Page:The Master of Mysteries (1912).djvu/196

 "There has been a little accident here," said Astro suavely. "A buried gasoline tank exploded, and this woman was injured, doctor. Carry her into the house and do what you can for her."

Miss Dalrymple, who had been listening wide-eyed to the conversation, a ravishing figure in the moonlight in her charmingly disheveled state, now put her hand on Astro's arm.

"But I don't understand at all," she said, "except that Fanny has been deceiving me for a year. Do you mean to say that Mrs. Dalrymple put that cipher in the locket herself and sent it to me?"

"Certainly," said Astro, "and a very clever trick it was."

"But why did she do it that way?" the young girl inquired, still baffled. "Why was she so elaborate about it?"

"Because," replied the Master of Mysteries, with a lurking smile, "she knew a great deal more about human nature than you do, and a good deal less than I, that's all!"