A man appeared in the door leading to the interior of the house.

"For the love o" Mike!" issued from the lips of the newcomer. "What in thunder--what"s all this?"

It was Harry Squires.

He gazed open-mouthed, first at the beautiful, convulsed lady, and then at the huddled group of men.

"We are caught red-handed, Mr. Squires," said the beautiful lady. "Shall we go to the electric chair hand in hand?"

A slow grin began to reach out from the corners of Harry"s mouth as if its intention was to connect with his ears.

"My G.o.d, Harry--you ain"t mixed up in this murder?" bleated Anderson.

The old man"s dismay was so genuine, his distress so pitiful, that the heart of Harry Squires was touched. His face sobered at once. Stepping forward, he held out his hand to the Marshal.

"Good old Anderson! It"s all right. Buck up, old top! I"m sorry to say that blood has been shed here tonight. Come with me; I"ll show you the corpse."

Mr. Crow was not to be caught napping. "Some of you fellers stay here an" guard this woman. Don"t let her get away."

A few minutes later he stood beside Harry Squires in the cellar below the kitchen. There was a smell of gunpowder on the close, still air.

They looked down upon the black, inanimate form of the French poodle.

"There, Mr. Hawkshaw," said Harry, "there lies all that is mortal of the finest little gentleman that ever wore a collar. Take off your hat, Sim--and you too, Bill--all of you. You are standing in the presence of death. Behold in me the a.s.sa.s.sin. I am the slayer of yon grisly corpse.

Shackle me, Mr. Marshal. Lead me to the gallows. I am the guilty party."

Marshal Crow took off his hat with the rest--but he did it the better to mop his forehead.

"Do you mean to tell me there ain"t been any man slew in this house?" he inquired slowly.

"Up to the hour of going to press," said the city editor of the _Banner_, "no human remains have been unearthed."

"Then, where in thunder is the feller who"s been foolin" around Mrs.

Smith"s front yard, the--"

"Last I saw of him he was beating it down the street about two hours ago, and you were giving him the run of his life. I don"t believe the rascal will ever dare come around here again. The chances are he"s still running."

The Marshal muttered something under his breath, and shot a pleading look at Harry.

"Yes, sir," continued Harry solemnly, "I"ll bet my head he"ll never be seen in these parts again."

"If he hadn"t got such a start of me," said Anderson, regaining much of his aplomb, "I"d "a nabbed him, sure as you"re alive. He could run like a whitehead. I never seen such--"

"Shall we go upstairs, gentlemen, and relieve the pressure on Miss Hildebrand? She is, I may say, the princ.i.p.al mourner, poor lady."

"Miss Who?"

"Gentlemen, the lady up there is no other than the celebrated actress, Juliet Hildebrand. The Veiled Lady and she are one and the same. Before we retire from this spot, let me explain that Mr. Snooks, the deceased, was run over by her automobile an hour or so ago. His back was broken. I merely put an end to his suffering. Now come--"

"Mister Snooks?" inquired Anderson quickly. "Well, that solves one of the mysteries that"s been botherin" me. An"--an" you say she"s the big actress whose picture we see in the papers every now an" again?"

"The same, Mr. Crow. She has done me the honour to accept a play that I have been guilty of writing. She came up here to go over it with me before putting it into rehearsal, and incidentally to enjoy a month"s vacation after a long and prosperous season in New York."

"Do you mean to say you"ve knowed all along who she was?" demanded Anderson. "Been comin" up here to see her every night or so, I suppose."

"More or less."

"That settles it!" said the Marshal sternly. "You are under arrest, sir.

Have you got anybody to bail you out, er are you goin" to spend the night in the lock-up?"

"What"s the charge, Mr. Hawkshaw?" inquired Harry, amiably.

"Practisin" without a dicense."

"Practising what?" asked Harry.

"Jokes!" roared Anderson gleefully, and slapped him on the back.

Again the Marshal slapped the culprit"s back. "Yes, sir, the joke"s on me. I admit it. I"ll set up the seegars for everybody here. Sim, send a box of them "Uncle Tom" specials round to my office first thing in the mornin". Yes, sir, Harry, my boy, you certainly caught me nappin" good and plenty. Tain"t often I git--"

"If you don"t mind, Anderson," interrupted Elmer K. Pratt, "I"ll take a nickel"s worth of chewin"-tobacco. My wife don"t like me to smoke around the house."

"Gentlemen," said Harry Squires, "there are a few bottles of beer in the icebox, and the cook will make all the cheese and ham sandwiches we can eat. I am sure Miss Hildebrand will be happy to have you partake of her--"

"Hold on a minute, Harry," broke in the Marshal hastily. His face was a study. The painfully created joviality came to a swift and uncomfortable end, and in its place flashed a look of embarra.s.sment. He simply couldn"t face the smiling Miss Hildebrand.

"If it"s all the same to you," he went on, lowering his voice and glancing furtively over his shoulder at the departing members of his posse, "I guess I"ll go out the back way." Seeing the surprised look-on Harry"s face, he floundered badly for a moment or two, and then concluded with the perfectly good excuse that it was his duty to lead Alf Reesling, the one-time town drunkard, away from temptation. In support of this resolve, he called out to Alf: "Come here, Alf. None o"

that, now! You come along with me."

"I ain"t goin" to touch anything but a ham sandwich," protested Alf with considerable asperity.

"Never mind! You do what I tell you, or I"ll run you in. Remember, you got a wife an" daughter, an"--"

"Inasmuch as Alf has been on the water-wagon for twenty-seven years, Mr.

Marshal, I think you can trust him--" began Harry, but Anderson checked him with a resolute gesture.

"Can"t take any chances with him. He"s got to come with me."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Harry.

"An" besides," said Anderson, "a man in my position can"t afford to be seen a.s.sociatin" with actresses--an" you know it, Harry Squires. Come on, Alf!"