“My aunt, who long has been the housekeeper for my sister and myself, died suddenly of heart failure yesterday morning. She is to be taken to Springfield to-morrow for burial. Step into the library, Mr. Carter. Clarissa will be terribly shocked by Mr. Strickland’s misfortune. She is really fond of the old gentleman, and often runs in to see him and hear him play on his rare old Strad. Stolen--that is too bad! It will be a terrible loss to him.” “I agree with you,” Chick replied. “He appears heartbroken.” “No wonder. This is my sister, Miss Vaughn, Mr. Carter.” Chick had entered an attractively furnished library, where a handsome, dark girl, in the twenties, sat reading a book. She laid it aside at once and arose to acknowledge the introduction, though with manifest wonderment as to the visitor’s mission. Gerald Vaughn hastened to inform her, however, evoking repeated expressions of surprise and sympathy, and Chick then said: “I came here only to ask whether you have heard any disturbance outside this evening. We wish to find out, if possible, how the thieves entered Mr. Strickland’s apartments and got away with such a quantity of plunder without being seen or heard. It really is very mysterious.” “Decidedly so, Mr. Carter,” Vaughn agreed. “But we have heard nothing unusual, not a sound suggestive of anything wrong.” “We have been here alone, too, since dinner,” put in Clarissa, gazing with demure, dark eyes at the face of the detective. “Both of us have been reading, and it has seemed unusually quiet. If there had been any noise outside, Gerald, dear, we surely ought to have heard it.” “It seems so, indeed, Clarissa.” “I have not heard a sound that I can recall.” “Nor have I, Mr. Carter, I assure you.” “The circumstances are such, too, that I am unusually sensitive,” Miss Vaughn added. “The sudden death of my Aunt Amelia has made me very nervous. I think we should send a message of sympathy, Gerald, to Mr. Strickland. He was very kind to us yesterday, when he heard of our bereavement.” “I think so, too,” Vaughn said quickly. “I had better step over there, perhaps, and see him personally.” “That will be even better, Gerald.” “Is there any objection, Mr. Carter, to my doing so?” “Not the slightest,” said Chick. “You may go with me, if you wish, since there is no information you can give me.” “None whatever, Mr. Carter, I regret to say,” Vaughn replied. “I hope you will command me, however, if I can be of any assistance. You don’t mind being alone here, Clarissa, for a few minutes?” “No, indeed. I will sit here till you return.” “I have closed the parlor door.” “Very well. Good evening, Mr. Carter. I do hope you will recover Mr. Strickland’s property. Tell him, Gerald, how deeply grieved I am over his misfortune.” “I will, Clarissa. Now, Mr. Carter, I am ready to go with you.”