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you study swimming on a carpet? No—you must go where waters are deep. Good day, Mr. Ballou.”

Rita followed him into the hall. “I’m afraid we haven't been able to help you,” she remarked.

“Thanks all same,” bowed Chan.

“I’m so sorry,” the woman said. “I want to see you succeed. If there was only something I could do——”

Chan’s eyes caught the flash of rings on her fingers. “There might be,” he remarked suddenly.

“Anything,” she replied.

“Last night you saw Miss Shelah Fane after long separation. Quick glance of women catches points men despise to notice. You recall all she was wearing, no doubt?”

“Why, of course. She had on a stunning gown—ivory satin, it was——”

“I speak mostly of jewels,” Chan told her. “What woman is so blind she fails to note other woman’s jewelry?”

Rita smiled. “Not I. She had on a gorgeous string of pearls, and a diamond bracelet——”

“And her rings?”

“Only one. A huge emerald I remember seeing in Hollywood. It was on her right hand.”

“This was when you last encountered her? The young people were already in the water enjoying warm swim?”

“Julie and that boy were—yes.”

Charlie bowed low. ‘‘My gratitude has no bounds. Now I must go on with my work. Good-by.”

He went out into the perpetual valley rain, and turned his car toward the sunlit beach.