ied Nick. "She was on the
stage each night, and also that infernal snake den. She quietly learned
which of the venomous reptiles would best serve her deadly purpose, and
then found an opportunity and a way by which to secretly steal it."

"A hazardous job at that," muttered Chick.

"The jealousy of such a woman fears nothing," Nick rejoined. "To lure
the desired snake into a box, and then take it home and confine it in
the jewel casket, may have been done quite easily."

"It must have been done before the company closed its engagement."

"No doubt," admitted Nick. "Then Cervera was too crafty to use it at
once. She waited nearly a week. Then she dressed herself in cheap
attire, put on a thick veil, and lay in wait for her rival's maid and
companion, to whom she gave the package and her instructions regarding
it."

"What first led you to suspect the crime and the means, Nick?" inquired
Chick, curiously.

"Several facts," explained Nick. "The girl's sudden death seemed
peculiar. The jewel casket beside her was empty, at once suggesting that
something had been removed or fallen from it. Yet nothing was to be
found."

"That's true."

"The paper wrapper was punctured with a pin in many places, the holes
running even through the lining of the casket. That fact, too, was
suggestive. People are not in the habit of doing up parcels and then
punching them full of holes with a pin."

"Well, hardly."

"Cervera made those holes, Chick, in order that her venomous captive
might not expire for want of air."

"No doubt of it, Nick. But what do you think led Mary Barton to open the
package after having been told not to do so?"

"Curiosity, perhaps," replied Nick. "Or possibly she considered the
circumstances to be so strange that she felt that she had a right to
open it. Be that as it may, it is plain that Mary Barton sat down on the
park seat, after leaving Boyden and there briefly considered the
matter."

"How do you arrive at that deduction, Nick?"

"From the tiny tinge of fresh blood about one of the pinholes on the
interior of the lining," explained Nick. "The stain must have come from
the point of the pin, and when the pin was drawn out of the box, not
when it was thrust into it. In the latter case the pin point would have
been cleansed before passing through the lining, and the stain would
have been on the outside rather than the inside."

"Surely."

"Then it at once became plain that Mary Barton, while sitti