rward and
was gazing fixedly at the man. Bellward leaned towards the girl
until his stubbly hair actually touched her soft brown curls. He
was gazing intently at her eyes.

He was apparently well satisfied with his inspection, for he gave
a sigh of satisfaction and turned to Mrs. Malplaquet.

"She'll give no more trouble now!" he remarked airily.

"Ah! Bellward," sighed Mrs. Malplaquet, "you're incomparable!
What an undefeatable combination you and I would have made if
we'd met twenty years sooner!"

And she threw him a coquettish glance.

"Ah, indeed!" returned Bellward pensively. "But a night like this
makes me feel twenty years older, Minna. He's a daredevil, this
Strangwise. Imagine going back to that infernal inn when the
police might have broken in on us any minute. But he is a
determined chap. He doesn't seem to know what it is to be beaten.
He wanted to make sure that Nur-el-Din had not recovered the
jewel from him, though he declares that it has never left him day
or night since he got possession of it. He fairly made hay of her
room back at the inn there."

"Well," said Mrs. Malplaquet rather spitefully, "he seems to be
beaten this time. He hasn't found his precious Star of Poland."

"No," answered the man reflectively, "but I think he will!"

Mrs. Malplaquet laughed shrilly.

"And how, may I ask? From what Strangwise told me himself, the
thing has utterly vanished. And he doesn't seem to have any clue
as to who has taken it!"

"Perhaps not," replied Bellward, who appeared to have a high
opinion of Strangwise, "but, like all Germans, our friend is
thorough. If he does not see the direct road, he proceeds by a
process of elimination until he hits upon it. He did not expect
to find the jewel in Nur-el-Din's room; he told me as much
himself, but he searched because he is thorough in everything. Do
you know why he really went back to the Dyke Inn?"

"Why?" asked Mrs. Malplaquet.

"To secure our young friend here," answered Bellward with a
glance at Barbara.

Mrs. Malplaquet made a little grimace to bid him to be prudent in
what he said before the girl.

"Bah!" the man laughed, "you understand nothing of what we are
saying, do you?" he said, addressing Barbara.

The girl moved uneasily.

"I understand nothing of what you are saying," she replied in a
strained voice.

"This girl was the last person to have the jewel before
Strangwise," Bellward said, continuing his conversation with
Mrs. Ma