s and his sister and brother-in-law returned to town from Newport.

One day, Silvia Holland appeared at the coroner's office and asked to
see the box in which the candied fruit had arrived. She examined it
critically for several minutes, and then asked for the wrapper
containing the address and postage stamps. There were three ten-cent and
two fifteen-cent stamps on the paper, although it was apparent that half
that amount in postage would have carried the package. She compared the
handwriting with samples of Dr. Earl's, and it was only too evident that
both address and message were written by him.

When she returned to her office she found Miss Renner waiting for her in
response to a telephone message. The two women had seen much of each
other after their meeting at the League House and a deep regard had
sprung up between them. For the time being, Miss Renner was doing
special work on one of the New York papers, and lending her voice to the
suffrage cause between assignments. They exchanged greetings, and then
the little Westerner said quietly, "You wanted me?"

Miss Holland looked at her long and searchingly. "Yes, I both want and
need you, my dear. Your paper has been rather vindictive in its pursuit
of evidence against Dr. Earl. I want you to go to the district attorney
and ask him personally to examine the inside of the lid of the box which
contained the fruit, also the scalloped paper that covered the fruit. If
he does so, he will find that a green gage, an apricot or a plum, which
was seedless, of course, rested on top of the paper, and was crushed
against the lid of the box. The stain is quite distinct on both paper
and cover, and shows that there was only one such piece of fruit placed
there. Of course, it contained the poison, and was placed on top,
because it would naturally be eaten first."

Carroll Renner looked at her in amazement.

"If I do that he will order the immediate arrest of Dr. Earl; it will
put him in jail and possibly lead to his conviction. Is that what you
desire?" She looked up at the taller woman searchingly.

"Surely I do--if he is guilty," Miss Holland replied, without changing
her expression. "There is no doubt that it will cause his immediate
arrest," she added, "but even that is preferable to this suspense with
everybody suspecting him and no opportunity to defend himself."

She turned away, and Carroll slipped her arm about her waist. "Dear
Silvia, I'll go--on one condition."