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Show I Mrs. Vera! our Detects B F- Harris Dean I Ittt7!:'n. i nned Ihe door nnd mvJ ppepei' ,rv Veralour ' ' i I !i v.-. I,)(ik- Bgal each otlier. pictures of mis-Birr mis-Birr while Mrs Pattlson, ou. host-mv- i lady whom I already knew f ip'- - near tears that If!' MM-J. Jhr. she had left her handlfer- m ' I Before I could back out Ellza- leth p!an ed up and ?aw me. I "Morn hu;. Dick," she said dole- mj I "JJornim;. all." I returned, en-rtaf. en-rtaf. ".Vice bright sort of morn-ire morn-ire i "' Mn Veralour slched f'eeply by my of answer, and Mr- Pattison, klvinj up worrying about her tpndkcrchief, dabbed at her eye-pshe? eye-pshe? with her forefinger "Oh, Mr. , I don't know your j"B'ale." I said; "I'm h re only br the week end." One did not of burse pxpeet her to remember tbe UrrM of all her week ' ndi "Mr Lake. I'm so upsef " Clcckinc at her sympathetically, I cast a glance of urgent inquiry It Mrs Veralour r net su a Wether the woman had lost her lo-tanr) or her monei . or In th Tor such a thins; to happen at Krt a time," we: on Mr Paul-Mr Paul-Mr i1iitly Inopportune, rm sure," mured. "Misfortunes always ippen when you don't want that's half the trouble." must hush il up." sh ron-L ron-L growing coarse with emo-"her-ush it up I should say. you think I'd better0 Tt's so ard; what could I sar to thp jv I said " shouldn't wor-out wor-out her one can say almost tog to the Duchess." 'ou had a detective." said ph, apparently returnlnc to rlier suggestion, "think of the is.antno" to your guests" Put in Mrs Veralour. "it ippr H,lmo&l sure t0 set Into ' you reallv think so0" said pttisnn. brightening with the ness of a flashlight adver-ent adver-ent she rose to her feet, stated a moment while she t for n graceful phrase with to withdraw uOh, well I lt waste all the day with you 's awfully upset." said Mrs. W( half apologetically, as I 'the door behind hrr ra'' I said; "lost her hue- , D0' Wnr'e 1,an thAt: "flOpti'" 11 gone, anyhow She was "S to send for detectives. Her first big house pai ty. too. Of course I told her she mustn't do anything o absurd until her footing foot-ing is moro secure. Bccauce you don't know who the detectives may find to have taken It, do you?" "Of course not. Besides he muit expect to pay for her fooling in society By the way. how is it I got an invitation am 1 societ ?" "Oh, no." said Mrs. Veralour consoling-, "nor Elizabeth I got her to ask you as a friend of mfne." "Good; so long as my reputation isn't likely to suffer But I can quite understand her being i pet ?.t losing her bracelet up to now, I take it, she's mixed almost exclusive ex-clusive with the rich but honest classes." "Yes; 6he was Just a little bit difficult at first, wasn't he, Elizabeth? Eliza-beth? Until I told her to leave it to rne." "Oh," I said, a trifle blankly, "she's leaing it to you, is she''" Mrs Veralour gave a confident nod. "Yes. I promised to find out who took It for her." "It may be one of the servants, you know, Dick." put in Elizabeth. "Not a bit of it. She mayn't be up to her duties as a hostess, but I bet she's had servants before. I'd wager anything there's not a servant in the house who hasn't got a character I believe it's quite customary to expect one with a servant Of course, with guests, It rtifrpren!" "I hardly think It's a servant myself," agreed Mrs Veralour; "It's only In this cheap fiction you And that sort of thing" "It's not that they're more honest," hon-est," she added thoughtfully, "but the: 've got more to lose." "That's vhat I meant," I 'explained; 'ex-plained; "dishonesty Itself isn't the privilege of any class. How are you going to set about finding out the culprit?" "It'll have to be done pretty tactfully tact-fully " opined. Elizabeth ''x'es," admitted Mrs. Veralour. "th?.t's why T said, no detectives '" She glanced at me doubtfully "What do you think is the best thing to do?" "Nothing," I said promptly "But I Bhall have to do something, some-thing, I've given my word Don't detectives start by making inquiries?" in-quiries?" I believe so. But suppose the criminal is untruthful as well as dishonest how then''" "Then." said Mrs Veralour firmly, firm-ly, "l should look for clues." "Clues?" echoed Elizabeth breathlessly. "Glues," repeated Mrs. Veralour sternly. I gazed at her admiringly. "Mrs. Veralour. you wear your hair too low down on your forehead fore-head for a brain like that. Scraped well back, these flashes of inspiration inspira-tion would not catch us unprepared. Fancy thinking of clues, why It's It's clever." With an excellent air of unconsciousness uncon-sciousness Mrs Veralour pushed her hair back from her brow. "It seemed obvious to me," she said modestly. "Of course it is, that's why it's so clever of you; it takes an exceptionally ex-ceptionally clever person to grasp the obvious nowadays. Where were you thinking of looking for clues?" Mrs. Veralour nodded her head wisely. "I've got a theory," she began. "A theory!" I cried, rising agitatedly agi-tatedly to my feet. "A the . My dear Sherlock Holmes, what an admirable di guise? Elizabeth, couldn't you have sworn it was Mrs. Veralour? Of course, now I know I can see a little difference for example. ex-ample. Mrs. Veralour was somewhat shorter." I gasped as another idea occurred lo me, and turned pleadingly plead-ingly toward Elizabeth. "Don't tell me it's Dr. Watson!" "If it was after lunch." said Mrs. Veralour acidly and left It at that. "Mrs. Veralour," I said sadly, "It's you. Sherlock hadn't your gift for elegant repartee." "Don't take any notice of him. Mrs. Veralour," begged Elizabeth; "tell us your theory." "Well, my theory is that the bracelet was either stolen by a thief, or or It wasn't " "Mrs. Veralour." I said, "no joko you've missed your vocation. That's one of the finest theories I've ever heard Pure deductive reasoning.' "I do wish you'd be quiet," she snapped. "What I meant was, the person who took lt -had either dono that iort of thing before, or else it wa3 the first time." "Admirable! The adept or the novice, so to say. You certainly appear to have thinned It down to one or the other " ' Very well then," she cried triumphantly tri-umphantly "now having got tho bracelet, what would the hardened thief do next?" "What would a homing pigeon do? Take It right away to mother, of course, by the first train " "Absurd. Of course he wouldn't. He'd go back and try to get some more Now, wouldn't he?" "M m Well, yes, he might " "On the other hand," she went on, "if it was a beginner " "Ah," I said, nodding at Elizabeth, Eliza-beth, "now this is tho problem. What would he do9" 4 "Can't you guess7" I shook my head blanklv. "Elizabeth?" ' I haven't tho faintest idea. Mrs. Veralour I'd say if I had, really." "Wh, repent, of course." "Repent, would he?" I murmured dubiously "Decidedly; or at least he would If he was a nice boy at heart just tempted, you know." "Well, yes, he'd be bound to repent re-pent If he was a nice boy at heart," I was compelled to admit. "Of course he would,' cried Mrs. Veralour triumphantly. "And having hav-ing repented, what would be tho first thing he'd do? Oh, you don't try," she said impatiently, as 1 shook my head; "Elizabeth, you say." "Well, of course he'd be very sorry for what he'd done," said . Elizabeth half heartedly "In that case, Mrs Veralour." I said, "you've got a pretty good chance of laying hands on him at least it always seems to me it's the repentant criminals that get caught " "Is that really true?" said Elizabeth, Eliza-beth, who appeared to think she had suddenly encountered one of life's subtler problems. "I wonder why " "Because being caught's the only thing anybody's ever sorry for." I explained. "But. s-s-h. we're derailing de-railing Mrs. Veralour's train of ideas. What would he do, Mrs. Veralour, besides be sorry?" "Go and put it back," she said. "Go nnd ?" I faltered, aghast I could scarcely believe my ears she was usually such an intelligent woman. "Put It back?" repeated Elizabeth Eliza-beth in amazement. "What, after taking It?" "If he really repented, he would." insisted Mrs. Veralour. "And if he didn't repent he'd try to steal something else." "Ah." I said contentedly, "there's a distinctly more human touch about that last suggestion." "So." pursued Mrs. Veralour, resolutely refusing to be annoyed, "all we shall have to do will be to' hido in the bedroom to catch both of them." "Both Oh. you think there are two in it?" "Catch either of them, I mean; whoever's taken lt." "Oh. I see. Whether It's disagreed dis-agreed with his conscience, or whether he's come back for another an-other helping. H'm, well, there's certainly something in your Idea." "I think its frightfully clever," asserted Elizabeth. "But about hiding in tho bedroom." bed-room." I inquired, "do you mean, really hide?" "Of course. You can hide under the bed, and Elizabeth and I " "No," I shouted, Jumping to my feet. "Why ever not?" "No," I repeated vehemently, "not even chaperoned by the two of you will I hide under Mrs. Pat-tison's Pat-tison's bed." "Don't be so ridiculous, Dick." said Elisabeth scornfully. "Ridiculous or not," I said obstinately, obsti-nately, "1 won't. I think it's a scandalous suggestion altogether." "You'll have to hide, mind. The thief won't come i he sees you hanging about." "How't it be," I suggested, struck wi!h a ri-ht idea, "if I were to disguise myself?" "How?" said Mrs. Veralour doubtfully. "Why. dress up as one of tho maids, with a dust-pan or whatever what-ever it is they use. One of those knobby little brushes they have would come in Jolly useful if there was a scrimmage." "I shall down him with a pillow If he shows fight " said Elizabeth, feeling her biceps complacently. "I often have pillow fights with my brotjiers. and I always win until they start getting rough ' "I shall punch him," said Mrs Veralour threateningly, "hard." "By Jove," I said; "poor old chap. I don't think I shall disguise myself after all. if he thinks he's got three women against him he'll probably die of fright " "We shall want some rope." said Mrs. Veralour thoughtfully, "to tie him up with afterward " "Tie him together with,, you mean after you two have finished with him." During the rest of the day Mrs Veralour contented herself with maturing her plans, but the following follow-ing afternoon, after lunch, when the house was desrtid, she marshaled mar-shaled her forces and got ready for action. With a coll of rope over my arm. I was secreted In a large cupboard In the corridor At the last moment mo-ment Elizabeth decided she could be more stealthy In her stocking feet, so 1 had to hold her bhoed for her. 1 11 - '-.---i-1 : flgBI t For about ten minutes I stood crouching In that cupboard, with a cold draught playing on my straining strain-ing eye through the keyhole At j length, aching In every muscle. I H felt it was time for me to start 3 H lurking. So i removed my shoes H and carrying them In one hand, H Elizabeth's in the other, and the coll of rope hanging round my H neck, I stole forth. I H Feeling like a bloodhound strain H lng at the leash, I crept up the cor- rldor and placing my ear against I the keyhole of Mrs. Paulson's room ; H I listened. H Except for shrill whispers of In- ? H struct ion from Mrs. Veralour. who J H was apparently hidden behind the H window curtains, and gasps of an- H gulsh from Elizabeth, who seemed iH to be under the bed. and bumping 1 H her head every time she moved, a there was a perfect silence. Feeling that my presence outside H the door might make the thief feel H he was intruding if he came along H and saw me, I was Just about to r. H move away when a heavy hand ? H was laid on the bark of my neck, f H my lego were kicked away from 1 H under me, and I fell heavily on my nose. I wauoea: cneu a voice emHuv I struggled desperately, amidst a sort of volcanic eruption of shoes, but reinforcements coming -mm to my assailant's aid, I was quickly fl hound with tho rope 1 had thought fully provided and hauled to my jH )M Without being given an opportunity opportun-ity to protest, I was hustled down- stairs into the library, into the fl presence of my hostess H "It's Mr. , Mr. ," she cried, and hesitated. , "Blake." I said. "Wake. And after your pretend- ((1 ing not to know anything about it " Then for the first time I realized iH the reason ror my capture il "Fetch Mr-. Veralour." 1 Tied wildly, "she'll explain everythln " Even as I made the request the ''f door once more opened, and Mrs Veralour, looking very crestfallen. and Elizabeth very militant, entered en-tered the room "CiUghl 'em In the act." said 'he leader of the three detectives who brought up the rear, "leastways. In tho bedroom. This here young female was under the bed." -H "O Mrs Veralour." walled our ll hostess, "no wonder you didn"t ''1 want me to have detectives." Bl And if she hadn't that same even- rl ing discovered the missing brace- let in the Wrbng compartment of her jewel case I firmly believe wo , should all three have been doing thiee years' hard labor. |