Baronet.

"Your hansom is waiting, Sir Andrew," he said.

"The necklace was worth twenty thousand pounds," began the Queen's
Messenger. "It was a present from the Queen of England to celebrate--"
The Baronet gave an exclamation of angry annoyance.

"Upon my word, this is most provoking," he interrupted. "I really ought
not to stay. But I certainly mean to hear this." He turned irritably to
the servant. "Tell the hansom to wait," he commanded, and, with an air
of a boy who is playing truant, slipped guiltily into his chair.

The gentleman with the black pearl smiled blandly, and rapped upon the
table.

"Order, gentlemen," he said. "Order for the story of the Queen's
Messenger and the Czarina's diamonds."

CHAPTER II

"The necklace was a present from the Queen of England to the Czarina of
Russia," began the Queen's Messenger. "It was to celebrate the occasion
of the Czar's coronation. Our Foreign Office knew that the Russian
Ambassador in Paris was to proceed to Moscow for that ceremony, and I
was directed to go to Paris and turn over the necklace to him. But when
I reached Paris I found he had not expected me for a week later and was
taking a few days' vacation at Nice. His people asked me to leave the
necklace with them at the Embassy, but I had been charged to get a
receipt for it from the Ambassador himself, so I started at once for
Nice The fact that Monte Carlo is not two thousand miles from Nice may
have had something to do with making me carry out my instructions so
carefully. Now, how the Princess Zichy came to find out about the
necklace I don't know, but I can guess. As you have just heard, she was
at one time a spy in the service of the Russian government. And after
they dismissed her she kept up her acquaintance with many of the Russian
agents in London. It is probable that through one of them she learned
that the necklace was to be sent to Moscow, and which one of the Queen's
Messengers had been detailed to take it there. Still, I doubt if even
that knowledge would have helped her if she had not also known something
which I supposed no one else in the world knew but myself and one other
man. And, curiously enough, the other man was a Queen's Messenger too,
and a friend of mine. You must know that up to the time of this robbery
I had always concealed my despatches in a manner peculiarly my own. I
got the idea from that play called 'A Scrap of Paper.' In it a man wants
to hide a certain compro