for him. He had been so happy at the
chance I gave him, and he was sure to be disappointed when he learned I
had sent him off on a false alarm.

"But now that I had found the necklace, I did not want him to find the
woman. Indeed, I was most anxious that she should get clear away, for
if she were caught the truth would come out, and I was likely to get a
sharp reprimand, and sure to be laughed at.

"I could see now how it had happened. In my haste to hide the diamonds
when the woman was hustled into the carriage, I had shoved the cigars
into the satchel, and the diamonds into the pocket of my coat. Now that
I had the diamonds safe again, it seemed a very natural mistake. But I
doubted if the Foreign Office would think so. I was afraid it might not
appreciate the beautiful simplicity of my secret hiding-place. So, when
I reached the police station, and found that the woman was still at
large, I was more than relieved.

"As I expected, the Chief was extremely chagrined when he learned of my
mistake, and that there was nothing for him to do. But I was feeling so
happy myself that I hated to have any one else miserable, so I suggested
that this attempt to steal the Czarina's necklace might be only the
first of a series of such attempts by an unscrupulous gang, and that I
might still be in danger.

"I winked at the Chief and the Chief smiled at me, and we went to Nice
together in a saloon car with a guard of twelve carabineers and twelve
plain-clothes men, and the Chief and I drank champagne all the way.
We marched together up to the hotel where the Russian Ambassador was
stopping, closely surrounded by our escort of carabineers, and delivered
the necklace with the most profound ceremony. The old Ambassador was
immensely impressed, and when we hinted that already I had been made the
object of an attack by robbers, he assured us that his Imperial Majesty
would not prove ungrateful.

"I wrote a swinging personal letter about the invaluable services of
the Chief to the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, and they gave him
enough Russian and French medals to satisfy even a French soldier. So,
though he never caught the woman, he received his just reward."

The Queen's Messenger paused and surveyed the faces of those about him
in some embarrassment.

"But the worst of it is," he added, "that the story must have got about;
for, while the Princess obtained nothing from me but a cigar-case and
five excellent cigars, a few w