Evening star., 1928-10-21

They entered the drawing room through
a long window on the terrace and found
Norton, the butler, completing arrange
ments for tea.
rs Mrs Effiingham in the house Nor
ton?" said Ball.
Norton was having a little difficulty
with the lamp for the kettle.
mot to my knowledge, sir" he an
swered.
We'll, find out positively" said Ball
Send Mrs. Balls maid upstairs to
search and see if she could be at the
telephone. No message has come for
me- suppose?"
mo, sir" replied the man. "I've been
on the telephone myself all the after
noon.'
He left and came back to say that
Mrs. Efhngham had not been in the
house.
Have any cars left the garage?"
asked Ball.
mo, sir the chauffeurs are having
supper and all the cars are IN the
garage"
RALL nodded, and Norton, with one
~ glance at the tea table, went away
leaving Ball and Connors alone.
"She was wearing half million dol
lars worth of jewelry," said Connors.
Ball nodded and added, "and yet
she was as safe on that beach as any
where in the world" He described in
some detail that there was only one
| path through the woods, besides that
which led to the house-this other went
| to a small road that led to the highway
no once could have come along the
beach, because, as it happened, the tide
was unusually hight that evening and
| h. No,- IaS b 1a1 dnr-
| brush and woods.
Have you got a fashlight?" said
Connors. 1--WE might go back and look
the ground over more carefully, now
| that we know she isn't up here"
AS they went out they canvaSSed the
poSSibilities-that she had gone for
stroll-that she had been kidnapped for
the sake of the jewels. The latter hy-
| pothesiS demanded an extraordinary
number of condolences - that they
should have been followed from the
wedding-that the thief had anticipated
that Belinda, instead of leaving her
them to the beach and hung them on
her guest, and that that guest should
be left alone on the beach.
And then," said Ball, I'VE were not
so far away that we could not have
heard struggle"
LAS a matter of fact, the only pos
sibility is that she went voluntarily"
Connors began, but Ball interrupted
him.
"Voluntarily-what do you mean?"
THAT some one called her away-or
that she heard something and went to
investigate. :"
I'VE shall probably find her talking
to Belinda" said Ball.
But they did not find her. The men
began to look serious.
"Oh. we'll probably find her at the
house" said Belinda. But on their re-
turn to the house nothing had been
heard Of her there. A great deal of
telephoning took place. At Mrs. Efing-
hams house nothing was known. The
two children and the nurse were out
for the day at the houses of different
friends-there were no clues-no sug-
gestions. Utterly baffled, they sat down
about the tea table with little appetite.
Il suppose we ought to notify the
! police" said Belinda.
| All three men protested against this
| idea
And yet" said Belinda, I'm sure,
unless something. terrible had happened
to her, she would communicate with
u.s."
Il have a suggestion to make" said
DR.. Wrexton. I'm old times, when 1
was practicing, I used to follow this
plan in obscure cases-particularly in
mental cases. used to put down every
fact l knew about a patient-relevant
or irrelevant-and was always aston
isned to find that the apparently irrele-
want facts were often the most sigrifi-
cant. Now. I know nothing about this
lady, except that she is pretty and
attra ctiae. I suggest that each of you
~F"Ild tell me everything you know
aoout her-every detail-important or
unimpOrtant. You may find some
thing emerges that you don't expect"
! What a wonderful idea," cried Be-
linda. Neither her husband nor Con-
tlors expressed much enthusiasm, and
| Belinda began the recital: well, IA
ther, Mrs. Effingham is an acquaintance
Of about six months standing, who has
fascinated both Constantine and Jun
/ iuS >"
- beg your pardon" exclaimed Con-
nors. MY acquaintance with her is of
/ the most casual description
Cards on the table, JuniuS," said
Ball. ConnorS drew his brows together,
| as was his manner with unruly juries.
of the most casual" he repeated, and
added: And 1 really think, Belinda,
out of consideration to my wife's feel
ings, you might refrain from making
wild assertions of that nature"
After all, made it of my own hus-
band, too," said Belinda cheerfully.
Your temperament is different from
Maria's," said Connors. "She is not
not as rational as you are"
! Perhaps she has not as much reason
to be RATIONAL" replied Belinda, and
continued to her father, Mrs. Efing-
ham, who has fascinated Constantine
but whose acquaintance with Junius is,
it appears, of the most casual descrip-
ton, is the wife of young naval officer
now in Chinese waters. She has taken
a tiny farmhouse near here, not only
on account of the pleasant all-the-year-
round society, but because there is
good school for her eldest boy child
Of II or so-for she was, need not
tell you. married while practically in
the cradle"
She really was married very young.
Belinda said her husband seriously.
You see, father" said Belinda, "she
IS net a day over 30"
She was % in August" observed
Constantine
Oh. you know her birthday?" said
C0nnors
It happens to fall the day before nv
own" answered Ball, rather stiffly.
oh, and speaking of birthdays said
Belinda, that reminds me of some
thing that may be too trivial to men
ton"
No said her father, "that is the
thing l have in mind-trivial details"
| x X X
"WELL," she went on, "last Sum-
mer came down from the woods
to surprise Constantine on his birth
day"
Her father shook his head. INV
daughter" he said, "I brought YOU IN
better than that"
I know, I know" she answered. "It
was ri7ky, wasn't it. but it turned out
all right-all right-as far as Con-
stantine was concerned"
OF course. it did--it turned out de-