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 sat there, staring straight ahead without speaking for a minute while he listened for sounds in the street or below; but there was nothing.

He swung about and demanded of me suddenly, "You noticed Dot to-night?"

"Of course, old fellow. Besides, she was with you most of the time."

He jerked, wincing at that; and Jerry's not jerky. He's excitable and capable, I've always felt, even of violence. But he possesses not one bad nerve; he might hit in anger but he would hit perfectly steadily if he hit to kill.

"Yes, of course she was with me. I was responsible for her to-night. Did you notice what she was wearing, Steve?"

"Blue dress, wasn't it—pale blue? She certainly was stunning, Jerry."

"Her necklace, Steve; didn't you see it? Those damned diamonds and sapphires her father brought back from abroad with him!"

"Of course I saw them. So—she lost them to-night, did she? Or they were stolen? That's it?" But I realized by this time it was far more than that.

"Steve, let's go over it just as it happened," Jerry entreated. "When did you leave the Sparlings'?"