t the brooch was
disturbed?"

"Yes, that was so."

"Thank you, Mrs. Cazenove. I don't think I need trouble you any further
just at present. I think, Sir James," Hewitt added, turning to the
baronet, who was standing by the door----"I think we will see the other
room and take a walk outside the house, if you please. I suppose, by the
by, that there is no getting at the matches left behind on the first and
second occasions?"

"No," Sir James answered. "Certainly not here. The Scotland Yard man may
have kept his."

The room that Mrs. Armitage had occupied presented no peculiar feature. A
few feet below the window the roof of the billiard-room was visible,
consisting largely of skylight. Hewitt glanced casually about the walls,
ascertained that the furniture and hangings had not been materially
changed since the second robbery, and expressed his desire to see the
windows from the outside. Before leaving the room, however, he wished to
know the names of any persons who were known to have been about the house
on the occasions of all three robberies.

"Just carry your mind back, Sir James," he said. "Begin with yourself, for
instance. Where were you at these times?"

"When Mrs. Heath lost her bracelet, I was in Tagley Wood all the
afternoon. When Mrs. Armitage was robbed, I believe I was somewhere about
the place most of the time she was out. Yesterday I was down at the farm."
Sir James' face broadened. "I don't know whether you call those suspicious
movements," he added, and laughed.

"Not at all; I only asked you so that, remembering your own movements, you
might the better recall those of the rest of the household. Was anybody,
to your knowledge--_anybody_, mind--in the house on all three occasions?"

"Well, you know, it's quite impossible to answer for all the servants.
You'll only get that by direct questioning--I can't possibly remember
things of that sort. As to the family and visitors--why, you don't suspect
any of them, do you?"

"I don't suspect a soul, Sir James," Hewitt answered, beaming genially,
"not a soul. You see, I can't suspect people till I know something about
where they were. It's quite possible there will be independent evidence
enough as it is, but you must help me if you can. The visitors, now. Was
there any visitor here each time--or even on the first and last occasions
only?"

"No, not one. And my own sister, perhaps you will be pleased to know, was
only there at the time of the first ro