course, I suppose it's nonsense about seeing things in a glass ball, but
I believe she _does_ contrive to take it seriously, for she seems in
earnest. She did tell people on board ship things about themselves--true
things, they said; and they ought to know!

"As for the jewel affair," he added, "nobody could be sure if there was
anything in her 'visions', but people thought them extraordinary--even
the captain, a hard-headed old chap. You see, a yacht had been sighted
the evening before the robbery while the passengers were at dinner. It
might have kept near, with lights out, for the _Monarchic_ is one of the
huge, slow-going giants, and the yacht might have been a regular little
greyhound. It seems she didn't answer signals. The captain hadn't thought
much of that, because there was a slight fog and she could have missed
them. But it came back to him afterward, and seemed to bear out the
Countess's rigmarole.

"Besides, there was the finding of the patent lock, where she told the
man Jedfield he ought to look for it."

"I don't remember that in the paper."

"It was in several, if not all. She 'saw' the missing lock--a thing that
goes over a bolt and prevents it sliding back--in one of the lifeboats
upon the boat-deck, caught in the canvas covering. Well, it was there!
And there could be no suspicion of her putting the thing where it was
found, so as to make herself seem a true prophetess. She couldn't have
got to the place.

"_That's_ why people were so impressed with the rest of the visions.
We're all inclined to be superstitious. Even I was interested. Though I
don't pin my faith in such things, I asked her to look into the crystal,
and see if she could tell what had become of my gold repeater, which
disappeared the same night."

"Oh!" exclaimed Annesley. "So _you_ had something stolen?"

"It looked like it. Anyhow, the watch went. And the Countess lost a ring
during the trip--a valuable one, I believe. She couldn't 'see' anything
for herself, but she got a glimpse of my repeater in the pocket of a red
waistcoat. Nobody on board confessed to a red waistcoat. And in the
searching of passengers' luggage--which I should have proposed myself if
I hadn't been among the robbed--nothing of the sort materialized.

"However, that proved nothing. Jedfield's pearls and other trinkets must
have been somewhere on board, in someone's possession, if the yacht
vision wasn't true. Yet the strictest search gave no sign of th