n since his previous visit?"

"I'm not sure; but some time."

"What sort of a temper was he in?"

"He was always disagreeable, sir; but he was real nasty that night. He
pushed me aside as if I was nothing at all."

The black eyes of the maid flashed at the recollection.

"I suppose you attend Miss Cavanaugh at the theatre as well as at
home?"

"Oh, yes; she has no other maid."

Ashton-Kirk smiled and shook his finger at the girl.

"Then it was you who left the door of a cabinet open in the
dressing-room and so caused that little accident."

"An accident!" The girl looked at him surprisedly. "I don't think I know
just what you mean."

"Oh, well, never mind," said the investigator, carelessly. "A little
mistake of mine, no doubt."

There was a vague sort of trouble in the face of Bat Scanlon; he
smoothed his chin with one big hand, and shifted his weight uneasily
from one foot to the other.

"And now," said Ashton-Kirk, to the maid, "when Burton pushed past you
that night, where did he go?"

"He went to Miss Cavanaugh's rooms, sir."

"And just _how_ did he go? Take us to the rooms just as he went."

The girl led the way into the hall once more.

"When he passed me," she said, "he ran up those stairs," pointing. "At
first I didn't know what to do, but I followed him. He went into Miss
Cavanaugh's room"--they had reached the second floor by this time, and
the girl pointed to a door--"without ever knocking."

"Is that all?"

"Yes, sir; except that about fifteen minutes later he left the house."

"Very well. And now, if we may, we'd like to see the inside of Miss
Cavanaugh's rooms."

The trim little maid seemed surprised at this; however, she had her
instructions, and so did not hesitate. She opened the door, stood aside
for them to enter, and then followed them in. It was Nora's
dressing-room, a place of soft colors, of cool aloofness, and as Bat
Scanlon breathed the air of it, with its delicate suggestion of scent,
he had a feeling that he was venturing too far; he felt that his act was
almost profanation. Through an open door at one end he caught a glimpse
of a white bed; but it was only a glimpse, for after that he kept his
head turned resolutely in another direction.

But not so with Ashton-Kirk; only one idea held his mind; his singular
eyes studied the room with the eagerness of an ancient scholar poring
over his scrolls.

"Miss Cavanaugh wears some handsome diamonds in the play in which sh