have been made only by some adamantine substance! The mystery was solved!
The robber of the Duchess of Brokedale stood before me."

A suppressed murmur of excitement went through the assembled spirits, and
even Messrs. Hawkshaw and Le Coq were silent in the presence of such
genius.

"My plan of action was immediately formulated. The man was completely at
my mercy. He had stolen the tiara, and had it concealed in the lining of
his hat. I rose and locked the door. My visitor sank with a groan into my
chair.

"'Why did you do that?' he stammered, as I turned the key in the lock.

"'To keep my Scotch whiskey from evaporating,' I said, dryly. 'Now, my
lord,' I added, 'it will pay your Grace to let me have your hat. I know
who you are. You are the Duke of Brokedale. The Duchess of Brokedale has
lost a valuable tiara of diamonds, and you have not lost your watch.
Somebody has stolen the diamonds, and it may be that somewhere there is a
Bunker who has lost such a watch as I have described. The queer part of it
all is,' I continued, handing him the decanter, and taking a couple of
loaded six-shooters out of my escritoire--'the queer part of it all is
that I have the watch and you have the tiara. We'll swap the swag. Hand
over the bauble, please.'

"'But--' he began.

"'We won't have any butting, your Grace,' said I. 'I'll give you the
watch, and you needn't mind the £200; and you must give me the tiara, or
I'll accompany you forthwith to the police, and have a search made of your