mprobability
of his having committed the crime is so great.'

'What is the evidence against him?'

His lordship spoke with the dry deliberation of an aged solicitor.

'The robbery was committed on the night of October the fifth. All day
there had been a heavy rain, and the grounds were wet. For reasons
into which I do not care to enter, John Haddon was familiar with this
house, and with our grounds. He was well known to my servants, and,
unfortunately, popular with them, for he is an openhanded spendthrift.
The estate of his elder brother, Lord Steffenham, adjoins my own to
the west, and Lord Steffenham's house is three miles from where we
sit. On the night of the fifth a ball was given in the mansion of Lord
Steffenham, to which, of course, my niece and myself were invited, and
which invitation we accepted. I had no quarrel with the elder brother.
It was known to John Haddon that my niece intended to wear her
necklace of emeralds. The robbery occurred at a time when most crimes
of that nature are committed in country houses, namely, while we were
at dinner, an hour during which the servants are almost invariably in
the lower part of the house. In October the days are getting short.
The night was exceptionally dark, for, although the rain had ceased,
not a star was visible. The thief placed a ladder against the sill of
one of the upper windows, opened it, and came in. He must have been
perfectly familiar with the house, for there are evidences that he
went direct to the boudoir where the jewel case had been carelessly
left on my niece's dressing table when she came down to dinner. It had
been taken from the strong room about an hour before. The box was
locked, but, of course, that made no difference. The thief wrenched
the lid off, breaking the lock, stole the necklace, and escaped by the
way he came.'

'Did he leave the window open, and the ladder in place?'

'Yes.'

'Doesn't that strike you as very extraordinary?'

'No. I do not assert that he is a professional burglar, who would take
all the precautions against the discovery that might have been
expected from one of the craft. Indeed, the man's carelessness in
going straight across the country to his brother's house, and leaving
footsteps in the soft earth, easily traceable almost to the very
boundary fence, shows he is incapable of any serious thought.'

'Is John Haddon rich?'

'He hasn't a penny.'

'Did you go to the ball that night?'

'Yes, I had pr