The Holly chieftain., 1915-05-07

room and looked around amongst the
! little knots of people.
Il wonder where mother is?" he re-
marked. She told me-"
The young man broke off in the
middle of his sentence He, too, like
many others in the room, felt a sud
den thrill almost of horror at the
sound which rang without warning
upon their ears-a woman's cry. a
cry of fear and horror Mrs. Rhein-
holdt her hands clasping her neck.
her splendid composure thing of
the past, panic-stricken, terrified
woman, stumbled into the room. She
seemed on the point of collapse.
my jewels!" she cried. MY dia-
monds!"
What do you mean, mother?" Phil
lip Rheinholdt asked quickly. Have
you lost them?"
"Stolen!" Mrs. Rheinholdt shrieked,
Stolen there in the conservatory"
They gazed at her open-mouthed, in
credulous. Then a still. quiet voice
from the outside of the little circle
interviewed.
Instruct your servants, Mr.. Rhein-
holdt, to lock and bar all the doors of
the house." the professor suggested.
mo one must leave it until we have
heard your mothers story"
II had just taken the professor into
the little room my husband used to
call the museum" Mrs. Rheinholdt
explained, her voice still shaking with
agitation. 81 left him there to exam
inc some specimens of beetles. l
thought that / would come back
through the conservatory, which is
the quickest way. was about half
the switch go behind me and all the
electric lights were turned out. l
couldn't imagine what had happened.
While | hesitated | saw"
She broke down again. There was
no doubt about the genuineness Of her
terror.
Il saw pair of hands-just hands
no arms-nothing but hands-come
out of the darkness! They gripped
me by the throat, | suppose it was
Just for a second. ! think-I lost con-
seriousness for moment. although l
was still standing up The next thing
| remember is that l found myself
shrieking and running here-and the
jewels are gone!"
you saw no one?" her son asked
rcredulously You heard nothing?"
Il heard no footsteps, l saw no one"
Mrs. Rheinholdt repeated. The pro-
fessor turned away.
IF you will allow me-" he begged,
II am going to telephone to my friend,
Mr.. Sanford Quest, the criminologist.
An affair SO unusual as this might at
tract him. You will excuse me-"
The professor met the great Grimm
ologist and his assistant In the hall
upon their arrival. He took the for
mer at once by the arm.
"Mr. Quest" he began, "in sense
l must apologize for my peremptory
message. l am well aware that an or
dinary jewel robbery does not inter-
est you, but in this case the circum-
stances are extraordinary. ventured,
therefore, to summon your aid"
Sanford Quest nodded shortly.
"As a rule" he said, II do not care
to take up one affair until l have a
clean slate There's your skeleton
still bothering me. professor How
ever, where's the lady who was
robbed?"
81 will take you to her." the profess
sor replied.
Mrs Rheinholdt's story, by frequent
repetition, had become a little more
coherent, trifle more circumstantial,
the perfection Of simplicity and utter
ly .incomprehensible. Quest listened to
it without remark and finall.y made
his way to the conservatory. He re-
quested Mrs. Rheinholdt to walk with
him through the door by which she
had entered and stop at the precise
spot where the assault had been made
upon her There were one or two
plants knocked down from the tiers
on the right-hand side, and some dis
turbance in the mold where some large
palms were growing. Quest and Le-
nora together made a close investi-
CATION of the spot. Afterwards, Quest
walked several times to each of the
doors leading into the gardens.
There are four entrances alto.
gether," he remarked, as he lit cigar
and glanced around the place. Two
lead into the gardens-one is locked
and the other isn't-one connects with
the back C the house-the one through
which you came, Mrs Rheinholdt, and
the other leads into your reception