The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-16
White Cat.
 '
Copyright. I9I0. by BObbs. :;
 Merrill Co.

tangular outline, apparently that of a smallish box and fresh.
 My match burned my fingers and I dropped it. The last flash showed me, on the floor of the closet and wedged between two boards, small white globule. It did not need another match to tell me it was a pearl. dug it out carefully and took it to my room. In the daylight there reo ognized it as an unstrung pearl of fair size and considerable value. There could hardly be doubt that I had stumbled on one of the stolen gems. If Wardrop took the pearls, kept re-, beating, who took Miss Jane?
 I tried to forget the pearls and to fathom the connection between Miss Maitland's disappearance and the ab- sence of her brother-in-law. The scrap of paper, eleven twenty-two, must con- meet them, but how? A family scan dal? Dismissed on the instant. There could be nothing that would touch the virginal remoteness of that little old lady. Insanity? We'll, Miss Jane might have had a sudden alteration
 
 leave Fleming out, and the paper dragged him in. A common enemy? smoked and considered for some time over this. An especially; malig- nant foe might rob or even murder, but it was almost ludicrous to think of his carrying away by force Miss Jane's ninety pounds of austere flesh. The solution, had it. not been for the blood stains, might have been a peace full one, leaving out the pearls, alto gether. but later developments show ed thGt the pearls refused to be omit ted. To my mind, however, at that time, the issue seemed a double one. believed that some one, perhaps Har- " Wardrop, had stolen the pearls, hid den them in the secret closet, and dis posed of them later. made a note to, try to follow up the missing pearls.
 Then I chung to the theory that Miss Maitland had been abducted and was being held for ransom. But-and I steal an old woman and take her out into the May night without any cover ing-not even shoes-clad only in her night clothes, would run an almost cer- tain risk of losing his prize by pneu- monia. For second search had shown not am article of wearing ap- parel missing from the house. Just before dinner I made second round of, the grounds. About a hun dred feet beyond the boundary hedge I found circular tracks, broad and deep, where an automobile had backed and turned. The lane was separated by high hedges of osage orange from the properties on either side, and each house in that neighborhood had a drive of its own, which entered from the main street, circled the house and went out as it came.
 There was no reason, or, so far as could see, no legitimate reason why a car should have stopped there, yet it stopped and for some time. Deeper tracks in the sand at the side of the lane showed that.
 I felt that had made some prog ress. had found where the pearls had been hidden after the theft, and this put Bella out of the question, And I had found-or thought I had-the way in which Miss Jane had been taken away from Bellwood came back past the long rear wing of the house which contained, pre- sumed, the kitchen and the other mys- terious regions which only women and architects comprehend. A long porch ran the length of the wing, and as I passed heard my name called.
 "In here in the old laundry" Mar gery's voice repeated, and retraced my steps and went up on the porch. At the very end of the wing, disman- tied, piled at the sides with frewood and broken furniture, was an old laun- dry. It's tubs were rusty, its walls mil dewed and streaked, and it exhaled the musty odor of empty houses. On the floor in the middle of the room. unde- niably dirty and disheveled, sat Mar gery Fleming.
 T thought you were never coming" she said petulantly. T have been here alone for an hour."
 "I'm sure never guessed it, apol- ogized. 'I should have been only too glad to come and sit with you.''
 She was fumbling with her hair, which hung, loosely knotted, over one small ear.
 T hate to look ridiculous she said sharply, land detest being laughed at. I've been crying, and I haven't . any handkerchief"
 I profered mine gravely, and she took it.
 Gro Be ContInued.)