to obeying
Chuff in the past. She dragged Clo to the back of the room, out of sight
from the window, and awaited further commands.

"Now," Chuff said, "if we're spotted, this is a suicide--see? She stole
your pearls, and when she was caught she killed herself."

"But the shot's in her shoulder--and she ain't dead. She's opening her
eyes," Kit objected.

"She's got to be dead," Chuff decreed. "I know how to fix the bullet
business. It'll have to be done now, because if trouble comes it will
come quick. Look here; this is the thing to do, if there's questions to
answer. You caught her stealing. She ran down to this room from yours,
threw the stuff out of the window to a pal, and then grabbed my Browning
from the mantelpiece. She'd have shot you, but seeing the men, knew the
game was up, and did for herself instead. Shut the window, Kit. I'm
going to put another ball into her, in the chest, just opposite the spot
of blood on her back. Carry her into the closet, to cover the sound. I
mustn't touch her myself. There's spots on you already. Account for them
by saying you picked her up to see if she was alive."

"But if she's in the closet----"

"She ran there, and shot at you from inside the door, after we'd all
broken into the room to get at her. Is that clear to you both? We must
stick to the same story. Into the closet with her, Kit."

Clo felt a strange sensation, as if her soul had left the body that hung
limp in Kit's strong arms, and was gazing at it with impersonal pity.
"The worst will be ended for me in a minute," she thought. Then,
suddenly, she remembered Justin O'Reilly. A great desolation of
loneliness swept over her. He would be sorry. But he was far away.

* * * * *

When Clo telephoned, Ellen Blackburne did not even know that the Sands
were out of New York. The message, however, instantly awoke her sleeping
interest. She guessed that Clo had tracked the thief, and that what she
called the "weird address" given was the "lair." Miss Blackburne was no
coward, and the astonishing request that came over the telephone wires
did not frighten her. She prepared to follow instructions at once,
taking only one precaution. Before starting, she left word that if she
did not 'phone or return within an hour, inquiries were to be made at
the house and in the street whose number she wrote down.

The pearl-stringer did, therefore, precisely what she had been asked to
do. She abandoned