t Miss Carson had gradually grown into
a certainty, as clue after clue came into her hands, until this
afternoon, by finding all Colonel Baker's stolen property locked away in
a box under her bed, she had actually proved her to be a member of the
notorious gang of burglars.

Mrs. Danvers' knitting had long ago dropped on to her lap, her ball
of wool had rolled unheeded under a chair, and her eyes, round with
incredulity and dismay, had been fixed unblinkingly upon her daughter.

"In a box under her bed! All Colonel Baker's things!" she gasped. "Oh,
Hilary! and you mean to say that you actually found them there?"

"Yes, every one of them, not half an hour ago," returned Hilary
complacently. "And what is more, hidden away in her drawer, I found
this." And she opened the case and displayed the necklace and miniature
to her mother. "She doesn't attempt to claim Colonel Baker's things as
her own, but she persists in saying that this is hers. And considering
the inscription, 'To my daughter Margaret,' that is written on it, it is
rather silly of her. Without doubt," Hilary added, "it belongs to Miss
Cora Anatolia, the Bulgarian dancer."

"But her name doesn't begin with an 'M,' either," said Mrs. Danvers.

"Oh, actresses have lots of names," Hilary said impatiently. "That's not
a point we need consider. The point is that whoever it belongs to, it is
not Miss Carson's."

And it was at that moment that Margaret, still wearing the hat and the
rainproof coat that she had donned to go into the town, entered the
drawing-room. She carried her head high, and walked straight down the
long drawing-room to Mrs. Danvers' side.

"Your daughter Hilary has been telling you that I am a thief and a
burglar, hasn't she?" she said, "and I have come to ask you if you
believe her."

Mrs. Danvers shifted uneasily in her chair. There was nothing she
disliked more than anything approaching a dispute, and really, when she
looked up at the slim, pale girl standing before her it seemed quite too
ridiculous to believe, as she had been inclined a moment before to do,
that she was a member of a desperate gang of burglars. Hilary was quick
to notice her mother's wavering manner, and intervened quickly.

"Then how do you account for all Colonel Baker's things being found
locked up in your box?" she exclaimed quickly. "Tell me that."

"I have already told you that I know nothing at all about them. I
unpacked my box when I came, and Collins put it