lived in such ease
and comfort in Clifford Street, and whose wide circle of intimate
friends at country houses included at least two members of the present
Cabinet.

The very women who lost their jewels so unaccountably--wives of wealthy
peers or City magnates--were most of them Charlie Bellingham's "pals,"
and on more than one occasion it was Charlie himself who gave
information to the police and who interviewed thirsty detectives and
inquisitive reporters.

The men who worked with him were only his assistants, shrewd clever
fellows each of them, but lacking either initiative or tact. He directed
them, and they carried out his orders to the letter. His own ever-active
brain formulated the plots and devised the plans by which those shining
stones passed into their possession, while such a thoroughgoing
cosmopolitan was he that he was just as much at home in the Boulevard
des Capucines, or the Ringstrasse, as in Piccadilly, or on the Promenade
des Anglais.

Yes, Count Bindo, when with his forty "Napier," he had engaged me, and I
had on that well-remembered afternoon first made the acquaintance of his
friends in the smoking-room at the Hotel Cecil, had promised me plenty
of driving, with a leaven of adventure.

And surely he had fulfilled his promise!

The long white road, winding like a ribbon through the dark olives, with
the white villas of Cannes, the moonlit bay La Croisette, and the
islands calm in the glorious night, lay before us.

And beside me, interested and trustful, sat the pretty Pierrette--the
victim.

III

IN WHICH THE COUNT IS PUZZLED

My sweet-faced little charge had returned into the back of the car, and
was sound asleep nestling beneath her rugs when, about three o'clock in
the morning, we dashed through the little village of Cagnes, and ran out
upon the long bridge that crosses the broad, rock-strewn river Var, a
mile or two from Nice.

My great search-light was shining far ahead, and the echoes of the
silent, glorious night were awakened by the roar of the exhaust as we
tore along, raising a perfect wall of dust behind us.

Suddenly, on reaching the opposite bank, I saw a man in the shadow
waving his arms, and heard a shout. My first impression was that it was
one of the gendarmes, who are always on duty at that spot, but next
instant, owing to the bend of the road, my search-light fell full upon
the person in question, and I was amazed to find it to be none other
than the audaciou