had recovered my surprise and had my
wits about me.

"Why, that's just it," I said. "We had only come across them, by
accident, that very moment!"

Mr. Corbeck drew back and looked hard at Miss Trelawny and myself;
turning his eyes from one to the other as he asked:

"Do you mean to tell me that no one brought them here; that you found
them in that drawer? That, so to speak, no one at all brought them
back?"

"I suppose someone must have brought them here; they couldn't have come
of their own accord. But who it was, or when, or how, neither of us
knows. We shall have to make inquiry, and see if any of the servants
know anything of it."

We all stood silent for several seconds. It seemed a long time. The
first to speak was the Detective, who said in an unconscious way:

"Well, I'm damned! I beg your pardon, miss!" Then his mouth shut like
a steel trap.

We called up the servants, one by one, and asked them if they knew
anything of some articles placed in a drawer in the boudoir; but none
of them could throw any light on the circumstance. We did not tell
them what the articles were; or let them see them.

Mr. Corbeck packed the lamps in cotton wool, and placed them in a tin
box. This, I may mention incidentally, was then brought up to the
detectives' room, where one of the men stood guard over them with a
revolver the whole night. Next day we got a small safe into the house,
and placed them in it. There were two different keys. One of them I
kept myself; the other I placed in my drawer in the Safe Deposit vault.
We were all determined that the lamps should not be lost again.

About an hour after we had found the lamps, Doctor Winchester arrived.
He had a large parcel with him, which, when unwrapped, proved to be the
mummy of a cat. With Miss Trelawny's permission he placed this in the
boudoir; and Silvio was brought close to it. To the surprise of us
all, however, except perhaps Doctor Winchester, he did not manifest the
least annoyance; he took no notice of it whatever. He stood on the
table close beside it, purring loudly. Then, following out his plan,
the Doctor brought him into Mr. Trelawny's room, we all following.
Doctor Winchester was excited; Miss Trelawny anxious. I was more than
interested myself, for I began to have a glimmering of the Doctor's
idea. The Detective was calmly and coldly superior; but Mr. Corbeck,
who was an enthusiast, was full of eager curiosity.

The moment Docto