And yet--"

The detective seemed to muse for a moment. Then he went on, halfmurmuring to himself. 

"No, hang it all! Kedge has that bank case to look after. Anyhow, Idon't believe he'd figure this out right. Oh, well, I suppose there'sno help for it, I've got to keep on now that I've started. But it's mylast case! Positively my last case!" and once more he banged his handdown on the table. 

Again the waiter glided up. He looked at the colonel expectantly, andthe latter stared at him uncomprehendingly for a moment. 

"Oh, yes, " went on the detective. "You may bring me--er--just a smallglass of claret--a very small one. "

Mr. Kettridge gave his order, and then looked relieved. The colonelhad seemed very much in earnest. 

"Do you suppose, " asked the jeweler, "that Harry King could have hadanything to do with this case?"

"Of course it's possible, but, even so, we can easily make sure of himand arrest him when we want him. To approach him now would only be todefeat your own plan, that is if you have one. I confess this startlesme. I don't know what to make of it, and there's no use pretendingthat I do. After all, detective work is the outcome of common senseplus a sort of special intuition and knowledge. I have gotten to acertain point, and now some of my theories are shattered. That is theywould be if I had been foolish enough to have formed arbitrary theoriesthat could not be changed. As it is, that's just what I have not done. I am still open to argument and conviction, and this coin, which yousay belonged to Mrs. Darcy a few days before her death, and which nowmakes its appearance in the hands of a drunken man who has been undersuspicion, makes cause for question. 

"But, my dear Mr. Kettridge, let us be reasonable. King will not runaway, and in his present condition he is likely to pick a quarrel withyou if you mention the murder to him. Consider, also, that it may behe came into possession of this coin honestly. "

"How?"

"He may have received it in change--here. He's spent enough money inthe place I suppose. "

"But if he got it here-- Great Scott! you don't suppose that Larch--"

"I don't suppose anything yet, least of all regarding Larch. Butconsider. This is a public place. A hundred persons--yes, two orthree hundred--come in here every day, spend money and receive change. Now this coin, though to you and me it shows itself at once to be ofgreat antiquity, might easily be passed, in a hurry, or to one who hadnot the full possession of his senses, as a silver half dollar, whichit somewhat resembles. In fact, I think I can persuade King that it_was_ a half dollar he dropped. "

And, somewhat to the surprise of Mr. Kettridge, the colonel, who hadbeen watching King as the latter sought on the floor for his fallencoins, walked up to the wastral and handed him a fifty-cent piece. 

"You dropped that, I believe, " said Colonel Ashley, genially enough. 

"Thanks, old top! Perhaps I did. Have a drink?"

"No, thank you!"

With a friendly wave of his hand to the colonel, King slipped the halfdollar into his pocket with other loose change and turned to the glassthat awaited him. 

"You see, " said the colonel to Mr. Kettridge. "He doesn't know he hadit--he doesn't know he lost it--he doesn't know you have it. Keep it, I beg of you. We may need it. "

"But suppose King goes away?"

"He won't. I'll take care of that. I'll telegraph for one of my bestmen. I have a little more than I can look after personally. "

"What do you intend to do?"

"Have King kept in sight. There are some others in this city I need toshadow. "

"You don't mean Singa Phut?"

"No, he's in custody. Besides, I've--Well, I guess I won't say whatconclusion I've come to regarding him. I might have to change it. Heis an interesting study. I haven't yet found a motive for his killingof his partner--if he did it. "

"Who else could?"

"There might be many. Just as there might be many ways to account forKing's having possession of this coin. He may have come by it in a waythat is easily explained, and if we, inferentially, accused him therewould be trouble. "

"I suppose so. Well, Colonel Ashley, I'll leave the case in yourhands. God knows, for the sake of the family name, I'd like to seeDarcy cleared. I don't believe he did it. Here, you keep this coin, "for the detective had offered it to his companion. "You may need it. "

"Yes. I may. And so it is worth a thousand dollars, " mused thecolonel. "Just about the sum Darcy claimed from his cousin. Iwonder--Oh, but what's the use of wondering? I must make _certain_, "and he put the old Roman coin safely away in his wallet. 

The colonel and his friend finished their modest meal, and their moremodest potations, of no very strong liquids, and went out, leavingHarry King and his companions to "make a night of it. "

Larch, whose face was unusually flushed, was endeavoring to bring theyoung men to a less boisterous state, for he realized that his betterclass of patrons did not like this sort of thing. 

But King was in jubilant mood. He had been released, under heavy bail, it is true, when the hotel keeper gave a pledge for the appearance ofthe young man when he was wanted. Harry was only held as a witness, sofar, but an important one, and because of his known characteristic ofsuddenly disappearing at times a heavy bond had been required. 

Why Larch had gone on this bond did not make itself clear to ColonelAshley, and he set that down in his little red note book as one of thematters needing to be cleared up. 

And so, wondering much, the colonel and Mr. Kettridge, the former withthe rare coin, went out into the cool and star-lit night, leavingbehind them the sounds of good-fellowship, of that particular brand, inthe Homestead. 

One of the first places the colonel visited the next day was thejewelry shop. Matters there had nearly assumed their normal aspect. Trade was about the same, under the skilful management of Mr. Kettridge, and the cut glass and silver gleamed and glistened in theshowcases as though the former owner of it all had not been cruellyslain. 

"Show you her collection of coins? Certainly, " agreed Mr. Kettridge, when the colonel told what he wanted. "As I said, I saw them, andparticularly the one we picked up last night, in her safe a week or sobefore she was killed. I was on for a visit. And I know that a weekprevious to that she had refused a thousand dollars for this particularone. These coins were one of her hobbies, " and he brought from thesafe the collection, which was of considerable value to a numismatist. 

"There seem to be others besides the Roman coin gone, " said thejeweler, "for I now miss many I used to see in her case. But, ofcourse, she may have sold them. I do remember the one King had, though, and I'm sure she never sold that. It was taken close to thetime she was killed. "

Colonel Ashley, taking advantage of the time when the store was closedfor the night, minutely examined the safe, but could find no evidenceof its having been tampered with. 

"For what started out to be a simple murder case, " mused the olddetective, as he went back to his hotel that night, "this one bids fairto become quite complicated. "

An impulse--it was hardly more than that, and yet it had to do with thematter in hand--sent the detective to police headquarters. 

"I think I'll ask Donovan what Singa Phut said when he was arrested andcharged with murdering his partner, " said the colonel to himself. "There's an end I haven't developed very much. And I would like to askthat East Indian something about that queer watch. "

Donovan was at headquarters, it being his night "on, " and he welcomedthe detective as some one with whom he might hold converse. 

"Have a talk with Singa Phut? Why sure, if it will do you any good, "said the headquarters man when the colonel had made known his desire. "I was going to the jail on another matter, anyhow, and I might as wellkill two birds as one. They'll let you see him if I'm with you. Otherwise you'd have to get an order from the prosecutor's office. Come along. "

It was raining when they reached the jail, and the colonel, as he heardthe patter of drops, thought of the night he had first come toColchester. 

"There ought to be good fishing after this rain, " said the colonel, with a regretful sigh as he thought of his rods and flies. 

"Fishin'!" exclaimed Donovan. "Say, that's something I haven't donesince I was a kid! I used to like it, though. Well, here we are!Looks like a party. What d'you s'pose the warden's all lit up for?"

Certainly the gloomy jail was more brightly lighted than usual atnight, for the prisoners were locked in their cells and allillumination, save the keepers' lights, put out at nine o'clock. 

"We want to see that Dago, you know--Singa Phut, " said Donovan, as henodded to the deputy warden who answered their ring at the steel sidedoor. 

"Humph! Little too late, " was the answer. 

"Too late! What d'you mean? He's gone?"

"That's it. "

"On bail? No, it couldn't be with a murder charge!" expostulatedDonovan. "He can't be out! You're kiddin'!"

"He's croaked!" answered the deputy warden. "We found him dead in hiscell half an hour ago. "

CHAPTER XIV

THE HIDDEN WIRES

Donovan looked at the deputy as if about to dispute the statement. Thedetective even opened his lips to speak, but no sound came throughthem. Donovan sat down in a chair. 

"Do you mean--" he asked, passing his hand over his face, as though tobrush away unseen cobwebs. "Do you mean that he's _dead_?"

"Sure, " was the answer. "Croaked, I told you. Deader 'n a burned outcigarette. "

"Well, " observed Donovan dispassionately, "that's the limit!"

"I agree with you, " said the colonel, and there was a curious look onhis face. "Though if you mean it's the _end_ I beg to differ. It'sonly the _beginning_. "

"How'd it happen?" asked Donovan sharply. 

"We don't know, " was the answer. "The Dago was all right to-day, except he seemed a little glummer than usual. He didn't eat any supperthough but that's nothing. Lots of times the birds in here get offtheir feed, " and the deputy warden made a comprehensive gesture. 

"He was locked up with the rest to-night and we got sort of quiet andcomfortable here and I was having a game of pinochle with Tom Doylewhen one of our boarders in murderers' row lets out a howl. Course Iwent to see what it was, and there was the Dago--croaked!"

"What did it?" asked Donovan. 

"We don't know. Doc Warren's in now giving him the once-over. "

"Did he have any visitors to-day?" asked the colonel. 

"Yes, a fellow like himself--Indian I reckon. But we didn't let himfurther than the corridor. It wasn't visiting day for the fellows inhis row, so the Dago left a package and went away. "

"What was in the package?" the colonel questioned further. 

"Oh, just some cigarettes. Singa Phut didn't like the kind we keep, and he had to have his own fancy kind. He's had 'em before, so we knewthey was all right. "

"Was that all?"

"Every blessed thing that was in the package. So we let him have thecigarettes. That was about four o'clock. He was dead at eight. Herecomes the doctor now. Maybe he can tell you something. "

Doctor Warren, rubbing his hands to get rid of the lint from thewarden's towel, came along settling himself into his coat which he hadremoved the better to examine the body of the East Indian. 

"Well, Donovan, " said the county physician, "your friend saved you thetrouble of convicting him. "

"Yep. But I'd a had him all right. I'd a sent him to the chairwithout any trouble. But what ailed him, Doc?"

"I can't say yet. Looks like a case of heart disease. I'll hold anautopsy in the morning. He's dead all right. "

"I thought maybe some of the other prisoners might have got in andcroaked him, " commented the headquarters detective. "Riley was sayingsome one let out a yell. "

"That was Schmidt--fellow that killed his wife, " interposed the deputywarden. "He's in the cell next to where the Dago was. Schmidt said heheard the foreigner breathing awful funny. It was his last breath allright. He was dead when I got in, Doc. "

"Yes, they go quick that way. "

"Are you sure it was heart disease, Dr. Warren?" asked the colonel. 

"No, not at all. I just mentioned that as most probable. He didn'tlook strong. I can't tell for a certainty until to-morrow. "

"Pardon me, Dr. Warren, for presuming on what is particularly your ownground, but did you look to see if any of the cigarettes were left inhis cell?"

"I didn't notice. If you want to take a look come on back. And Idon't in the least mind any suggestions from you, Colonel. I'm toomuch interested in your work. In fact, I'd be glad to have you help inthis investigation if you think there's anything crooked. "

"Oh, not at all. Suicide is, of course, the most natural suspicion ina case like this, and it isn't hard to conceal enough opium in acigarette to kill a dozen men. "

"Blazes! I never thought of that!" ejaculated the deputy. "Come on!"and he led the way back to the cell. 

Singa Phut's body had been removed to another part of the jail. Butthe cell was as it had been when the final summons came to the EastIndian. 

There were the few poor possessions he had been allowed to have withhim--simple and apparently safe enough. And, scattered on the floor, were some of the cigarettes, made from strong Latakia tobacco, thepeculiar odor of which was, even yet, noticeable in the corners of thecell. 

"He smoked some of 'em all right, " observed the deputy. 

"Let's have a look, " suggested the colonel. "If we had a better lightin here it might help. "

"I'll bring one of the two-hundred watt bulbs we use down in theoffice, " said the warden, who had joined the little group. There wasan electric light socket in each cell--recently installed as the resultof the agitation of a prison reform committee. The low-powered bulbwas taken out and the glaring nitrogen gas one substituted. It madethe cell very bright, and by the glare the colonel gathered up a numberof the cigarettes. Some had been smoked down to a mere stub; othershad not been lighted, and two or three were broken in half, neither endshowing signs of either having been scorched by a match or wet by thelips of Singa Phut. 

"Queer he'd waste 'em that way, " observed Donovan. "Usually they can'tget enough to smoke. "

"He didn't exactly waste them, " said the colonel grimly, as he lookedat the divided but otherwise perfect cigarettes in his hand. 

"What do you call it then?" demanded the headquarters detective. 

"Well, I think he was looking for something in the cigarettes--and--hefound it. "

"What do you mean?" asked Dr. Warren. 

"Wait. Maybe I can show you. "

Colonel Ashley carefully gathered up all the cigarettes in the cell, anumber of them being perfect. With them, and the black butts, as wellas the broken paper tubes, he moved over to the small table in thecell, and spread them out. 

Donovan reached under the colonel's arm and broke open one of the wholecigarettes. "I don't see--" he began. "For the love of Mike look atthis!" he suddenly exclaimed. "There's a needle in this dope stick!"

"And, if you value your life don't touch it!" cried the colonel. "That's what I was looking for! Don't so much as scratch yourself thehundredth part of an inch or-- Well, you saw Singa Phut, " he endedgrimly. 

"Poisoned needle, Colonel?" asked Dr. Warren, as he shoved thecigarette Donovan had broken toward the middle of the table. 

"That's what I suspect. If we had a cat now or a rat--"

"Easy enough to get a rat, " interposed the warden. "There's alwayssome of the beasts in the traps we set about. We catch 'em alive. Idon't like poison. Here, Riley, go and see if you can find a rat inone of the traps. What you going to do, Colonel? Try it on him?"

"If you have one, yes. You get my idea, I guess. Some one of SingaPhut's Indian friends, knowing he would rather go out this way than paythe penalty of his crime, brought in a package of his favoritecigarettes. 

"In two, three, or in perhaps more of the 'dope sticks, ' as my friendDonovan calls them, he shoved a fine needle, the tip of which wasdipped in some swift, subtle Indian poison, the secret of which thesetwo alone, perhaps, knew. 

"With the cigarettes in his possession it was easy enough for SingaPhut to smoke some and extract a needle from another. It was probablymarked in some secret way. More than one needle was sent to guardagainst failure. But the first one must have worked. I'd like to findit. "

"I'll have the cell swept for you, " promised the warden as his deputywent off to look for a rat. A keeper was summoned with a broom, andbrushed out the cell. It did not take long, for it was very clean. Most of the debris was cigarette ash and scraps of paper and tobacco. And it was in this debris, carefully poked over with a lead pencil, that a needle was found. 

Colonel Ashley, using extreme care, laid the two together, after anexamination of the other unbroken cigarettes had disclosed the factthat none of them concealed anything. 

"I got one, Warden! A beaut!" came Riley's voice from down thecorridor, and he came in with a wire cage containing a large rat whichcowered in one corner of his cell, even as Singa Phut had shrunk intohis when the end came. 

"How you going to get at him, Colonel?" asked the warden. "They'renasty to handle. One of 'em nipped my dog fierce when I gave him achance at killing it a day or so ago. "

"I'm not going to let it out. If I had a stick, or something that Icould fasten the needle on, I could work a sort of javelin, " remarkedthe colonel. 

"I'll get you one, " offered Riley, much interested in the comingexperiment. Donovan, too, looked on in startled wonder. 

A long, slender stick was brought and, using great care, with hisrubber gloves on that he used in autopsies, Doctor Warren fastened theneedle to the wand. Then Colonel Ashley thrust the improvised spearthrough the wires of the cage and lightly punctured the rat, which gavea protesting squeak. 

"It didn't hurt him much, " observed the colonel, "and, if I haveguessed right, his death will be painless. "

"How soon?" asked Donovan. 

"I can't say, but it ought not be very long. The kind of poison theyuse is calculated to work swiftly. "

In the glaring light from the nitrogen bulb they stood in the cell ofthe dead man, gathered about the cage of the rat--a prison within aprison. After the first start caused by the needle prick, the rodentagain shrank back into its corner. For perhaps ten minutes it remainedthus, and then it began to exhibit signs of uneasiness. It stood up onits haunches and began to bite at the wires of the cage. It squeaked, more as though uneasy than in pain, In another minute it began to run around the tin floor of its prison, and then it suddenly stopped in its tracks, fell over in a lump and wasstill. 

"Well, I'll be--" began Donovan, and then, with a look at thecolonel, he substituted: "This gets me! It sure does!"

"It evidently went right to the heart, just as in Singa Phut's case, "observed the colonel grimly. 

"You were right, " said Doctor Warren, "it was poison. He probablyjabbed himself with the point of the needle, and whatever was smearedon it did the rest. I shall be interested in making the autopsy. "

"You will probably find very little trace of the poison, " said thecolonel. "The kind they use is designed to disappear almost as soon asit becomes effective. Still you may discover something. "

But Doctor Warren did not. Aside from a little scratch near theprisoner's heart, where he had evidently dug the needle deep into hisskin, there was no sign that death was other than by natural causes. The poison had gone directly into the blood, as does the venom of asnake, and had brought death in the same way. In fact, it was theopinion of Colonel Ashley that some form of snake poison was used, though what it was, no one could say. 

And so passed out and beyond Singa Phut, and the charge of murder, having been quashed by a higher tribunal than that of the county court, the matter was soon forgotten. 

The colonel's theory, that some fellow countryman had supplied the EastIndian means of escaping the electric chair, was generally accepted. And that Singa Phut was guilty of having killed his partner in a suddenfit of passion following one of their frequent quarrels was alsobelieved by those who cared to exercise any thought in the matter. 

"But what gets me, though, " said the colonel, "is where does Singa Phutfit in with the watch in Mrs. Darcy's hand. That watch! Ah, there's alink I haven't had time to examine as I'd like to. I must see to it. "

The colonel fell into a reverie. His eyes went to the closet where hehad put away his fishing rods. 

"Oh, friend Izaak!" he murmured, "How basely I have deserted you! ButI'm coming back. Yes, I'll stop this detective work. I'll wire forKedge to-night to come on and take up the case. He can do it as wellas I. I'll get Kedge!"

He started for the telephone to dictate a telegram. And then, as hechanced to look out of the window, a different expression came into hisface. 

Down on the sidewalk he saw Amy Mason walking slowly along. The girl'spretty face was drawn and careworn. Evidently the anxiety over Darcywas beginning to tell on her. 

The old detective shook his head slowly. 

"Oh, I suppose I can't back out now, " he sighed. "I've gone too far. It would look like quitting, and I never was a quitter!"

He straightened up to his soldierly height. 

"Besides, " he went on, "Kedge would only mix matters up now. Hewouldn't know what to do, even if I told him. Kedge is all right forsome things, but-- Oh, well, I'll keep on with the case!"

This was the day following the discovery of the suicide of the EastIndian in his cell, and any intentions Colonel Ashley may have had ofsubjecting to a close examination the queer watch had to be postponed. 

He had ventured to keep it after Donovan had shown it to him, ready tomake some plausible excuse if it was called for, but the arrest of theEast Indian, and the preparation of the case for trial, in connectionwith the prosecutor's office, evidently made Donovan forget, for thetime being, that the watch was not among other criminal relics in hiscloset. 

As a matter of fact, Colonel Ashley had had it in his possession sincethat night Donovan went out with his friend, the stool pigeon. Andnow, carrying out a plan he had made, the colonel, one bright Maymorning, put the odd timepiece in his pocket and started for the Darcyjewelry store, intending to have Kettridge look at the mechanism andother parts of the watch. 

But when the detective reached the establishment he saw, to hissurprise, a great crowd gathered out in front--a crowd that needed theservices of several policemen to keep it from stopping traffic in theroadway. 

"Hello! More trouble at the place, " mused the colonel, quickening hissteps. "I wonder what's up this time?"

He inquired casually from those on the outskirts of the throng, andreceived enough information to justify the getting out of several extranewspapers. 

"Burglar tried to blow up the safe and got blowed up himself. "

"Hold-up man shot three of the girls behind the diamond counter andthen killed himself. "

"Naw! Somebody tried to set fire to the place!"

"Aw, only one of the girls fainted; that's all. "

These opinions came mostly from boys or young men. No one seemed toknow exactly what had happened. The colonel spied Mulligan, theofficer who had been the first official on the scene at the murder ofMrs. Darcy, and nodded in friendly fashion. The bluecoat escorted thecolonel through the crowd into the store. 

"I guess you'll be interested, " said Mulligan. 

"Yes, thank you. What is it?"

"I didn't hear all the particulars. But Miss Brill, the young ladyclerk, received an electrical shock from some wires hidden under themetal edge of one of the showcases, so Mr. Kettridge says, and she wasknocked down. "

"Killed?"

"No, but her head struck on the edge of a case and she's badly cut. Isent for the ambulance. It happened when the store was crowded andmade a bit of excitement. "

"I should think it would! Hidden electric wires!" and the colonelthought of a certain discovery he had made. 

CHAPTER XV

A DOG

With the help of the police, and when the stricken, though notdangerously injured, girl had been taken away in the ambulance, thecrowd was dispersed. It was then Colonel Ashley had a chance to speakto Mr. Kettridge. 

"What's all this I hear?" asked the detective. 

"I don't know, " and the manager smiled wearily. "If you heard all ofthe rumors I did they would include everything from an I. W. W. Plot to acombined attack by New York gunmen. "

"But what was it?"

"Well, one of our clerks, Miss Brill, was waiting on a customer at oneof the silver showcases. They are arranged with electric lights insidethat may be switched on when needed. 

"She turned on the current to illuminate the inside of the case, sothat her customer might make a selection to have spread out on top, when, in some manner, Miss Brill received a severe electrical shock. She was thrown backward to the floor, and her head struck a projectingcorner of one of the rear showcases. She was badly cut, but thehospital doctor said there was no fracture. "

"Did she get shocked from the wires that run into the interior of thecase?" asked the detective. 

"No, and that's the queer part of it, " said the manager. "She wasshocked while leaning against the silvered, metal edge of the glasscase, and, on examination, I find some hidden electrical wiresthere--wires that must, in some way, have become crossed on thelighting circuit. I didn't know the wires were there. "

"I did, " said the colonel, quietly. 

"You did?"

"Yes, when I tested them with an instrument I secured from anelectrician here in town the wires were dead. There was not theslightest current in them. Either they have been changed lately, orsome sudden jar or misplacement brought them in contact with a livecircuit. "

"What were the wires for?" asked Mr. Kettridge. 

"That's what I've been wanting to find out. Originally I think theywere for some system of burglar alarm installed by Mrs. Darcy. But nowthose wires run to the work bench that was used by James Darcy. "

"To his work bench?" The manager was obviously startled. 

"Yes. But don't jump at conclusions. You know he was working on anelectric lathe he hoped to patent. Those wires may be merely part ofhis equipment, "

"Yes, and they may--wait a minute!" suddenly exclaimed the manager. "Iwonder--"

From his private office, into which he had ushered the colonel, helooked down the store. It was almost deserted now, save for a fewcustomers and the clerks. 

"It's the same place!" murmured the manager, "What is?" asked the detective. 

"Miss Brill was shocked, and fell at the very spot where the dead bodyof Mrs. Darcy was found!" said Mr. Kettridge in a low, intense voice. "Except for the fact that she fell behind the showcase and Mrs. Darcyin front of it, the place is the same!"

With a muttered exclamation the colonel got to his feet and also lookedout from the private office. 

"You're right, " he admitted. "I wonder if that is a coincidenceor--something else. I must go to see Darcy. "

The prisoner was measurably startled when the detective told him thelatest development at the jewelry store. 

"Those were never my wires in the showcase!" cried the young man. "Iknew some were there, for we did have an antiquated burglar alarmsystem when I first came to work for my cousin. I had another one putin, and I supposed they had ripped out the old wires. But the wires Iused for my lathe experiments had no connection with those, I'm sure. What is your theory?"

"I have so many I don't know at which one to begin, " admitted ColonelAshley. "But I was wondering if it was possible that the showcasewires, which when I tested them were dead, could have, in some manner, become charged, and have given Mrs. Darcy a shock that might have senther reeling to the floor, toppling the heavy statue over on her head, and so killing her. "

"By _accident_ do you mean?" asked Darcy, his face lighting up withhope. 

"Yes. This young lady received a severe blow on her head by her fall, and your cousin--"

"You forget the stab wound, Colonel. "

"No, I didn't exactly _forget_ it. I was wondering how we couldaccount for that if we accepted the shock theory. I guess we can't. I'm still up against it. I've struck a snag--maybe a stone wall, Darcy!"

"Do you--do you think you can get over it, Colonel?"

"By gad, sir! I will! That's all there is to it! _I will_!"

The silence of the colonel's room was broken by a peculiar scratchingat the door, interrupting his perusal of this passage:

"I told you angling is an art, either by practice or long observationor both. But take this for a rule--"

"Come in!" invited the colonel, thinking it might be Shag, whosometimes, for the lesser disturbance of his master's thoughts orreading, thus announced himself. 

But there entered no black and smiling Shag, nor one of the hotelemployees, but a little dog which wagged its tail both in greeting tothe colonel, seated before a gas log in his room, and also as a sort ofapplause for the dog itself, because it had succeeded in pushing openthe door which was left ajar, but which, nevertheless, was rather stiffon the hinges. And Chet, the dog in question, was rather proud of hisachievement. Thus his wagged tail had a double meaning, so to speak. 

"Ah, Chet, you've come in for another talk, have you?" asked thecolonel as he leaned over to pat the dog's head. 

More wagging of the tail to indicate pleasure, satisfaction, andwhatever else dogs thus express. 

"Glad to see you, " went on the colonel, as though talking to a human, and, with more gyrations of the tail, which constituted Chet's side ofthe talk with the colonel, the little creature sought a warm spot nearthe gas log, stretched out and sighed long in contentment. 

Chet was the pet of a man--a permanent resident of the hotel--who hadthe suite next Colonel Ashley's, and, early in his stay at thehostelry, the detective had made friends with the little animal, which, when Mr. Bland, its own master, was out, often came in to visit thefisherman, just as he had done now. 

The colonel was thoroughly enjoying himself, for he had put aside, inthe perusal of Walton, all thoughts of the murder and its manycomplications, when there came another interruption. This time it wasa ring of his room telephone. 

"There's a gentleman downstairs asking for you, " came the word inresponse to his answer to the summons. 

"Who is it?

"Says I'm to tell you he's Mr. Young. "

"Oh, yes, Jack Young--send him up. " The colonel closed the book with asigh of regret. 

"No use trying to read Izaak now, " he murmured. "It would be asacrilege. I'll have to wait a bit. Wonder what Jack wants. Ah, comein!" he called, as a discreet knock sounded on the half-opened door. "Trouble?"

"Not yet, Colonel, though there may be. Do you want me to follow Kingout of town?"

"Of course. Wherever he goes. Stick to him like a leech, " and thedetective indicated a chair to his visitor. Jack Young was one of theAshley Agency's most trusted lieutenants. 

"I sent for you to have you shadow King, " said the detective in a lowvoice, seeing to it that the door was closed, "because I think we canget something out of him. "

"Not a confession, surely!" exclaimed Young. 

"Well, if he gets drunk enough, yes. But not the kind of confessionthat would be any use to us. What a man babbles when the wine is inand the wit is out, wouldn't be much use in a court of law. But if youcan get him to tell anything about where he got that queer coin--theone that used to be in Mrs. Darcy's collection--so much to the good. But be foxy about it, Jack. "

"I will! What I came to see about is whether you want me to follow himout of town. He's been cutting a pretty wide swath since he got out onbail, and he's been having some pretty sporty times. "

"And you've been with him; is that it?"

"To the best of my ability, yes, " admitted Jack, as he patted Chet, when the dog, that evidently had met him before, slid over to have hisears pulled. 

"I have great faith in your ability, Jack. The point is to stick toKing. You managed to make friends with him?"

"That wasn't hard. But I'll need a little money if I'm to keep up hispace. That's why I came to you. "

"Perfectly right, Jack. Mason so thoroughly believes in the innocenceof Darcy, and he sticks by his daughter's engagement so well, that he'dsupply twice as much cash as was necessary to sift this to the bottom. So here's some to enable you to keep up to King's pace. "

"Of course it's none of my business, Colonel, but I'd like to know alittle bit about how the wind blows. Do you really suspect him of themurder?"

"Jack, I don't know!" was the frank answer, as Chet went back to hisplace by the gas log. "His having that odd coin was what put me on histrail again, and I sent for you to shadow him, as I had too many otherirons in the fire. And you've done well. I guess there isn't muchthat Harry has done since that night about a week ago, when I saw himin the Homestead, that you don't know about. "

"I guess not, Colonel. "

"But, with it all, I'm not much nearer than I was at first. "

"How about Spotty?"

"He won't say a word. "

"You tried the third degree on him, of course?"

"I--er--I did and I didn't, " the colonel answered, lamely. "You see, you can't go too far with a man when he has saved your life. "

"But he may know all about it. "

"Possibly. "

"How about young Darcy?"

The colonel did not answer at once. It was not until he had gone to acloset and taken from it a package which he placed on a tabarette, onwhich, near him, rested a box of cigars, that he spoke. Then he said:

"If I could find out why Singa Phut used this watch I'd be in a betterposition to answer, " and from the package the detective took thetimepiece which he had kept after Donovan had given it to him toexamine. 

"You mean you're not sure about Darcy?"

"Well, I thought I was. At first I had my doubts. Then, when I hadlooked over the ground and talked with Miss Mason and him, I waswilling to take up his case just because I believed he had nothing todo with the murder. "

The colonel, who had taken the watch from some tissue paper in which itwas wrapped, laid it down on the low stool, and turned his attention tohis visitor. Chet with a whine and stretch, indicating that he waswarmed and rested, and would not object to a little play, walked slowlyover toward the colonel. 

"But, " went on the detective, "since the finding of the electric wiresrunning to Darcy's desk--Jack, I tell you what it is. You helped meout wonderfully on that robbery of the Chatham bank, when the cashierran some wires to the time lock and had it open five hours ahead oftime, I wish you'd come and have a look at those wires with me. Maybeyou could give me a hint that would clear up some of the doubt I haveregarding Darcy. "

"All right, Colonel, I'll come. But I think I'd better follow Kingnow. He's got a date with Larch, the hotel keeper, and there may besomething in it. "

"Oh, go by all means! The wires will keep. Here, I'll give you anidea about how they run, " and the colonel drew a sort of diagram of thejewelry store, indicating the showcase where the hidden wires had beenfound, explaining to his man the effect on the young woman clerk whohad been shocked. 

Jack Young studied the diagram carefully and shook his head. Thecolonel, meanwhile, sat back and waited. Chet was worrying the tissuepaper in which the Indian's watch was wrapped. 

"Well, Colonel, I'll tell you what it is, " said Jack, after a series ofquestions, "I'd have to see the place to get at any right idea of it. Not to cast any aspersions on your ability as an artist, I can't justmake out how the wires run, from this sketch, " and he smiled, afterhaving studied the drawings for perhaps ten minutes. 

"Don't blame you a bit!" laughed the colonel. "I never was much onpencil work. But now you follow Harry King. If you need more money, come to me, " he added as he handed over a roll of bills. "And thenwe'll have to go at those wires. I'm not so sure--"

The colonel's remarks were interrupted by peculiar actions on the partof Chet. The little animal appeared to have gotten something into hismouth which bothered him. He was whining and pawing at his jaws. 

"Look at the dog, Colonel!" exclaimed Jack. "Look!"

"Gad! he's got hold of the Indian's watch!" cried the detective. "He'sbeen worrying it as he would a bone, and he's got it in his mouth andcan't get it out! Easy there! don't touch it!" came the sharp command, as Jack Young took a step forward, evidently with the intention ofhelping the distressed animal. 

"What's the matter, Colonel?" asked Jack. "You don't want to see thedog suffer, do you?"

"No, but--there, he's got it out himself!"

With an effort the dog had pawed from his mouth the watch, which, beingrather large and of peculiar shape, had for some time, been stuck inhis jaws. It rolled out on the floor, and the colonel stooped to pickit up. But Jack noticed that his chief used a wad of the tissue paperwith which to handle the timepiece, which was no longer ticking. 

"What's the matter--'fraid of soiling your hands?" asked Jack with alaugh. 

"Well, yes, in a way--"

"Look at the dog's mouth! It's bleeding!" cried Jack, pointing. 

"I was afraid it would be, " said the colonel, quietly. "Don't go nearhim, Jack, for, unless I'm much mistaken--"

The two men gazed at the dog. The little animal suddenly looked up atthem in a peculiar manner. It whined and its body was shaken as with acold shiver. A little blood was running down the lips which were nowfoam-flecked. 

"The dog's going mad!" cried Jack. "Look out, Colonel, or--"

"You needn't be afraid, " was the calm answer, as the other turnedtoward the door. "He'll never hurt any one. Ah, I thought so!"

And, as the colonel spoke, Chet gave a shudder, fell over on his sideand, with a long sigh, lay very still. 

CHAPTER XVI

THE COLONEL WONDERS

"What did that, Colonel? What devilish thing did that?" and with atrembling finger Jack Young pointed to the body of the dead dog on thefloor of the detective's room. "What killed the poor brute?"

"Unless I'm very much mistaken this did, " was the answer in a lowvoice, and the colonel, with the watch still wrapped carefully in thewad of tissue paper, placed it on the table. 

"That ticker killed the dog? Nonsense! He didn't swallow it! He hadit in his mouth, but he got it out! That couldn't have killed him!"

"I think it did though, Jack, just as it killed Shere Ali and just as--"

"Do you mean--that's what killed Mrs. Darcy--that watch?"

"I don't know yet, Jack. "

"But how could it? How could--"

The visitor ceased his questions to watch the colonel, who had gone toa closet and taken out a pair of rubber gloves. Putting them on, hetook the watch from its tissue paper wrappings, and then, holding itunder the gleaming light on his table, he gave a twist to the case, pressed on a certain point in the rim with the end of his lead penciland a tiny needle shot out into view. 

"Look!" said the colonel to Jack Young. 

"Good Lord! An infernal machine in a watch!"

"Not exactly an infernal machine, but a poisoned needle which onlyrequired pressure on the rim of the case to shoot it out into the hand, or whatever part of a person or animal was near it. Poor Chet, gnawingthe watch which he was playing with--worrying it as he would abone--must have bitten on the right place. The needle shot out, pierced his tongue or lips and--the deadly poison did the rest!"

"But, Colonel--this--this is the watch Mrs. Darcy had in her hand whenshe was found dead!"

"Yes, " was the cool response. 

"And its the same one Shere Ali had in his hand when he was found dead!"

"Yes. "

"But both of them had their heads smashed in!"

"Yes, Jack. "

"But, Great Scott, Colonel! the watch can't do that as well as poisonto death! It's out of the question!"

"Of course it is. I didn't claim the watch did anything like that. Idon't even claim the poison-needle watch killed Mrs. Darcy or ShereAli. But that it did kill Chet I'm certain. "

"I believe you're right there, Colonel Ashley. Poor little dog!" andJack, who loved animals, looked at the limp body. 

"I know I'm right, Jack. If I had seen, in time, that he had the watchI'd have tried to get it away from him. But maybe it will turn out forthe best. In the interests of justice--"

"Do you think this will help in solving the mystery?"

"It may. "

"But I thought you said the poison-needle watch might not have killedMrs. Darcy?"

"I'm not saying anything, Jack. It might, and might not. "

"But the blow on her head--the stab wound in her side--?"

"Both could have been inflicted after the poison watch killed her--ifit did. Mind you, Jack, I'm making no statements. I am onlysuggesting possibilities. "

"But-- Great Scott, Colonel--Shere Ali was killed in the same way!He had the ticking watch in his hand, and his head was smashed in!"

"Yes. "

"And of course _he_ may have been struck on his head after he died fromthe poisoned watch?"

"Exactly. "

"And this watch Darcy had in his possession to repair just before Mrs. Darcy was found dead, and she had it in her hand and--say, Colonel, where are we at?" and Jack Young looked hopelessly at his chief. 

"I don't know, " was the measured answer. "I wish I did. There is onlyone thing we can be sure of, and that is, no matter what part Darcy hadin the murder--if he had any--by means of this watch in the case ofMrs. Darcy, he had none in Shere Ali's case, for Darcy was locked upwhen that tragedy occurred. "

"That's so, Colonel. And yet-- Oh, well, what's the use ofspeculating? What are you going to do next?"

"I don't know. I wish--"

There came another knock on the door and a voice asked:

"Is Chet in here, Colonel? I generally find him with you when he isn'tin my room and--"

Mr. Bland entered through the opened door, and from the figures of thedetective and his helper the eyes of Chet's owner went to that of themotionless dog. Chet's master sensed something wrong, for with a cryof his pet's name he hurried toward the stretched-out animal. 

"Don't!" exclaimed the colonel, reaching out a restraining hand. "Thedog has been poisoned, and with a poison so deadly that even some ofthe foam from his lips, in a tiny scratch, might cause your death. Don't touch him with bare hands. "

"Poisoned, Colonel! Chet poisoned?"

Sorrowfully enough Colonel Ashley told how it had happened, showing thepoisoned watch, but not disclosing the fact that it was the one whichhad figured in the deaths of Mrs. Darcy and Shere Ali. And as nothinghad yet been made public to the effect that the watch, which had had apart in both cases, was more than an ordinary timepiece Mr. Bland didnot connect it with these two deaths. Colonel Ashley let it beunderstood that the watch was a curiosity having to do with some casehe was investigating. 

"And if I had even dreamed that your dog would take it off the stool toworry it, as he might a bone, I'd never have let him in here, " said thedetective. "I can't tell you how sorry I am, Mr. Bland, for I lovedChet almost as much as you did. "

"I know--I know! And he liked you. Poor little dog! Poor little dog!"

Tenderly they bore him out, the colonel insisting that no one touch himwith ungloved hands, and a little later Chet was quietly buried. 

"But what are you going to do about that watch--and all that it means?"asked Jack Young, later, when he was about to depart to take up theshadowing of Harry King. 

"I'm going to see how it's made and try to learn whether or not Darcywas aware of its deadly nature. If he was--"

The colonel did not finish. 

"Well, I'll get on my way, " said Jack, after a pause. "I'll keep intouch with you, in case you need me. "

"And don't lose sight of Harry King, " was the parting admonition. "Something just as unexpected as this may turn up in his case, " and thecolonel motioned to the watch. 

Left to himself, the detective looked at the timepiece on his table, now silent in its tissue wrapping. The needle, which under themagnifying glass was shown to be hollow, probably drawing the poisonfrom some receptacle inside the case, had slipped back out of sightwhen the pressure was removed from the rim. 

"The watch of death!" mused the colonel. "I must see how you are madeinside, and I think I'd better have a professional perform an autopsyon you. I'll send for Kettridge. He knows all about watches, though Iquestion if he ever saw one like this. "

The colonel was about to use his telephone when it rang and, answeringit, he was told that another visitor wished to see him. 

"Who is it?" he asked the clerk downstairs. 

"Mr. Aaron Grafton. "

"Send him up. "

Grafton was plainly nervous as he entered the room; and the colonel, had he not been a man of experience, might have allowed thisnervousness to influence his judgment, and bring into too muchprominence the first suspicions the detective had felt regarding thisman. 

"Ah, Mr. Grafton, you wish to see me?"

"Only for a moment, Colonel Ashley. I don't like to call on you thusopenly, for it might give rise to all sorts of questions, but--"

"Oh, don't let that worry you. I'm a detective, and known as such now. And you, as the owner of a large department store, where shop-liftingand other crimes may be committed any day, are often in need of theservices of detectives, I should say. "

"I am, but--"

"Well, don't worry. If any one knows of your coming to me they willimagine you wish to consult me about something connected with yourstore. So don't let that influence you. But has anything elsehappened?"

"Yes, " answered Mr. Grafton, "there has. "

"What?" asked the colonel. 

"Well, I've come to say that I don't think I'll need your services anymore. "

"Not need them?"

"No. And I wish to pay you and thank you. I'm ever so much obliged toyou for what you have done--"

"But I haven't done anything yet. I haven't--Oh, I see. You are notsatisfied with my work on your behalf. Well, I can't say I blame you, for really I haven't had time to give it as much consideration as I'dlike. Still that couldn't be helped and--"

"Oh, don't misunderstand me, Colonel Ashley. I am not at alldissatisfied, " and Mr. Grafton held up a protesting hand. "The truthis, I'll not need your services in helping me to recover the diamondcross for Mrs. Larch--or Miss Ratchford, as she calls herself since theseparation. You can drop that case, Colonel. "

"Drop it?"

"Yes, the diamond cross has been recovered. I just had a letter fromCyn--from Miss Ratchford, saying she has the cross. "

"She has the missing diamond cross?" fairly cried the detective. 

"Yes. "

"Where did she get it. Could Spotty--" The colonel whispered thelast name to himself and then stopped short. 

"I don't know. I just had a telegram from her, and I am going to seeher now to learn the particulars, " went on Aaron Grafton. "She is inPompey, you know--where she used to live as a girl, and where I--Well, I'm going to see her. I came to tell you the diamond crossmystery is solved and if you will let me know what I owe you I'll sendyou a check. "

"Oh, that part will be all right, Mr. Grafton. But I don't understand. "

"Nor do I, " flung back Aaron Grafton over his shoulder, as he left thecolonel's room, rather hastily. "I'll tell you as soon as I've seenMiss Ratchford. Good-bye!" and he was gone. 

For a moment the colonel remained motionless in the middle of the room. Then a queer look came over his face as he murmured:

"Now I wonder whether he's telling the truth--or lying! Is the diamondcross in her possession, or did Grafton say that so I'd drop the caseand--leave him out of it? I wonder. And, by the same token ofwondering I think I'd better not let you get too far away from me, Mr. Grafton. You will bear a little closer watching. "

CHAPTER XVII

"A JOLLY GOOD FELLOW"

"Well, " remarked Colonel Ashley briskly to himself, "there are two orthree things I've got to do, and do them right away. Which shall Itackle first? I wonder if it won't be best to have Kettridge come hereand perform the autopsy on that watch, " and he looked toward the closetwhere he had placed the one that had belonged to Singa Phut. "If I canlook inside that, and see whether or not the mechanism is so obviousthat Darcy must have stumbled on it when he started to repair it--if hedid--then, well, that complicates matters. Yes, I think I must seeKettridge. "

Once more the colonel started toward his room telephone, intending tosummon the jeweler, who was living over the store in Mrs. Darcy's rooms. 

The colonel paused at the instrument, recalling that, as he had beenabout to use it before there had come in a call for him--the callannouncing the department-store keeper. 

But this time the instrument was mute, and the colonel had soon askedcentral for the telephone in the apartments now occupied by Mr. Kettridge. There was a period of waiting. 

"I am ringing Marcy 5426, " announced the pleasant voice of the girl inthe central office. 

"Thank you, " responded the detective. 

Another period of waiting, and again the announcement of the girl, though the colonel had not manifested any impatience. 

"Very well, " he responded. "There may be no one at home. "

It was evident, a little later, that at least no one intended to answerthe telephone, and the colonel hung up he receiver. 

"Well, Kettridge can wait, " he murmured, as he carefully put away thewatch, thinking, with a sigh of regret, of poor little Chet. The dogwas a friendly animal and had made many friends in the hotel. 

"And so Miss Ratchford--to use her maiden name--has the diamond crossback again, " mused the colonel. "But how in the world could she getit, when Spotty had it, and the police that are holding him have that, and he's resisting extradition? Say, I wish I could go fishing!" andthe colonel shook his head in dogged impatience at the tangle intowhich the affair had snarled itself. 

"Spotty must have robbed the jewelry store in spite of what he saysabout it, " mused the Colonel. "But if he did, and got the cross, evenif he didn't kill Mrs. Darcy, how in the world could he get the crossback to her when the police took it away from him and when the last Isaw of it it was in the police headquarters safe?

"This certainly gets me! Oh Shag! is that you?" called the colonel ashe heard some one moving out in the hall near his door. 

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"You stay here until I come back. I'm going out, and I don't know whattime I'll be in. Be careful to get straight any messages that come inover the wire, and if Jack Young calls up get the 'phone number of theplace where he is so I can call him. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"And, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"Hand me that little green book. I may have to be up all night, and Iwant something to read that will keep me awake, " and the colonelslipped into his coat pocket the green volume. He was taking hisfishing by a sort of "correspondence school method" it will be observed. 

The detective busied himself about his apartment getting ready to goout, and from a suitcase which was closed with a complicated lock hetook a number of articles which he stowed away in various pockets ofhis garments. 

"Is yo' gwine be out all night, Colonel?" asked Shag. 

"I can't say. I'm going to do a bit of shadow work and it may take meuntil sunrise. But you stay right here. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. I will. "

"And now we'll see, Mr. Aaron Grafton, " said the detective to himself, as he prepared to leave, "whether you're telling the truth or not. Ithink my one best bet is to follow you when you go to see Miss Cynthia!"

But before the colonel could leave the room there sounded the insistentringing of his telephone bell. 

"I wonder if that can be Kettridge, " he mused. "And yet he wouldn'tknow that I had called him. Answer it, Shag, " he directed. "It may besome one I don't care to talk to now. Don't say I'm here until youfind out who it is. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

The colored servant unhooked the receiver and listened a moment. Then, carefully covering the mouthpiece with his hand, he announced:

"It's Mr. Young, Colonel!"

"Is it! Good! Hold him! I'll talk with him!"

Quickly crossing the room the detective spoke rapidly into theinstrument. 

"Hello, Jack! This is the colonel. Yes--what is it? He is? That'sunusual--for him. Guess he's going down and out by the wrong route!Yes, I'll come right away! You follow King and I'll take the trailafter Larch. So he's boasting that-- Well, all sorts of things mayhappen now. Yes, I'm on my way now. You follow King!"

The detective remained motionless for a few seconds after he hadslipped the receiver into its hook. Then he said to Shag:

"Do you know where I ought to be now?"

The colored man paused a moment before replying. Then he played asafety shot by answering:

"No, sah, Colonel, I jest doesn't--zactly. "

"Well, I ought to be getting ready to go fishing. I'm sick of thiswhole business. I'm going to quit! I never ought to have gone intoit. I'm too old. I told 'em that, but they wouldn't believe me. "

"Too old to go _fishin'_, sah, Colonel? No sah! You'll never be dat!Never!"

"Oh, I don't mean fishing, Shag! I mean I never ought to have beenmixed up with this affair--this detective business. I'm going to quitnow, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"Get me Kedge on the long distance. "

"Mr. Kedge, in N' York, sah?"

"Yes. I'm going to turn this over to him. It's getting on my nerves. I want to go fishing. I'll let him work out the rest of the problems. Get Kedge on the wire. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

The colored man went to the instrument, but before he had engaged theattention of central his master called:

"Oh, Shag!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

"Wait a minute. I suppose Kedge is very busy now?"

"Well, yes, sah, I s'pects so. He had dat ar' animal case. "

"Oh, you mean Mr. Campbell's?"

"Yes, sah! Dat's it. I knowed it was a camel or a elephant. "

"Yes, I suppose he's busy on that. So don't bother him. Anyhow, itwould take him as long to get here, pick up the loose ends, and startout right, as it would take me to finish. "

"Mo' so, Colonel, " voiced Shag. "A whole lot mo'. "

"Oh, well, hang it all! That's the way it is. I never can get alittle vacation. But now I'm in this game I suppose I might as wellstick! Never mind that call, Shag! I'll finish this. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel. "

A fact which the wise Shag had known all along. 

 "For it's always good weather, When good fellows get together!"

Over and over again the not unmusical strains welled out from one ofthe private rooms, opening off the grill of the Homestead. At timesLarch stopped at the entrance, smiling good-naturedly, but with rathera cynical look on his clean-chiseled but cruel face. More than oncehis eyes sought those of Harry King, and the latter nodded and smiled. He was spending money freely, but was keeping himself well in hand, though a waiter was at his side more often than at the side of any ofthe others. 

"How long has this been going on, Jack?" asked the colonel, who reachedthe hotel soon after his talk with Shag. 

"All the afternoon, I guess, and it looks as if it would be all night. "

"So it does! I wish I'd never gotten into this mess, but I can't getout now. Kedge would be sure to spoil it after I've started thingsmoving. What especially did you want to tell me?"

"Well, King is in there, in his usual state--dignified, of course, buthow long he'll stay that way I can't tell. It's Larch that puzzles me. "

"Yes, it isn't usual for him to make such a congenial companion ofhimself with his customers. But he's very different since his wifeseparated from him. He doesn't hold himself so highly. "

"And it's telling on his business. "

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that a number of his best friends are leaving him. The way itused to be was that the Homestead was patronized by a good class ofpeople and organizations, some that even were opposed to the liquortrade. They knew they could have it or not have it as they pleased. But now Larch is catering more and more to parties that wouldn't comehere if there wasn't something strong to drink, and that's driving theother sort away. "

"Yes, I've noticed that of late. "

"And that isn't all, " went on Young. "Larch is going to come acropper, if I'm any judge. "

"What do you mean?" Again the Colonel seemed puzzled. 

"I mean he's going to smash financially. He's been making some poorinvestments of late, as well as gambling heavily, and his money can'tlast forever. He had a lot, but most of it is gone. "

"I hadn't heard that. "

"Well, it's true. He was well off when he married. That's the reasonhe got such a pretty wife, I hear. Her folks were ambitious for her. Well, she did shine for a while, for the Homestead was not an ordinaryhotel. It was more of a Colchester institution. But it's fastbecoming something else now. 

"Larch is being pressed for cash, and that may be one reason why he'sso thick with Harry King. King's got cash, if it can only be gottenat. I overheard Larch sounding him as to the chances of raising a bigsum. "

"And what did King say?"

"He agreed to try to get it for Larch. That's all I gathered then. But I heard them talking of something else. "

"What?"

"Larch dropped a hint that he and his wife might be reconciled. "

"The deuce you say!"

"That's right, Colonel. I heard him telling King about it. Larch isgoing to pay his wife a visit--going to call on her at her father'splace in Pompey. And he's going to take her out a present. I believethat's the usual thing after a quarrel. "

"Possibly, " admitted the colonel. "Oh, I wish I'd never mixed up inthis! I'm sorry for young Darcy, and I believe-- Oh, well, what'sthe use of talking now! I'm in it and I must see it through. So Larchis going to visit his wife?"

"Yes. He's either sent her a present or is going to. I couldn't quitecatch which. "

"What sort of present, Jack?"

"A diamond cross. "

"What?" and the colonel had suddenly to modulate his voice or he wouldhave attracted more attention that he cared to. "A diamond cross? Areyou sure about that, Young?"

"Sure! Why not? I don't see anything queer there. He might buy her adiamond cross as a sort of forgiveness gift. Same idea Harry King hadyou know, but a little higher class, that's all. 

"You know, Colonel, these things are about alike. The man on WaterStreet gets drunk and brings his wife home a quart of oysters as apeace offering. The man on the boulevard does the same thing andpatches up the break with a pearl pendant. It's all the same, onlydifferent. "

"Yes, I suppose so. I didn't know you were a philosopher, Jack. "

"I'm not. It's just common sense. "

"But a diamond cross! And if Larch is losing money--"

"Oh, well, he may have held out some, or maybe the diamond cross isn'tso elaborate. You know they take a lot of little diamonds now, set 'emin a cluster and make 'em look as good as a solitaire. Anyhow Larchhas been boasting to King that there's to be a diamond cross present. And there's another angle to it. "

"What's that, Jack?"

"Well, there's been some talk between Larch and King about some bigdiamonds that have been sold of late. I couldn't catch whether Kinghad sold them or Larch. Anyhow they brought quite a sum of money. Maybe they were stolen from the jewelry stock. "

"Not unless Mrs. Darcy had some of which James Darcy knew nothing. "

"Well, I saw Larch at one time, and Harry King at another, have one ofthose white tissue paper packages that jewelers keep diamonds in. Ididn't get a glimpse at the stones themselves. I had to be a bitcautious you know, and, even now, I think they're suspicious of mehere. If it wasn't that King drinks so much, though he manages to walkand talk straight. I believe he'd try to pump me. Anyhow, I thoughtI'd better let you know what I'd heard. "

"Jack, I'm glad you did. So Larch has sent, or is going to send, hiswife a diamond cross! Well, then, Grafton might be right about thatafter all. Gad! this thing is getting mixed up! Now, Jack--"

A waiter who knew the colonel, from the fact that the latter was astriking figure and had been in the Homestead more than once, approached the private room occupied by the detective and Jack Youngand announced:

"Excuse me, Colonel, but you are wanted at the telephone. "

"All right. Where is it?"

"You can come right in here and have the call transferred from ourcentral, " and the man opened the door of a small booth. The Homesteadwas honeycombed with private rooms, booths and telephones. 

"Yes, this is Colonel Ashley, " announced the detective into theinstrument, when his identity had been questioned. "Who are you? Oh, Shag! Yes, Shag, what is it? What's that--at the jewelry store yousay? Well, will this never end? Yes, I'll go there at once!"

"What is it?" asked Jack, as the colonel hung up the receiver. 

"Why, Kettridge telephoned to my room, and Shag took the message andrepeated it to me. Sallie Page, the old servant of Mrs. Darcy has justbeen killed by an electric shock in the jewelry store!"

CHAPTER XVIII

AMY'S TEST

However it was not quite as bad as that, though Sallie Page hadreceived a severe shock, and had been near to death. Prompt action onthe part of the physician on the hospital ambulance had started herfeeble heart, which had been affected by the current of electricity, tobeating. 

This, among other things, Colonel Ashley learned when he hastened tothe jewelry store from the Homestead, leaving at the latter place histrusty lieutenant, Jack Young, to look after both Larch and Harry King, neither of whom seemed likely to leave the place very soon. 

"Tell me more about it, " said the colonel, when he was sitting with Mr. Kettridge in the dimly-lighted jewelry shop after Sallie had been takento the hospital. "What shocked her?"

"The same electric wires on the showcase that shocked Miss Brill theother day. The electricians had been told to remove them, but had notyet done so. "

"But I thought those wires were dead--cut--after the other accident, Mr. Kettridge. "

"So they were. But they can be supplied with current from anothersource, it seems, and I was the innocent cause of doing it. "

"You! How?"

"By throwing over a switch on the work bench where James Darcy used tobusy himself!"

"An electric switch on Darcy's work bench?"

"Yes, come and see for yourself. I've sent for the electrician to comeand rip out everything. I'll have the place all wired over. It was amakeshift job to begin with, and since Darcy complicated the wires withsome that he hoped to run his electric lathe with, there is no tellingwhen one may get a shock. "

"How did it happen?" asked the colonel, as the jeweler led the way tothat part of the store where Darcy had the repair bench, behind thewatch showcase. It was now close to midnight, and the excitement overthe accident to Sallie, which had occurred after the closing hour forthe store, had subsided, not as much of a crowd having gathered at thattime of the evening as would have done earlier. 

"Well, it happened this way, " explained Kettridge. "We're going tohave a special sale of a medium-priced line of goods to-morrow. I wasgetting ready for it after the clerks had gone--setting out the displayand the like--when I found I needed help. 

"It wasn't much--just the little odds and ends that a woman can dobetter than a man when it comes to making things look fancy. I mighthave telephoned for Miss Brill, but I didn't like to bring her back, asshe'd worked hard all day. 

"Then I thought of Sallie Page. It's true she's deaf, but she has beenin the family, so to speak, a long while, and she knows the shop andthe goods pretty well. She's quick if she is old, so I got her downabout nine o'clock and we started in. "

"Then exactly how it happened I don't know. I was puttering around thework table where Darcy used to do his jewel setting and his repairwork, and Sallie was over near the showcase. I wanted more light on acertain piece of jewelry I had in my hand, and I thoughtlessly threwover a switch I saw on Darcy's table. It was a switch I hadn't noticedbefore--in fact, I accidentally uncovered it by moving a collection ofhis tools I hadn't previously disturbed. 

"No sooner had I closed the circuit than I heard a scream from Sallieand saw her fall backwards. I had given her a shock without knowingit. "

"That was queer, " murmured the colonel. "Let me have a look at thatswitch. "

"And, while you're about it, I'll look too, " said another voice in thedimly-lighted store, and, as the two turned in startled surprise, theysaw Detective Carroll smiling at them. 

"I heard there was another accident up here, " he went on, stillsmiling, "so I came to have a look. The side door was open and Iwalked in. Guess you didn't hear me. These rubber heels don't makemuch noise. "

"They don't, indeed, when you walk on them and not on the soles, "observed the colonel grimly. "The question is, what do you want tosee?"

"The electric switch on Darcy's table, " was the answer. "I couldn'thelp hearing what you said, Mr. Kettridge, " said Carroll, "and I don'tknow as I would have tried not to if I could. This is important. Irather guess it makes it look a bit bad for your friend, ColonelAshley, " and there was a sneer in the words. 

"Well, I don't know, " was the cool response. "The wires, as Iunderstand it, are to run an electric lathe, and they might easily havebecome crossed. "

"Oh, yes, of course!" admitted Carroll. "And then, again, they mighthave been crossed on purpose. It's a new stunt--electrically shockingan old lady before you bang her over the head or stab her, but it's agood one. I'll have a look at that switch. I thought maybe I mightfind something interesting here when I heard about the shock to the oldservant, and I didn't miss my guess. "

There was nothing for the colonel or Mr. Kettridge to say or do, andthey remained passive while Carroll took his time looking about. Thenhe telephoned for Haliday of the prosecutor's office, and also for thechief electrician of the police signal system, and all three spent sometime looking at the wires and testing them. 

"What do you think about it?" asked Mr. Kettridge of the colonel, whenthe store was again dim and quiet. 

"What do I think? I don't know! I'm going to have a talk with Darcyin the morning, and if I find he's been deceiving me-- Well, I'lldrop his case, that's all. "

If Darcy simulated surprise when, the next morning at the jail, told bythe colonel of what had happened to Sallie Page, the prisoner was aconsummate actor, the detective thought. 

"Colonel Ashley!" Darcy exclaimed. "I never knew that my lathe wirescrossed or connected with any circuit that might shock a person. It istrue I had the wires run in secretly, as I didn't want my cousin toknow about them. She didn't favor my experiments on the electricallathe, and I had to keep quiet about it. 

"But I never strung those wires to shock her, and of course you caneasily imagine I never could plan to injure Sallie Page that way, orthe young lady who was knocked down the other day. "

"Well, Darcy, you may be telling the truth, and, again, you may not, "and the colonel's voice was as noncommittal as possible. "But I ambound to point out to you that the prosecution will make the most ofthis, and that--it looks bad for you. "

"I know it does, Colonel. But I had no more to do with my cousin'sdeath than Carroll or you. Nor have I the least suspicion who did killher. My God! what object would I have?" and he turned and paced up anddown. 

"Well I'll do the best I can, " said the colonel. "But I must say itlooks black. Then you never knew your wires might, by the closing ofthe switch on your table, shock some one standing near the show case?"

"I never dreamed of it! The wires must have been changed since I usedthem. "

"That will be looked into. And the stopping of the clocks? Could yourapparatus have done that?"

"Never. It is true a strong electrical current might, under certaincircumstances, stop clocks, as well as start them. But it would notstop all the clocks in the store--or all that were going--at differenthours. "

"Perhaps not. Well, I must see what I can do. Carroll and Thong, withthe prosecutor's men, will use this for all it is worth. We mustcombat it somehow. "

"Please find a way, Colonel! I was so hopeful and--now--"

The young man could not go on for a moment because of his emotion. 

"Amy--Miss Mason--how does _she_ take this?" he faltered. 

"She doesn't know it yet, I believe. It didn't get in this morning'spapers, but it will be in this afternoon's. "

"I wish you could see her and explain. I--I can't stand it to have herlose faith in me. "

"I'll see what I can do. I'll put the best face on it I can for her. "

"And you yourself, Colonel! You--you don't believe me guilty becauseof this new development, do you?"

"If I did I wouldn't still be handling your case, Mr. Darcy, " was theanswer. "But I don't say that there isn't something to explain. I am, now, giving you the benefit of the doubt. "

"Then maybe Amy will do the same. "

It was not many hours before the colonel knew this point. The firstedition afternoon papers had not long been out when the detective, whohad gone to his hotel after an early morning visit to the jail, wastelephoned to by Miss Mason. 

"I happened to be in town, shopping, " she said, and the agitation wasplainly audible in her voice, "when I saw this terrible thing about Mr. Darcy's wires and poor Sallie. Is she in any danger, Colonel?"

"I believe not. "

"That's good! May I come to see you? I have something important toask you. "

"Yes, or I will come to see you, Miss Mason. "

"No, I had rather come to your hotel, if you will meet me in theladies' parlor. It will be secluded enough at this time. "

And a little later Amy and the colonel were talking. The girl'shaggard look told plainly of her distress. 

"Tell me, frankly, " she begged, "doesn't this make it look a littleworse for Mr. Darcy?"

"Yes, Miss Mason, it does. I had best be frank with you. Theprosecutor is bound to show that the presence of the wires, controlledby a switch from Mr. Darcy's table, were so arranged that he mightshock his cousin, or any one who put his hands on the showcase. Andthey will, undoubtedly, argue that he planned this to make herinsensible for his own purposes, whether it was that he did it in a fitof passion to kill her for his fancied troubles, or to cover up arobbery. I am only making it thus bald that you may know and face theworst. "

"I appreciate that, and I thank you. Then it does look bad for him?"

"It does. "

"And how does he bear up under it?"

"Very well. His chief anxiety is regarding you. I realize this is atest of friendship, Miss Mason. A test of both the loyalty of yourselfand your father, and--"

"Oh, you needn't worry about dad! He'll stick by Jimmie through thickand thin, for he says he knows he's innocent, "

"And yourself? How does your loyalty meet the test?"

Amy Mason drew herself up, a splendid figure of beautiful womanhood. She flashed a look at the detective that made him stand to his fullmilitary height and bearing, and then she said:

"Do you think I'm going to let dad beat _me_? Oh, no, Colonel Ashley!"

So Amy Mason met the test. 

CHAPTER XIX

WORD FROM SPOTTY

"Well, " remarked Jack Young, as he critically observed the smoke fromhis cigar curling upward toward the ceiling in the colonel's hotelroom, "we have our work cut out for us all right. "

"I should say so!" agreed Mr. Kettridge, who sat before a little table, on top of which were strewed parts of a watch. Mr. Kettridge had ajeweler's magnifying glass stuck in one eye, and it gave him a mostgrotesque appearance as he glanced from the wheels, springs and levers, spread out in front of him, over to Colonel Ashley. 

"There is only one thing to do, gentlemen, " observed the detective, whohad one finger keeping a certain place in a certain green book. "Andthat is--"

"Make an arrest at once!" exclaimed Young. "He may get away from us ifwe don't, drunk as he is. "

"No, there's time enough for that, " objected the colonel. "What I wasgoing to say is that we must take one thing at a time. Otherwise we'llget into a tangle. "

"I think we're in one now, " said Young. "For the life of me I can'tfigure out who did the killing, and the only reason I said we ought toarrest Harry King is because there's some game on between him andLarch, and those diamonds King is trying to dispose of may be part ofsome of those Mrs. Darcy had, and about which she never said anything. If King took them, he may have killed the old lady and he ought to belocked up and take his chance with Darcy. "

"If he did it--yes, " admitted the colonel. "But I haven't said he_did_. I haven't said Larch did it. I just don't know. CertainlyKing and Larch have been pretty thick of late, and Larch's bailingHarry out showed there was more than mere friendliness in it. And, asyou say, Jack, if King or Larch sold some loose diamonds, it looks asthough there was something wrong. But we don't want to make a mistake. "

"If we don't do something pretty soon they'll so fasten this crime onJimmie Darcy that you'll never be able to get him out of the tangle, "said Mr. Kettridge, as he poked a pair of pliers among the parts of thewatch. "Carroll and Thong, now that they know about the electricalwires, think they have all the evidence they need, and the prosecutoragrees with them, I guess. "

"Still, we may be able to combat that, " observed the colonel. "Now letme understand you about this watch, Mr. Kettridge. You don't believeDarcy ever put that poison needle arrangement in it?"

"No, I don't. That mechanism was built into the watch after it wasoriginally made, I'm sure. But even so it was done a number of yearsago. I can tell that by the type of small screws used. They don'tmake that kind in this country. Darcy never could have got possessionof any, to say nothing of some of the other parts used. "

Following some days of strenuous work after Amy Mason had expressed herbelief in her lover's innocence in spite of the finding of the electricwires, and had urged the detective to use every endeavor to clearDarcy, the colonel had summoned Mr. Kettridge to hold a sort of autopsyover the Indian watch which was still in possession of the olddetective. With the suicide of the East Indian the case had beendropped by Donovan and the authorities, they taking it for granted thatSinga Phut had killed Shere Ali and then ended his own life, by helpfrom outside in getting poison. So if Donovan thought anything aboutthe watch, he said nothing. 

"Then you think Darcy is cleared of any connection with the poisonwatch?" asked the colonel. 

"I think so--yes, " answered the jeweler. "As a matter of fact, I don'tbelieve Jimmie did any repair work on it at all. Singa Phut brought itin to have it fixed, it is true, but Jimmie was a great chap forpromising work and then not having it ready on time. I've known him todo that more than once, and he lost Mrs. Darcy customers that way. Heprobably promised Singa Phut to have the watch ready for him, and then, either in working on his pet invention, the electric lathe, or becauseof his quarrel with his cousin, forgot about the East Indian's watch. He may, as he says, have gotten up early to redeem his promise torepair it. "

"But he never did?" asked the colonel. 

"It bears no evidence of it, " and the jeweler focused his glass on thedismembered timepiece. 

"Do you think he knew the deadly nature of the watch?" went on thedetective. 

"It is doubtful. This watch is of peculiar construction. As I haveshowed you, the poison needle could only be made to protrude when thewatch reached a certain time, which time could be set in advance as analarm clock is set. I think this is what happened, though I may bewrong. 

"Singa Phut, for purposes of his own, had this poisoned watch in hispossession. He, of course, knew just what it would do, and how to setit so that if a person, at a certain hour, took it into his or herhands, and exerted any pressure on the rim, the needle would shoot outand puncture the flesh. The poison on the point then caused death. "

"And very speedy death, " added the colonel. "Witness what happened topoor little Chet. The watch was wound up--I wound it myself as amatter of fact, though I did not dream that the time mechanism hadanything to do with the poisoned needle. Then the dog, playing withit, as he would with a bone, bit on the rim, just at the time when theneedle was set to operate. It shot out, punctured his lip, and Chetdied. "

"Did you know it was a poisoned watch?" asked Jack Young. 

"I had guessed that after what happened, and that is why I warnedDonovan to be careful. But, as I said, I thought it was like a swordcane or a spring dagger--that only pressure on a certain part wasneeded to force out the needle with its death-carrying smear of somesubtle Indian poison. I never dreamed it was like an alarm clock. "

"Well, it was, " said Mr. Kettridge. "I can easily see all the parts, now that I have taken it apart, and the time-setting arrangement isvery compact, simple and effective. "

"You were careful not to scratch yourself on the needle?" asked thecolonel quickly. 

"Oh, yes indeed! I took that out first. But do you think, Colonel, inspite of what I have said about Jimmie not knowing how this watchoperated, and, presumably, not having done any work on it--do you thinkhe can have planned to kill Mrs. Darcy with it?"

"Hardly. And yet it is possible that Mrs. Darcy may have been killedby the watch. "

"Killed by it?--how?" gasped Jack Young. "I thought she was stabbed, and her skull fractured. "

"She had both those injuries, it is true. But what is to haveprevented her from having been punctured by the watch just before shereceived those hurts?

"I mean in this way, " went on the colonel. "We will assume that SingaPhut, finding some trifling thing the matter with his devilish watch, brought it to the Darcy shop, where he was fairly well known. 

"Darcy promised to fix the timepiece but neglected or forgot to do it, leaving it on his table. Then, remembering it early in themorning--perhaps feeling guilty at having spent part of the nightworking on his electric lathe--he got up to do as he had promised, and--"

"Finds his cousin dead!" interrupted Mr. Kettridge. 

"So he _says_!" added Jack Young significantly. 

"Well, we won't go into that, " observed the colonel. "I was going tomake another point. Leaving Darcy out of it, and assuming that he hadleft the watch on his table intending to get up in the morning and fixit, what is to have prevented Mrs. Darcy from coming down to herstore--say, before midnight, after Darcy left her. 

"She saw the watch on the table, and, picking it up, may have wound it. This set in motion the death-dealing mechanism, and her hand may havebeen punctured with the poison. "

"But, even then, " put in Young, as he puffed out another cloud ofsmoke, "if the poison from the watch killed her, why would any onestrike her on the head and stab her?"

"That may have occurred just after her hand was punctured by the needleof the watch, " said the detective, "and before the poison had time towork. It is not instantaneous. "

"But who would have struck or stabbed her after that?" asked Mr. Kettridge. "I mean, of course, leaving Jimmie out, for I don't believehe did it. "

"Could not Singa Phut have done it?" asked Colonel Ashley quietly. 

"Singa Phut!" cried both his auditors. 

"Yes. Suppose, after he had left the watch to be repaired with youngDarcy, the East Indian happened to think that he had not warned againstwinding it up, which a jeweler would be most apt to do after makingrepairs. Singa Phut had no reason for wishing harm to Darcy. He mayhave come to the store late at night intending to warn him to becareful. "

"Well, assuming that, what next?" asked Jack Young. 

"Well, Singa, coming say at eleven o'clock to the jewelry store, findsMrs. Darcy there. She has picked up the watch--she must have donethat, for it was in her hand. Singa sees it and fearful of what mighthappen he rushes in and tries to take it away from her. She, thinkinghim a thief, resists and he, fearful that he will be caught andarrested as a robber, struggles to get the watch and to make his escape. 

"Now remember that he is of excitable nature, that he is a foreigner, fearful of our laws, and that he knows the deadly nature of the poisonin the watch. Could not he have both struck Mrs. Darcy with the hunterstatue and stabbed her in trying to get away from her? That wouldaccount for the killing. "

"But there would have been an alarm--the struggle would have made anoise, " objected Jack Young. 

"Yes, but there are not many people passing the store around midnight. Every one in the place had gone to bed--the sleeping rooms are quite adistance from the shop. Then, too, very little noise may have beenmade. I remember in the Peal case two strong and vigorous men battledat midnight, one killing the other, in a store on a main street in abig city. But trolley cars and autos going past drowned all sounds ofthe fight. It may have been so in this case. "

"Are you going to offer that to the jury to clear Darcy?" asked Mr. Kettridge. 

"I may have to, " was the colonel's answer. "How does it sound to you, gentlemen?"

"Very plausible, " admitted Jack Young. "But what about the electricwires on Darcy's table?"

"They are a problem, I admit. However, though Carroll thinks he canprove they were arranged deliberately to shock any one who, at theproper moment, might touch the showcase, yet I think we can prove thatan accidental crossing of perfectly harmless wires to Darcy's lathewith the city's electric light circuit may have caused the twoaccidents. That is a point I have yet to consider. But we havesettled something regarding the watch, anyhow. Now, Jack, I want totalk to you about Harry King. "

"He needs to be talked about, " was the response. "I don't say he hadanything to do with the murder--especially not after what you have saidabout Singa Phut. But Harry King needs watching. "

"I agree with you. You say he and Larch have been looking at a packetof diamonds?"

"Yes; diamonds wrapped in those little squares of white paper thatjewelers use. Looks like they'd been robbing a gem store. "

"You don't know of any diamonds missing from Mrs. Darcy's stock, doyou?" asked the colonel of Mr. Kettridge. "Mr. Young and I talked ofthis before but didn't settle it. "

"No. But then she may have had a private stock of which Darcy nor Iknew nothing. It is a point worth looking into. "

"I agree with you. So stick to Harry, Jack, my boy. "

"He won't require much sticking to at present. He and Larch are bothso well pickled that they'll easily keep until morning. "

"Well, watch them after that. Maybe you'd better put up at theHomestead. "

"I will, though I guess it won't be the Homestead long. "

"Why not?"

"Well, Larch is going to lose it, I hear. It's mortgaged up to theroof and he can't meet his payments. The old place has gone to thebow-wows since he started drinking, gambling, speculating and since hiswife left him. All the decent crowd stopped coming. "

"Yes, I suppose so, " agreed the colonel. "Well, keep watch of HarryKing. He may provide us with a clew that will make it possible toprove Darcy innocent more directly than by the inference of Singa Phut. "

"And do you think Singa Phut killed his partner with the watch also, Colonel?" asked Jack. 

"No. I imagine they quarreled over the possession of the watch, andShere Ali, perhaps forgetting the deadly nature of it, or knowing thetime mechanism was set not to go off for some hours, grabbed it awayfrom Singa. Then came a quarrel and the killing with the candlestick. However I don't want to speculate too far afield. We have certainmatters settled at any rate. "

"Yes, and I'll get back to the Homestead and watch King, " observed JackYoung with a laugh. 

"And I must get back to the shop, " said Mr. Kettridge. "I have somework to do. Shall I leave the watch apart this way, Colonel?"

"Yes, I may need it to show to the jury. Leave it as it is, but put itunder glass, and the needle away carefully. We may have to kill a ratin court as we did in Singa Phut's cell. "

"I think we are coming on, " mused Colonel Ashley, when his two visitorshad gone. "I am entitled to a bit of recreation, " and, opening hisbook, he read:

"Thus you having found and fitted for the place and depth thereof, thengo home and prepare your ground-bait, which is, next to the fruit ofyour labors, to be regarded. "

"I wonder, " mused the colonel, "If my ground bait is all prepared? AmI right or wrong? If I could see the diamond cross that Grafton saysLarch sent back to his wife--if I knew where he got it--"

The telephone rang. 

"Yes, what is it?"

"A telegram for you, Colonel. "

"Send it up!"

Tearing open the envelope Colonel Ashley read:

"Spotty Morgan has confessed everything and agrees to extradition. Shall we send him on?"

"Send him on? I should say so!" cried the colonel to himself, as hemade a grab for the telephone to dictate a message telling the policeof Sango, the Western city, to hold Spotty Morgan until he could comefor him. "And so Spotty has confessed? Well, that let's me out, evenif he did save my, life! But it was a close call!"

CHAPTER XX

IN THE SHADOWS

Colonel Ashley, after a night's sleep, was about to prepare for thetrip, when he thought of Darcy in jail. 

"I've got to send him word, " he reasoned. "No, I'll let his sweethearttake it to him. It will be all the sweeter. Here, Shag!" he called. 

"Yes, sah, Colonel! Whut is it?"

"Get me an auto, Shag--any kind of car will do. I want to take a runout to Pompey where Miss Mason lives. I won't trust the telephone, andI'll have time enough before I leave for the West. Get an auto. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel!" and Shag hurried down to the hotel office. 

It was while getting into the machine that a message was handed thecolonel. Hastily he tore the note open. It was from James Darcy andread:

"Have just been informed they are going to put me on trial to-morrowfor the murder of Mrs. Darcy. I don't know what this unexpected moveon the part of the prosecutor means, but I would like to see you. "

"Whew!" whistled the colonel. "I never counted on _this_. Maybe theprosecution has something up their sleeve they're waiting to spring. They're trying to get ahead of me. Well, by gad, sir, they shan't!I'll beat 'em yet. This trip West will have to wait. Shag, you keepthis auto here. I'm going into the hotel to telephone. "

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

Getting Kenneth on the wire, the detective ascertained that the messagefrom Darcy was correct--the trial was to go on unexpectedly. 

"I may be able to get a postponement, " said the lawyer, "but it wouldnot be safe to count on it. We had better prepare our defense. Areyou all ready, Colonel?"

"Not quite. I've got to get a certain man back here from the West, butI can send for him. I'll not go myself, it's too risky. See what youcan do about getting a postponement. It will be so much better if wecan. I was going to tell Miss Mason to go and give some good news toDarcy, but maybe I'd better wait now. "

"Can you produce the real murderer, Colonel Ashley?"

"I can, Mr. Kenneth. Don't let that worry you. When I want him I canlay my hands on the real murderer! He can't get away! We'll have ourlittle surprise, too!"

"Good! That will make Darcy feel better. I think I'll go to see him!"

"All right. And if you want to arrange for Miss Mason to visit him Ithink it would be a good thing. He may never go to trial, and thenagain he might, and, as you never can count on legal tangles, all thesentiment you can work up in his favor will be so much gained. Youmight let a discreet reporter know about Miss Mason's going to thejail. "

"I will, Colonel, and thanks for the tip!"

But James Darcy did not go to trial the next day. Up to the lastminute it looked as though he would, and he was even brought down fromjail to the courtroom where a great crowd had assembled in anticipationof the opening of the now celebrated case. 

But, when the judge took his place on the bench, and the criers hadproclaimed silence, there was a whispered conference among theprosecutor and his detectives, in which Carroll and Thong took part. Then the judge was consulted and Darcy's lawyer was called to thebench. He was observed to be protesting against something, and finallythe prosecutor went back to his seat at the table opposite the onewhere Darcy sat with his counsel. 

"Have you any cases to move this morning, Mr. Prosecutor?" asked thecourt in formal tones. 

"May it please your Honor, " began Mr. Bardon, "I had hoped to move thecase of the State against James Darcy, indicted for murder, but, at thelast minute, I find that one of my important witnesses is unable to bein attendance and, under those circumstances, I am compelled to ask foran adjournment of two weeks. 

"I regret, as regards the counsel on the other side, having to do this, as he assures me he is ready and anxious to go to trial, but it isunavoidable, and I promise this, that if the witness referred to is nothere two weeks from to-day, I will go on with the case anyhow. "

"Have you anything to say, Mr. Kenneth?" asked the judge of Darcy'slawyer. 

"Only that I regret the delay as much as does the prosecutor, and thatwe will be ready any time. I should prefer to go on with the trialnow, but I realize that the matter is out my hands. "

"The case then stands adjourned for two weeks, " announced the court, and the officer, arising, announced:

"The case of the State against James Darcy postponed for two weeks, andall witnesses for the prosecution and for the defence will then appearwithout further notice. "

There was a hum of disappointment, and most of the crowd filed out whenthe prosecutor moved a case of assault and battery. Darcy, with a lookat Amy Mason, which she returned with one of assurance and confidence, was taken back to jail. 

Colonel Ashley read:

"Let your bait be as big a red worm as you can find. "

"Spotty is certainly red, " mused the fisherman. He was sitting, afterthe adjournment, in his hotel room. "Red and freckled. As for bait--"

Musingly he closed the little green book and watched the smoke curllazily from his cigar. 

Several days went by. The colonel was seated in his hotel room, hisfinger between the leaves of a little green book, smoking and reading. The telephone rang sharply. 

"Hello. Oh, it's you, is it, Basset. So you got back with Spotty, didyou? Good! No trouble on the trip? Fine! All right, I'll wait herefor you. No, the trial went off for two weeks. You're in plenty oftime. I'll expect you soon. Good-bye. "

An hour later the man he had sent West to bring on Spotty Morganentered his room. This man, a detective from the colonel's office, had been instructed by wire to go to a certain city and there, withoutthe formality of requisition papers, which Spotty more or lessgenerously waived, bring on the prisoner. 

"Well, what does he say, Basset?" asked the colonel, when he hadprovided his man with a cigar. "What does he say?" and the voice waseager. 

"Oh, he says he did it all right. And there's the cross, " and Bassettossed on the table beside the colonel a battered cross of gold inwhich sparkled many stones with the limpid fire of hidden rainbows. 

"Did he give any particulars?"

"Oh, yes, he come across with the whole story. "

"What made him hold back on me then? He might have known I'd find out. Why didn't he confess to me, Basset?"

"Well, I guess it's just as he says--he didn't want to split on a pal. But when his pal went back on him--"

"What do you mean--his pal went back on him?" asked the colonel, andthere was uneasiness in his voice. "And, while you're about it, Basset, don't handle that cross so carelessly. It's worth severalthousand dollars--a small fortune maybe--and some of the stones may beloose. They might fall out. "

"That wouldn't hurt, Colonel. I reckon maybe I did lose one or two onthe way back, careless like. "

"You lost some of those diamonds?" The colonel's voice was sharp. 

"Diamonds? Diamonds nothin'! Them's paste, Colonel. That's what madeSpotty sore. His pal done him dirt, and that's why he split. Thewhole cross is made of phoney diamonds--paste!"

"Paste diamonds! Spotty's pal fooled him! What do you mean?" gaspedthe colonel, his apprehension growing. "Isn't this the diamond crossthat Mrs. Larch owned? And yet, if this is here, how could her husbandsend it to her? And Spotty! Basset, what _does_ it all mean?"

"Well, Colonel, I don't know whose cross this is, but whoever lost itdidn't lose much. It's worth about ten dollars, I guess, and say, ifever there was a sore crook it's Spotty! He says when he and Blue Ikeplanned to rob Grafton's store they thought there was some real jewelrythere. "

"Rob Grafton's store!" cried the colonel. "Didn't Spotty confess tostealing this diamond cross from Mrs. Darcy, and killing her becauseshe wouldn't let him get away with it?"

"Colonel this is the first I've come on the case, and all I know is Iwas sent on to bring Spotty back. I wasn't told he was charged withmurder. "

"He wasn't exactly _charged_ with it, but-- Well, go on, what did heconfess to?"

"Just robbery, that's all, and he didn't get much. He and Blue Ikecracked a crib here one night. From what Spotty says they got in AaronGrafton's department store, opened the safe the way Ike always does, bylistening to the tumblers in the lock, and took out some jewelry. There wasn't much--they picked the wrong safe I guess, but anyhow theytook this cross. Had a fight over it, too, and it got stepped on, orbanged up in some way, Spotty says. Then they heard a noise andskipped. Spotty kept the cross, and thought he'd have enough salteddown, when he sold it, to live easy for a while. 

"He and Ike met out West and tried to sell the diamond cross to a fenceand got pinched as suspicious characters by the bulls who were makingtheir regular round of the pawnshops. Ike squealed on Spotty foranother job after they give him the third degree, and when Spotty heardof that it made him sore, as it would anybody. Then when the two bullswho pinched Spotty and Ike tested the diamonds in the cross and foundthey was phoney--as they might have guessed coming from a departmentstore--Spotty was fit to be tied, he was so wild! So he up andconfessed. Said he knew you wanted him for the job and was sorry hemade so much trouble. To send word to you that he'd come on and standtrial. "

"But, stars and stripes! I didn't want him for this little robberyjob!" cried the colonel, "I didn't even know he did it! I was afterhim for the murder of Mrs. Darcy, where I thought he got the diamondcross. And to think the jewels are paste!" and the colonel looked atthem sparkling in the electric light as bravely as though they wereworth a fortune instead of being what a poor shop girl might wear to abricklayer's ball. 

"Well, that's all I know about it, " said Basset. "Spotty wanted me totell you he'd confessed, and he's dead sore on Blue Ike. "

For several seconds the colonel said nothing, and then he shook hishead as a dog might on emerging from deep water, and remarked:

"Well, I've got to take another tack, I guess. Tell Spotty I'llarrange to have him bailed. It'll be easy on a mere theft charge. Buthow in thunder am I going to get Darcy off if I haven't any one tooffer--"

The tinkle of the telephone bell interrupted the colonel's half-aloudmusing. 

"Hello, " he said into the transmitter. "Oh, that you, Jack? Well, what's up now?"

For a moment the colonel listened intently, many emotions flashingacross his face. Basset toyed idly with the jeweled cross, whichsparkled as bravely as the real stones might have done. 

"Yes--yes, " said the colonel impatiently. "Go on, Jack!"

And in a few more seconds the colonel added:

"All right! I'll get right after him! Out toward Pompey you say? Allright, I'll shadow him! By the way, Basset is here. He brought onSpotty Morgan. Come on over to my room and have a talk with him. He'll tell you the yarn--It'll surprise you--I haven't time. I'm goingto get right out!" and the receiver went on the hook with a bang. 

"Anything I can do, Colonel?" asked Basset. "I'm sorry to have todisappoint you about this cross, but--"

"Oh, that was my own fault, for taking too much for granted. I shouldhave asked Grafton more questions, and gotten a description of Mrs. Larch's ornament. He never said anything to me about being robbed. "

"Maybe he didn't count this, it not being worth much, " and Bassetflipped the sparkling cross half way across the table. 

"Maybe not, and yet--"

But if the colonel had any thoughts regarding Aaron Grafton he keptthem to himself as he made ready to go out. 

"Know when you'll be back?" asked Basset. 

"No, I can't say. Make yourself at home here. I'll tell 'em at thedesk. Shag will be over presently. One of you stay here so I cantelephone in if I have to. You'd better plan to stay all night if Idon't get back. "

"Want to say where you're going?"

"I suppose I'd better. I'm going to Pompey. "

"Out where you said Mrs. Larch is staying?"

"Yes, only she doesn't call herself that now. "

"I understand. "

"She's taken her maiden name again since the separation. Yes, I'mgoing to Pompey, and it may be night when I get there. I'll have to doany shadowing among the shadows I guess, as I've often cast for trout. But, dark or light, I think I'll bring home the right fish this time. "

And so, as the early shadows of the late afternoon were slanting overColchester the old detective boarded a train, keeping in view awell-dressed, freshly-shaven individual, who, for all his slickness andsleekness, seemed to have about him the air of a tiger. His hands, innew gloves, slowly clasped and unclasped, as though he would have likedto twine the fingers about the soft throat of a victim. 

"Yes, " murmured the colonel, as he sank into his seat, "I think I'llbring home the big fish this time. "

CHAPTER XXI

SWIRLING WATERS

At the little station of Pompey the colonel saw his man leave thetrain. For the wily fisherman to slip from the car on the other sideof the track and get behind a tool shanty, was the work of but amoment, and as the train pulled out, and puffed on its way, thedetective, peering around the corner of the shed, which housed ahandcar and other tools of the section hands, had a glimpse of his"fish, " as he facetiously termed him, standing rather irresolutely onthe station platform. 

"Now for the next move, " murmured the colonel. 

It was not long in being played. 

The man went inside the station, but the detective did not come fromhis post of observation. The depot was so small that any one leavingit, even on the side away from the tracks, would be seen as soon as hehad passed beyond the shadows. But the man evidently had no intentionof going away. He came out again on the front platform, accompanied bya boy--one, seemingly, who ran errands and delivered telegrams when anycame to disturb the peaceful solitude of Pompey. 

"I must see that note!" murmured Colonel Ashley, as he saw one handedto the boy. "If he goes in the direction I think he will, I'll get ittoo! I think I know the lady to whom it is addressed. "

The boy talked with the man a little, nodded his head as ifunderstanding, and then started off up the tracks, toward a path thatled across a field and toward a cluster of village houses. 

"Just as I thought, " the colonel whispered to himself. 

Keeping the tool-house between himself and the man now nervously pacingthe platform, the colonel walked rapidly away from the station, in thedirection taken by the boy. 

The boy's legs were short and vigorous, the colonel's long and no lessmuscular, and, thanks to his devotion to Walton, which had taken himtramping many miles over hilly trails, as well as across level meadows, the old detective was soon able to overtake the lad, and at a pointimpossible of observation from the station. 

"I say!" called the colonel. 

The boy stopped, and looked back questioningly. 

"Did you tell him where the best fishing was?" asked the colonel. 

"Fishing? Who?"

"The gentleman who gave you that note. Is it possible he didn'tmention fishing?"

"Naw! He didn't say nothin' about it. He just give me this letter, and--"

"Very likely he forgot about the fishing part, " and the detectivesmiled grimly. "Let me see it just a moment. "

Without hesitation the boy handed it over. Thought was hardly morerapid than the colonel's perusal of the missive, and, as he gave itback to the boy, he remarked:

"It's all right. I didn't make any mistake. Now hurry, and youneedn't come back to the station right away. "

"But he told me to bring him an answer. "

"Oh, did he? Well, then I'll wait for you in the village and you canlet me see it first. Then I'll know all about the fishing and I can beon hand with my friend. Trot along, Sonny. I'll meet you in thevillage when you get the answer to the note. Then I'll know just whereto go fishing. How is it around here? Are there any good streams?"

"Are there? Say, I've caught some of the biggest chubb--"

"Ah, I thought I wasn't mistaken in thinking you a pupil in the schoolof Izaak Walton. "

"Isaac Walton? Huh! That ain't our teacher's name!"

"No, I suppose not, " and the colonel smiled. "Well, hurry along Sonny, and here's an extra quarter for you, I'll follow you and you can let mesee the answer before you go back to my friend. It would be too bad ifhe and I went fishing in separate places. I want to be with him. "

"Where's your hooks and line?" asked the boy. 

"Oh, I have them in my pocket--the hooks and line, " and the colonelgrimly tapped a pocket wherein something clicked metallicly. 

"You can cut a pole in the woods, " said the boy. "I've done it lots oftimes. "

"Of course, " agreed the colonel, smiling. The boy sped away over thefields. The detective followed more slowly until he reached thecollection of houses, and there he strolled along, inspecting thedifferent dwellings as though attracted by the quaint old villagestreet. 

It was not long before the boy returned, an envelope held conspicuouslyin his hand. He smiled as he caught sight of the colonel. 

The shadows were lengthening. 

"It's too late for fishing now, " observed the boy as, unwittingly, hehanded over the missive. "That is, unless you're going to set nightlines. "

"I may have to do that, " the detective agreed. "But it won't be quitedark yet for some time. "

He glanced quickly at the envelope. It bore no address on its plain, white surface, and under pretence of turning, so as to take advantageof the last golden glow in the west, the colonel quickly read theletter. As he did so a look, almost of fright, came over his face. 

"I wonder if she'll keep her word, " he murmured. "I wonder--"

He slipped the letter quickly into another plain envelope, one of amiscellaneous collection of papers in his pocket, and returned it tothe boy, retaining the covering he had been obliged to tear open, forit had been sealed. 

"There you are, " he said. "And you needn't say anything to my friendabout the fishing. I want to surprise him. Just don't say anythingabout me. 

"And here's half a dollar, Sonny. Could I hire you to take me to thatbrook you spoke of, where you say there are such big fish?"

"Sure you could, " the boy answered eagerly, as he pocketed the money. "I know a lot about fishing. "

"All right. I may call on you. Trot along now, and remember--don'tsay anything. This is to be a surprise!"

"Sure, I know, " and with a precocious wink the lad passed on into theever lengthening shadows. 

"I think, " observed the colonel to himself, as he watched the boymaking his way back toward the station, "that I'll make a little changein the old saying, and _follow_ the woman instead of _looking_ for her, since I know where she is already. "

Back then to the peaceful little village went the fisherman, and, reaching the house where the boy had left the note, taking therefromits answer, Colonel Ashley waited with all the patience that mightcharacterize a waiting beside some fishing stream. 

But his patience was not tried long, for presently a veiled womanemerged from the house. She walked away rapidly the detectivefollowing unseen. 

"She is going to meet him, just as she promised in the note, though itmust be galling to her pride, " murmured the old detective. "I wonderif she really believes he'll keep his word--or can keep it? Well, I'llbe there at the finish, and I think this _will_ be the finish, " he wenton grimly, as he thrust his hand into his side pocket, where the"hooks" jingled with grim music. 

As the woman walked on, she turned now and then and looked back alongthe fast-darkening streets. 

For a moment the colonel was suspicious. 

"I wonder if she has seen me?" he murmured. 

He gave a quick, backward glance, and started as he saw another figurenot far behind him. 

"Can it be?" exclaimed the colonel. "No, it's Aaron Grafton, " heproceeded with an air of relief. "He must have been at her house, andshe has asked him to follow her, to make sure no harm is done. A bitfoolish of him, under the circumstances. But when a man's in love--"

The colonel shrugged his shoulders and chuckled grimly. 

"However, I must take care that he does not see me. "

Slipping behind a tree, the colonel effected a change in hats, for healways wore a soft one and carried several collapsible ones. Then, buttoning his coat rather askew about him, to give a careless air tohis attire (the colonel, normally was one of the neatest men living) hecrossed to the other side of the street and then became the shadower oftwo instead of one, for Aaron Grafton had passed on without, apparently, noticing him. 

The woman was still in sight, and before she reached the station theman who had sent the note came out and met her on the driveway. Thecolonel looked back and saw Mr. Grafton dodging behind a tree. 

"He doesn't want to be seen, either, " he mused. 

Relying on his simple but effective disguise, the colonel made bold towalk within hearing distance of the man and woman, the latter havingcome to a stiff halt when she saw the man advancing to meet her. 

"We can't talk here, " said the dispatcher of the note. "Will you walka little way with me?"

His tones had the cutting coldness of steel, and there was a sort ofrestrained cruelty in his every action. 

"I suppose it would not be wise to be seen talking to you here, " wasthe woman's low reply. "And, believe me, I have no desire to be seenwith you again, ever. It was only your promise in the note thatbrought me here. Are you prepared to keep it if I walk a way with you?"

"I am! This is no more pleasant for me than for you, but it must bedone. Come!"

He did not offer to touch her, nor did he turn his head more than halfway in speaking to her. He seemed to be controlling himself by aneffort, and she seemed to shrink away. Again she looked back, down thefast-darkening street, as though to make sure there was a way ofescape--some one near on whom she could rely. 

"Don't worry. I'll be there when you have your little talk, " whisperedthe colonel to himself. 

"Suppose we walk up on The Heights, " suggested the man. "We will notbe disturbed, and--"

"Up there?" she gasped. 

"Why not?" he asked, as they walked on, and the colonel, affecting aslowness in gait, heard the words. "Just because you used to walkthere in your--in other days, " he substituted quickly, "is no reasonwhy you shouldn't now, is it?"

"Only--_memories_!" Her voice was very low. 

"Memories? Bah!" The words were as though he spewed them from hismouth like a bitter taste. "Come on!" and his tones were rough. 

The woman looked at him a moment with eyes that seemed to burn throughher veil, and then followed. The colonel passed on ahead, slouchedacross the street once more, and lagged behind, so that he might follow. 

The couple turned toward the outskirts of the village, where, on ahill, known locally as "The Heights" there was a grove of trees. Belowthe hill, at one place cutting deep into it and making a precipitouscliff, was a little river. At the point where the stream had bitteninto the hill it had washed for itself a defile, the bottomrock-covered, so that the waters swirled over it in foam. 

The Heights was the favorite trysting place of lovers, and many werethe pleasant spots there. With evening coming on, it was almost sureto be deserted, though later, if there was a moon, murmuring voiceswould mingle with the eclipse of the swirling waters in the gully below. 

"Yes, it's a quiet place for a talk, " mused the colonel. 

The man and woman passed on. Behind them came the shadower, and behindhim Aaron Grafton. 

Up The Heights walked the leading pair, seemingly unaware of thepresence of any one but themselves. Into the shadows they strolled, still stiff and uncompromising, both of them. At last the woman, halting near the edge of the cliff, beyond which the woods werethicker, faced the man. 

"This is far enough, " she said, and she turned so that the fast-fadinglight of the west was on her veiled face. She did not raise the mesh. 

"Yes, this is far enough, I suppose, " said the man, and there was asneer in his tones. "Too far, perhaps. But--"

"I did not come here to discuss anything with you but the matter youspoke of in your note, " cut in the woman. "Did you bring my diamondsas you promised?"

"Yes, I have them. "

His voice was as cold as hers. 

"Then give them to me and let me go. I don't know why I consented tomeet you, except that you said you would give them only to me, personally. And I don't, even for that, know why I came here. I--"

"Possibly in memory of other days?" the man sneered. 

"Never!" she answered bitterly. "Oh, never that!"

"Well, as you choose, " he went on, with a slight shrug of theshoulders. "But I have a few things I want to say to you, and I didn'twant the whole village babbling about it. Too many know me here, so Ikept out of sight as much as I could. "

"Say what you have to say, and quickly. Give me my diamonds, to whichI have a right, and let me go. That is all I ask of you. "

"I'm afraid it can't be done so quickly as all that, " and the manlaughed cuttingly. "In the first place, I want you to sign a paper. Ihave it with me, also a fountain pen. I've a flashlight to let youread what you sign, in case it gets too dark. "

"Do you mean a receipt for the diamonds?"

"Not exactly, Cynthia, I--"

"Miss Ratchford, if you please!" she exclaimed. "Miss Ratchford toyou, always, after this!"

"Oh, very well! Now look here! I'm done with soft words andfoolishness!"

He took a sudden step nearer her, and she shrank back. Colonel Ashley, who had worked himself to a position, where, hidden behind a screen ofbushes, he could see and hear, watched closely. 

"Foolishness?" the woman questioned. 

"Yes, foolishness! You know the trouble I'm in. I've got to havemoney! You can get it for me!"

"I?"

"Yes. And, by the eternal, you've got to! Do you think I'm going toruin just because you couldn't stand a little rough treatment now andthen? Why, better women than you would be glad to come back to me. I'll take you back!"

"Take me back! Oh, my God!"

"Cut out that hysterical stuff!" he ordered. "I'm desperate! I've gotto have money. I can raise it on a note if you'll sign it and put upthose bonds for security, and by--"

He caught her wrist in a grip that made her wince with pain as he swungher around to face him. 

"I've got to have your signature and the bonds!" he exclaimed in voicetense with suppressed passion. 

"The bonds!" she exclaimed. "You know what almost became of them. Ilet you raise money on them once, and almost lost them. Now you dareask me for them again?"

"I do, and I'm going to enforce my demands! I've got to have money. Idarn't sell your diamonds--at least I don't want to. I'd rather you'dhave them, " and he seemed to weaken as if with romance when it came tothis sentiment. "As for the bonds--"

"You'll never touch them!" she cried, bitterly. "Isn't it enough thatyou have ruined my life? Now you must--"

"Oh, stop the theatrical business!" he sneered. "Pity you didn't go onthe stage. Now look here. This is your last chance. I'll give youyour diamonds if you'll sign this paper so I can get out of the tangleI'm in. You've got to sign! It's your last chance. If you don't, byall the--"

She tore herself away from him, and turned to flee, but he was tooquick for her, and was about to encircle her in his arms when sheshrank back and gave a despairing cry. 

"Don't--don't touch me!"

This seemed to madden the man, for he sprang toward her, fury andthreat in every gesture. 

"Aaron! Aaron! He's going to kill me!" screamed Cynthia. 

Thought was not quicker than the leaping forward of Colonel Ashley. Out from the shadows he sprang, to whirl back the man who, with blazingeyes and murderous hate written on his face, confronted CynthiaRatchford. 

"What--what's this?" snarled the man, struggling to retain his balance. "What's this? Who the devil are you, to come between me and my--"

"Don't dare profane that name!" warned the woman. "I--I-- Oh, Aaron! where are you?"

It was very dark now, under the trees. 

"Ha! So _that's_ who he is! Your old lover, Grafton! Well, I'll soonfinish him! I'll make him wish he hadn't come between us with hisprotecting ways, and his diamond cross that he goes so secretly to havemended. Bah! A pretty lover! Take that, you sneaking fool!"

There was a sliver of flame in the darkness, and mingled with thereport came a cry of anguish and a woman's scream, as a heavy stick inthe hands of Colonel Ashley broke the hand that held the revolver. 

A little thud among the bushes told where the weapon had fallen, itsbullet cutting the tree branches overhead. 

"Oh--who--who are _you_?" gasped the woman, as the colonel steppedbetween her and the man he had maimed. "I thought Mr. Grafton was--"

"I think that is he coming now, " said the old detective quietly, as thesound of some one running up the path was borne to their strainedsenses. 

"Look here!" snarled the man with the broken wrist, as he clasped itwith his other hand, "aren't you--" he started back as a last flickerof the waning light fell across the colonel's face. "Who in the nameof all the devils in hades are you?" he cried. "What right have you--"

"The right of the law, " was the quiet answer. The colonel's handslipped into his pocket, where something metallic clicked. "The rightof the law. Langford Larch, I arrest you for the murder of Mrs. AmeliaDarcy!"

It was so still for a moment that the rustle of a bird's wings in thetree overhead sounded like the rushing of wind. Colonel Ashley, drawing something from his pocket, took a step nearer the maimed man. As he did so Larch laughed wildly. 

"Ah, so that's the game, is it?" he cried. "You have betrayed me, Cynthia, you she-devil! You put up this little game with your loverGrafton, did you? Well you--"

"Langford, I never--!"

"Bah! Well, I'll fool you all! Arrest me for murdering the old woman, will you? Like hell you will!"

He stepped back a pace, Colonel Ashley following. 

"Keep back!" cried Larch. "If you touch me--! I'm not afraid of you. Yes, I did kill her! I didn't mean to, but I did. The game's up! Ican see that. But you'll never get me to the chair. I'll fool youall! I'm not afraid to die!"

Before the colonel or Aaron Grafton, who just then burst through thebushes fringing the path, could make a move to prevent him, LangfordLarch, with a cry like that of a stricken beast, threw himself over theedge of the rocky precipice, and his body went crashing down a hundredfeet into the swirling waters below. 

CHAPTER XXII

HIS LAST CASE

Slowly the bruised and cut lips moved. Faintly came from the maimedthroat a hoarse whisper. 

"I--did--it! I know this is the end. I'll confess everything!"

Before his death, which followed soon after he had been taken from theswirling waters, Langford Larch made a complete confession, telling howhe had killed Mrs. Darcy. 

Swiftly went the news to the jail, and later to the courthouse, whence, after a conference between the grave judge and a somewhat disappointed, though perhaps gladly so, prosecutor of the pleas, James Darcy walkedforth a free man, honorably discharged from the custody of the court, the indictment against him for murder quashed. 

Amy Mason was the first to greet her lover when he stepped away fromthe bench of the judge, before which he stood to hear himself clearedof the charge. 

"Oh, Jimmie boy! I'm so glad!" and her eyes beamed. 

"And so am I, Amy. If you knew what I have gone through--"

"As if I didn't know, Jimmie boy! The colonel told me some of it. "'

"Did he? Isn't he a trump? Where is he now?"

"Oh, dad carried him off for some long-delayed fishing, " answered Amy, as she and James Darcy left the courtroom before a throng, that couldnot be restrained from cheering, despite the cries of "Silence!" on thepart of the constable. 

"But how did he know that Larch killed her?" asked Darcy, as he and Amyrode away in her car, amid the cheers of the throng outside the countybuilding. 

"By the process of elimination, so he told dad. He never for aninstant really believed you guilty, Jimmie boy, even after thediscovery of the electric wires, though he let those two detectivesthink he did. "

"And what about Singa Phut and Harry King?"

"Oh, they were only incidents, so Colonel Ashley says, " went on thehappy girl, as the automobile rolled along. "Even that funny Spottywas 'eliminated', as our dear old fisherman calls it, when he explainedabout the diamond cross. And as for Mr. Grafton, though he was mixedup in the jewel part of the mystery, he was only acting to help MissRatchford, as she wants to be called. Poor girl, she's had a hardtime, too! I hope she finds as much happiness as--"

"As who?" asked Darcy, as Amy hesitated. 

"As I have, " came the gentle answer, as Amy gazed with shining eyes atthe man beside her. 

Langford Larch told everything in the brief time left him between hisfatal leap and the passing of his soul to a higher judgment than thatof the county courts. Some time before the events leading to theseparation, a meeting between his wife and Grafton had been witnessedby one of Larch's hotel employees, who told of it, magnifying itsimportance. Larch's jealous disposition was inflamed, and there was astormy scene between him and his wife. He knocked her down, and thatwas the end, as far as she was concerned. She told him she would leavehim. She admitted that she still cared for Grafton, but denied anyintimacy with him. Then came the legal separation. 

Before this, however, Larch had missed his wife's diamond cross, andcharged her with having disposed of it. During their final interviewshe told the truth, of how it had been stepped on, and that Grafton hadtaken it to be repaired. It was then that Larch saw his opportunityfor getting possession of the valuable stones, for his debts werepressing, and, though it was suspected by few, he needed a large sum incash. 

One night, partly intoxicated, which was unusual for him, and perhapson this occasion done in desperation, Larch called at the jewelrystore. Mrs. Darcy happened to come downstairs as he arrived, and, knowing him well, admitted him, though the store had long been closed. In one hand she held the Indian watch, perhaps picked up idly from therepair table. In the other hand was the diamond cross. 

This ornament Larch instantly demanded, but Mrs. Darcy refused to giveit up, not only on account of his condition, but because she did notconsider that he had any claim to it, knowing that it had been hiswife's before their marriage. 

Larch was insistent in his demands, and tried to take the diamond crossfrom Mrs. Darcy. She resisted him in the dimly-lighted and desertedstore, and he caught up the paper-cutter dagger and threatened her. 

She backed away from him, toward the open safe, intending, it wouldseem, to put the valuable ornament in there and lock it up, when Larchstruck at her. As he did so, he knocked down the heavy statue of thehunter. It struck her on the head, inflicting what would have proved amortal blow, even without the knife thrust. 

As the statue fell Larch leaned forward to grasp it, he said, but heslipped and the knife in his hand entered her side, and she fell on it, driving it deeper in. Larch declared he never meant to kill, or evenseriously hurt, Mrs. Darcy. But he did kill her. 

Seeing her lying, as he then thought, only perhaps seriously wounded, Larch, taking the diamond cross, staggered around the jewelry shop, andthen fled panic-stricken, went to the Homestead, and drank himself intoa stupor. 

Incidentally Larch's confession cleared up other matters, and shiftedcertain responsibilities from various persons. The Indian watch, though impregnated with poison, had nothing to do with the death ofMrs. Darcy, though she might have been slightly scratched by the hiddenneedle. And the money Harry King went out and got the night of themurder was given him, as he boasted at the time, by a woman. Herefused to name her, but she was named later, when King's wife filed apetition for a divorce--not her first by the way. 

"Well, Colonel, " remarked Mr. Mason, as together they strolled toward atrout stream, several days after the clearing up of the diamond crossmystery, "I'm glad to know you had the same faith in young Darcy that Ihad. "

"Oh, yes, there couldn't be any other way out. Jimmie boy, as your Amycalls him--bless her heart--was a bit careless, but that was all. Someof his wires that he rigged up for his electric lathe, secretly, didget tangled with the heavily-charged conductors of the lighting system, though he didn't know that. It may be they were responsible for theshocks given. I didn't go into that deeply. And Darcy didn't repairSinga Phut's watch when he said he would. It was in getting up earlyto do this and have the timepiece ready when promised, that hediscovered his relative's dead body. "

"Where did Harry King get that odd coin which made it look bad in hiscase for a while?" asked Mr. Mason. 

"Larch gave it to him, unsuspectingly enough, it seems. When Larchwent into Mrs. Darcy's store she had the tray of rare coins out of thesafe. She may have been going to put them away with the Indian watchand the diamond cross, but she had no chance. And after Larch hadkilled her, seeing the money, he picked up a handful, as he needed somechange. In a way the discovery of the odd coin helped in solving themystery, for I kept my helper, Jack Young, at the Homestead after that, and it was hearing King and Larch talking about the diamond cross thatgave me just the clew I wanted. 

"Larch had taken out the valuable diamonds from the ornament, and haddisposed of them, in spite of what he said to his wife just before hisdeath, to get some much-needed money. He really did send her thecrushed gold setting, promising, in the letter he dispatched to her bythe boy I intercepted, to restore the diamonds to her if she would meethim. 

"This she consented to do. As it happened, Aaron Grafton was callingon her at the time, trying to find some means of helping her, for thereis the old-time love between them. And it was at her suggestion thathe followed her when I was shadowing Larch. Evidently Grafton didn't, at that time, know it was only the crushed and diamondless cross thatLarch had sent back. And after he died and confessed, we found a paperof imitation diamonds in his pocket that Larch had ready to use indeceiving his wife if she had agreed to sign the papers he wanted herto, so he could bolster up his failing business. "

"Well, he's out of the way now, and I hear the hotel has been sold. "

"Yes, Mr. Mason. And it will be, so I hear, once more the oldtime andrespectable resort it once was. As for Miss Ratchford, she has gone tofriends in California, and there, I understand, Mr. Grafton willshortly follow. They are to be married in about a year. Mr. Graftonis going to sell out his business. He told me he would not press thecharge against Spotty for stealing the imitation diamond cross. SoSpotty will soon be at liberty again. "

"I'm glad of that. He's a sport--in his own way. "

"Yes, " agreed the colonel, "One point puzzles me, " went on Mr. Mason, "and that is, why Cynthia--Icall her that for I've known her for years--why she didn't make Larchsupport her after the separation. She could have had a regular divorceand big alimony--that is if he could have paid. "

"Maybe that's it--he couldn't. Anyhow, she seems not to have wanted toaccept any of his money after he had spoiled her life. It was afoolish marriage, though at the time it may have seemed advantageous toher--or her mother. After the murder, or let us call it killing, forLarch with his last breath protested he never meant it--after that, which Cynthia seems to have guessed--she was even more strong in herdetermination not to take any of his money. She was prepared, too, incase Jimmie had been found guilty, to make a statement implicating herhusband, though, under the law she could not be compelled to testifyagainst him in a murder trial. "

"Well, I'm glad it's all over, Colonel, " said Mr. Mason, with a sigh ofrelief. "There are two happy ones, if ever there were any, " and hemotioned to Amy and Darcy, walking slowly across the meadow in thegolden glow of the setting sun. 

"Yes, I'm glad I had a hand in helping them. "

The young people, turning, saw the two men, and Amy waved her hand. Slowly she and her lover approached. 

"What luck, Colonel?" she asked gaily. 

"The very best! You didn't exaggerate when you spoke of your troutstream. "

"I'm glad you like it. Jimmie and I were just talking about you. "

"I wondered why my ears burned, " and the old detective laughed. 

"Colonel Ashley, " put in Darcy, "there's just one thing I can't seem toclear up in all this business. "

"What's that?"

"Well, what made all the clocks stop at different times? I thought Iknew something of the jewelry business, but this puzzles me. "

"Just because it's so simple, " laughed the detective. "Larch stoppedthose of the clocks that didn't run down and stop themselves. Hefigured out, crazily enough in his fear and drunken frenzy, that if noclocks or watches were going no one would know exactly what time thekilling took place. So, after Mrs. Darcy was dead, he hurried aboutthe store, with no one in the wet and deserted street to watch him, and, stopping the timepieces, moved the hands of many of them to suithis fancy. But he forgot the ticking watch. "

"It was simple, " murmured Darcy. "No wonder I didn't think of it. Have you so simple a theory regarding the queer state I was in thatnight--I mean awakening and going to sleep again after feelingsomething brush my face?"

"Not unless Larch tried to chloroform you after he had killed Mrs. Darcy, and was afraid you might come down and discover what hadhappened, " answered the detective. "That will remain a mystery, butits solution is not important. "

"Not as long as you have cleared Jimmie boy!" laughed Amy, and yetthere was a look of sadness on her face, for it had been an ordeal forall of them. 

"Oh, well, he'd have been cleared anyhow, if the worst had come to theworst, " said the colonel. "However, now that it's all over, I can giveproper attention to my fishing. "

"And I, " murmured James Darcy, "can--"

But a soft hand over his lips prevented further utterance. 

Lightly as a feather the colonel flicked a fly over the quiet poolwhere the waters swirled in a lazy eddy. There was a splash in thesun, a shrill song of the reel, and a fish leaped high in the air, trying to shake the barb from its mouth. 

"No, you don't!" laughed the old detective. "I've hooked you thistime!"

"As you hooked Langford Larch, " murmured Jack Young, who sat on thebank in the shade, while the colonel fished and Shag was setting outlunch under the trees. 

"This _is_ my last case!" exclaimed the detective as he slipped hisprize into the grass-lined creel. "Positively my _last_! I neverwould have gone on with this, even after I started, except for thepleading of Miss Mason. But I'm through! No more detective cases forme! I've retired!"

Jack looked at the trim and upright figure and keen, handsome face, neither of which showed the old colonel's age. Then the youngerdetective glanced at Shag, winked an eye, and murmured:

"Through until the next time; eh Shag?"

"Yo' done said it!" exclaimed the colored man with a grin. "Now, sah, Colonel, lunch am served!"