e body cannot be interred in the
mausoleum until its completion, and it would be difficult to get an
order to disinter it if it were once underground, Captain Glossop has
consented to have it placed for a time in the new and as yet unused
vault which he had erected last month in Brompton Cemetery."

"'A friend in need is a friend indeed,'" quoted Cleek sententiously;
then, after a moment, "Mr. Narkom," he said.

"Yes, old chap?"

"Let's go down and have another cup of tea, I want to have a word or two
with the young duke."

"My dear fellow! Good heaven, do you think----"

"No; I've got past 'thinking.' I know one thing, however; for I've been
poking about while you were away. The cook's room is just over this one,
but the cook didn't do it. A five-foot woman can't reach up and cut down
eight and a half feet of bell-rope, and--look, see! She wouldn't be
likely to do it with the blade of a safety razor if she could!"

III

The little gathering in the drawing-room had not undergone much in the
way of a change since they left it Cleek and the superintendent saw when
they returned. The tea things had been removed, for the young duke's
peppery temper was still in the ascendant and he was parading his
six-feet-one of vigorous young manhood up and down the floor in a manner
which wasn't the best thing in the world for the white-and-green Persian
carpet. The tall captain sat on a low sofa beside his beautiful wife,
who thoughtfully turned her rings on her fingers and followed with
grave, sad-looking eyes the constantly pacing figure of the restless
duke.

"My dear fellow, of course neither Amy nor I believe," the captain was
saying, as Cleek and Narkom made their reappearance; "but the thing is,
can you make others as disbelieving when your unhappy condition is so
well known and her Grace's maid positively swears that the door was not
locked, and---- Ah, here you are again, Mr. Narkom, and your good friend
the amateur investigator with you."

"Amateur fiddlesticks!" blurted out the young duke, with a short,
derisive laugh. "Fellow who doesn't know any better than to look for
jewels that are not lost, and look for them on a lady's fingers at that!
By Jove, you know, Glossop, if it had been my wife!---- But there! you
easy-going fellows will swallow anything for the sake of keeping peace.
Well, Mr. Crime Investigator, found out who did it yet, eh?"

"Perhaps not exactly," replied Cleek, moving over toward the sofa; "