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 upon a partly raised window which gave on an inner court, or air-shaft.

"Could she have escaped that way?" He ran to the window and threw up the sash.

As he did so, Astro stooped to the floor and picked up a hairpin, glanced at it, and put it into his pocket. It was of silver, fully six inches long, evidently specially made for a woman with an immense mass of hair. He said nothing of his discovery, however, but followed Van Asten to the window.

"She could hardly have got out that way," said the young lawyer.

"It's unlikely," Astro assented; "but I see you have an electric reading lamp. I wonder if it will reach to the window?"

He took it from the table, and, finding that the wire was long enough; held it above his head outside the window and looked down to the bottom of the court.

"I don't see her," Van Asten laughed.

If Astro saw anything, he did not mention it. He drew himself in, replaced the lamp, and pulled down the sash.

"I didn't expect to see her hanging by the hair of her head, like Absalom," he remarked. "But," he added casually, "what kind of hair did she have?"

"Yellow hair, pounds and pounds of it, apparently, though you never can tell nowadays, when all the women are wearing rats."

"Where is your telephone?" the Seer inquired.

Van Asten led the way back into the studio. Around the corner, out of sight of the chamber door, the receiver stood on his library table.

"She got out while you were talking to me," said