The Washington herald., 1916-04-30

eleventh hour. have 70 make entirely new plan,
unless she wanted al the work she and Mona
bad already done to 60 for nothing.
Her only grain Of comfort that she
heard MelnOtte. speaking over the telephone,
make an appointment with Watson. for the fol-
lowing afternoon. They We're To meet Al the
museum. Mary was afraid TO jump at a concur
sion again. nut she did feel that there a
chance now 90 save the dav.
"Wr're like people WORT ing IT, 'nr darn.' >ne
told Mona. that night. when the TWO compared
notes. so far there's been atoCorh"r too much
guess WORK 10 suit me- and from nuw ON "a
like to have some facts to work WITH"
"We'1e got to hay" tnem." said Noua. Nnd
tho ono essential thing i tn o'rrnrar rt.. con-
versatio0 tomorrow when Nc'n"rtr n"'.r~ Watson
the. museum"
Mary nodded her aCr eucuf.
"NouU have TO D, the to -er these facts"
shr said. And don't see how YOU'RE going to
do it. They re sur" to he suspicious if there's
Leave that to me-" said Mona. confidently
'T've made one or two discoveries about thar mu-
SCUM sine" I've been working there with Harry
Did you ever hear Of the VIII ~ncrnC gallery.
"Nos," said Mary. HrightrniuE "Do '0n
mean TO say there's something Of the sort I'm m"
muscum?"
9Th, acoustics are ,~., pcoulaar,' ~aid Nooa
hopes very high hopes.
And the next day She took mp her watch in
certain spot in the gallery. From where She
waited she could NOT see the dospoiled frame of
her ind. ~sro enough, after a little time. she
heard the 'ulcc of Nrnotte
Il told ,"u you'd be surprised. Mr. Watson ."
said tIr dealer Il needn't point ont To q real
collector Uh" yourself that this i >nguDarly
impudent copy Of the famous NonIa Nanna2'
BY jo,e" said voice that was strange to
Mona the voice Of Watson. "N Nou,re right. man.
What a scandal"
'Tbo r~rimabIe Mr.. Crogan ha~ certainly
fooled be wIoir this time" said MeJnortc
"Oh. Civ" the man his due ho~ fool. nor
crook. said Nat>"o. "lN" u" d"nor n' Thought
he had rnr real Thing aud ] happen tn know
that he paid q ~tfY price for this forgery nf his
He'll look pretty foolish when this comes ont:
Hes always refused TO take competent adj
vice -" began MeJnotte
"Meaning yourseIf?' suggested WatsOn
Far rruored from them though She
every word came clear and distinct to Mona'>
alert ears. Nnd Yet She knew that had she been
within a dozru feet Of Them she would have
heard only an iudi~tnct and meaningless mur
uur. It WAS a curious trjr, of acoustics, throw
ing the ~ouud- -uf their Voices about. cchoing from
this spot and that that brought the sounds to
her distinctly
Menot,e .2nored the collector, interruption.
81 suppose you'd like to know where tn"
original iso' he said
''WouId 80 said Watson. I'D buy il in like
a shot and present il to the museum. iu>t for the
pleasure Of seeing Crogan sQurm the iguor-
anus"
"WcJ'-it's not very far from here" said Mel
Dotte. "Its in my shop. to he frank! I know l
can trust you to respect my confdenceH
There was an exclamation of amszement
from Watson.
"WeII-I shall certainly have to see il you
are right" he said. And if You I'll be
good as my word--III take it off your hands and
give il to the museum myself! Perhaps people
won't take rich dabhler in art like Crogan
so seriously after this"
Once more Mona had to suffer the strain Of
waiting to learn from Mary the outcome Of some
thing Of which she herself had seen the begin
ming. But she could wait patiently; she was
long to wait. She hurried home herself. and in a
littlr while the telephone rang.
Quick :" gasped Mary. I've only second