his name--helped me to creep upstairs, and wanted
to get me a glass of ale to make me sleep. But I said it would be of no
use, as I had to get up and get the breakfast. The last thing he said
was that the policeman seemed above the average in intelligence, and
perhaps we could train him to do plain cooking and dishwashing.

I did not go to sleep at once. I lay on the chintz-covered divan in
Bella's dressing room and stared at the picture of her with the violets
underneath. I couldn't see what there was about Bella to inspire such
undying devotion, but I had to admit that she had looked handsome that
night, and that the Harbison man had certainly been impressed.

At seven o'clock Jimmy Wilson pounded at my door, and I could have
choked him joyfully. I dragged myself to the door and opened it, and
then I heard excited voices. Everybody seemed to be up but Aunt Selina,
and they were all talking at once.

Anne Brown was in the corner of the group, waving her hands, while
Dallas was trying to hook the back of her gown with one hand and hold a
blanket around himself with the other. No one was dressed except Anne,
and she had been up for an hour, looking in shoes and under the corners
of rugs and around the bed clothing for her jeweled collar. When she saw
me she began all over again.

"I had it on when I went into my room," she declared, "and I put it on
the dressing table when I undressed. I meant to put it under my pillow,
but I forgot. And I didn't sleep well; I was awake half the night.
Wasn't I, Dal? Then, when the clock downstairs in the hall was chiming
five, something roused me, and I sat up in bed. It was still dark, but I
pinched Dal and said there was somebody in the room. You remember that,
don't you, Dal?"

"I thought you had nightmare," he said sheepishly.

"I lay still for ages, it seemed to me, and then--the door into the
hall closed. I heard the catch click. I turned on the light over the bed
then, and the room was empty. I thought of my collar, and although it
seemed ridiculous, with the house sealed as it is, and all of us friends
for years--well, I got up and looked, and it was gone!"

No one spoke for an instant. It WAS a queer situation, for the collar
was gone; Anne's red eyes showed it was true. And there we stood, every
one of us a miserable picture of guilt, and tried to look innocent and
debonair and unsuspicious. Finally Jim held up his hand and signified
that he wanted to say something.