Page:Rowland--The closing net.djvu/151

Rh "My success?" I repeated.

"Yes, in getting Mary's pearls. I told them that, you would."

"Oh," I answered, "I'd almost forgotten that. Truth is, Edith, I hoped to have yours this evening, but things have gone a bit wrong."

"Can you tell me about it?" she asked.

"Only this. Miss Dalghren's necklace was stolen to put me in a bad light."

"I know that," she interrupted.

"How?" I asked.

"John found the prints of your tennis shoes in the flower-bed under the window. It is an unusual pattern, and you wore those shoes one afternoon, you remember, when you went with John to Chartres. Then, Mary discovered one of your handkerchiefs in her room. It was all plain enough."

I felt my face getting hot. "John might have told me this," I growled.

Edith reached over and patted the back of my hand.

"Don't worry, Frank. We knew that it was all a put-up job. That woman?" She raised her delicate eyebrows.

I nodded.

"She wanted to get you back," said Edith. "I guessed that much."

"How about John and Miss Dalghren?" I asked.

"Did you see John when you came in?" she asked.

"No. He was asleep."

Edith glanced out of the window. "John has been drinking too much for a long time, and thinks