cried aloud. 'Oh, Lois, my diamonds!'

'Don't distress yourself,' I answered, holding her back, for I verily
believe she would have leapt from the train. 'He has only taken the
outer shell, with the sandwich-case inside it. _Here_ is the steel box!'
And I produced it, triumphantly.

She seized it, overjoyed. 'How did this happen?' she cried, hugging it,
for she loved those diamonds.

'Very simply,' I answered. 'I saw the man was a rogue, and that he had a
confederate with him in another carriage. So, while you were gone to the
_buffet_ at Ostend, I slipped the box out of the case, and put in the
sandwich-tin, that he might carry it off, and we might have proofs
against him. All you have to do now is to inform the conductor, who will
telegraph to stop the train to Paris. I spoke to him about that at
Ostend, so that everything is ready.'

She positively hugged me. 'My dear,' she cried, 'you are the cleverest
little woman I ever met in my life! Who on earth could have suspected
such a polished gentleman? Why, you're worth your weight in gold. What
the dickens shall I do without you at Schlangenbad?'

II

THE ADVENTURE OF THE SUPERCILIOUS _ATTACHE_

The Count must have been an adept in the gentle art of quick-change
disguise; for though we telegraphed full particulars of his appearance
from Louvain, the next station, nobody in the least resembling either
him or his accomplice, the shabby-looking man, could be unearthed in the
Paris train when it drew up at Brussels, its first stopping-place. They
must have transformed themselves meanwhile into two different persons.
Indeed, from the outset, I had suspected his moustache--'twas so _very_
distinguished.

When we reached Cologne, the Cantankerous Old Lady overwhelmed me with
the warmth of her thanks and praises. Nay, more; after breakfast next
morning, before we set out by slow train for Schlangenbad, she burst
like a tornado into my bedroom at the Cologne hotel with a cheque for
twenty guineas, drawn in my favour. 'That's for you, my dear,' she said,
handing it to me, and looking really quite gracious.

I glanced at the piece of paper and felt my face glow crimson. 'Oh, Lady
Georgina,' I cried; 'you misunderstand. You forget that I am a lady.'

'Nonsense, child, nonsense! Your courage and promptitude were worth ten
times that sum,' she exclaimed, positively slipping her arm round my
neck. 'It was your courage I particularly admired, Lois; because you
faced