The disturbance following upon the disappearance of the bracelet was evidently at its height.

There were at least a dozen people in the room, most of whom were standing up.

The central figure of them all was Mrs.Fitzgerald, large and florid, whose yellow hair with its varied shades frankly admitted its indebtedness to peroxide; a lady of the dashing type, who had once made her mark in the music-halls, but was now happily married to a commercial traveler who was seldom visible.

Mrs.Fitzgerald was talking.
"In respectable boarding-houses, Mrs.Lawrence," she declared with great emphasis, "thefts may sometimes take place, I will admit, in the servants' quarters, and with all their temptations, poor things, it's not so much to be wondered at.

But no such thing as this has ever happened to me before--to have jewelry taken almost from my person in the drawing-room of what should be a well-conducted establishment.