Cynthia had done it, and in a blind, unreasoning way, although Winnie's testimony had showed that this could not possibly be, the suspicion, once started, grew and strengthened. I watched her as she sat working out algebra problems with a disagreeable smile on her face and I said to myself over and over again, "You did it, and the truth will come out at last."

CHAPTER VI.

HALLOWEEN TRICKS AND WHAT CAME OF THEM.

VENING was

E

Mudge.

falling when Adelaide re

turned

from

her interview

with Mr.

"Has not Milly returned yet?" she asked, as she entered the door.

"No," replied Winnie. "Has Mr.

Mudge gone to interview Celeste ?"

"No, he is off on another scent.

gone to interview Professor Waite."

He has

"What does Professor Waite know about

the matter?" I asked in surprise.

"Nothing. It only shows the imbecility of these detectives who insist on pursuing every impossible as well as every possible clew."

"I

"Tell us all about it," I entreated. should like to know how it was possible to drag Professor Waite into the business."

66

Why, through the transom, of course,' Adelaide replied, and we all laughed at the absurd suggestion. "The first question that Mr. Mudge asked was, Have you any theory or suspicions in regard to this affair, Miss Armstrong?' I answered that I had determined from the first that it was the act of some sneak-thief, who had watched us, through the transom, put the money into the safe."

Again Winnie made an involuntary movement as though about to speak, but restrained herself, and Adelaide continued :

"I told him about the face at the transom in the Rembrandt hat, and he asked me if it was Professor Waite. I told him that I thought not. The head looked smaller and the hat came lower down over the eyes and at the back than it would have done on the professor. Besides, the professor has that little pointed Paris beard, and this face had a smooth chin. I saw it plainly for a moment in profile. Mudge did not seem to be satisfied and made me admit that I might have been mistaken. Professor Waite's beard is such a very imma

Mr.

ture affair. Then he asked me how an outsider could have introduced himself into the studio without coming in at the front door, which is guarded by the janitor, and coming up the grand staircase past Madame's room and twenty other rooms, all occupied, and likely to have their doors open in the evening. I told him that there were two other ways: the fire escape

"Both the corridor window and our own were locked on the inside," I interrupted.

"He said he found it so—and agreed with me that the turret staircase was the more likely entrance. I explained that the spiral staircase in the turret was built especially for the use of the physician when this part of the building was the infirmary, and that in order to quarantine it from the rest of the school, there were no entrances to the turret on any of the other floors-that it led directly from the studio to the street, and that no one used it but Professor Waite, who kept the key of the outer door; that he might have negligently left this door unlocked, and in that case a tramp could easily have slipped in, and as there was no communication with any other room he would have found himself, on reaching the end of the staircase, in the studio and

in front of our door. Mr. Mudge then questioned me as to Professor Waite's habits. Did he usually spend his evenings in the studio, and were we in the habit of visiting back and forward in a friendly manner through the door with the broken lock? This made me very indignant. Such a thing, I assured Mr. Mudge, would be contrary to the rules of the school, and to the instincts of any selfrespecting girl. The door had never been opened since the lock was first broken, and even Tib, whose duties required her to be in the studio during half of the day, always entered it by the corridor door. As to Professor Waite, he did not board in the house. I believed he belonged to several artist clubs— the Salmagundi, the Kit Kat, and others—and that he probably spent his evenings there, or in society, or at his boarding house around the corner; at all events, he never painted in the studio in the evening, for I had heard Tib say that the lighting was not sufficient for night work. There was a rumor, too, that Professor Waite was very popular in society; but that Tib could inform Mr. Mudge much more explicitly than I on all matters relative to the professor's habits, as I had never interested myself in him, and what he did or did not do