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Show 4 lft.g,; , fa.r. out from under the bed caine the cut, arching ' its back against the draping sheet. I was desperately afraid that It would make a sudden sud-den spring on the bed, no I stole In softly and tried to catch it but It evaded me and ran towards the fir, place. "Kitty, kitty, kitty," I ' said, my hushed tones appealing, and I thought the creature hesitated, then, as I made another move. It leaped the low screen Into the fireplace fire-place where the white birch logs were laid and rubbed against one of the tall brass andirons. Then It stopped rubbing and began to reach up and lick the andiron. It licked the edges of the brass, first experimentally, then enthusiastically, enthusias-tically, and It seemed to me as If all the blood In my body rushed to my heart and pounded there. This andiron that tall, sharp-pointed andiron . '. . I mnde a swift rush to the absorbed cat and caught It up. I Vnew now. I knew something, at any rate. It was like seeing disconnected dis-connected things by lightning. One or two scenes stood out with fierce distinctness. Another flash and I would see more. I ought to have gone out of that room then. I ought to have gone straight to Donahey and told him. I knew it I moved towards the door, the cat In my arms. And then my eyes fell on a small leather case on the table. Nora Harrlden's dressing case. The case which, I believed, be-lieved, had held her letters. The case which might yet hold them. I make no defense for what I did then. It was utterly Indefensible. But I felt on me the pressure of Deck's desperate need, the sav-ageness sav-ageness of Harrlden's hate. I felt that Deck's life might depend upon getting that last letter of his out of Harrlden's hands. And here was opportunity. If I could get that letter back If no real motive could be shown I went to that case, and, grip- Nothing had come of my laboriously labori-ously thought-out suspicions. Nothing Noth-ing was cleared up. Mitchell had not seemed much impressed when I had told him, but then, Mitchell's manner man-ner was unrevealing when he chose to make It so. I wondered over his questions about the cigarettes. I wondered If he was trying to bring Letty's mind buck to that afternoon, to that feeling which had so strangely overcome her. I wondered if he had found anything about the brown crescent. I hated to be shut away with my own thoughts and when, at the top of the stairs, the gray cat ran past me I tried to capture It It eluded me, but determinedly I turned back after It Even a cat was better company com-pany than myself. But It was down the stairs ahead of me, and I heard Harrlden's voice saying angrily, "Damn that beast I It's always trying to get In here I" He and Mitchell had come out of the room, I saw, and I heard the door slam. The two men went downstairs together, and I turned and went up my flight again. The cat came, too, and this time I got hold of it Snuggling Snug-gling my cheek against Its warm fur I carried it Into my room. But not even a cat and cream silk walls and rose-red cushions could make the room bearable that night. It was a wet, windy night October turned dismal, and a tall tree kept tapping at a pane like fingers. I thought of writing to friends but I didn't want to tell anybody anything till I was so far out of the scrape that I could laugh or so much further In that I needed help. The telephone In the rooms had been cut off. The police were using a downstairs wire. I wondered what the evening papers were saying, say-ing, but that world outside seemed something remote and unreal. I tried to marshal the facts In my mind and study them. And I thought of something that had not occurred to me before that the finding of the diamond In Deck's case might be ut- P CHAPTER XIII-Continued 5? F 6 me a little time, my dear," V1 raj saying. Then, "You know JJf , mt an Idea a very luminous t 1 waited, eagerly. "But not run) till I nave put a foundation C it I 19 v iianclnir I hazarded softly. iJ Kanclni?" He leaned forward. at are you thinking about Ran- 'W, :!" told him. I tried to put the rences together logically, to ft r down heavily upon motives, heard me through In attentive nee. d. Ipo 1 was through he com-Ca, com-Ca, r;ed, laconically. "Lacking only ) proof." ;r j ! thought I was going to get I said lamely. I went on to da "I've Just been seeing Deck. tt been talking up In the gal-1 gal-1 1 ; together." irpi j raised his head and blazed Dm "You pair of fools!" leclt needed some one to talk ipti l retorted, defensively. let, and he needed some one erday afternoon. . . . Hasn't !fc man got enough on his mind wit having to have you enter-11 enter-11 him?" f4 Yes, but tonight It was about ! case it was because he had so (J Fh on his mind. He wanted to J k it over with me." sis hesitated, then I thought there m id be do harm in telling Monty H Ml about Deck's letters as ! tras I did not mention the one fh gave any motive for murder. , lt had not wanted Monty to low about that, but Monty had J-eady shown his knowledge of ! ilr lo affair. iSo I told him. "He's afraid 1 is sure, really that Harrlden ill found some of his old letters I Mrs. Harrlden letters written pme time ago. He says that Hurtles Hur-tles vaa guotlng from them yes-jrtay yes-jrtay and "again" today. He links that Jealousy will make Har-: Har-: Men determined to saddle him ita the murder." ; "He'i darned tooting It will, j Ihej've sent for the district at-' at-' jprney already." And then Mit- Iiell gave his sudden, Ironic cbuck-"Do cbuck-"Do right and fear no man. n't write and fear no woman." I was chilling at the thought of it district attorney. "Do you ink he'll be Indicted?" "As sure as God made lovely J fmeo-and jealous husbands." phen do something," I be- i Pfht. "If you've any Idea if you i prove more than I can about pieinl." At his unresponsiveness I tang out heatedly, "You're his I pi, and yet you sit here Jok-, Jok-, Jttout It, when he's In such f like yon when you're mad," fi Monty Mitchell equably. He I fatted my hand. "Don't look so Jtartled . . . I must have thought I looked '". then, for he told me that a two but why dishearten you? . . . By the way, how old are you?" "Twenty-six." "I'd thought twenty-three." (And I'd thought I looked twenty!) "Well six years Is Just a nice difference." dif-ference." "Isu't it?" I agreed cordially. "And I love a good line and a merry joke, but is this quite the moment for it?" "Joking?" He looked rather oddly odd-ly at me. "Do you think I'm Joking? Jok-ing? . . . Where Is your feminine intuition. in-tuition. What do you think I've been rallying around you for? Intellectual In-tellectual curiosity?" "Because you're a lovely character," charac-ter," I said promptly. "Because you have sympathy and protectlveness and Insight and Intuition." "Are yon running for anything?" he Inquired politely. "Running for my life," I told him, and that sobered us both. He reverted to my theories. "Tor, think It's Kanclnl ?" "And you think?" "I don't think yet I Just know something, something whose implications impli-cations I can't quite fathom. And yet, If you if you you know I've a good deal of confidence In that simple mind of yours." "But what Is It you know? If you'll tell me " If he had told me then! But Letty Van Alstyn, with Deck In her wake, appeared at the dining room entrance and he hurried to rise to meet them. "Letty darling," said Mitchell quickly, "what kind of cigarettes does our Alan smoke? Not a word out of you, Deckl It's an Intelligence Intelli-gence test," he told her, his keen eyes hard on her. "You have to be right the first time." The girl smiled vaguely. "But I haven't the least Idea." "Then why did you say to the officer, when yon asked for a cigarette, ciga-rette, 'Ask Mr. Deck for his I like his kind'?" - - There was a queer stillness about us. Letty Van Alstyn looked merely mere-ly perplexed. "Did I say that? I don't remember. I suppose I thought the man's would be terrible." ter-rible." "As It happens, he doesn't smoke at all, but you didn't know that You were Just making sure he asked Deck for his case. And I ask you why?" Letty shrugged. "But I don't remember re-member saying that . . . I've Just been telling Lanny how simply sick I feel to have asked for a smoke then. That did bring It on, didn't it? It was beastly luck." "Letty couldn't help It" said DIek, shortly. He spoke defensively and gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. She had changed, I noticed, Into a high-necked dinner dress of rust colored crepe, with fur banded sleeves falling from her bare arms. Deck's fingers had found her arm. "I haven't got It in for you, old dear," Deck told her lightly. "All right You fall, Letty. May-he May-he von know the answer. Deck? tMw 1 hi $irB cm ping the cat firmly under my arm, I opened It. If it hadn't opened I don't know whether I would have been mad enough to try to rush away with It or not I Just don't know. But the case opened. With my heart hammering I stood looking down at the luxurious green and gold toys of Nora Harrlden's toilet Then swiftly I felt with my Icy fingers along the green silk lining where I had seen Harrlden's big, blunt fingers stop suddenly In their exploring. When I had seen his face change to that still attentlve-ness. attentlve-ness. But the lining was smooth, unpadded un-padded by papers. My finger tips went to the edge of It and there, along the side of the case, under the gold stoppled bottles in their holders, the lining was loose. But there was nothing under it It was flat. Empty. I was so Intent that I heard nothing. noth-ing. My first Intimation of any approach ap-proach was Harrlden's harsh voice booming out CHAPTER XIV THOSE next few moments were branded in on me with red-hot Irons. I never think of them without with-out feeling the burning agony of their humiliation,' and the utter panic of their fear. That triumphant voice, venting its rage, shouting a summons for the others to come . . . That heavy hand gripping my arm . . . I tried to wrench myself away but Harrlden's Har-rlden's hold was like steel. The consciousness of piy foolishness and foolhardiness filled me to suffocation. suffo-cation. The room seemed to be crowded with faces appearing almost at once. They swam before me In a blur of confusion. Hostile faces, Letty Just Likes a Little Petting When She's Low Spirited. terly unrelated to any of the rest I would not put It past Harrlden to bolster the case he sincerely thought he had against Deck by planting that pendant in his case. He might have found it about the room that night and rtsolved to make It clinch the evidence he was so sure of In bis own mind. He might have found the chain Itself, for that matter. He might have planted that chain on me. He hated me enough for having told about the scene at the window. But nothe chain was wrapped In the stained handkerchief the handker-, chief from which Nora Harrlden's quickened with curiosity. The , guests of that house party, I thought hysterically, were like supers In a show, always gathering In some mob scene. They must get a wonderful won-derful kick out of it "Looking through my wife's dressing case after more jewelry," Harrlden flung out for their benefit bene-fit I tried again to shako off the Imprisoning Im-prisoning hand. I gusped: "I came In after the cat . . . It ran In the door." "You little liar I I shut that door when I went out. I saw to that." He gave my arm a vlciou3 shake. "You sneaked In here the Instant this room was left alone. You were watching for the chance maybe you planned to get it You were after this dressing case, the key to the Jewel bor. This finishes fin-ishes you. Arrest her, Inspector I demand her arrest!" Donahey had materialized out of the blue, the cartoon of an official off duty. In his shirt sleeves, vest unbuttoned, a thick cigar In the corner of his heavy mouth. HI9 hard eyes took in all of the scene. "Has she got anything, Mr. Harrlden?" Har-rlden?" "How do I knowt I haven't looked yet I just got here and caught her at It." (TO BE COMT1SUED) itle food and drink wouldn't do f njharm. "They sent up trays, 1 "ere must be something lying W the dining room. Let's look." At the door he swung me lightly again. Rut not before I had 1 Deck within the room, hav-; hav-; rink with Letty Van Alstyn, about her shoulders. e doesn't look worried," said -wen cheerfully. "What say we mil an'' come bncl t0 our nZ Lmy Just ,ikes a llule "S when she's low spirited." thought she was all for Har-" Har-" I murmured as detachedly ' Within I was resent- tfcndPrI,ls lf 0eck WM tellIns "her h WaS puttIng bimself nirl I8' Aml now's her chance 1 ;' Rood It win d0 h0I.t Dan f dose of the sex to last bin- I5,,t 1 want to ser . Mitchell went on, thought- rab0 11 J,lst wait nere and f ie, , Whc'n slle C0IDes t. That I'theiiV" excuse for "nsertng Ton 1 f your loveIy ces" L5 can,t- They are ,n u-:j u-:j to 1 uMose It was your abll f "Kilo ,ft a" A"KOllco trom n lid bunbi n,ude me yur sn'eld ! l'.aiSi bwn my 8hle,J and buck-l"Ah buck-l"Ah d so- cntrltely. k veM"tU'le!" M,tchell derld-fa derld-fa niar"0b0dj ,0VeS a baId- ',4 '. loure not bald," I N of ,ns hIs hl8Q unlJ j mjh ,eb frehead." "Anrt''" He ran "and over ""-two. At forty-lteliectnnV forty-lteliectnnV 1 6 nlce dme. An ;tC'me' but yet a dome. J the Square. At fifty- What kind of cigarettes do you smoke?" "Luckles," said Deck Ironically. I saw his hand touch Letty's arm, and she said quickly, "Monty, do something for me that's a darling. dar-ling. Never mind about the old cigarette case. I want you to run up and get Dan to come down here." She added, "He'll go mad, all alone In that awful room. Tell him I simply must see him. Tell him It's Important. You will, won't you?" "Why not?" said Mitchell agreeably.- "Only why didn't you ask Dan for a smoke? He's 3ust behind yon." "Lawyer!" said Letty, In her mild, amused tone. "If you must now I don't like Dan's kind." "What kind is that?" She knew that. "Mncedonlas. Rut whnt difference does it make? Do go up now and make him come." "All right all right." He looked back at me as If he were about to say something, then went on up the steps. Deck, without a backward look, was following Mitchell Mit-chell and I moved on after them. At the landing Deck turned to the left-hand branch leading towards his' room, and Mitchell took the right with me behind him. At the second floor he turned directly to Harrlden's door and after a soft knock apparently unresponded to, moved on to Mrs. Harrlden's room Just as I started up the next flight, I looked back and saw him enter. 1 hadn't the slightest inclination to go on up to my room. Nothing there Invited me. The moment I was left alone, without the excitement of Deck's presence, without the companionship com-panionship of Mitchell. I felt myself in the grip of the old uncertainties and gloomy barassments blood had been washed. It was Itan-clnl, Itan-clnl, I thought, who had tiptoed up the stairs in the night to my room with that I thought of going to Donahey and trying to talk things over with him. I wanted to do anything that would take me out of that lonely room. So I went downstairs again. I had been up only fifteen or twenty minutes, and some one, Deck or Monty, must be about It was only about half-past ten. I took the cat In my arms for company. It was purring. In deceptive decep-tive quiet, but the moment we were on the second floor It made a clear spring and raced away down the hall. As I looked after It I saw It vanish van-ish about the edge of the door that was ajar Into Mrs. Harrlden's room. I waited; nothing happened. Harrlden Har-rlden evidently wasn't there. A perfect per-fect panic of fear possessed me; I shared all Harrlden's feelings about having the cat in that room for I had been brought up never to let a cat be alone with the dead. This was all my fault I thought unhappily; I had let the creature escape. I waited a moment more, then hurried to the t'oor of the room, said "Kitty, kitty, kitty," very softly and coaxlngly but with no result Then I looked In. The room was faintly lighted by one or two rose shaded lamps. No one was there but that still figure under the white sheet on the bed. I remembered the rose silk sheets that had been turned down for Nora Harrlden two nights before. No silk now; for the dead the sobriety so-briety of white linen. As I looked Into the room, my throat filling 'ltn tnat emotion which death evokes, 1 saw the over-banging over-banging cloth quiver and stir then |