will excuse me, but you will certainly not leave here until you have undergone the same search as we others are willing to submit to. As you are in so great a hurry, however, and as you were on the point of bidding us a somewhat unceremonious farewell, we will consult your convenience by searching you first,"
Then Traske knew what was coming, and his knees shook and his cheeks were ashen pale. He was not even surprised when the bracelet was drawn from his breast pocket. He looked wildly around and saw the same thing in every face.
"I never took it!" he cried. "My overcoat was on the floor, and some one must have put the bracelet there. Sophy, Mannister, Hambledon, you don't really believe that I stole it!"
But there was no reply from any one of the three. Only Mrs. De la Mere crossed the room swiftly, and stooping down pressed the electric bell.
"What is that for?" Traske cried. "What are you going to do?"
Mrs. De la Mere faced him coldly.
"I can stand a great deal," she said, "from those who have been my friends, but such a theft as this, in my own rooms, passes even my forgiveness. John," she added, turning to the night porter who had answered the bell, "I want you to call up a policeman, please."
Traske raved, and struggled to escape, but Mannister's hand was like a vise upon his shoulder. The musicians and the few remaining guests hurried away by the other door. When the policeman arrived, only Bella Delmain, Mrs. De la Mere, Mannister, and Traske himself, were left. Traske fell on his knees.
"You are not going to charge me with this," he cried. "You know very well that it will ruin me."
Mannister smiled. Already they could hear the heavy footsteps ascending the stairs.
"It may ruin you," he said, "but it will at least save that unfortunate young woman whom you were talking of marrying, from making a fatal mistake,"
Traske understood then, and his face was white with despair.
"You are going through with this?" he gasped. "You are going to have me convicted?"
Mannister shook his head.
"Not necessarily," he said. "The evidence will probably be insufficient. But before the magistrates you certainly will go, and every one who pays a penny for a newspaper to-morrow will know how you spent the evening."
{[dhr]} Curiously enough, Mannister's words were prophetic. Traske was somewhat reluctantly discharged in the morning by a magistrate who obviously believed in his guilt. The young lady in the garden was hurried off to Switzerland by her aunt, and Mannister, taking a sheet of paper from his pocket, deliberately ruled a firm thick line through the first name.
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