Williams news., 1917-12-20
CHAPTER xIIl.-continued.

-15-
 "Peter is hedging about referring to the fact that Craven put up a very prompt protest when you told me to take the necklace into the sunlight and satisfy myself"
 "Yes," Peter admitted gloomily.
 'Is the evidence complete enough?' P Mrs. Beggarstaff questioned gently. "We didn't want to tell you this, Betty. For my own part, I'd rather you had conspired with Tad to smuggle-"
 "Don'tl" pleaded the unhappy wom- an. Bending forward, elbows on knees, she stared somberly at the carpet. But how," she asked, "do you account for that perfect counterfeit?"
 Simply" Quoin replied, "after that affair of Thursday night, on my own responsibility sent a wireless to Paris, to Cottier's, in Betty's name. The an- swer came through Friday night, say ing that the original owner had sold a paste duplicate to a dealer in articles de Paris, which he in turn had sold to a chance custOmer-defn1te deScrlp- ton unavailable-the same day that the real necklace was taken from Cot tiers by your agent
 ,''It seems incredible. Of all men Tad Craven!"
 "You forget how little we know of him." the Dowager Dragon put in.
 ssKnow of him?" Betty protested, looking up. "Why, everybody knows Tad Craven Go out among our friends and try to find one who believes he would do anything dishonest"
 "And still, I insist, you forget how little we know of him. Hark back into your memory, my dear. How long have we known him? Twelve or fifteen years at most. How did he come to know us? Through introductions to a few clubs, indorsed by Lord Evesden-who was later drummed out of town for card cheating, and never came back. But Tad Craven stuck. He didn't cheat, and he was amusing, and as long as he was personable, agreeable and seemed to have money nobody bothered about his pedigree"
 "Pve been looking Craven up," Quoin supplemented. 'Listenr" He began to read from a tiny memorandum book: 'Came to New York in '93 with a Brit ish musical comedy company. His wife, Lefty Craven, fell ill during the run of the piece and died in a public hospital nR quick consumption. After that Cra- ven got job with some show which perished on the road. When he turned ID again he was training with a gang nR professional Sharpers with whom he played few turns on the transatlantic ferry route as capper. But he dropped that before he became known to the police. Later he was running with gay Lord Evesden; but shook him as soon as he felt solid in New York and bose ugly whispers began to go round about Evesden's play. The rest is mainly circumstantial damnation.''
 Quoin put away his notebook and be- gan to tick off his points on his fingers.
 'It may not have escaped you that there've been some pretty stiff burglar les among our friends in the last twelve years or so. They weren't frequent; ]; but they were all big hauls, and every Dne was well planned and eliminated n a clean getaway. And it so happens, when one comes to look into it, that Craven was especially thick with all he people victimized. The biggest coup was the theft of the Joachim collec- don, worth several hundred thousand aollars. Now Lydia Craven, when she same aboard the Alsatia, was wearing . cameo from the Joachim collection which she said her father had given her on her fifteenth birthday. Discreet pumping on the part of Mrs. Beggar- staff has shown that date to have fallen just three months after Joachim was fho peared as soon as Lydia and Craven met on board. There's a sinister thread running all through the history of Thaddeus Craven"
 His voice trailed off into silence. Mrs. Merrilees was eying him steadily.
 'You never got all that information together since morning?" Mrs. Beggar- staff prompted.
 "No," Quoin admitted. 'Tve had my eye on Craven for some time."
 "Why?" the old woman demanded bluntly. 'What made you first suspect him?''
 "Well," replied Quoin, ''he never rang true to me; and when it began to be rumored that he was a candidate for Betty's hand-I felt sure he wasn't worthy of her, and made up my mind to be sure before forbidding the banns."
 After a pause Betty looked up defi- antly. '1t does make me out a bit of an idiot, doesn't it?'
 ''Nonsensel We were all taken i'm Peter protested. Look how I've al- ways stuck up for Tad! But there's one thing I want to say: He may be a r0ffar and all that Sort oP thip1 but that girl of his is as straight and fine a proposition-''
 Do hush, Peteri We all know you're in love with her. But what is all this to me?" Betty protested with a