"Oh, no ma'am, you needn't go. None of the family, I should say."
Mason looked at the elder ladies.

"No, no," cried Miss Sarah, "we couldn't think of it! But let Jepson
go. He is a most reliable man."

"Yes," said Mrs. Schuyler, "send Cooper and Jepson both. Oh, go
quickly--I cannot bear this suspense!" She turned to me, as the two
men who had been hovering in the doorway, came in to take Mason's
orders. "I thank you, Mr. Calhoun. It was truly kind of you to come.
Tibbetts, get me a wrap, please."

This was Mrs. Schuyler's own maid, who went on the errand at once.
More servants had gathered; one or two footmen, a silly French
parlor-maid or waitress, and from downstairs I heard the hushed voices
of others.

Tibbetts returned, and laid a fleecy white shawl about her mistress'
shoulders. Mrs. Schuyler wore a house dress of dull blue. Her hair of
an ash-blonde hue, was coiled on top of her head; and to my surprise,
when I noticed it, she wore a string of large pearls round her throat,
and on her hands were two rings, each set with an enormous pearl.

I must have been awkward enough to glance at the pearls, for Mrs.
Schuyler remarked, "I dressed so hastily, I kept on my pearls. I wear
them at night sometimes, to preserve their luster."

Then she apparently forgot them, for without self-consciousness she
turned to the detective and began asking questions. Nervously she
inquired concerning minutest details, and I surmised that side by side