in of flashing stones (real stones)
which held her hat in place had to be taken out and thrust back again,
not once, but twice. It was to watch this performance he had paused.
When he was ready to proceed, he took the musing tone of one marshalling
facts for another's enlightenment:

"A woman of unknown instincts--"

"Pshaw!" The end of the pin would strike against the comb holding
Violet's chestnut-coloured locks.

"Living in a house as mysterious as the secret it contains. But--" here
he allowed his patience apparently to forsake him, "I will bore you no
longer. Go to your teas and balls; I will struggle with my dark affairs
alone."

His hand went to the packet of papers she affected so ostentatiously to
despise. He could be as nonchalant as she. But he did not lift them;
he let them lie. Yet the young heiress had not made a movement or even
turned the slightest glance his way.

"A woman difficult to understand! A mysterious house--possibly a
mysterious crime!"

Thus Violet kept repeating in silent self-communion, as flushed with
dancing she sat that evening in a highly-scented conservatory, dividing
her attention between the compliments of her partner and the splash of
a fountain bubbling in the heart of this mass of tropical foliage; and
when some hours later she sat down in her chintz-furnished bedroom for
a few minutes' thought before retiring, it was to draw from a little oak
box at her elbow the half-dozen or so folded sheets of closely written
paper which had been left for her perusal by her persistent employer.

Glancing first at the signature and finding it to be one already
favourably known at the bar, she read with avidity the statement of
events thus vouched for, finding them curious enough in all conscience
to keep her awake for another full hour.

We here subscribe it:

I am a lawyer with an office in the Times Square Building. My business
is mainly local, but sometimes I am called out of town, as witness the
following summons received by me on the fifth of last October.

DEAR SIR,--

I wish to make my will. I am an invalid and cannot leave my room.
Will you come to me? The enclosed reference will answer for my
respectability. If it satisfies you and you decide to accommodate me,
please hasten your visit; I have not many days to live. A carriage will
meet you at Highland Station at any hour you designate. Telegraph reply.

A. Postlethwaite, Gloom Cottage, ----, N. J.

The reference given