Part 42 (1/2)

”Ah! and it may now be too late, Cross,” said the lady in question, who had been standing by all the time. Then, addressing me, she said--

”The whole affair seemed most mysterious, sir, therefore I went round and saw the inspector of police this morning, and told him briefly of our strange visitors. I'm rather glad they're gone, for one never likes unpleasantness in a hotel. Yet, of course, the fault cannot be that of the hotel-keeper if he takes in an undesirable.”

”Of course not. But what view did the inspector hold?”

”Inspector Deane merely expressed the opinion that they were suspicious persons--that's all.”

”So they seem to have been,” I remarked, without satisfying her as to who I really was. My story there was that I had business relations with Mr. Lewis, and had followed him there in the hope of catching him up.

We were in the manageress's room, a cosy apartment in the back of the quaint old hostelry, when a waitress came and announced Inspector Deane. The official was at once shown in, whereupon he said abruptly--

”The truth is out, Miss Hammond, regarding your strange visitors of last night.” And he glanced inquiringly at myself.

”You can speak openly before this gentleman,” she said, noticing his hesitation.

”The fact is, a circular-telegram has just been sent out from Scotland Yard, saying that by the express from Edinburgh due at King's Cross at 10.45 last night the Archd.u.c.h.ess Marie Louise, niece of the Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria, was a pa.s.senger. She had been staying at Balmoral, and travelled south in a special saloon. When the luggage came to be collected a dressing-case was missing--it evidently having been stolen in transit by somebody who had obtained access to the saloon while on the journey. The corridor was open between York and London, so that the restaurant could be reached, and it is believed that the thief, or thieves, managed to pa.s.s in un.o.bserved and throw the bag out upon the line to some confederate awaiting it. The bag contained a magnificent diamond necklet--a historic heirloom of the Imperial family of the Hapsburgs--and is valued at fifty thousand pounds!”

”And those people who met here were the thieves!” gasped the manageress, turning instantly pale.

”Without a doubt. You see, the Great Northern main line runs close by us--at Essendine. It may be that the thieves were waiting for it near there--waiting for it to be dropped out in the darkness. All the platelayers along the line are now searching for the bag, but we here are certain that the thieves spent the night in Stamford.”

”Not the thieves,” I said. ”The receivers.”

”Exactly.”

”But the young foreigner has it!” cried the boots. ”He and his friend set off for London with it.”

”Yes. They would reach London in time to catch one of the boat-trains from Victoria or Charing Cross this morning, and by this time they're safely out of the country--carrying the necklet with them. Ah!

Scotland Yard is terribly slow. But the delay seems to have been caused by the uncertainty of Her Highness as to whether she had actually brought the dressing-case with her, and she had to telegraph to Balmoral before she could really state that it had been stolen.”

”The two men, Douglas Winton and his friend, came here in a motor-car,” I remarked. ”They had evidently been waiting somewhere near the line, in order to pick up the stolen bag.”

”Without a doubt, sir,” exclaimed the inspector. ”Their actions here, according to what Miss Hammond told me this morning, were most suspicious. It's a pity that the boots did not communicate with us.”

”Yes, Mr. Deane,” said the man referred to, ”I'm very sorry now that I didn't. But I felt loath to disturb people at that hour of the morning.”

”You took no note of the number of either of the three cars which came, I suppose?”

”No. We have so many cars here that I hardly noticed even what colour they were.”

”Ah! That's unfortunate. Still, we shall probably pick up some clue to them along the road. Somebody is certain to have seen them, or know something about them.”

”This gentleman here knows something about them,” remarked the manageress, indicating myself.

The inspector turned to me in quick surprise, and no doubt saw the surprise in my face.

”I--I know nothing,” I managed to exclaim blankly, at once realizing the terrible pitfall into which I had fallen.