neck of the rusty old creature.

"This?" croaked Mrs. Kebby. "I picked it up in the kitchen downstairs.
It's a pretty red and yaller thing, but of no value, miss, so I don't
s'pose you'll take it orf me."

Paying no attention to this whimpering, Diana twitched the ribbon out of
the old woman's hands and examined it. It was a broad yellow ribbon of
rich silk, spotted with red--very noticeably and evidently of foreign
manufacture.

"It is the same!" cried Diana, greatly excited. "Mr. Denzil, I bought
this ribbon myself in Florence!"

"Well," said Lucian, wondering at her excitement, "and what does that
prove?"

"This: that a stiletto which my father bought in Florence, at the same
time, has been used to kill him! I tied this ribbon myself round the
handle of the stiletto!"

CHAPTER XI

FURTHER DISCOVERIES

The silence which followed Diana's announcement regarding the ribbon and
stiletto--for Lucian kept silence out of sheer astonishment--was broken
by the hoarse voice of Mrs. Kebby:

"If ye want the ribbon, miss, I'll not say no to a shilling. With what
your good gentleman promised, that will be three as I'm ready to take,"
and Mrs. Kebby held out a dirty claw for the silver.

"You'll sell it, will you!" cried out Diana indignantly, pouncing down
on the harridan. "How dare you keep what isn't yours? If you had shown
the detective this," shaking the ribbon in Mrs. Kebby's face, "he might
have caught the criminal!"

"Pardon me," interposed Lucian, finding his voice, "I hardly think so,
Miss Vrain; for no one but yourself could have told that the ribbon
adorned the stiletto. Where did you see the weapon last?"

"In the library at Berwin Manor. I hung it up on the wall myself, by
this ribbon."

"Are you sure it is the same ribbon?"

"I am certain," replied Diana emphatically. "I cannot be mistaken; the
colour and pattern are both peculiar. Where did you find it?" she
added, turning to Mrs. Kebby.

"In the kitchen, I tell ye," growled the old woman sullenly. "I only
found it this blessed morning. 'Twas in a dark corner, near the door as
leads down to the woodshed. How was I to know 'twas any good?"

"Did you find anything else?" asked Lucian mildly.

"No, I didn't, sir."

"Not a stiletto?" demanded Diana, putting the ribbon in her pocket.

"I don't know what's a stiletter, miss; but I didn't find nothing; and I
ain't a thief, though some people as sets themselves above others by
taking ribbons