s unusually flushed, was endeavoring to bring the
young men to a less boisterous state, for he realized that his better
class of patrons did not like this sort of thing.

But King was in jubilant mood. He had been released, under heavy bail,
it is true, when the hotel keeper gave a pledge for the appearance of
the young man when he was wanted. Harry was only held as a witness, so
far, but an important one, and because of his known characteristic of
suddenly disappearing at times a heavy bond had been required.

Why Larch had gone on this bond did not make itself clear to Colonel
Ashley, and he set that down in his little red note book as one of the
matters needing to be cleared up.

And so, wondering much, the colonel and Mr. Kettridge, the former with
the rare coin, went out into the cool and star-lit night, leaving
behind them the sounds of good-fellowship, of that particular brand, in
the Homestead.

One of the first places the colonel visited the next day was the
jewelry shop. Matters there had nearly assumed their normal aspect.
Trade was about the same, under the skilful management of Mr.
Kettridge, and the cut glass and silver gleamed and glistened in the
showcases as though the former owner of it all had not been cruelly
slain.

"Show you her collection of coins? Certainly," agreed Mr. Kettridge,
when the colonel told what he wanted. "As I said, I saw them, and
particularly the one we picked up last night, in her safe a week or so
before she was killed. I was on for a visit. And I know that a week
previous to that she had refused a thousand dollars for this particular
one. These coins were one of her hobbies," and he brought from the
safe the collection, which was of considerable value to a numismatist.

"There seem to be others besides the Roman coin gone," said the
jeweler, "for I now miss many I used to see in her case. But, of
course, she may have sold them. I do remember the one King had,
though, and I'm sure she never sold that. It was taken close to the
time she was killed."

Colonel Ashley, taking advantage of the time when the store was closed
for the night, minutely examined the safe, but could find no evidence
of its having been tampered with.

"For what started out to be a simple murder case," mused the old
detective, as he went back to his hotel that night, "this one bids fair
to become quite complicated."

An impulse--it was hardly more than that, and yet it had to do with the