s saying, "and if so he'll
get a confession out of her. That's why I sent for him. He's a great
feller for getting folks to confess." Then with natural courtesy he
turned to Lydia. "I was just saying to your friend, Miss Thorne, that
O'Bannon's great on getting confessions."

"Really?" said Lydia. "I wonder why."

"Well," said the sheriff, ignoring the note of doubt in her wonder,
"most criminals want to confess. It's a lonely thing--to have a secret
and the whole world against you. He plays on that. And between you and
I, Miss Thorne, there's some of this so-called psychology in it. You
see, I prepare the way for him--telling how he always does get a
confession, and how a confession last time saved the defendant from the
chair, and a lot of stuff like that, and then he comes along, and I
guess there's a little hypnotism in it too. Did you ever notice his
eyes?"

"I noticed that he has them," answered Lydia.

Miss Bennett said that she had noticed them at once, as soon as he came
into the room. Perhaps it was remembrance of them that made her add, "He
won't be too hard on the poor girl, will he?"

[Illustration: O'BANNON BEGINS HIS INVESTIGATION OF THE THEFT.]

"No, ma'am, he won't be hard at all," said the sheriff. "He'll just talk
with her ten or fifteen minutes, and then she'll want to tell him the
truth. I couldn't say how it's done."

Lydia suddenly stamped her foot.

"She's a fool if she does!" she said, biting into her words.

So this young man went in for being a woman tamer, did he?--the mistress
downstairs ordered to be civil and the maid upstairs ordered to confess.
If she had time, she thought, it would amuse her to show him that things
did not run so smoothly as that. She almost wished that Evans wouldn't
confess. It would be worth losing her jewels to see his face when he
came down to announce his failure.

Steps overhead, the door opened, a voice called, "Sheriff, get your men
up here, will you?"

The sheriff's face lit up.

"Didn't I tell you?" he said. "He's done it!" He hurried out of the
room.

When, a few minutes later, the district attorney came down he found
Miss Bennett alone. He looked about quickly.

"Where's Miss Thorne?" he said.

Miss Bennett had not wanted Lydia to go--she had urged her not to. What
difference did the Emmonses make in comparison with the jewels? But now
she sprang to her defense.

"She was forced to go. She had a train to catch--a long-standing
engageme