carried off
the old lady and the Russia leather bag yourself!"

CHAPTER XXVI

LOVERS AND A LETTER

At noon that day I telephoned to Margery.

"Come up," I said, "and bring the keys to the Monmouth Avenue house. I
have some things to tell you, and--some things to ask you."

I met her at the station with Lady Gray and the trap. My plans for that
afternoon were comprehensive; they included what I hoped to be the
solution of the Aunt Jane mystery; also, they included a little drive
through the park, and a--well, I shall tell about that, all I am going
to tell, at the proper time.

To play propriety, Edith met us at the house. It was still closed, and
even in the short time that had elapsed it smelled close and musty.

At the door into the drawing-room I stopped them.

"Now, this is going to be a sort of game," I explained. "It's a sort of
button, button, who's got the button, without the button. We are
looking for a drawer, receptacle or closet, which shall contain, bunched
together, and without regard to whether they should be there or not, a
small revolver, two military brushes and a clothes brush, two or three
soft bosomed shirts, perhaps a half-dozen collars, and a suit of
underwear. Also a small flat package about eight inches long and three
wide."

"What in the world are you talking about?" Edith asked.

"I am not talking, I am theorizing," I explained. "I have a theory, and
according to it the things should be here. If they are not, it is my
misfortune, not my fault."

I think Margery caught my idea at once, and as Edith was ready for
anything, we commenced the search. Edith took the top floor, being
accustomed, she said, to finding unexpected things in the servants'
quarters; Margery took the lower floor, and for certain reasons I took
the second.

For ten minutes there was no result. At the end of that time I had
finished two rooms, and commenced on the blue boudoir. And here, on the
top shelf of a three-cornered Empire cupboard, with glass doors and
spindle legs, I found what I was looking for. Every article was there. I
stuffed a small package into my pocket, and called the two girls.

"The lost is found," I stated calmly, when we were all together in the
library.

"When did you lose anything?" Edith demanded. "Do you mean to say, Jack
Knox, that you brought us here to help you find a suit of gaudy pajamas
and a pair of military brushes?"

"I brought you here to find Aunt Jane," I sai