who shot Lydenberg--but it may be the work of one, two, or three separate
persons, acting in collusion. I believe that Lydenberg was the actual
thief of the Princess's jewels from your cousin; that the Frenchwoman
actually stole her mistress's jewels. But as to how it was worked--as to
who invented and carried out the whole thing--ah!"

"And to that--to the real secret of the whole matter--we haven't the
ghost of a clue!" muttered Allerdyke. "That's about it, eh?"

Chettle laughed--a sly, suggestive laugh. He gave his companion one of
his half-apologetic looks.

"I'm not so sure, Mr. Allerdyke," he said. "We may have--and that's why I
wanted to see you by yourself. Come round to the police-station."

In a quiet room in the usual drab and dismal atmosphere which Allerdyke
was beginning to associate with police affairs, Chettle produced the
personal property of the dead man, all removed, he said, from the Station
Hotel, for safe keeping.

"There's little to go on, Mr. Allerdyke," he said, pointing to one
article after another. "You'll remember that the man represented himself
as being a Norwegian doctor, who had come to Hull on private business. He
may have been that--we're making inquiries about him in Christiania,
where he hailed from. According to those who're in a position to speak,
his clothing, linen, boots, and so on are all of the sort you'd get in
that country. But he'd no papers on him to show his business, no private
letters, no documents connecting him with Hull in any way: he hadn't even
a visiting-card. He'd a return ticket--from Hull to Christiania--and he'd
plenty of money, English and foreign. When I got down here, I helped the
local police to go through everything--we even searched the linings of
his clothing and ripped his one handbag to pieces. But we've found no
more than I've said. However--I've found something. Nobody knows that
I've found it. I haven't told the people here--I haven't even reported
it to headquarters in London. I wanted you to see it before I spoke of it
to a soul. Look here!"

Chettle opened a square cardboard box in which certain personal effects
belonging to Lydenberg had been placed--one or two rings, a pocket-knife,
his purse and its contents, a cigar-case, his watch and chain. He took up
the watch, detached it from the chain, and held it towards Allerdyke, who
was regarding these proceedings with intense curiosity.

"You see this watch, Mr. Allerdyke," he said. "It's a