ny of the Danforths, as far as
you know, have any bead-trimmed dresses that they wore down here?"

Phyllis shook her head. "I begin to see what you're driving at, Leslie.
No, there's only Mrs. Danforth to wear dresses--the rest of the family
consists of her husband and the boys. I'm perfectly certain I never saw
her in a beaded dress. And even if she had one, I'm sure she wouldn't
think of wearing it down here, not even to travel home in. People don't
bring elaborate clothes to this place, and she's never been known to. I
believe you're right. If the beads had been there when the place was
cleaned, they would have disappeared. They must have come there since.
The mysterious 'she' of the footprint must have left them! But what else
was there?"

"Then I noticed another thing that was curious and very puzzling. I
confess, I can't make much out of it, and yet it may mean a great deal.
It was out by the fireplace in the living-room. Did you happen to notice
that one of the bricks in the floor of it looked as if an attempt had
been made to pry it loose, or something? The cement all along one side
had been loosened and then packed down into place again. And 'way in the
corner, I picked up _this_!" She held up the blade of a penknife, broken
off halfway.

"No, I hadn't noticed it at all!" exclaimed Phyllis, ruefully. "The truth
is, Leslie, I went into that place expecting to see it all torn up or
upheaved or something of the kind--something very definite, anyway. And
when I didn't find anything of the sort, I was awfully disappointed and
hardly stopped to notice any of these small things. But I believe what
you've found may be very important, and I think you're awfully clever to
have noticed them, too. Why, it actually sounds like a regular detective
story! And now that you've found these things, what do you make out of
them? Have you any ideas?"

Leslie wrinkled her brows for an interval in silent thought. At last she
said, "Yes, I have a good many ideas, but I haven't had time to get them
into any order yet. They're all sort of--chaotic!"

"Oh, never mind!" cried the ever-impatient Phyllis. "Tell me them,
anyway. I don't care how chaotic they are!"

"Well, to begin with,--has this occurred to you?--whoever comes here
selects only a stormy, rainy night for a visit. Now _why_, unless they
think it the best kind of time to escape observation. They just calculate
on few people going out or even _looking_ out of their houses