wing the discovery of the suicide of the East
Indian in his cell, and any intentions Colonel Ashley may have had of
subjecting to a close examination the queer watch had to be postponed.

He had ventured to keep it after Donovan had shown it to him, ready to
make some plausible excuse if it was called for, but the arrest of the
East Indian, and the preparation of the case for trial, in connection
with the prosecutor's office, evidently made Donovan forget, for the
time being, that the watch was not among other criminal relics in his
closet.

As a matter of fact, Colonel Ashley had had it in his possession since
that night Donovan went out with his friend, the stool pigeon. And
now, carrying out a plan he had made, the colonel, one bright May
morning, put the odd timepiece in his pocket and started for the Darcy
jewelry store, intending to have Kettridge look at the mechanism and
other parts of the watch.

But when the detective reached the establishment he saw, to his
surprise, a great crowd gathered out in front--a crowd that needed the
services of several policemen to keep it from stopping traffic in the
roadway.

"Hello! More trouble at the place," mused the colonel, quickening his
steps. "I wonder what's up this time?"

He inquired casually from those on the outskirts of the throng, and
received enough information to justify the getting out of several extra
newspapers.

"Burglar tried to blow up the safe and got blowed up himself."

"Hold-up man shot three of the girls behind the diamond counter and
then killed himself."

"Naw! Somebody tried to set fire to the place!"

"Aw, only one of the girls fainted; that's all."

These opinions came mostly from boys or young men. No one seemed to
know exactly what had happened. The colonel spied Mulligan, the
officer who had been the first official on the scene at the murder of
Mrs. Darcy, and nodded in friendly fashion. The bluecoat escorted the
colonel through the crowd into the store.

"I guess you'll be interested," said Mulligan.

"Yes, thank you. What is it?"

"I didn't hear all the particulars. But Miss Brill, the young lady
clerk, received an electrical shock from some wires hidden under the
metal edge of one of the showcases, so Mr. Kettridge says, and she was
knocked down."

"Killed?"

"No, but her head struck on the edge of a case and she's badly cut. I
sent for the ambulance. It happened when the store was crowded and
made a bit of e