"A suicide--in the Novella. It will be in all the papers. We shall
be ruined. Oh--oh!"

"Here, can that sob stuff," broke in one of O'Connor's officers.
"You can tell it all when the chief takes you to headquarters,
see?"

Certainly the man made no very favourable impression by his
actions. There seemed to be much that was forced about them, that
was more incriminating than a stolid silence would have been.

Between them Monsieur and Madame made out, however, to repeat to
Kennedy their version of what had happened. It seemed that a note
addressed to Miss Blaisdell had been left by some one on the desk
in the reception-room. No one knew who left it, but one of the
girls had picked it up and delivered it to her in her dressing-
room. A moment later she rang her bell and called for one of the
girls named Agnes, who was to dress her hair. Agnes was busy, and
the actress asked her to get paper, a pen, and ink. At least it
seemed that way, for Agnes got them for her. A few minutes later
her bell rang again, and Agnes went down, apparently to tell her
that she was now ready to dress her hair.

The next thing any one knew was a piercing shriek from the girl.
She ran down the corridor, still shrieking, out into the
reception-room and rushed into the elevator, which happened to be
up at the time. That was the last they had seen of her. The other
girls saw Miss Blaisdell lying dead, and a panic followed. The
customers dressed quickly and fled, almost in panic. All was