services of several policemen to keep it from stopping traffic in the
roadway.

"Hello! More trouble at the place," mused the colonel, quickening his
steps. "I wonder what's up this time?"

He inquired casually from those on the outskirts of the throng, and
received enough information to justify the getting out of several extra
newspapers.

"Burglar tried to blow up the safe and got blowed up himself."

"Hold-up man shot three of the girls behind the diamond counter and
then killed himself."

"Naw! Somebody tried to set fire to the place!"

"Aw, only one of the girls fainted; that's all."

These opinions came mostly from boys or young men. No one seemed to
know exactly what had happened. The colonel spied Mulligan, the
officer who had been the first official on the scene at the murder of
Mrs. Darcy, and nodded in friendly fashion. The bluecoat escorted the
colonel through the crowd into the store.

"I guess you'll be interested," said Mulligan.

"Yes, thank you. What is it?"

"I didn't hear all the particulars. But Miss Brill, the young lady
clerk, received an electrical shock from some wires hidden under the
metal edge of one of the showcases, so Mr. Kettridge says, and she was
knocked down."

"Killed?"

"No, but her head struck on the edge of a case and she's badly cut. I
sent for the ambulance. It happened when the store was crowded and
made a bit of excitement."

"I should think it would! Hidden electric wires!" and the colonel
thought of a certain discovery he had made.




CHAPTER XV

A DOG

With the help of the police, and when the stricken, though not
dangerously injured, girl had been taken away in the ambulance, the
crowd was dispersed. It was then Colonel Ashley had a chance to speak
to Mr. Kettridge.

"What's all this I hear?" asked the detective.

"I don't know," and the manager smiled wearily. "If you heard all of
the rumors I did they would include everything from an I.W.W. plot to a
combined attack by New York gunmen."

"But what was it?"

"Well, one of our clerks, Miss Brill, was waiting on a customer at one
of the silver showcases. They are arranged with electric lights inside
that may be switched on when needed.

"She turned on the current to illuminate the inside of the case, so
that her customer might make a selection to have spread out on top,
when, in some manner, Miss Brill received a severe electrical shock.
She was thrown backward to the floor, and her head struck a projecting
corner of one of the rear showcases. She was badly cut, but the
hospital doctor said there was no fracture."

"Did she get shocked from the wires that run into the interior of the
case?" asked the detective.

"No, and that's the queer part of it," said the manager. "She was
shocked while leaning against the silvered, metal edge of the glass
case, and, on examination, I find some hidden electrical wires
there--wires that must, in some way, have become crossed on the
lighting circuit. I didn't know the wires were there."

"I did," said the colonel, quietly.

"You did?"

"Yes, when I tested them with an instrument I secured from an
electrician here in town the wires were dead. There was not the
slightest current in them. Either they have been changed lately, or
some sudden jar or misplacement brought them in contact with a live
circuit."

"What were the wires for?" asked Mr. Kettridge.

"That's what I've been wanting to find out. Originally I think they
were for some system of burglar alarm installed by Mrs. Darcy. But now
those wires run to the work bench that was used by James Darcy."

"To his work bench?" The manager was obviously startled.


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