d. What did it all mean? And what was
her idea in posing as an impostor?

The door opened again.

"The patrol has come," said the officer who entered.

"Let it wait," growled the chief. "Haggerty has evidently got us all
balled up. I don't believe his fashionable thief has materialized at
all; just a common crook. Well, he's got him, at any rate, and the
gems."

"You have, of course, the general invitation?" said Hamilton.

"Here it is,"--and she passed the engraved card to him.

"I beg a thousand pardons!" said Hamilton humbly. "Everything seems to
have gone wrong."

"Will you guarantee this man?" asked the chief of Hamilton, nodding
toward me.

"I have said so. Mr. Comstalk is very well known to me. He is a
retired army officer, and to my knowledge a man with an income
sufficient to put him far beyond want."

"What is your name?" asked the chief of the girl, scowling. It was
quite evident he couldn't understand her actions any better than I.

"Alice Hawthorne," with an oblique glance at me.

I had been right!

"What is your occupation? I am obliged to ask these questions, Miss."

"I am a miniature painter,"--briefly,

Hamilton came forward. "Alice Hawthorne? Pardon me, but are you the
artist who recently completed the miniatures of the Emperor of Germany,
the Princess of Hesse, and Mrs. Hyphen-Bonds?"

"I am. I believe there is no further reason for detaining me."

"Emperor of Germany?" echoed the now bewildered chief. "Why didn't you
tell all this to Mr. Haggerty?"

"I had my reasons."

Once again the door opened. A burly man in a dark business-suit
entered. His face ruddy and his little grey eyes sparkled with
suppressed ire. He reminded me of Vautrin, the only difference being
that Vautrin was French while this man was distinctly Irish. His
massive shoulders betrayed tremendous strength. He was vastly angry
about something. He went to the chief's desk and rested his hands upon
it.

"You are a nice specimen for a chief of police, you are!" he began.

"And who the devil are _you_?" bawled the chief, his choler rising.

"I'll tell you who I am presently."

We all eyed him in wonder. What was going to happen now?

"Which of you gentlemen is Mr. Hamilton?" asked the new-comer gruffly.

Hamilton signified that he was the gentleman by that name.

"Some ladies at your ball have been robbed of their diamonds, I
understand?"

"About ten thousand dollars' worth."

"Look