toward the ceiling.

And presently he went away without saying anything more.

But the more I thought of it, the more the inflection he had given
that word seemed an interrogation rather than an affirmation.

And when I opened my paper next morning, I more than half expected to
be greeted with a black headline announcing the looting of the
strong-room of _La Bretagne_. But there was no such headline, and
with a sigh, half of relief and half of disappointment, I turned to
the other news.

But two weeks later, a black headline _did_ catch my eye:

MICHAELOVITCH JEWELS FALSE!

FRENCH DETECTIVE TAKES BACK PASTE IMITATIONS FROM AMERICA.

Fraud Discovered When the Grand Duke Michael Sends them to a
Jeweller to be Reset.

I had no need to read the article which followed, for I saw in a
flash what had occurred. I saw, too, why Crochard had retained the
paste jewels--he had a use for them! How or where the substitution
had been made, I could only guess; but one thing was certain: the two
weeks which had elapsed before the theft was discovered had given him
ample opportunity to dispose of his plunder. I felt sorry for the
Grand Duke; sorrier still for that admirable M. Pigot; but, after
all, one could not but admire the cleverness of the man who had
despoiled them.

Who, I wondered, had bought the Mazarin? Surely there was a diamond
most difficult to sell.

It could, of course, be cut up--- but that would be sacrilege!

That question was answered, before long, in an unexpected way--a way
which filled many columns in the papers, which delighted the
comedy-loving French, and which gave Crochard a unique advertisement.
One morning, in the personal column of _Le Matin_, appeared a notice,
of which this is the English:

"To M. the Director of the Museum of the Louvre:

"It has been my good fortune to come into possession of the
rose-diamond known as the Mazarin. It is my wish to restore it
to your collection, in order that it may no longer be necessary
to delude the public with an imitation of coloured glass. It will
give me great pleasure to present this brilliant to you, with my
compliments, provided His Highness, the Grand Duke Michael, who
preceded me in possession of the diamond, will join me in the gift.
Should he refuse, it will be my melancholy duty to cleave the
diamond into a number of smaller stones, as it is too large for