thousand dollars' worth of jewelry on that--that--on her."

"How do you know so exactly?"

"I'm not exact, but she has told me times enough that the rope of pearls cost one hundred thousand, and that corsage ornament she is wearing and her rings and ear-rings are easily worth the same sum. I tell you there will be policemen here, and it isn't right to throw temptation in their way."

"Besides," and Anita's voice spoke again as she reappeared in the doorway, "besides, Pauline, they are all yours now, and you should be careful of them!"

The tone more than the words conveyed a veiled insolence, and Pauline accepted it for such. With a sudden determined movement, she went swiftly to her aunt's side, and unfastened the long rope of pearls, the wonderful glittering sunburst, and a large diamond and emerald crescent that held together the glistening silk folds. The rings and ear-rings she could not bring herself to touch.

"It is only right," she contended, as if trying to persuade herself, "these are too valuable to risk; no one could fail to be tempted by them."

"Why don't you finish your task?" said Anita, smiling unpleasantly, "why leave so much?"

"No one would attempt to take the rings or ear-rings," said Pauline, steadily, "and that scarab bracelet is not of great value."

"I thought that was a most valuable antique that her nephew sent her."

"She thought so, too," said Pauline, carelessly, "but Carr told me it was an imitation. Not one expert in a hundred can tell the difference, anyway."

As Pauline placed the mass of gems in the safe, the doctor came. "What does it mean?" cried the bewildered man, coming into the room. "Miss Carrington----"

Words failed him as he saw the astounding sight. For surely, no one had ever before seen a murdered woman, sitting before her dressing-table, staring but smiling, and garbed as for a fancy-dress ball!

Doctor Stanton touched the icy-cold hand, felt for the silent heart, and then turned his attention to the disheveled hair and broken comb. "Fractured skull," he said, as his skilled fingers thridded the auburn tresses. "Killed by a sudden, swift blow on the head with a heavy, blunt,--no, with a soft weapon; a black-jack or sandbag."

"A 

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