t down at his desk and picked up a pen.

"Give me your addresses please, all of you," he said. "Then I can
communicate with you at any moment. Miss Lennard, you mentioned Bedford
Court Mansions. What number? Right.--yours, Mr. Fullaway, is the Waldorf
Hotel--permanently there? Very good. You, Mr. Allerdyke, live in
Bradford? It will be advisable, if you really want to clear up the
mystery of your cousin's death, to remain in town for a few days, at any
rate--now that we've got all this in hand, you'd better be close to the
centre of things. Can you give me an address here?"

"I've a London office," answered Allerdyke. "I can always be heard of
there when I'm in town. Allerdyke and Partners, Limited, Gresham
Street--ask for Mr. Marshall Allerdyke. But as I'll have to put up here,
I'll go to the Waldorf, with Mr. Fullaway, so if you want me you'll find
me there. And look here," he went on, as the chief noted these
particulars, "I want to know, to have some idea, you know, of what's
going to be done. I tell you, I'll spare no time, labour, or expense in
getting at the bottom of this! If it's a question of money, say the
word, and--"

"All right, Mr. Allerdyke, leave it to us--for the present," said the
chief, with an understanding smile. "I know what you mean. We're only
beginning. This affair is doubtless a big thing, as Mr. Fullaway has
suggested, and it will need some clever work. Now, at present, this
case--the joint case of the Hull affair and the Eastbourne Terrace
affair, for they're without doubt both parts of one serious whole--is in
the hands of two of my best men. This is one of them: Detective-Sergeant
Blindway. If and when Blindway wants any of you, he'll come to you. Miss
Lennard, you'll be wanted at the inquest on your late maid--the Coroner's
officer will let you know when. You two gentlemen will doubtless go with
Miss Lennard. You'll all three certainly be wanted at that adjourned
inquest at Hull. Now, that's all--except that when you, Miss Lennard,
return home, you must at once begin searching for the references you had
with your maid--let me have them as soon as they're found--and that you,
Mr. Fullaway, must bring the Princess Nastirsevitch here as soon as you
can after her arrival."

Outside New Scotland Yard Celia Lennard relieved her feelings with a
fervent exclamation.

"I wish I'd never spent a penny on pearls or diamonds in my life!" she
said vehemently. "Insane folly! What good have they don