re and upon which she set great
store. So far I spoke the truth. It had been given her by some
one--not Mr. Jeffrey--and I believed, though I did not know, that
it contained a miniature portrait which it might be to our advantage
to see.

I expected his lip to curl; but for a wonder it maintained its
noncommittal aspect, though I was sure that I caught a slight, very
slight, gleam of curiosity lighting up for a moment his calm, gray
eye.

"You are on a fantastic trail," he sneered, and that was all.

But I had not expected more. I had merely wished to learn what
place, if any, this filigree ball held in his own suspicions, and
in case he had overlooked it, to jog his curiosity so that he would
in some way betray its whereabouts.

That, for all its seeming inconsequence, it did hold some place in
his mind was evident enough to those who knew him; but that it was
within reach or obtainable by any ordinary means was not so plain.
Indeed, I very soon became convinced that he, for one, had no idea
where it was, or after the suggestive hint I had given him he would
never have wasted a half-hour on me. What was I to do then? Tell
my story to the major and depend on him to push the matter to its
proper conclusion? "Not yet," whispered pride. "Durbin thinks you
a fool. Wait till you can show your whole hand before calling
attention to your cards." But it was hard not to betray my
excitement and to act the fool they considered me when the boys
twitted me about this famous golden charm and asked what great
result had followed my night in the Moore house. But remembering
that he who laughs last laughs best, and that the cause of mirth
was not yet over between Durbin and myself, I was able to preserve
an impassive exterior even when I came under the major's eye. I
found myself amply repaid when one of the boys who had studiously
avoided chaffing me dropped the following words in my ear:

"I don't know what your interest is in the small gold charm you
were talking about, but you have done some good work in this case
and I don't mind telling you what I know about it. That little
gold ball has caused the police much trouble. It is on the list
of effects found in the room where the candle was seen burning; but
when all these petty belongings of Mrs. Jeffrey's were gathered up
and carried back to her husband, this special one was not to be
found amongst them. It was lost in transit, nor has it ever been
seen since.