Putnam patriot., 1910-04-22

 ity.
 II have made a discovery" said Miss Sweet to ne one day. with grea, ylec.
 You deu1 mean hr replica Have you fennd where the gem IS c0nseaiedts
 No. have discovered that Mrs
 lernegsn's aursetaasa shares her SC
 cret with her.
 How SCI"
 They know that VIC are watching
 them Whenever the nurse sees me looking at her she quails"
 its two against two. isn't itSe
 "Yes. and we'll beat them yet. No doubt ef it
 Have you anything to saggestT'
 Well no. not just now" We saw the nurse go au9 with her charge and knew that every afternoon
 she took the child to q little park in the neighhorhood Treusdail should
 not have permitted this. but he said
 that it wouldn't do to keep the little gIrl in the house. l proposed to Miss Sweet that We walk out. follow the nurse to the park and see If we could
 learn anything. She consented. and.
 getting her hat and wraps. we sallied forth
 We soon saw the nurse walking slowly. the child trotting alone. either beside or behind her. carrying toy balloon We measured our pace to suit theirs. and they entered the park without Knowing that we were near them A moment later the nurse turn cd and. suddenly seeing us, gave an involuntary start. "The plot thickens." l remarked to my companion. "l'll bet that this nurse. being permitted to leave the house. will get rid of the diamond" Suppose she has t with her newY said Miss Sweet. its possible
 "I have never seen her so agitated as when she turned and saw us be hind her.
 You are on tho track. You made
 the discovery that she was in league with her mistress. Suppose We let her see by eur acts and the eNpres-
 sions of our faces that we are watch ing her It may drive her Into doing something that will expose her" By this time the nurse had taken q seat on bench. while the child played about with her balloon On several occasions she let ge the string. the balloon rose. and the nurse caugh. it only in time to save it We walked by the woman and as we did so stared at her continuously. She trembed like leaf We walked on a short dis tance and turned The child's balloon had escaped and was caught in the branches of tree overhanging the seat where the nurse sat. The child was crying for her toy. and the nurse was trying to quiet her. "I'll buy you another. dearie." she said That one has gone where one can't get 1t.
 The nurse spoke the truth. Only a long ladder would enable any one fo reach the toy. It had lodged some thirty feet from the ground. As l walked past the tree looked up at 1t. noticed that the string attached to it hung straight. It suggested nothing at first, but presently l asked my com- panion:
 Do you notice how straight that string hangs2 Is fl caught on branch, and does the balloon keep 1t tautY' No. the balloon is against a bough. But there is something small tied to the end of tine string" "So there Is"
 l glanced at the nurse. who knew we were talking about the. balloon. and saw she was holding her breath from suspense called some boys who were playing near and offered any of them q quarter who would climb the tree and bring down the bal loon One of the boys took my offer. and in few minutes l was in p,s- session Of the toy. At the end of the string was bit of. tissue paper. In the paper was the diamond. I looked around for the nurse. She had vanished.
 The delight both of myself and Miss Sweet may be imagined We started to the house with the little girl Far down the street We sHw the nurse run ming ahead of us If did not occur to us what she was going to the house for till we got there. when we discovered that she had warned her mistress and gone on. Before saying word to any one took the stone to Treusdail. md we had long consultation Wehad no proof against the widow, and since she was connection of Jim's he de tided to tell her that her maid had stolen the diamond and not intimate 10 her that she herself was supposed to have been an accomplIce This would avoid aby unpleasantueSs When the matter was given out tD
 the guests ] told them all that the find was entirely due to Miss Sweets ia
 genuity and foresight She was the liopess of the party from that mo ment Till we broke up and generally
 became convinced that she had done 1t all herself
 That gave me good start. and tn time 1 won-no a stone. but a woma n.
 iss