electrician to come
and rip out everything. I'll have the place all wired over. It was a
makeshift job to begin with, and since Darcy complicated the wires with
some that he hoped to run his electric lathe with, there is no telling
when one may get a shock."

"How did it happen?" asked the colonel, as the jeweler led the way to
that part of the store where Darcy had the repair bench, behind the
watch showcase. It was now close to midnight, and the excitement over
the accident to Sallie, which had occurred after the closing hour for
the store, had subsided, not as much of a crowd having gathered at that
time of the evening as would have done earlier.

"Well, it happened this way," explained Kettridge. "We're going to
have a special sale of a medium-priced line of goods to-morrow. I was
getting ready for it after the clerks had gone--setting out the display
and the like--when I found I needed help.

"It wasn't much--just the little odds and ends that a woman can do
better than a man when it comes to making things look fancy. I might
have telephoned for Miss Brill, but I didn't like to bring her back, as
she'd worked hard all day.

"Then I thought of Sallie Page. It's true she's deaf, but she has been
in the family, so to speak, a long while, and she knows the shop and
the goods pretty well. She's quick if she is old, so I got her down
about nine o'clock and we started in."

"Then exactly how it happened I don't know. I was puttering around the
work table where Darcy used to do his jewel setting and his repair
work, and Sallie was over near the showcase. I wanted more light on a
certain piece of jewelry I had in my hand, and I thoughtlessly threw
over a switch I saw on Darcy's table. It was a switch I hadn't noticed
before--in fact, I accidentally uncovered it by moving a collection of
his tools I hadn't previously disturbed.

"No sooner had I closed the circuit than I heard a scream from Sallie
and saw her fall backwards. I had given her a shock without knowing
it."

"That was queer," murmured the colonel. "Let me have a look at that
switch."

"And, while you're about it, I'll look too," said another voice in the
dimly-lighted store, and, as the two turned in startled surprise, they
saw Detective Carroll smiling at them.

"I heard there was another accident up here," he went on, still
smiling, "so I came to have a look. The side door was open and I
walked in. Guess you didn't hear me. These ru