ing from her grandfather at least once
a day by telephone, but she was unable to get an answer either
yesterday or to-day, so she came to my home, and together we came out
here."

Mr. Birnes looked up quickly. It had suddenly occurred to him to
wonder as to the whereabouts of Claflin and Sutton, who had been on
watch at the Thirty-seventh Street house. The young man interpreted
the expression of his face aright, and favored him with a meaning
glance.

"We came alone," he supplemented.

Mr. Birnes silently pondered it.

"All that being true," Chief Arkwright suggested tentatively,
"perhaps you can give us some information as to the diamonds that
were stolen? How much were they worth? How many were there?" He
held up the uncut stones that had been found on the floor.

"I don't know their exact number," was the reply. "Their value, I
should say, was about sixty thousand dollars. Except for this little
house, and the grounds adjoining, practically all of Mr. Kellner's
money was invested in diamonds. Those you have there are part of an
accumulation of many years, imported in the rough, one or two at a
time."

Mr. Czenki was gazing abstractedly out of a window, but the
expression on his lean face indicated the keenest interest, and--and
something else; apprehension, maybe. The chief stared straight into
the young man's eyes for an instant, and then:

"And Mr. Kellner's family?" he inquired.

"There is no one, except his granddaughter, Doris."

Some change, sudden as it was pronounced, came over the chief, and
his whole attitude altered. He dropped into a chair near the door.

"Have a seat, Mr. Wynne," he invited courteously, "and let's
understand this thing clearly. Over there, please," and he indicated
a chair partly facing that in which Mr. Czenki sat.

Mr. Wynne sat down.

"Now you don't seem to believe," the chief went on pleasantly, "that
Czenki here killed Mr. Kellner?"

"Well, no," the young man admitted.

Mr. Czenki glanced at him quickly, warningly. The chief was not
looking, but he knew the glance had passed.

"And _why_ don't you believe it?" he continued.

"In the first place," Mr. Wynne began without hesitation, "the
diamonds were worth only about sixty thousand dollars, and Mr. Czenki
here draws a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The
proportion is wrong, you see. Again, Mr. Czenki is a man of
unquestioned integrity. As diamond expert of the Henry Latham
Company