"Good Heavens!" "I tell you, Mr. Hardy, nothing else would account for that snake! And any one of these things might seem the result of a lunatic imagination by itself, but taken all together, the theory holds water! Why think of the Oriental scarf, the embroidered robe, the mass of jewels in addition to the significant pearls, and the scarabs! All point to the type of Cleopatra. If there had been a picture on the wall, say, of Helen of Troy, and Miss Carrington had been rigged up in a Greek costume, with a fillet in her hair, and sandals on her feet,--or if the picture had shown the Goddess of Liberty, and we had found Miss Carrington draped in an American flag, could any one have denied the significance? There can be no doubt,--no doubt in this world, Hardy, that the costume, the jewels and the snake all point to a connection with the picture of Cleopatra, and if so, what other connection is possible than the one I've blocked out? Answer me that! And, finally, the speech to the Count, whose glove she fondled, 'You are the Mark I aim at.' A pleasantry of wording inevitably suggested by the thought of the man Cleopatra charmed and the man Miss Carrington desired to charm. And a play on words too, not at all unnatural to her, for I'm told she was both witty and clever in conversation." "Mr. Stone, I am carried away by your arguments. I can't deny their plausibility, but I am bewildered. How did you fathom this remarkable plan?" "Simply because there is no other plan that will fit the facts. I believe Miss Carrington did say all those things Miss Frayne relates. I believe she was alone in the room when she said them. Therefore, they must have had some meaning, and the meanings I have just ascribed to them must be the true ones." "They must be----" "And I will further satisfy you that they are. Here is a memorandum I found in Miss Carrington's desk. It is, as you see, a list of items. Read it." Hardy's eyes stared more widely than ever as he read: Green and gold boudoir robe. Jewels, especially pearls. Scarabs. Scarf. Snake. Something belonging to H. "Now, that," and Fleming Stone spoke in low, even tones, without a hint of boasting or pride in his achievement, "is a list in Miss Carrington's own writing, and is undeniably a list of things to be worn on the occasion which she hoped would mean a delightful change to the beauty she so desired to be, but which, instead, was a change to the cold stillness of death. I found that, after reaching my own conclusions about the Cleopatra business. If I had found it before, I would have known it must refer to her costume, but I couldn't have gleaned from it the conclusions I had already come to. Now, Hardy, are you convinced?" "I am, Mr. Stone. And I am also puzzled. From all this knowledge, we start fresh, as it were, and we----"