investigator,
although he would have preferred to devote his entire attention to
mapping out the program he intended to follow when he reached the city
which, he fully believed, had been the scene of the first act of the
tragic drama he was bent upon bringing to an equally tragic conclusion.

As soon as he had registered at a hotel near the Pennsylvania Station,
and had shaved and breakfasted, he took from his bag a large envelope
containing the photographs Carraway had made of Penny alive and of Nita
dead, both clad in the royal blue velvet dress. In the envelope also was
the white satin, gold-lettered label which the dress had so proudly
borne: "Pierre Model. Copied by Simonson's. New York City."

Half an hour later he was showing the photographs and the label to a
woman buyer, in the French Salon of Simonson's, one of New York's most
"exclusive" department stores.

"Can you tell me when the original Pierre model was bought, and when
this copy was made and sold?" he asked.

The white-haired, smartly dressed buyer accepted the sheaf of
photographs Bonnie Dundee was offering. "I'll do my best, of course,"
she began briskly, then paled and uttered a sharp exclamation as her
eyes took in the topmost picture. "This is Juanita Leigh, isn't
it?... But--" she shuddered, "how odd she looks--as if--"

"Yes," Dundee agreed gravely. "She was dead when that picture was taken.
Did you know Mrs. Selim?"

"No," the woman breathed, her eyes still bulging with horror. "But I've
seen so many pictures of her in the papers.... To think that it was one
of _our_ dresses she chose for her shroud! But you want to know when the
dress was sold to her, don't you?" she asked, brisk again. "I can find
out. We keep a record of all our French originals and of the number of
copies made of each.... Let me think! I've been going to Paris myself
for the firm for the last fifteen years, but I can't remember buying
this Pierre model.... Oh, of course! I didn't go over during 1917 and
1918, on account of the war, you know, but the big Paris designers
managed to send us a limited number of very good models, and this must
have been one of them. Otherwise, I'd remember buying it.... If you'll
excuse me a moment----"

When she returned about ten minutes later, Miss Thomas brought him a
pencilled memorandum. "This Pierre model was imported in the summer of
1917, several months in advance of the winter season, of course. Only
five copies were made--in d