started to loot the safe when he was disturbed by Mrs. Darcy, who may
have come down to see what the unusual noise was.

Such, at least, was a theory, and one several took stock in. At any
rate Darcy, after having been aroused, by what he knew not, had gone to
sleep again, only to awaken to hurry down to do the repair work on the
watch of the East Indian--the watch that was found so uncannily ticking
in the otherwise silent jewelry store, clasped in the hand of the dead
woman. It was mentioned that Singa Phut was being kept under
observation, though no suspicion attached to him.

Darcy had at first nervously, and then indignantly, protested his
innocence, King continually doing the latter. Naturally there
followed, even with the faint suspicions so far engendered, the
question as to what the possible object for the crime could have been,
presuming either man had been involved.

It was known that King was constantly in debt, in spite of his
allowance and the more substantial advances he received from time to
time. He had patronized the jewelry store, and he admitted owing Mrs.
Darcy quite a large sum for a brooch he had purchased for his wife some
time before. It was, of course, possible, that he had, in his drunken
state, gone to the store to get the paper cutter, which some peculiar
kink or twist in his drink-inflamed brain had caused him to remember at
an odd time. Or perhaps he had run short of money when playing cards,
and have gone to Mrs. Darcy's store to borrow or see if he could not
get something on which he might raise cash.

Harry King was known to have been gambling the night before, the game
lasting until nearly morning, and at one stage, when King was "broke,"
he had excused himself, gone out into the night alone, and had come
back well supplied with funds. Asked jokingly by his cronies where he
had got the money, he had said "a lady" gave it to him. He resumed
play, only to lose, and had staggered out into the gray dawn, which was
the last his companions had seen of him. He next appeared at the
jewelry store after the murder.

Sobered, King's explanation was that "a lady" had really given him the
money, but who she was, or why she gave him funds at two o'clock in the
morning, he would not say. He admitted calling at the jewelry store
somewhere around eleven o'clock at night for the purpose of seeing if
the engraving on the paper cutter had been finished. King was not so
very drunk then, he said. He was just "starting in."

The store was closed, he said, but he added a bit of testimony that
caused Colonel Ashley, and others, to think a bit.

King said that, though the front doors to the store were locked, he,
knowing the place well, had gone around to the side door in the alley,
thinking that might not yet be fastened. He hoped, he said, to be able
to get in and procure the present for his wife. But this door, too,
was locked, though, through the glass he could see a light in the rear
room. And he could hear voices, which were raised louder than ordinary.

The voices, King added, were those of Mrs. Darcy and her cousin, James
Darcy, and it was evident that a quarrel was in progress. Asked as to
the nature of the dispute King had said he had heard mentioned several
times the name "Amy." There was also something said about money and an
"electric lathe."

Naturally there was an inquiry as to who "Amy" was, and what was meant
by the electric lathe. Darcy answered with seeming frankness that the
Amy in question was Miss Mason, daughter of Adrian Mason, wealthy
stockman of Pompey, a village about ten miles from Colchester. Mr.
Mason had what was often referred to as a "show place," with blooded
horses and cattle, and he was quite a financial figure in Monroe
county, of which Colchester was the county seat.

Besides this, Amy was well off in her own right, her uncle having left
her a half interest in a valuable mine.

James Darcy and Amy Mason were engaged to be married, though this fact
was known to but few, and made quite a sensation when Darcy admitted it
after his arrest. He and Amy had known each other since childhood, and
when small had lived near each other.

Mr. Mason, in spite of his wealth, was a democratic man, and though he
knew, and Amy also, that she might have married wealth and position,
both were "passed up," to quote the stockman himself, in favor of a
real love match. For that is what it was.

"He's a _man_, that's what James Darcy is!" Amy's father had said, when
some one hinted that he had neither wealth nor family of which to
boast. "He's a _man_! He's got all the family he needs. What's a
family good for, anyhow, after you're grown up? As for money, I've got
more than I need, and Amy's got a little nest-egg of her own. Besides,
Darcy can earn his living, which is a hanged sight more than some of
these dancing lizards can do if they were put to it."

It developed that the words over Amy which had occurred, just before
the murder, between James Darcy and his cousin, had to do with the
difference in the worldly prospects of the two young people. Mrs.
Darcy had rather laughed at him, James said, for thinking of marrying a
girl so much wealthier than he was.

"What did you tell her?" asked Carroll. "I mean your cousin."

"I told her I could support my wife decently well, if not in such state
as that to which she was accustomed in her father's house. As for
style, neither Miss Mason nor I care for it. And, if things go right,


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