a disgraced and ruined man. The police are after him."

"So I gathered. He is now in the disguise of an elderly clergyman, and
at present he is----"

"Hiding in that house at Edward Street," Mark cried. "I saw him with
Bentwood. But what has he to do with those diamonds?"

"Everything. I overheard the plot laid," Mary proceeded to explain. "Mr.
Richford went to his wife and demanded the diamonds. He wanted to raise
money so that he could go away in comfort and luxury. He told his wife
exactly how he was situated. She refused to comply with the request on
the ground that the stones belonged to Mr. Richford's creditors. Then
unhappily, Mrs. Richford withdrew the diamonds from the custody of the
hotel officials, being afraid that there would be a bother over them or
something of that kind. Richford watched her do it. Then he met two
accomplices who recently passed as General Gastang and Countess de la
Moray, and the plot was laid. Mrs. Richford was to come here."

"But in the name of fortune, why was she to come here?" Mark asked.

"Perhaps I had better be a little more candid with you," Mary sighed.
"There is a scheme on foot between my brother and some of the gang to
gain possession of certain papers that belonged to Sir Charles Darryll.
There are keys, too, which Mrs. Richford is known to possess. I don't
quite know what the scheme is."

"Anyway I can give a pretty good guess," Mark said. "My father has been
very ill and he sent for me. We have not been very good friends, my
father and I, because I turned my back on the city for the sake of art.
But all that is past now, and we have become reunited. My father seems
to know a great deal about Sir Charles's affairs--something about a ruby
mine or something of that kind. Anyway, I'm to get my information from
Mr. Fleming, who is my father's solicitor. But I am afraid that I am
interrupting you."

"There is not much more to tell," Mary went on. "Colonel Berrington was
induced to write a letter to Mrs. Richford asking her to come here and
see my brother."

"Berrington must have been mad to think of such a thing!"

"No, he did it at my instigation. I managed to communicate with him and
assure him that no harm should come of it. No harm would have come of it
if I had only kept my head and done the right thing. But the fact
remains that Mrs. Richford is in there; she has those diamonds in her
pocket and the thieves are on the track. It seems to me----"

Mary did not