“It was the crime of a treacherous demon.”

“With jealousy the chief motive, eh?”

“No doubt of it.”

“Yet her venomous arrow found the wrong mark.”

“That’s just the size of it,” said Nick.  “In the light of what you saw and heard on the stage that night, it is plain that Cervera is passionately in love with Venner.”

“Surely.”

“You remember that you saw him talking with Violet Page, and then observed Cervera in the opposite wings, angrily watching something or somebody out of your range of view.  Plainly enough, now, she was watching Venner and the singer.”

“No doubt of it,” declared Chick.  “And she looked fit to use a poniard then and there.”

“Jealousy,” growled Nick.  “She had been secretly watching Venner.  She had discovered his love for Violet, and decided that the girl was a rival to be feared.  Her fiery Spanish blood would shrink at nothing.  She went the limit, and tried to murder her rival.  In so doing, however, she but killed another.”

“She must have worked adroitly to have accomplished what she did.”

“It may not have been so very difficult,” replied Nick.  “She was on the stage each night, and also that infernal snake den.  She quietly learned which of the venomous reptiles would best serve her deadly purpose, and then found an opportunity and a way by which to secretly steal it.”

“A hazardous job at that,” muttered Chick.

“The jealousy of such a woman fears nothing,” Nick rejoined.  “To lure the desired snake into a box, and then take it home and confine it in the jewel casket, may have been done quite easily.”

“It must have been done before the company closed its engagement.”

“No doubt,” admitted Nick.  “Then Cervera was too crafty to use it at once.  She waited nearly a week.  Then she dressed herself in cheap attire, put on a thick veil, and lay in wait for her rival’s maid and companion, to whom she gave the package and her instructions regarding it.”

“What first led you to suspect the crime and the means, Nick?” inquired Chick, curiously.

“Several facts,” explained Nick.  “The girl’s sudden death seemed peculiar.  The jewel casket beside her was empty, at once suggesting that something had been removed or fallen from it.  Yet nothing was to be found.”

“That’s true.”

“The paper wrapper was punctured with a pin in many places, the holes running even through the lining of the casket.  That fact, too, was suggestive.  People are not in the habit of doing up parcels and then punching them full of holes with a pin.”

“Well, hardly.”

“Cervera made those holes, Chick, in order that her venomous captive might not expire for want of air.”

“No doubt of it, Nick.  But what do you think led Mary Barton to open the package after having been told not to do so?”

“Curiosity, perhaps,” replied Nick.  “Or possibly she considered the circumstances to be so strange that she felt that she had a right to open it.  Be that as it may, it is plain that Mary Barton sat down on the park seat, after leaving Boyden and there briefly considered the matter.”