nation.

"One pair is missing--a pair I use a great deal, too," she said a
minute later. "Oh, Mr. Adams, what does this mean?"

"I don't know--yet. While you are at it, you might let me know if
anything else is missing."

Margaret began a close examination of everything in the closet, the
detective watching her as keenly as he had before.

"She is either innocent, or else the greatest actress I've ever met,"
was his mental conclusion. "I think her innocent, but the best of us
get tripped up at times. If she is innocent, that evidence was
manufactured to prove her guilty. If only I had followed that man up!
I might have learned something worth knowing."

"Nothing else seems to be missing," announced the girl, at length.

"Very well; then don't waste time by searching further. By the way,
did you know Mr. Thomas Ostrello had arrived?"

"Yes; I told Raymond to telegraph for him. He used to call quite often
to see his mother."

"What about the other son--Dick?"

"I do not know where he is."

"Didn't he come here?"

"He came once. But he is a dissipated young man, and I do not think my
stepmother cared much for him."

"But she did think a good deal of the one who is now downstairs?"

"Yes, although they occasionally had their quarrels, just as we had
ours. Tom would plead for his brother Dick, who seemed to be always
wanting money. Once my father took a hand and said his wife shouldn't
give Dick a cent more, as he only squandered it. That made Tom angry,
and he had a quarrel with my father, and after that when Tom came he
would ask to see only his mother, although he and I remained on fairly
good terms."

"Tom was here the day before the tragedy?"

"Yes. I think he came to see his mother about some private business.
They had a long talk in her room, and she seemed to be quite excited
when he went away. I don't know what it was all about. But, Mr.
Adams, are you not hungry, and won't you have a lunch?"

"Thanks, I'll take a bite."

The lunch was served in Margaret's apartment, and the detective did
ample Justice to it, for he never allowed business to interfere with
his appetite. As he ate, the girl watched him curiously.

"Mr. Adams," she said presently, "do you know, you do not seem a bit
like a detective to me--I mean like the detectives you read about--the
men going about in wonderful disguises and the like, and doing
marvelous things? And yet, I know you have a wonderful
reputation