solutely sure that they were in the cuffs when he took the
shirt off last night, since he remembers distinctly having polished
them up a bit with his handkerchief when he retired, and he cannot
account for their mysterious disappearance. He has a large and
ferocious bulldog on guard outside the castle every night, so he is
sure no burglar got in, as the dog made no noise during the night.

"As for any possible suspicion attaching to the Earl's servants, I
will say that they have all been with him for several years, all came
highly recommended, and he would not presume to suspect any of them of
having stolen the heirlooms."

"Which apparently reduces us to the two interesting hypotheses that
either the cuff-buttons flew away by themselves or else the Earl hid
them while he was drunk," interrupted Holmes, as he thoughtfully
rubbed his left ear.

At this, the secretary stared, but went on:

"The constables from the village of Hedge-gutheridge, a half a mile
from the castle, to whom the Earl telephoned immediately upon
discovering his loss, and who came up there within twenty minutes
after, were not so confident of the servants' innocence, however, as
they insisted on lining up all fourteen of them in the main corridor
and searching them in a very ungentlemanly manner! As an
after-thought, the constables even had the temerity to search _me_, as
if I would dream of doing such a thing as that,--me, Eustace
Thorneycroft!

"But they couldn't find the precious pair of diamond cuff-buttons on
them at all; so the Earl had me beat it right into London on the next
train, and engage you to ferret out the scoundrels responsible for
this dastardly outrage! His Lordship didn't even give me time to
finish my breakfast, he was so worked up about it, and compelled me to
catch the eight-fourteen train out of Hedge-gutheridge, with a rasher
of bacon and a half-empty cup of coffee on the dining table behind me.
So that's why you see me tearing into these red apples so voraciously,
Mr. Holmes! I reckon the swift ride through the Surrey downs on a
rainy morning sharpened my appetite, too.

"So that's all there is to tell you, except that here's a hundred gold
sovereigns for your retaining fee, and the Earl will positively pay
you a reward of ten thousand pounds more when you recover the lost
pair of cuff-buttons."

And Thorneycroft threw a chamois bag, full of coins, across the table.

"Ah, ha! Five hundred cold bucks in Yankee money!