ly and without interest in
anything whatever.

However, I was placed in the most embarrassing position that I ever
experienced in my life. Before explanations were half made, Miss Belle
flew at me--I 'm not attempting a pun, either--with a glad, impetuous
cry, threw her arms around my neck, and, drawing herself to her
tiptoes--_kissed me_! I had been far more at ease under her levelled
revolver.

In the afternoon Genevieve and I repaired to the old Page place. She
was so confident that she could find the originals of the designs on
the cipher, that I was anxious to give her the chance. Besides, she
was afraid to go alone, and I simply had to accompany her. Belle could
not without Maillot tagging along, and--well, we didn't want anybody
else.

First of all, Genevieve had to be shown the dent made by the
candlestick in the railing of the balustrade. She placed the tip of
one little finger in the depression, and drew back with a shudder.

"Let's go," she said, in a hushed voice. "I never expect to come up
these stairs again. Let's find the daisies, and go."

She understood as well as I did that Felix Page must have substituted
the stones somewhere between the library table and the hidden safe in
his bedroom. She proposed to start at the table and examine every
object, if necessary, between the two points mentioned.

Our progress was slow until we reached the bedroom. Genevieve drew to
an abrupt halt on the threshold.

"There was a table there, by the head of the bed," she said; "where is
it?"

"Lying on its side in that corner"--I pointed. "It was hurled there
last Friday night, when the dwarf surprised Burke here."

She went over to it, while I raised the blinds. Instantly she recoiled
with a cry, and then in a flash was fairly wild with excitement.

"Knowles, Knowles!" she screamed. "Here they are!"

And sure enough, there they were--the brass tacks with which the
artificial leather cover had been fastened on. Their heads were
ornamental, with just such crenellated edges as might have prompted the
circular figures at each end of the cipher.

I stared at them in stupefied silence. The row of gleaming tacks
staggered me. How many times had I lingered by that very table while I
racked my brain to remember where I had seen the peculiar figure! Why,
once I even had paused and drawn the design in the dust on the leather
cover! What a dunce--how blind I had been!

The cipher was not difficult