sly
upon this. Then she went to the wardrobe and swung the door open.

Joy! the robe she sought was hanging on a peg within!

With trembling hands she sought for the rent which she had seen the day
but one before.

She found it, and with fluctuating color and a rapidly beating heart, she
took hold of the knot of the silk, which had been used to mend it, and
deliberately pulled it out, when the ragged edges fell apart, revealing
a triangular-shaped rent.

Mona drew her purse from her pocket, found the precious piece of cloth
that Ray had sent to her, and laid it over the hole in the skirt.

It fitted perfectly into the tear, and she knew that the dress which the
beautiful Mrs. Vanderbeck had worn, when she stole the Palmer diamonds,
was found.

But the woman!

Mona was puzzled, for surely the woman whom she had seen wearing the
dress was much older than the one whom Ray had described to her. She was
wrinkled and gray; and then--the name! But stay! All at once light broke
in upon her. Walton had been the name of the person who had so cleverly
deceived Dr. Wesselhoff. She had been old and wrinkled, and now, without
doubt, she had come to St. Louis to dispose of her share of the stolen
diamonds, and had worn the other woman's dress, thinking, perhaps, it
would be safe to do so, and would not be recognized under such different
circumstances.

"But what shall I do?" seemed now to be the burden of her thought. At
first she felt impelled to telegraph Ray to come and attend to the
matter; then she feared the man and woman would both disappear before
he could arrive, and she felt that some immediate action should be taken.

"I believe my best way will be to go directly to a detective, and tell
him my story; he will know what ought to be done, and I can leave the
matter in his hands," was her final conclusion.

She sped to her own room, secured a needleful of silk, then hastened back
to Mrs. Walton's room and sewed the rent in the dress together once more,
taking care not to fray the edges, lest the piece she had should not fit
when it was examined again.

CHAPTER VIII.

MR. RIDER BECOMES ACTIVE AGAIN.

After hanging the dress again in its place, Mona quickly finished her
work in the room, then went back to the girl whom she had left sleeping
in one of the adjoining chambers, and awoke her.

She had slept nearly an hour, and, though Mona knew that she needed many
hours more of rest, she was sure that she