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Lizzie read the note with bulging eyes, her face horror-stricken When she had finished, she esture of wild disclaimer that nearly removed a portion of Anderson's left ear

"Mercy on us!" shenot only her patron saint but all the rosary of heaven to protect herself and her mistress

But the detective still kept his eye on her

"Didn't write it yourself, did you?" he queried curtly

"I did not!" said Lizzie angrily "I did not!"

"And--you're sure you don't walk in your sleep?" The bare idea strained Lizzie's nerves to the breaking point

"When I get into bed in this house I wouldn't put my feet out for a million dollars!" she said with heartfelt candor Even Anderson was corin at this

"Then I won't ask you to," he said, relaxing considerably; "That's more money than I'm worth, Lizzie"

"Well, I'll say it is!" quoth Lizzie, now thoroughly aroused, and flounced out of the roo, before he had tiate her further

He replaced the note on the table and turned back to Miss Cornelia If he had found any clue to the mystery in Lizzie's demeanor, she could not read it in hisabout hi's servant"

Anderson paused "Do you consider that significant?"

A shadow appeared behind hiure--Dale--on tiptoe, conspiratorial, taking pains not to draw the attention of the others to her presence But both Miss Cornelia and Anderson were too engrossed in their conversation to notice her

Miss Cornelia hesitated

"Isn't it possible that there is a connection between the colossal theft at the Union Bank and these disturbances?" she said

Anderson seemed to think over the question

"What do you mean?" he asked as Dale slowlythe alcove doors behind her, and still unobserved

"Suppose," said Miss Cornelia slowly, "that Courtleigh Fle took that money from his own bank and concealed it in this house?" The eavesdropper grew rigid

"That's the theory you gave headquarters, isn't it?" said Anderson "But I'll tell you how headquarters figures it out In the first place, the cashier isdid it and got as far as Colorado, he had it with him when he died, and the facts apparently don't bear that out In the third place, suppose he had hidden the money in or around this house Why did he rent it to you?"

"But he didn't," said Miss Cornelia obstinately, "I leased this house from his nephew, his heir"