or five of his men to
proceed cautiously up the mews, whilst the same number were to form a
line all along the front of Phillimore Terrace between the mews and the
High Street.

"Remember, the back-garden walls threw long and dense shadows, but the
silhouette of the man would be clearly outlined if he made any attempt
at climbing over them. Mr. Howard felt quite sure that the thief was
bent on recovering the stolen goods, which, no doubt, he had hidden in
the rear of one of the houses. He would be caught _in flagrante
delicto_, and, with a heavy sentence hovering over him, he would
probably be induced to name his accomplice. Mr. Francis Howard was
thoroughly enjoying himself.

"The minutes sped on; absolute silence, in spite of the presence of so
many men, reigned in the dark and deserted mews.

"Of course, this night's adventure was never allowed to get into the
papers," added the man in the corner with his mild smile. "Had the plan
been successful, we should have heard all about it, with a long
eulogistic article as to the astuteness of our police; but as it
was--well, the tramp sauntered up the mews--and--there he remained for
aught Mr. Francis Howard or the other constables could ever explain. The
earth or the shadows swallowed him up. No one saw him climb one of the
garden walls, no one heard him break open a door; he had retreated
within the shadow of the garden walls, and was seen or heard of no
more."

"One of the servants in the Phillimore Terrace houses must have belonged
to the gang," said Polly with quick decision.

"Ah, yes! but which?" said the man in the corner, making a beautiful
knot in his bit of string. "I can assure you that the police left not a
stone unturned once more to catch sight of that tramp whom they had had
in custody for two days, but not a trace of him could they find, nor of
the diamonds, from that day to this."

CHAPTER VI

ALL HE KNEW

"The tramp was missing," continued the man in the corner, "and Mr.
Francis Howard tried to find the missing tramp. Going round to the
front, and seeing the lights at No. 26 still in, he called upon Mr.
Shipman. The jeweller had had a few friends to dinner, and was giving
them whiskies-and-sodas before saying good night. The servants had just
finished washing up, and were waiting to go to bed; neither they nor Mr.
Shipman nor his guests had seen or heard anything of the suspicious
individual.

"Mr. Francis Howard went on to see Mr. Fe