accused."

"He isn't exactly accused yet, as I understand it, Miss Mason."

"Oh, well, it's just as bad. He is suspected. Why, Jimmie wouldn't
have caused Mrs. Darcy a moment of pain, to say nothing of striking
her--killing her! Oh, it's horrible--horrible!" and she covered her
face with her hands.

"I don't quite understand," began the colonel, "why you came to me, or
how--"

"I told her it was the only thing to do," broke in the newsboy. "Soon
as I read about Carroll and Thong being on the case I knew it would
take a fly one to put anything over on them. I tried on the train to
sell you a detective book, not knowing who you was. You treated me
white, and when I heard Miss Mason was in trouble--or her friend was--I
said to myself right away that you was the one to fix things. I went
out to her farm last night and she was all broke up."

"It was a terrible shock to me when I heard Jimmie was under arrest,"
said the girl. "I didn't know what to do. Tom, here, proposed coming
to see you, and when dad heard who you were, though we knew nothing of
you, he said the same thing. He told me I could have all the money I
wanted, and I have some of my own if his isn't enough."

"It isn't always a question of money," began the colonel, gently.

"I know!" broke in Amy. "But if I add the inducement of all the trout
fishing--"

"You are strongly tempting me, my dear young lady. But finish your
story."

"Well, there isn't much more to tell. Tom suggested that I come to see
you and ask you to take Mr. Darcy's case--to prove that he had no hand
in the murder--for I'm sure he did not.

"Tom stayed at our house at Pompey all night. I wanted to come to your
hotel at once, but the storm got too bad, so I waited until this
morning, and then we motored in. We found you had gone fishing, and we
followed you here. It was, perhaps, not just the thing to do. But I
was so anxious! I want to tell Jimmie that something is being done for
him. You will help us, won't you?" and again she held out her hands
appealingly.

"I don't know anything about police or detectives," she went on, "but
I'm sure there must be some way of proving that my--that Jimmie had no
hand in this. Some terrible thief--a burglar--must have killed Mrs.
Darcy. Oh, Colonel Brentnall, you will help us--won't you?"

She stood there, a beautiful and pathetic picture. The wind sighed
through the trees and the murmur of the rippling water filled the air.

"Please!" she whispered. Her hands seemed to waver. Her body swayed.

"Shag, you black rascal!" cried the colonel. "The lady's going to
faint! Catch her!"

"Yes, sah, Colonel!"

"No! Stand back! I'll attend to her myself! I've given up detective
work, but--"

And a moment later Amy Mason sank limply into the colonel's arms.




CHAPTER VI

GRAFTON'S SEARCH

The funeral of Mrs. Darcy had been held, attended, as might be
supposed, by a large throng of the merely curious, as well as by some
of her distant kinsfolk, for she had few near ones. One of the
relatives was summoned to take charge of the store and her other
business affairs, for, a formal charge of murder having been made
against him, James Darcy was not permitted to attend the final
services, nor have anything more to do with the jewelry establishment.
Harry King, now painfully sober, was likewise held in jail, bail being
fixed, because of his uncertain character, at such a high figure that
he could not secure it.

The police had been busy, the prosecutor's detectives also, but, so
far, the arrest of Darcy and King had been the only ones made. Singa
Phut, whose watch was found clasped in the dead woman's hand, had been
closely questioned, but had established a perfect _alibi_.

And the testimony as to this came, not from persons of his own
nationality, but from business men and others, whose words could not be
doubted. So, in the opinion of the authorities, he was not worth
considering further. He admitted having left his watch at the shop to
be repaired, some days before the murder, and had not called at the
store since, except on the morning of the crime, and some time after
its discovery, to get his timepiece, which, of course, he was not then
allowed to take.

Darcy had been formally charged with the crime of murder by the police
captain in whose precinct the happening occurred, and, no bail being


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