i spent the next two or three days in quiet work here and there. the most considerable advance i made was in picking an acquaintance with mcardle, the property man of miss hamerton's company. watching the stage door i discovered that the working-force behind the scenes frequented the back room of a saloon on sixth avenue for lunch after the show. the rest was easy. by the third night mcardle and i were on quite a confidential footing.

from him i heard any amount of gossip. mcardle was of the garrulous, emotional type and very free with his opinions. the star was the only one he spared. from his talk i got the principal members of the company fixed in my mind. beside mr. quarles there was george casanova, the heavy man, a well-known actor but, according to mcardle, a loud-mouthed, empty braggart, and richard richards, the character heavy, a silly old fool, he said, devoured by vanity. among the women the next in importance after the star was miss beulah maddox, the heavy lady, who in the opinion of my amiable informant giggled and ogled like a sewing-machine girl, and she forty if she was a day.

discreet questioning satisfied me that mcardle was quite unaware that a robbery had been committed in the theatre. if he didn't know it, certainly it was not known.

out of bushels of gossip i sifted now and then a grain of valuable information. he informed me that roland quarles was in love with the star. for some reason that i could not fathom he was especially bitter against the young leading man. he would rail against him by the hour, but there seemed to be no solid basis for his dislike.

"does she favour him?" i asked.

"nah!" he said. "she's got too much sense. he's a four-flusher, a counter-jumper, a hall-room boy! lord! the airs he gives himself you'd think he had a million a year! he's a tail-ender with her, and he knows it. he's sore."

"who seems to be ahead of him?" i asked with strong curiosity.

"there's a dozen regulars," said mcardle. "two pittsburgh millionaires, a newspaper editor, a playwright and so on. but if you ask me, the jeweller is ahead in the running."

"the jeweller?" i said, pricking up my ears.

"spanish looking gent with whiskers," said mcardle. "keeps a swell joint on the avenue. mount, his name is. he's a wise guy, does the old family friend act, see? he's a liberal feller. i hope he gets her."

this bit of information gave me food for thought. i thought it explained my intuitive dislike of mount. the thought of that old fellow presuming to court the exquisite irma made me hot under the collar.

i went to the store of roberts, the manufacturer of artificial pearls. this place was as well-known in its way as mount's, since roberts had sued the duke of downshire and the public had learned that the pearls his grace had presented to miss van alstine on the occasion of their marriage were—phony. it also was a very fancy establishment but like its wares, on a much less expensive scale.

i fell in with a sociable and talkative young salesman, who at my request showed me a whole tray full of pearl necklaces. among them i spotted another replica of miss hamerton's beautiful string.

"what's this?" i asked carelessly.

"blue pearls," he rattled off. "latest smart novelty. a hit. mrs. minturn vesey had one sent up only yesterday. she wore it to the opera last night."

"there isn't such a thing really as a blue pearl, is there?" i asked idly.

"certainly. these are copies of genuine stones like all our stock. some time ago a customer sent in the real necklace to have it copied, like they all do. this was such a novelty mr. roberts had a pattern made and put them on sale. it's a winner!"

"i wouldn't want a thing everybody had bought," i said.

"i don't mean everybody," he said. "but just a few of the very smartest. it's too expensive for everybody. seven hundred and fifty. the original is priceless."

"how many have you sold?"

"about ten."

"who else bought them?"

he reeled off a string of fashionable names.

"that's only six."

"the others were sold over the counter."

the affable youngster was a little aggrieved when i left without buying.

mr. mount was both surprised and deeply chagrined when i told him that exact replicas of miss hamerton's pearls were to be had at roberts' by anybody with the price. he didn't see how he could stop it either. it appeared there was a standing feud between roberts and the fashionable jewellers, in which roberts had somewhat the advantage because the regular trade was obliged to employ him. no one else could make such artificial pearls.

with mr. mount's assistance i had the sales of the replicas quietly traced. nothing resulted from this. all but two of the sales were to persons above suspicion. these two had been sold over the counter, one to a man, one to a woman, and as the transactions were over two months old, i could not get a working description of the buyers.

on another occasion i went into dunsany's, the largest and best-known jewelry store in america, if not in the world, and asked to see some one who could give me some information about pearls. i was steered up to a large, pale gentleman wearing glasses, very elegantly dressed, of course. i put on my most youthful and engaging manner. i heard him addressed as mr. freer.

"look here," i said, "i expect you'll want to have me thrown out for bothering you, but i'm in a hole."

my smile disarmed him. "what can i do for you?" he asked impressively.

"i'm a fiction writer," i said. "i'm writing a story about blue pearls, and somebody told me there was no such thing. was he right?"

"sometimes the black pearl has a bluish light in it," said mr. freer. "but it would take an expert to distinguish it. such pearls are called blue pearls in the trade."

"i suppose you haven't got one you could show me?" i said.

he shook his head. "they rarely come into the market. there is only one place in new york where they may be found."

"and that is?"

"mount's. mr. alfred mount has a hobby for collecting them. naturally when a blue pearl appears it is generally offered first to him. you'd better go to see him. he knows more about blue pearls than any man in the world."

"one more question?" i said cajolingly, "in my story i have to imagine the existence of a necklace of sixty-seven blue pearls ranging in size from a currant down to a pea, all perfectly matched, perfect in form and lustre. if there was such a thing what would it be worth?"

when i described the necklace i received a mild shock, for the pale eyes of the man who was watching me suddenly contracted like a frightened animal's. the muscles of his large pale face never moved, but i saw the eyes bolt. he smiled stiffly.

"i couldn't say," he said. "its value would be fabulous."

"but give me some idea," i said, "just for the sake of the story."

he moistened his lips. "oh, say half a million," he said. "it would not be too much."

i swallowed my astonishment, and thanked him, and made my way out.

here was more food for cogitation. why should a few idle questions throw the pearl expert at dunsany's into such visible agitation? i had to give it up. perhaps it was a twinge of indigestion or a troublesome corn. anyhow i lost sight of it in the greater discovery. half a million for the necklace, and miss hamerton had told me that buying it pearl by pearl it had cost her little more than twenty-five thousand!

meanwhile there was an idea going through my head that i had not quite nerve enough to open to my client. it must be remembered that though i was making strides, i was still green at my business. i was not nearly so sure of myself as my manner might have led you to suppose. to my great joy miss hamerton herself broached the subject.

one afternoon she said, apropos of nothing that had gone before: "i'm sorry now that i introduced you to my friends. though i do not see how i could have seen you without their knowing it."

"why sorry?" i asked.

she went on with charming diffidence—how was one to resist her when she pleaded with an humble air: "i have thought—if it would not tie you down too closely—that you might take a minor r?le in my company."

my heart leaped—but of course i was not going to betray my eagerness if i could help it.

"as to your friends having seen me," i said, "that doesn't make any difference. disguise is part of my business."

"then will you?" she eagerly asked.

i made believe to consider it doubtfully. "it would tie me down!" i said.

"oh, i hope you can arrange it!" she said.

"could it be managed without exciting comment in the company?"

"easily. i have thought it all out. i have an assistant stage manager who plays a small part. by increasing his duties behind, i can in a perfectly natural way make it necessary to engage somebody to play his bit. i shall not appear in the matter."

"i have had no experience," i objected.

"i will coach you."

could i resist that?

"it would be better to put in an operative."

"oh, no! no one but you!"

"well, i'll manage it somehow," i said.

she sighed with relief, and started that moment to coach me.

"you are a thug, a desperate character. you appear in only one scene, a cellar dimly lighted, so you will not be conspicuous from in front. you must practise speaking in a throaty, husky growl."

in order to prolong the delightful lessons i made out to be a little stupider than i was.

i was engaged the next day but one through a well-known theatrical agent where miss hamerton had instructed me to apply for a job. just how she contrived it i can't say, but i know i came into the company without anybody suspecting that it was upon the star's recommendation. in the theatre, of course, she ignored me.

two nights later i made my debut. mine was such a very small part no one in the company paid any attention to me, but for me it was a big occasion, i can tell you. in the way of business i have faced death on several occasions with a quieter heart than i had upon first marching out into view of that thousand-headed creature across the footlights. with the usual egotism of the amateur i was sure they were all waiting to guy me. but they didn't. i spoke my half dozen lines without disaster. i felt as if the real me was sitting up in the flies watching his body act down below. indeed, i could write several chapters upon my sensations that night, but as somebody else has said, that is another story.

what is more important is the discovery of my first piece of evidence.

at the end of the performance i was crossing the quiet stage on my way out of the theatre, when i saw a group of stage-hands and some of the minor members of the company by the stage-door with their heads together over a piece of paper. i joined the group, taking care not to bring myself forward. another happened along, and he asked for me:

"what's the matter?"

richards answered: "mcardle here found a piece of paper on the stage with funny writing on it. it's a mystery like."

"let's have a squint at it," said the newcomer.

i looked over his shoulder. it was a single sheet of cheap note-paper of the style they call "dimity." it had evidently been torn from a pad. it seemed to be the last of several sheets of a letter, and it was written in a cryptogram which made my mouth water. i may say that i have a passion for this kind of a puzzle. i give it as i first saw it:

&fqzzdrr cv rew ripn pfrbq at hxv

dggzt ep fobq ivtcvmxk sjq tzxd ea

tjti zk.

s cedbbwyb swocna vmd y&f gc avsny

nca &mw&m&l. hzf edm hyw zum ikq

bscoaiiqvv zxk fjop wod. kwx dwvxj.

lee fvthv g&hjt lszand ebcc bfky ncafp

vedfsf. bsq zwvxj yxm ii pl gc dcr fpbv

ea&bo uls rlzq wb nelj kznedlkduaa.

csqve vdev-fbacp! s'wx os qqtb ehhzxv.

j.

i had no proof on beholding this meaningless assortment of letters that it had anything to do with my case, but i had a hunch. the question was how to get possession of it without showing my hand. i kept silent for a while, and let the discussion rage as to the proper way to translate it.

my excitable friend mcardle (who did not know me, of course, in my present character), naturally as the finder of the paper took a leading part in the discussion. the principals of the company had not yet emerged from their dressing-rooms. my opportunity came when mcardle stated in his positive way that it was a code, and that it was not possible to translate it without having the code-book.

"a code is generally regular words," i suggested mildly, as became the newest and humblest member of the company. "nobody would ever think up these crazy combinations of letters. i should say it was a cryptogram."

mcardle wouldn't acknowledge that he didn't know what a cryptogram was, but somebody else asked.

"substituting one letter for another according to a numerical key," i said. "easy enough to translate it if you can hit on the key."

one thing led to another and soon came the inevitable challenge.

"bet you a dollar you can't read it!" cried mcardle.

i hung back until the whole crowd joined him in taunting me.

"put up or shut up!" cried mcardle.

the upshot was that we each deposited a dollar with old tom the door-keeper, and i took the paper home.

it was the most ingenious and difficult cryptogram i ever tackled. the sun was up before i got it. it was a richer prize than i had hoped for. here it is:

"disposed of and your share of the money is here whenever you want to get it.

i strongly advise you not to leave the company. you say she has not discovered her loss. all right. but these phony pearls soon lose their lustre. she might get on to it the same night you hand in your resignation. then good-night. i'll be back monday. j."*

* for the benefit of those of curious minds i will give the key to the cryptogram. the simplest form of this kind of puzzle is that in which every letter has a certain other letter to stand for it. it may be the one before it, the one after it, or a purely arbitrary substitution. in any case the same letter always has the same alias. that is child's play to solve. i soon discovered that i was faced by something more complex. observe that in one place "night" appears as ea&bo, whereas in the next line it is fbacp. "company" masqueraded in this extraordinary form: &mw&m&l. here was a jawbreaker! to make a long story short i discovered after hundreds of experiments that the first letter of the first word of each sentence was ten letters in advance of the one set down; the second letter eleven letters ahead, and so on up to twenty-five, then begin over from ten. with each sentence however short the writer began afresh from ten. he added to the complications by including the character & as the twenty-seventh letter of the alphabet. the fragmentary sentence at the top of the page held me up for a long time until i discovered that the first letter was twenty-three numbers in advance of the right one. several mistakes on the part of the writer added to my difficulties.