ffair with suspicion, is the additional fact that this
man received his dismissal the following morning and has not been seen
since by any one we could reach. This looks bad to begin with, like the
suppression of evidence, you know. Then Mr. Grey has not been the same
man since that night. He is full of care and this care is not entirely
in connection with his daughter, who is doing very well and bids fair
to be up in a few days. But all this would be nothing if we had not
received advices from England which prove that Mr. Grey's visit here has
an element of mystery in it. There was every reason for his remaining in
his own country, where a political crisis is approaching, yet he crossed
the water, bringing his sickly daughter with him. The explanation as
volunteered by one who knew him well was this: That only his desire to
see or acquire some precious object for his collection could have taken
him across the ocean at this time, nothing else rivaling his interest in
governmental affairs. Still this would be nothing if a stiletto
similar to the one employed in this crime had not once formed part of a
collection of curios belonging to a cousin of his whom he often visited.
This stiletto has been missing for some time, stolen, as the owner
declared, by some unknown person. All this looks bad enough, but when I
tell you that a week before the fatal ball at Mr. Ramsdell's, Mr. Grey
made a tour of the jewelers on Broadway and, with the pretext of buying
a diamond for his daughter, entered into a talk about famous stones,
ending always with some question about the Fairbrother gem, you will see
that his interest in that stone is established and that it only remains
for us to discover if that interest is a guilty one. I can not believe
this possible, but you have our leave to make your experiment and see.
Only do not count too much on his superstition. If he is the deep-dyed
criminal you imagine, the cry which startled us all at a certain
critical instant was raised by himself and for the purpose you
suggested. None of the sensitiveness often shown by a man who has been
surprised into crime will be his. Relying on his reputation and the
prestige of his great name, he will, if he thinks himself under fire,
face every shock unmoved."

"I see; I understand. He must believe himself all alone; then, the
natural man may appear. I thank you, Inspector. That idea is
of inestimable value to me, and I shall act on it. I do not say
immedi