The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-11-08

| purchased from a dealer who admits
 that he acquired it the same day Arnold appreciated the delicacy of | Polozzi's statement of the case, which
 left him as far as possible out of the | tranaction.
 1 Ut would be no more remarkable, l he replied, than the coincidence of
 my meeting the taxi driver who found 1 the body of the very possessor of the earring which I purchased the next
 morning. The question is. who sold
 the earring to the old Jew in the Rue | de ProV0nce?'
 Polozzi shot a troubled glance at l Arnold.
 Excuse me, have you told all you 1 know about this affair?"
 Arnold rose and walked about the
 room. It was impossible for him to add anything to the assertions he had | made without lying or bringing into | the matter the lady or the railway carriage. He stopped suddenly and 1 faced Polozzi.
 What do you think I conceal | ing?" he demanded.
 "You are naturally upset by this 1 unfortunate affair and I thought per | haps-you might have perfectly inno- | cent reasons for being silent upon | points which might materially help l us''
 Arnold stopped again. 1 T have replied unreservedIy to
 every question asked me-" he said Polozzi shrugged his shoulders. l My near Arnold. you are young;
 you are-without dattery, attractive
 to the eye.''
 Arnold laughed.
 1 "But how can my youth and beauty 1 affect the matter. MT. Po1ozzi?" ?" 1 I,f 14 ping his hands. upon which he still wore the denuded gloves. you useG ] not to be so obtuse! Chercihez la | femme! In all my experience, 1t has 1 been the same!
 1 And this case of Morins. Who i knows that some jealous woman may | not have administered the fatal dose! Such a woman would be very likely to come weeping to the morgue, after,
 to look at and reproach herself for | her work!''
 "You are quite. mehdramatic!" said
 Arnold, to whom this last suggestion | was most unacceptable. A clerk appeared at the door az i this moment, and intimated that 1 Monsieur Caradec awaited them, ana l they followed him into the corrid or. 1 A lady who was going towards the i staircase stopped suddenly if un- decided which way to go, and started 1 back. It was the lady of the rail l way carriage. She started when she | saw Arn old. gave him a hostile look, | and almost ran towards the staircase. l Arnold again asked himself why she | seemed to entertain such disgust for | him, which was far from being re- | ciprocated. Polozzi turned round as the lady disappeared. That was the woman we saw in ! H. !, I<5 ;,1 herr"
 Arnold replied rather shortly tnae he did.
 Monsieur Caradec looked up a. they entered.
 "Pray be seated,'' mess1eurs,'' he said. Arnold uneasily awaited his next words.
 "It is unfortunate. monsieur" said Monsieur Caradec at last. that the assistant in the shop in the Rue de Provence has no record either of re-
 ceiving the earring into stock, or or it's sale"
 In his excitement Arnold rose ana rested one hand upon M. Caradec's desk.
 ''The earring was sold me by an old man, a Spanish Jew, believe. He | told me he had bought it the same day. I saw no one else in the shop.
 ''It is very unfortunate,' repeated | M. Cara dec, ''but the proprietor has just been called away by the sick ness of a member of the family, un- luckily he has left no address. but it is very Ekely that the affair will be cleared up on his return"
 And how long will that be, mon sieur?"
 We do not know"
 An embarrassing silence ensued, | and as Arnold waited he became aware of a visiting card lying upon the floor near him. It had either fallen from the top of M. Caradec-s desk, or, what was more likely, been dropped by some visitor. At all events it had certainly come there since Ar holds previous reception in that room He made out. with some diff ficulty that the name engraved upon it was "Aime d'Aurigny." The ad- dress ha been obliterated. and above it, in ink, was written: '15o2 bis Avenue d'Iena.''
 Monsieur Arnold" said Monsieur Caradec, after moment or two. "I should be glad If you would defer your departure for a few days. until this matter of the earring has been cleared up"
 Arnold gave the required assur- ance, knowing that the request was in fact a command and also guessing that his movements would be under surveillance.
 T need not detain you now, mon sieur' said Monsieur Caradec gra- ciously, to Arnold, and turning to Po- lozzi. Arnold salubed both gentlemen and retired with very mixed feelings. He wanted very much to ask what would ultimately become of the mall achtte earring. but such an 1nqu1ry seemed frivolous in the circun- stances and he smiled at the idea that the lace blouse might be con- sidered as balancing the loss of the money invested in the earring
 Outside, he hailed a taxi and d. rected the driver to go towards the Bois de Boulogne. With the realiza- ton that M. Cadadec did not intend to have him guillotined at present, his spirits had risen to the point that he regarded almost with hilarity the