treating him to an appetizer in the bar of the club-house, had suggested
that they should lunch together and got him into a quiet corner of the
dining-room, he launched forth at once on the pertinent matter of the
day.

"Heard all about this discovery of those missing Saxonsteade diamonds?"
he asked as he and Bryce picked up their knives and forks. "Queer
business that, isn't it? Of course, it's got to do with those murders!"

"Think so?" asked Bryce.

"Can anybody think anything else?" said Sackville in his best dogmatic
manner. "Why, the thing's plain. From what's been let out--not much,
certainly, but enough--it's quite evident."

"What's your theory?" inquired Bryce.

"My stepfather--knowing old bird he is, too!--sums the whole thing up to
a nicety," answered Sackville. "That old chap, Braden, you know, is in
possession of that secret. He comes to Wrychester about it. But somebody
else knows. That somebody gets rid of Braden. Why? So that the secret'll
be known then only to one--the murderer! See! And why? Why?"

"Well, why?" repeated Bryce. "Don't see, so far."

"You must be dense, then," said Sackville with the lofty superiority of
youth. "Because of the reward, of course! Don't you know that there's
been a standing offer--never withdrawn!--of five thousand pounds for
news of those jewels?"

"No, I didn't," answered Bryce.

"Fact, sir--pure fact," continued Sackville. "Now, five thousand,
divided in two, is two thousand five hundred each. But five thousand,
undivided, is--what?"

"Five thousand--apparently," said Bryce.

"Just so! And," remarked Sackville knowingly, "a man'll do a lot for
five thousand."

"Or--according to your argument--for half of it," said Bryce. "What
you--or your stepfather's--aiming at comes to this, that suspicion rests
on Braden's sharer in the secret. That it?"

"And why not?" asked Sackville. "Look at what we know--from the account
in the paper this morning. This other chap, Glassdale, waits a bit until
the first excitement about Braden is over, then he comes forward and
tells the Duke where the Duchess's diamonds are planted. Why? So that he
can get the five thousand pound reward! Plain as a pikestaff! Only, the
police are such fools."

"And what about Collishaw?" asked Bryce, willing to absorb all his
companion's ideas.

"Part of the game," declared Sackville. "Same man that got rid of
Braden got rid of that chap! Probably Collishaw knew a bit and had to
be silence