"Puzzling it out, Mr. Stone?" and Pauline's smile was a full-fledged one now; "perhaps I can help you. If you'll accept my assistance without doubting my word, I'm sure we can do wonders in a detective way." This was not in Pauline's favor. It was too much like bargaining with him to believe her innocent. Then, too, though all unconscious of it, Stone was influenced by the wonderful charm of the girl. Though her lips were smiling a little, her great dark eyes still held that look of fear, that hunger for protection, that desire for some one on whom to lean. "And I won't send for my cousin just yet," she went on. "It's too bad to call him home when he's so busy over there. You know, Mr. Stone, that Mr. Loria is a wonderful man. His achievements in excavation have brought him fame and glory. And you mustn't think he's heartless because he doesn't return at once. You know it was all arranged for us to go over there next month and he had made all sorts of plans for us and for himself. He can't leave his work at a moment's notice, unless, as he says, I have need of him." "Was he fond of his aunt?" inquired Stone, casually. "He was her idol. To Aunt Lucy the sun rose and set in Carr. She was perfectly crazy to go on this trip to Egypt, in order to be with him. He was fond of her, yes. More so than I was, because she was always kind and good-natured to him, while she was always unpleasant to me." "Why was she?" "I don't know. Well, I suppose I may as well tell you, one reason was because she was always envious of any one whom she considered better-looking than she was herself. This may sound strange to you, Mr. Stone, but it was the key-note of my aunt's existence. She adored beauty in every way,--pictures, clothes, everything,--but she was so sensitive about her own plainness, that a younger or prettier face made her, at times, irritable and even cruel. She would never engage a servant with any pretensions to good looks. Therefore, as she chose to consider Miss Frayne and myself of comely personal appearance, she was unkind to us both." "And Mr. Loria? Is he not handsome?" "Oh, yes, very. But Aunt Lucy liked handsome men. Carr Loria is like a picture. His father was of Italian descent, and Carr has the clear olive skin and dark beauty of that race. Gray Haviland is good-looking, too, but it was only feminine prettiness that stirred up Aunt Lucy's ire." "Why did she ever engage such an angel-face as Miss Frayne?" Fleming Stone watched closely for a sign of irritation at this speech, and saw it. Pauline's smile faded, and she said, abruptly: "Do you think her so beautiful?" "She has the perfect blonde fairness usually typified by the celestial white-robed creatures on the old canvases."