e radiator
and the window. The police will be only too glad to help you
reclaim it. There are a few other trinkets there too they will
like to have. The stuff is all mine. I quarreled with my pal
after the affair at your father's store, and since then have
been playing a lone game. Good luck to you, little chap. Maybe
if I'd started out with your chance, I should not be where I am
to-day. I wish to Heaven I had.

Twice Christopher read the letter, his eyes wide, and his throat a bit
choky with emotion. To say he was surprised at the contents of the
strange communication would have been to put it mildly. Not only was he
astounded, he was somewhat incredulous. And yet, overmastering this
disbelief was a certainty that the writer of the letter was speaking
the truth. Urged on by some whim of his own, some impulse so subtle it
defied analysis, Stuart was returning the property he had stolen.
Perhaps remorse had overtaken him; perhaps shame; or possibly these
gentler motives did but mingle with the realization that the gems, as he
himself asserted, would now be useless to him. At any rate, repentant or
not, here he was giving them back to their rightful owner!

What wonder the letter needed neither salutation nor signature to
identify its sender? That Stuart had penned the note and contrived to
find some one he could trust to mail it was obvious. And yet
Christopher, fingering it, could not but speculate as to how it had
struggled to freedom. Through what strange hands had it passed,--what
mazes of strategy and concealment? Ah, it was futile to attempt to trace
its devious trail. Here it was in his possession, and with a sudden
inrush of joy, his bewildered senses stirred to action, and he hastened
with his tidings to his father's office, where he burst in on Mr. Burton
in the act of dictating a letter:

"Oh, Dad!" ejaculated he. "I've the biggest sort of a surprise for you.
He's written me! Think of that! Written to say where it is."

"Christopher!" thundered his father. "What do you mean by dashing in
here like a madman and interrupting my work? Have you forgotten this is
my private office? Offer your apologies to me and to Miss Elkins and
then sit down and wait until I am at leisure."

"I'm sorry, Dad. I was so excited that--"

"There, there! That will do. You don't need to tell me you are excited.
Pray calm yourself and sit down quietly until I am at liberty to hear
what you have to say