g to convey to her his desire to be as considerate as
possible. "We shall make them as brief as we can."

Miss Fulton plucked impatiently at the coverlet, but said nothing.

Bristow, acting on his belief that life with this girl must always be
more or less stormy, took a chance.

"Now," he said, fixing his keen glance upon her, "about this quarrel you
and your sister had yesterday?"

She frowned and waved her right hand in careless dismissal of the
subject.

"Oh, that," she said, "didn't amount to anything."

"What was it about?"

"I really don't know. You see, my sister and I didn't get along very well
together."

Bristow put out his hand, and Greenleaf handed him the ring that had been
found in Morley's room at the Brevord.

"This ring," he said; "whose is it?"

She sat up straight and gasped. Her pallor grew. Even her lips went
thoroughly white.

"Where did you get that?" she asked huskily.

"It doesn't matter. Whose is it?"

"It--it was my sister's," she said, almost in a whisper.

"Do you know who gave it to Mr. Morley?"

She stared, speechless, at Bristow.

"Don't you know?" he persisted.

"Yes," she said with obvious effort; "I--I lent it to him."

"When?"

"Yest--last night."

"Why?"

She tried to smile, but her features were moulded more nearly to a
grimace.

"Mr. Morley and I--and I--have been engaged," she laboured to explain.
"He said he wanted to wear it for a while just because it belonged to
me."

"But he knew it didn't belong to you, didn't he?"

"I suppose," she corrected herself, "he meant he wanted to wear it
because I had worn it."

"I see," commented Bristow, and added very quickly: "How much of your
sister's jewelry is in this house now?"

Miss Fulton stared at him again, and did not answer.

"Can't you tell me?" he urged. "How much?"

She turned her head from him and looked out of the window.

"None of it," she replied finally. "I had Miss Kelly look for it. It's
all--gone."

"Why did you have Miss Kelly look for it? What made you suspect that it
was gone?"

She turned to him and frowned more deeply, angrily.

"It was, I suppose," she said shortly, "the first and most natural
suspicion for any one to have; that, since she had been killed, she had
been robbed. It was the only motive of which I could think."

"Yes," he agreed pleasantly, handing the ring back to the chief; "I think
you're right there."

He was silent for a full minute while the girl in