empted to steal a pendant set with pearls which I had given to
Mademoiselle Gournay-Martin half an hour before. I caught him in the
act and saved the pendant."

"Good! good! Wait--we have one of the gang--wait till I question him,"
said M. Formery, rubbing his hands; and his eyes sparkled with joy.

"Well, no; I'm afraid we haven't," said the Duke in an apologetic tone.

"What! We haven't? Has he escaped from the police? Oh, those country
police!" cried M. Formery.

"No; I didn't charge him with the theft," said the Duke.

"You didn't charge him with the theft?" cried M. Formery, astounded.

"No; he was very young and he begged so hard. I had the pendant. I let
him go," said the Duke.

"Oh, your Grace, your Grace! Your duty to society!" cried M. Formery.

"Yes, it does seem to have been rather weak," said the Duke; "but there
you are. It's no good crying over spilt milk."

M. Formery folded his arms and walked, frowning, backwards and forwards
across the room.

He stopped, raised his hand with a gesture commanding attention, and
said, "I have no hesitation in saying that there is a connection--an
intimate connection--between the thefts at Charmerace and this
burglary!"

The Duke and the inspector gazed at him with respectful eyes--at least,
the eyes of the inspector were respectful; the Duke's eyes twinkled.

"I am gathering up the threads," said M. Formery. "Inspector, bring up
the concierge and his wife. I will question them on the scene of the
crime. Their dossier should be here. If it is, bring it up with them;
if not, no matter; bring them up without it."

The inspector left the drawing-room. M. Formery plunged at once into
frowning meditation.

"I find all this extremely interesting," said the Duke.

"Charmed! Charmed!" said M. Formery, waving his hand with an
absent-minded air.

The inspector entered the drawing-room followed by the concierge and
his wife. He handed a paper to M. Formery. The concierge, a bearded man
of about sixty, and his wife, a somewhat bearded woman of about
fifty-five, stared at M. Formery with fascinated, terrified eyes. He
sat down in a chair, crossed his legs, read the paper through, and then
scrutinized them keenly.

"Well, have you recovered from your adventure?" he said.

"Oh, yes, sir," said the concierge. "They hustled us a bit, but they
did not really hurt us."

"Nothing to speak of, that is," said his wife. "But all the same, it's
a disgraceful thing that a