Evening star., 1924-03-02


have been taken away. I congratu.
| late you, count on your acumen, and
besides, you have saved me the labol
OF this search
He went directly to the inlait
writing table near the window. which
Count Andreas indicated. It had q
little row OF drawers in the center
behind the writing pad. The tor
irawers OF this series was the one
from which the jewels had beer
taken.
Count Andreas called Sir Henry'l
attention particularly to it.
This drawer was the one in which
my wife kept her jewels. had sup.
posed that 1t was locked; but II
seems to have been open like the
others. You will observe that II IL
In no manner broken"
Sir Henry stopped over. PVT his
monocle into his eye. and looked
carefully At the lock on tho drawer.
Then he sat down in the chair be-
fore the desk; his hand gathered
about his chin like one profoundly
puzzled.
This drawer was locked" he said.
Impossible" cried Count Andreas,
1T was not broken"
'It was unlocked with the key"
said Sir Henry. who had the key?'
my wife only had the key" re-
piled the count
Dust gathered in this lock-" said
Sir Henry. 'as 1t gathered over all
things in this room: the key and the
moving bar Of the lock have Just dis
tarbed it. The thing has been done
by some one who knew where the key
was"
But what living person could
know where the dead countess had
concealed this key?"
But are events in the world ex-
clusively directed by the living? How
do we know what will to compel
them the dead can exert. Did not the
countess as she was leaving the
world bequeath thsi ruby bracelet to
Miss Sarah Whitney. and when the
solicitor pointed out that you would
take 1t operative Of law. reply with
a mysterious sentence?"
Count AndreaS face darkened.
'Unfortunately my wife WAS in
fiuenced against me In her last ILL
ness. Therefore, I disregard the be-
quest made under the influence Of
enemies. and this threat. And now
cannot help 1t that q thief has re-
moved them. That the Countess An
creas, dead. and out of the world, had
any part In this affair is q ridiculous
suggestion"
CIR HENRY rose, stood q moment
~ ~ in some reflection, and began
to walk about tho door. He walked
with his head forward. his hands be-
hind him. touching now and then an
open drawer or some disturbed ar
tiole. and stopping, like ono whose
mind Is wholly on some distant thing
to close the open drawer. Or care
fully to replace the disturbed ar
ticlA He set little frame neatly
on 4 table; he spread down a corner
OF . rug: he opened tho folding doors
to the closets in the wall where the
dead woman's clothes hung. and shut
them carefully; he stopped before the
mantel and hecked the mantelpiec>
absently with his finger. He looked
like one In some queer somnambu.
lism. his motions languid. his face
vague, with tho thick monocie screw
cd into his eye. no cord holding It
He glanced up at the painting OF
Count Andreas where the big spider
web attached the bottom Of tho gid
cd frame to the wall, peered at It .
moment as in the insptitudes Of .
trance. and passed on.
'This spider" he said, will not
have favored the thief here - the
Scotch spider favored the Bruce, for
It took days to make a big. strong,
tough web like that"
He reached the door, put out his
hand In the manner Of one 80 detach-
ed that his senses no longer guide
him. Then suddenly he faced about
and addressed Count Andreas, as
though there had bean no interval
after the mans comment
"And yet--how shall we say that
the countess has not been here7" =
He crossed with q stride to one Of
the closets and threw tho door open.
There was 4 little shelf across the
bottom OF the closet. on which were
q row OF shoes. Sir Henry took up
q pair Of clippers ana brught than
Ovee . Ceuat Andreas.
sIoU1," hA said, '.theea are bits Of