what's right. Let him in."

The reporter entered, nodded to the detectives, gave a short glance at
the body, a longer one at Darcy, poked Mulligan in the ribs, lighted a
cigarette, which he let hang from one lip where it gyrated in eccentric
circles as he mumbled:

"What's the dope?"

"Don't know yet," answered Carroll. "The old lady's dead--murdered it
looks like--and--"

"What's that?" interrupted Thong. "What's that ticking sound?"

"It's the watch--in her hand," replied Darcy, and his voice was a
hoarse whisper.




CHAPTER II

KING'S DAGGER

Carroll and Thong, proceeding along the lines they usually followed in
cases like this, keeping to the rules which had come to them through
the instructions of superior officers, and some which they had worked
out for themselves, had, in a comparatively short time, ascertained the
name, age and somewhat of the personal history of Mrs. Amelia Darcy,
together with that of her cousin, as the detectives called him, though
the relationship was not as close as that.

Mrs. Darcy, who was sixty-five years of age, had carried on the jewelry
business of her husband, Mortimer Darcy, after his death, which
preceded her more tragic one by about seven years. Mortimer Darcy had
been a diamond salesman for a large New York house in his younger days,
and had come to be an expert in precious stones. Many good wishes, and
not a little trade, had gone to him from his former employers, and some
of their customers bought of him when he went into business for himself
in the thriving city of Colchester.

Knowing that to start anew in a strange town would mean uphill work for
him and his wife, Mortimer Darcy had awaited an opportunity to buy the
business of a man whom he had known for a number of years and to whom
he had sold many diamonds and other stones. This man--Harrison Van
Doren by name--had what was termed the best jewelry trade in
Colchester. The "old" families--not that any of them could trace their
ancestry back very far--liked to say that "we get all our stuff at Van
Doren's."

This name, on little white plush-lined boxes, containing pins or
sparkling rings, came to mean almost as much as some of the more
expensive names in New York. Young ladies counted it a point in the
favor of their lovers if the engagement circlet came from Van Doren's.
And Mortimer Darcy, knowing the value of that class of trade, had, when
he purchased Mr. Van Doren's business fostered that spirit. Mrs.
Darcy, on the death of her husband, had further catered to it, so that
the Darcy establishment, though it was not the richest or most showy in
Colchester, was safely counted the most exclusive--that is, it had a
full line of the best goods, be it clocks or diamonds, and it had what,
in bygone days, was called a "carriage trade," but which is now
referred to as "automobile."

That is to say, those, aside from a casual trade with people who
dropped in as they might have done to a grocery, to get what they
really needed in the way of jewelry, came in gasolene or electric cars
where their ancestors had come with horses and carriage.

So Darcy's jewelry store was known, and though a bit old-fashioned in a
way, was favorably known, not only to the older members of the rich
families of the place, but to the younger set as well. The pretty
girls and their well-groomed companions of the "Assembly Ball" set
liked to stop in there for their rings, brooches, scarf pins or cuff
links, and very frequent were the rather languid orders:

"You may send it, charge."

It was to that class of trade that Mrs. Darcy catered. She understood
it, and it understood her. That was enough. She took a personal
interest in the business to the extent of being in the store almost
every day, as her husband had been before her, to advise and be
available for consultation, whether it was the buying of a gold
teething ring for the newest member of the family, an engagement ring
for the latest debutante, a watch for "son," attaining his majority, or
perhaps new gold glasses for grandpapa or grandmama.

The store was not a large one, and four clerks, one a young woman, with
James Darcy and an assistant, who looked after the repair work and made
anything unusual in the way of pins or rings, constituted the force.
But Mrs. Darcy was as good as a clerk herself, and during the holiday
rush she was in the store night and day. This was the easier for her,
since she owned the building in which her display was kept, and lived
in a quiet and tastefully furnished apartment over the store.

On the death of her husband, she had sent for his second cousin, who at
that time was in the employ of a well-known New York jewelry house, and
he agreed to come to her.

Rather more than a repair man and clerk was James Darcy. He was an
expert jewelry designer and a setter of precious stones; and often,


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