caught--"

Here she was interrupted by the waiter who laid a telegram at her plate.
It had come to her brother's apartment, and been sent down.

"Who is telegraphing me," she said, as she tore it open. "I hope Jack
has not been breaking himself."

Opening it, she read:

"Your house was entered about five o'clock this afternoon. Tea-set and
sable coat missing."




II


The next evening at seven o'clock, Holland stepped out of the train on
the Hillsborough station. He wore a long fur-coat, for the morning had
been bitterly cold in New York, and though the snow was now falling in
small close flakes, the temperature had not risen appreciably, and a
wild wind was blowing.

He looked about for the figure of McFarlane, for he had telegraphed the
old man to meet him at the train with a trap, but there was no one to be
seen. The station, which in summer on the arrival of the express was a
busy scene with well dressed women and well-kept horses, was now utterly
deserted except for one native who had charge of the mails.