the cowardly assassins was ever found, and only old Simpson,
waiting, in final charge as household major domo for Douglas Fraser's
arrival, could enlighten the perturbed commanding General with certain
vague suspicions. But Ram Lal slept now in a growing security.

"It is clear that the master was watched in his secret preparations for
the voyage home," said Simpson, "and some outsiders, with the help of
some traitor among the blacks, paid off an old score. I could tell of
many an old enemy which he gained in these twenty years." sadly said
Simpson. "I feel they only mussed up the room to give an appearance of
robbery. The mahogany boxes were merely part of master's old wedding
outfit in London, and I know that they were only filled with toilet
articles and little medical stores. They only lugged them off to make a
show."

And General Willoughby, following up Simpson's clues, easily discovered
a shady side of Johnstone's past life, not compatible with the pompous
panegyrics of the Indian press, the resolutions of a dozen clubs
and societies, the minutes of the Bank of Bengal, and other mortuary
literature of a complimentary nature. It was some old curse come down
upon the defenseless man in his old age! And so no one ever sought for
the solution of the mystery in the deep dejection of Ram Lal Singh, who
vainly mourned for his lost jewels and money. Fear tied his hands, and
his tongue was palsied by guilt. He vindictively, however, raised his
customary "rate of usance," and swore in his own hardened heart that the
needy borrowers of Delhi should recoup him fully before a year. The one
Star gleaming in the dark night of financial blackness was the vengeance
upon the man who had tricked and despoiled a fellow-robber thirty years
before.

Major Hawke on his homeward way counted up a goodly store of twelve
thousand pounds in money, jewels of nearly the same value, and the
skillfully raised and properly indorsed drafts on London for twenty
thousand more. "If I can only get these passed by the executors I am a
made man for life," mused the Major as the Ramchunder sped over the blue
Arabian sea. "If I discover the secret of the stolen jewels, they must
yield, to save both family honor and money; if I don't, then, Ram Lal
must save his life and protect the drafts. I will negotiate them with
the Credit Lyonnais, in Paris, and force Berthe to help me. No one shall
rob me now," somewhat illogically mused the brilliant adventurer,