Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 149: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Bt Nee “v rd he said. THE UNDER DOGS. napery and silver, of delicate food. A table by a window, with a rose or two upon it— an awning to mitigate the brightness of the morning sun; it was like heaven. And now we were back at Gramercy Park waiting for Melanie to wake up. Melanie and Mme. Storey were much of a size, and Grace, Mme. Storey’s invaluable maid, had brought down an outfit from her mistress’s — wardrobe for Melanie. The door from the hall opened, and a lady and gentleman came into my office. I closed the door into Mme. Storey’s room. — I was surprised, for of course we expected no visitors of importance; and these were people of importance, one could see in a glance from their clothes and from their assured manner. The lady was a beauty, though no longer in her first youth. All. their breeding and assurance could not conceal the fact that both were very much excited. | “Ts Mme. Storey here?” the gentleman asked. _“ May T ask the nature of your busi- ness?” I said politely. : “ T cannot tell that to any one but her, zz “T am Walbridge Sterry.” As soon as he spoke I recognized them, for of course their Photog graphs have been = published. “Mme, Storey 5 be glad to see you, [ said. Opening the door again, I announced them. I followed them in. Mme. Storey arose with a smile. We both supposed they had gone to the police and had been referred -by them to us. Mr. Sterry said with an air of great re- lief: “‘ How fortunate we are to find you! We just cams on 4 | chance. Nobody is in town now.’ Mme. Storey and [I exchanged a glance. So they had not beén to the police! They did not know that we had the tiara. What a piquant situation was developing. “Well, as a matter of fact, I am sup- posed to be in Paris,” said Mme. Storey dryly. “Indeed! I must have missed the an- nouncement of your departure,” Mr. Sterry said politely, ‘“I shall not waste time in explanation,” he went on. ‘“‘ I do not know if you happen to be aware of it—the news- papers have gossiped about it—but I pur- chased the Yevrienev.” — “T have read it,” said Mme. Siney: “Well, it’s beeii stolen,” "he said, flinging down his hands. Stolen!” echoed his vile. “ Ah!” said Mme. Storey, who could not resist drawing them on just a little. ‘‘ The recovery of stolen goods is hardly in my line? “T know! I know!” cried Mr. Sterry. “ But surely this is an exceptional case. Pavioff tiara from Prince They say that you can perform miracles. - In the first place, I want a little disinter- — ested and intelligent advice. I have not been to the police yet—you know the po- lice! Should I go to them and have a great hue and cry raised in the press—or should I keep our loss a secret, and conduct a pri- vate search?” “ We think it was olen by a woman,” Mrs, Sterry chimed in. “It appears that last night my husband’s valet brought a Strange girl into the house to sup with the other servants. He says she left early; but we found, upon questioning him, that he did not actually see her out of the door. The natural assumption is that she con- cealed herself in the house until later.’ ‘““She must have had _ confederates, though,” put in Mr. Sterry, “ for she pos- sessed the combination to the safe, A curious feature is that there were other jewels of value in the safe which she never touched.” * Only fancy!” said Mrs. Sterry, with a shudder. “ She must have been hidden in the room when we came in.” With a peculiar smile, Mme. Storey pulled open a drawer of her desk. How She loves a dramatic moment like this! She took out the little green baize bag and laid it on top. When Mr. and Mrs. Sterry saw it, their eyes almost leaped out of their heads. When Mme. Storey opened the bag and took out the gleaming crown of little suns, soft cries of astonishment broke from them. “Ts this it” asked my mistress, with an offhand air. “Yes! Yes!” they cried breathlessly. 619° Eomichbooks (E(0)