etty young woman in a rose-colored evening gown. Her white
shoulders gleamed through the transparent chiffon, and a comb set
with rhinestones sparkled in the fluff of her blond hair. When she
saw the three she gave a shrill scream, and immediately a very small
man, much smaller than she, but with a fierce cock of a black pointed
beard, and a tremendous wiriness of gesture, appeared.

"Oh, Tom!" gasped the young woman. "Oh!"

"What on earth is the matter, Stella?" asked the man. Then he looked
fiercely at the three. "Who are these people?" he asked.

"I don't know. I opened the door. I thought it was Adeline and
Raymond, and then I saw these strange people. I don't know how they
got in."

"We came in the door," said Gladys, with some asperity, "and we are
lookin' for M'ria's little sister. Be you her ma-in-law's cousin?"

"I don't know who these people are," the young woman said, faintly,
to the man. "I think they must be burglars."

"Burglars, nothin'!" said Gladys, who had suddenly assumed the
leadership of the party. Opposition and suspicion stimulated her. She
loved a fight. "Be you her ma-in-law's cousin, and have you got her
little sister?"

Wollaston looked inquiringly at Maria, who was very pale.

"It isn't Her cousin," she gasped. "I don't know who she is. I never
saw her."

Then Wollaston spoke, hat in hand, and speaking up like a man.
"Pardon us, sir," he said, "we did not intend to intrude, but--"

"Get out of this," said the man, with a sudden dart towards the door.

His wife screamed again, and put her hand over a little diamond
brooch at her throat. "I just know they are sneak-thieves," she
gasped. "Do send them away, Tom!"

Wollaston tried to speak again. "We merely wished to ascertain," said
he, "if a lady by the name of Mrs. George A.--"

"B." interrupted Gladys.

"B. Edison lived here. This young lady's little sister is lost, and
Mrs. Edison is a relative, and we thought--"

The man made another dart. "Don't care what you thought," he shouted.
"Keep your thoughts to yourself! Get out of here!"

"Do you know where Mrs. George B. Edison lives now?" asked Wollaston,
courteously, but his black eyes flashed at the man.

"No, I don't."

"No, we don't," said the young woman in pink. "Do make them go, Tom."

"We are perfectly willing to go," said Wollaston. "We have no desire
to remain any longer where people are not willing to answer civil
questions."

Maria all this time had said no