which
suggested that one of your men was in danger of underestimating an
important clue," continued Colwyn. "That decided me. I went back with
Mr. Heredith in my car the night before last. After my arrival at the
moat-house I made an interesting discovery--quite by accident. I
discovered that a pearl necklace which had been given to Mrs. Heredith
by Sir Philip Heredith was missing from the jewel-case in which it had
been locked. That jewel-case was in Mrs. Heredith's bedroom on the night
she was murdered."

This piece of news was so unexpected that it caught Merrington off his
guard.

"A jewel robbery as well as murder!" he ejaculated, in something like
dismay.

"It looks like it. You will be able to form a better judgment when I
have told you all the circumstances of the discovery."

Merrington had long ago convinced himself that the case he had worked up
against Hazel Rath did not admit of the slightest possibility of doubt;
and, like all obstinate men, he adhered to his convictions with
additional strength in the face of anything tending to weaken them. As
he recovered from his surprise at the private detective's piece of news,
he listened to his account of the opening of the jewel-case with the
wary air of one seeking a loop-hole in an unexpected obstacle. Before
Colwyn had finished he had found it in the belief that Hazel Rath, and
nobody else, had stolen the missing jewels.

"This girl is a thief as well as a murderer," was the manner in which he
expressed his opinion when Colwyn had ceased speaking. "She has stolen
the necklace."

"She may have done so, but it is too great an assumption to make without
proof," returned Colwyn. "You must be perfectly well aware, Mr.
Merrington, that this belated discovery is of the utmost importance to
the Crown case, one way or the other. If you can prove that Hazel Rath
stole the necklace, it gives you an unassailable case against her. If
the necklace was stolen by somebody else, you are confronted with a new
and strange aspect of this murder."

"Not to the extent of lessening the strength of the case against this
girl," replied Merrington doggedly. "She was seen going to the staircase
leading to Mrs. Heredith's room just before the murder; her brooch was
found upstairs in the room; and the revolver and her handkerchief were
found concealed in her mother's rooms. Add to that, her silence under
accusation, and it is impossible to get away from the belief that she,
and n