old out any hope of recovery?"

"I'm afraid they are not sanguine. You see, the pair had a good start,
and I expect they belong to one of the leading gangs of jewel thieves
in Europe. The entire business must have been carefully planned.
Probably I was shadowed from the moment I left your bankers'."

"It's unfortunate."

"Yes, indeed. I felt sure that you would attach some importance to
the jewel-case. So I have instructed the police to do their utmost."

She seemed taken aback by the lightness of my tone.

"My friend, those jewels were few, but they were valuable. They were
worth--I don't know what they were worth. There was a necklace that
must have cost fifteen thousand pounds."

"Yes--the jewels."

"Well! Is it not the jewels that are missing?"

"Dear lady," I said, "I aspire to be thought a man of the world--it is
a failing of youth; but, then, I am young. As a man of the world, I
cogitated a pretty good long time before I set out for Paris with your
jewels."

"You felt there was a danger of robbery?"

"Exactly."

"And you were not mistaken." There was irony in her voice.

"True! But let me proceed. A man of the world would see at once that a
jewel-case was an object to attract the eyes of those who live by
their wits."

"I should imagine so."

"Therefore, as a man of the world, I endeavored to devise a scheme of
safeguarding my little cargo."

"And you--"

"I devised one."

"What was it?"

"I took all the jewels out of the case, and put them into my various
pockets; and I carried the case to divert attention from those
pockets."

She looked at me, her face at first all perplexity; gradually the
light broke upon her.

"Simple, wasn't it?" I murmured.

"Then the jewels are not stolen?"

"Certainly not. The jewels are in my pockets. If you recollect, I said
it was the jewel-case that was stolen."

I began to smile.

"Mr. Foster," she said, smiling too, "I am extremely angry."

"Forgive the joke," I entreated. "Perhaps it is a bad one--but I hope
not a very bad one, because very bad jokes are inexcusable. And here
are your jewels."

I put on the expression of a peccant but hopeful schoolboy, as I
emptied one pocket after another of the scintillating treasures. The
jewels lay, a gorgeous heap, on her lap. The necklace which she had
particularly mentioned was of pearls. There were also rubies and
emeralds, upon which she seemed to set special store, and a brooch in
the form of a but