"Well," said the sheriff, ignoring the note of doubt in her wonder, "most criminals want to confess. It's a lonely thing--to have a secret and the whole world against you. He plays on that. And between you and I, Miss Thorne, there's some of this so-called psychology in it. You see, I prepare the way for him--telling how he always does get a confession, and how a confession last time saved the defendant from the chair, and a lot of stuff like that, and then he comes along, and I guess there's a little hypnotism in it too. Did you ever notice his eyes?"
"I noticed that he has them," answered Lydia.
Miss Bennett said that she had noticed them at once, as soon as he came into the room. Perhaps it was remembrance of them that made her add, "He won't be too hard on the poor girl, will he?"
[Illustration: O'BANNON BEGINS HIS INVESTIGATION OF THE THEFT.]
"No, ma'am, he won't be hard at all," said the sheriff. "He'll just talk with her ten or fifteen minutes, and then she'll want to tell him the truth. I couldn't say how it's done."
"She's a fool if she does!" she said, biting into her words.
So this young man went in for being a woman tamer, did he?--the mistress downstairs ordered to be civil and the maid upstairs ordered to confess. If she had time, she thought, it would amuse her to show him that things did not run so smoothly as that. She almost wished that Evans wouldn't confess. It would be worth losing her jewels to see his face when he came down to announce his failure.
Steps overhead, the door opened, a voice called, "Sheriff, get your men up here, will you?"
"Didn't I tell you?" he said. "He's done it!" He hurried out of the room.
When, a few minutes later, the district attorney came down he found Miss Bennett alone. He looked about quickly.
Miss Bennett had not wanted Lydia to go--she had urged her not to. What difference did the Emmonses make in comparison with the jewels? But now she sprang to her defense.
"She was forced to go. She had a train to catch--a long-standing engagement. She was so sorry. She left all sorts of messages." This was not, strictly speaking, true.
"She does not seem to take much interest in the recovery of her jewels," he said.
"She has every confidence in you," said Miss Bennett flatteringly.