“And explains the disappearance of Miss Varian, and the scattering of her beads.”
“Beads?” said Lawrence North, interrogatively.
“Yes; there were several beads found in the kitchen that have been identified as hers.”
“Then the way in must be connected with the kitchen,” North remarked.
“Perhaps, but not necessarily.”
“It’s a dark night, Mr North,” Rodney Granniss said, hospitably. “Won’t you spend the night here? We can give you a room.”
After a polite demurrer, North accepted the invitation.
The evening was spent in further and repeated discussion of the known facts and the surmised possibilities of the mystery, and then, both the detective and Granniss went about locking up the house against further marauders, and they all retired.
And the next morning they found that Lawrence North had disappeared! His room showed signs of a struggle. A chair was overturned, a rug awry and deep scratches on the shining floor proved a scuffle of some sort.
“Another kidnapping case!” Granniss exclaimed. “Must have been a husky chap that got the better of North! Could there have been two against him? He’s a powerful fighter!”