immie Dale's voice changed its pitch and register to
a pleasant and natural, though quite unrecognisable bass.

"Mr. Carruthers? Yes. I thought it might interest you to know that
Mr. Theodore Markel purchased a very valuable diamond necklace this
afternoon. . . . Oh, you knew that, did you? Well, so much the better;
you'll be all the more keenly interested to know that it is no longer in
his possession. . . . I beg pardon? Oh, yes, I quite forgot--this is the
Gray Seal speaking. . . . Yes. . . . The Gray Seal. . . . I have just
come from Mr. Markel's country house, and if you hurry a man out there
you ought to be able to give the public an exclusive bit of news,
a scoop, I believe you call it--you see, Mr. Carruthers, I am not
ungrateful for, I might say, the eulogistic manner in which the MORNING
NEWS-ARGUS treated me in that last affair, and I trust I shall be able
to do you many more favours--I am deeply in your debt. And, oh, yes,
tell your reporter not to overlook the detail of Mr. Markel in his
pajamas and dressing gown tied to a tree in his park--Mr. Markel might
be inclined to be reticent on that point, and it would be a pity to
deprive the public of any--er--'atmosphere' in the story, you know. . . .
What? . . . No; I am afraid Mr. Markel's 'phone is--er--out of order.
. . . Yes. . . . And, by the way, speaking of 'phones, Mr. Carruthers,
between gentlemen, I know you will make no effort under the
circumstances to discover the number I am calling from. Good-night, Mr.
Carruthers." Jimmie Dale hung the receiver abruptly on the hook.

"You see," said Jimmie Dale, turning to Wilbur--and then he stopped. The
man was on his feet, swaying there, his face positively gray.

"My God!" Wilbur burst out. "What have you done? A thousand times better
if I had shot myself, as I would have done in another moment if you had
not come in. I was only ruined then--I am disgraced now. You have robbed
Markel's safe--I am the one man in the world who would have a reason
above all others for doing that--and Markel knows it. He will accuse
me of it. He can prove I had a motive. I have not been home to-night.
Nobody knows I am here. I cannot prove an alibi. What have you done!"

"Really," said Jimmie Dale, almost plaintively, swinging himself up on
the corner of the desk and taking the cash box on his knee, "really, you
are alarming yourself unnecessarily. I--"

But Wilbur stopped him. "You don't know what you are talking about!"
Wi