ongue to excuse myself, but I remembered that
I was in the service of Rudolph Rayne, the country squire of Overstow,
and paid handsomely. And, after all, it was no great risk to fling the
stuffed dog into the river.

I am a lover of dogs, and had the animal been alive nothing would
have induced me to carry out his suggestion.

But as it had been dead long ago, for I saw some signs of moth in the
fur, and as I was in Paris at the bidding of my employer, I consented,
and carrying the little Peke beneath my arm I walked along the Quai du
Louvre to the old bridge which, in two parts, spans the river. Just
before I gained the Rue Dauphine, on the other side, I paused and
looked down into the water. An agent of police was regulating the
traffic on my left, and he being in controversy with the driver of a
motor-lorry, I took my opportunity and dropped the dog with its secret
into the water.

Two boys had watched me, so I waited a moment, then turning upon my
heel, I retraced my steps back to the Hotel Ombrone, having been
absent about twenty minutes.

As I entered Room 88, three Frenchmen, who had ascended in the lift,
followed me in.

Madame was writing a letter, while Duperre was in the act of lighting
a cigarette. We started in surprise, for next instant we all three
found ourselves under arrest; the well-dressed strangers being
officers of the Surete. One of them was the man in the white spats who
had been attracted by Madame in the Bois.

"Arrest!" gasped Duperre.

As he did so, an undersized, rather shabbily-dressed man of sixty or
so put his head into the door inquisitively, and realizing that
something unpleasant was occurring, quickly withdrew and disappeared.
I saw that he exchanged with Duperre a glance of recognition combined
with apprehension, and concluded that it was the man Heydenryck, the
dealer in stolen gems.

Meanwhile the elder of the three detectives told us that they had
reason to believe that jewelry stolen from a London hotel was in our
possession, and that the place would be searched.

"Messieurs, you are quite at liberty to search," laughed Duperre,
treating the affair as a joke. "Here are my keys!"

At once they began to rummage every hole and corner in the room as
well as the luggage of both Duperre and his wife. The brown suit-case
which was in the wardrobe in the bedroom attracted their attention,
but when unlocked was found to contain only a few modern novels.

At this they drew b