"Had any of the servants left you between the time the brooch was lost and
the date of the pawn ticket?"

"No."

"Were all your servants at home on the day the brooch was pawned?"

"Oh, yes! I made that inquiry myself."

"Very good! What next?"

"Yesterday--and this is what made me send for you. My late wife's sister
came here last Tuesday, and we gave her the room from which Mrs. Heath
lost her bracelet. She had with her a very old-fashioned brooch,
containing a miniature of her father, and set in front with three very
fine brilliants and a few smaller stones. Here we are, though, at the
Croft. I'll tell you the rest indoors."

Hewitt laid his hand on the baronet's arm. "Don't pull up, Sir James," he
said. "Drive a little farther. I should like to have a general idea of the
whole case before we go in."

"Very good!" Sir James Norris straightened the horse's head again and went
on. "Late yesterday afternoon, as my sister-in-law was changing her dress,
she left her room for a moment to speak to my daughter in her room, almost
adjoining. She was gone no more than three minutes, or five at most, but
on her return the brooch, which had been left on the table, had gone. Now
the window was shut fast, and had not been tampered with. Of course the
door was open, but so was my daughter's, and anybody walking near must
have been heard. But the strangest circumstance, and one that almost makes