despair. "I don't suppose we can do
anything now," said Mrs. Shadd, ruefully. "It's too late. The cards have
gone to everybody. You have all the supper--not a sandwich has come to
my house--and I presume all of Mr. Jockobinski's instruments as well
have come here."

Henriette turned to me.

"All, madame," said I, briefly.

"Well," said Mrs. Shadd, tapping the floor nervously with her toe. "I
don't understand it. _I never_ wrote that note."

"Oh, but Mrs. Shadd--I have it here," said Henriette, opening her purse
and extracting the paper. "You can read it for yourself. What else could
I do after that?"

Innocence on a monument could have appeared no freer of guile than
Henriette at that moment. She handed the note to Mrs. Shadd, who perused
it with growing amazement.

"Isn't that your handwriting--and your crest and your paper?" asked
Henriette, appealingly.

"It certainly looks like it," said Mrs. Shadd. "If I didn't know I
_hadn't_ written it I would have sworn I had. Where could it have come
from?"

"I supposed it came from Onyx House," said Henriette simply, glancing at
the envelope.

"Well--it's a very mysterious affair," said Mrs. Shadd, rising, "and
I--oh, well, my dear woman, I--I can't blame you--indeed, after all you
have done I ought to be--and really am--very much obliged to you.
Only--"

"Whom did you have at dinner Wednesday night, dear?" asked Henriette.

"Only the Duke and Duchess of Snarleyow and--mercy! I wonder if he could
have done it!"

"Who?" asked Henriette.

"_Tommy Dare!_" ejaculated Mrs. Shadd, her eyes beginning to twinkle.
"Do you suppose this is one of Tommy Dare's jokes?"

"H'm!" mused Henriette, and then she laughed. "It wouldn't be unlike
him, would it?"

"Not a bit, the naughty boy!" cried Mrs. Shadd. "That's it, Mrs. Van
Raffles, as certainly as we stand here. Suppose, just to worry him, we
never let on that anything out of the ordinary has happened, eh?"

"Splendid!" said Henriette, with enthusiasm. "Let's act as if all turned
out just as we expected, and, best of all, _never even mention it to
him, or to Bunderby his confederate, neither of us, eh_?"

"Never!" said Mrs. Shadd, rising and kissing Henriette good-bye. "That's
the best way out of it. If we did we'd be the laughing-stock of all
Newport. But some day in the distant future Tommy Dare would better look
out for Pauline Shadd, Mrs. Van Raffles."

And so it was agreed, and Henriette successfully landed Mr