an to me as we drove home. "I
even went through every bandbox."

"Yet you have hopes?"

"Yes."

It was the second day following, and we were calling again upon L.
Hernandez. There was the usual badinage about the curl-papers, and
madame retired to her private apartments, carefully closing the door
behind her.

"Now!" said Indiman. Hastily he pulled forward a cheval-glass, placing
it upon a particular spot and tilting the mirror to a certain exact
angle. When finally it was adjusted to his satisfaction, he motioned to
me to come and look. In the mirror was plainly visible a vertically
reversed reflection of L. Hernandez. Standing in front of a long
dressing-glass in her bedroom, she deliberately removed her chevelure
in its entirety and tossed it on the table. It was a wig, then; but I
was hardly prepared for the secret that it had concealed--for the
close-cropped head, with its straw-colored hair, was unmistakably that
of a man.

"Look! look!" whispered Indiman.

From a drawer L. Hernandez had taken a second wig already furnished
with curl-papers; the adjustment took but a minute or two; the door
opened, and she reappeared, ready for the inevitable solitaire.

On the way home that night Indiman stopped at Police Headquarters, but
he did not see fit to make the nature of his inquiries known to me. On
the subject of the apparition in the mirror, however, he was more
communicative.

"As you know," he said, "the partition that divides madame's private
apartments from the shop does not extend to the ceiling; there is a gap
of some three feet. I had previously noticed the cheval-glass in the
bedroom; it was a natural presumption that L. Hernandez would take her
stand in front of it while engaged in making her toilet. Now this glass
is tilted at a sharp angle, and consequently the reflection must be
projected upward to a particular point on the ceiling. Supposing a
small looking-glass to be fixed at this point, the rays impinging upon
it will be cast downward and ON OUR SIDE OF THE PARTITION, for the
angle of reflection is always equal to that of incidence. We have,
therefore, only to place in position a second cheval-glass, arranged at
the proper inclination, to obtain a reproduction of the original image,
although, of course, it will appear to us as upside-down. I have only
to add that the day you escorted madame to Police Headquarters I took
the opportunity to fasten a small mirror on the ceiling, trusting that