ntently.

"Hastings," he said to the policeman, who all the time was pursuing a
stream of garrulous, inconsequent remarks, "I wonder whether you'd step
outside and see Mr. Richards, the butler. Ask him if he would be so good
as to spare me a moment."

"I'll do it, sir," the man answered, with one more glance through the
open space. "Lord!" he added, "they must have been in through there and
out again like cats!"

"It was quick work, certainly," Peter Ruff answered, genially, "but
then, an enterprise like this would, of course, only be attempted by
experts."

Peter Ruff was not left alone long. Mr. Richards came hurrying in.

"This is a terrible business, sir!" he said. "His lordship has excused
me from superintending the service of the dinner. Anything that I can do
for you I am to give my whole attention to. These were my orders."

"Very good of you, Richards," Peter Ruff answered, "very thoughtful of
his lordship. In the first place, then, I think, we will have the rest
of this jewelry packed in cases at once. Not that anything further is
likely to happen," he continued, "but still, it would be just as well
out of the way. I will remain here and superintend this, if you will
send a couple of careful servants. In the meantime, I want you to do
something else for me."

"Certainly, sir," the man answered.

"I want a plan of the house," Peter Ruff said, "with the names of the
guests who occupy this wing."

The butler nodded gravely.

"I can supply you with it very shortly, sir," he said. "There is no
difficulty at all about the plan, as I have several in my room; but it
will take me some minutes to pencil in the names."

Peter Ruff nodded.

"I will superintend things here until you return," he said.

"It is to be hoped, sir," the man said, as he retreated, "that the
gentleman from Scotland Yard will catch the thieves. After all, they
hadn't more than ten minutes' start, and our Daimler is a flyer."

"I'm sure I hope so," Peter Ruff answered, heartily.

But, alas! no such fortune was in store for Mr. John Dory. At daybreak
he returned in a borrowed trap from a neighboring railway station.

"Our tires had been cut," he said, in reply to a storm of questions.
"They began to go, one after the other, as soon as we had any speed on.
We traced the car to Salisbury, and there isn't a village within forty
miles that isn't looking out for it."

Peter Ruff, who had just returned from an early morning walk, nodde