ome time over this. An especially malignant
foe might rob, or even murder, but it was almost ludicrous to think of
his carrying away by force Miss Jane's ninety pounds of austere flesh.
The solution, had it not been for the blood-stains, might have been a
peaceful one, leaving out the pearls, altogether, but later developments
showed that the pearls refused to be omitted. To my mind, however, at
that time, the issue seemed a double one. I believed that some one,
perhaps Harry Wardrop, had stolen the pearls, hidden them in the secret
closet, and disposed of them later. I made a note to try to follow up
the missing pearls.

Then--I clung to the theory that Miss Maitland had been abducted and was
being held for ransom. If I could have found traces of a vehicle of any
sort near the house, I would almost have considered my contention
proved. That any one could have entered the house, intimidated and even
slightly injured the old lady, and taken her quietly out the front door,
while I sat smoking in my room with the window open, and Wardrop trying
the shutters at the side of the house, seemed impossible. Yet there were
the stains, the confusion, the open front door to prove it.

But--and I stuck here--the abductor who would steal an old woman, and
take her out into the May night without any covering--not even
shoes--clad only in her night-clothes, would run an almost certain risk
of losing his prize by pneumonia. For a second search had shown not an
article of wearing apparel missing from the house. Even the cedar
chests were undisturbed; not a blanket was gone.

Just before dinner I made a second round of the grounds, this time
looking for traces of wheels. I found none near-by, and it occurred to
me that the boldest highwayman would hardly drive up to the door for his
booty. When I had extended my search to cover the unpaved lane that
separated the back of the Maitland place from its nearest neighbor, I
was more fortunate.

The morning delivery wagons had made fresh trails, and at first I
despaired. I sauntered up the lane to the right, however, and about a
hundred feet beyond the boundary hedge I found circular tracks, broad
and deep, where an automobile had backed and turned. The lane was
separated by high hedges of osage orange from the properties on either
side, and each house in that neighborhood had a drive of its own, which
entered from the main street, circled the house and went out as it came.

There was no re