protection a handy little revolver. Yet I admit that at that moment I
felt a decidedly uncomfortable feeling creeping over me.

Those men meant mischief. I had detected it in their eyes on the
previous night. By some kind of mysterious intuition I became aware that
we were in peril.

Almost at that moment the shop door was opened by the manager, and the
Count, emerging, crossed to me and said--

"Go into the shop, Ewart, and wait there till I return. I'm just going
round to get some money," and seeing a boy passing, he called him,
saying, "Just mind this car for ten minutes, my boy, and I'll give you
half a crown. Never mind the police; if they say anything, tell them
I'll be back in ten minutes."

The lad, eager to earn a trifle, at once consented, and descending, I
entered the shop, the door of which was being still held open for me,
while the Count hailed a hansom and drove away.

The shop is one of the finest in Bond Street, as you know. At that
moment there were, however, no other customers. The manager politely
invited me to be seated, saying--

"His lordship will only be a short time," and then, standing with his
hands behind his back, he commenced to chat with me.

"That's a very fine car of yours," he said. "You ought to be able to
travel pretty fast, eh?"

"Well, we do, as a matter of fact," I replied.

Then he went to the door, and looking over the panes of frosted glass,
asked what horse-power it was, and a number of other questions with
which non-motorists always plague the chauffeur.

Then, returning to me, he remarked what a very nice gentleman his
lordship was, adding that he had been a customer on several occasions.

"Have you been long in his service?" he inquired.

"Oh yes," I replied, determined not to be thought a new hand. "Quite a
long time. As you say, he is a very charming man."

"He's very wealthy, according to report. I read something about him in
the papers the other day--a gift of some thousands to the Hospital
Fund."

This rather surprised me. I never remembered having seen the name of
Count Bindo di Ferraris in the papers.

Presently I got up, and wandering about the shop, inspected some of the
beautiful jewels in the fine show-cases, many of them ornaments of
enormous value. The manager, a pleasant, elderly man, took me round and
showed me some of the most beautiful jewellery I had ever seen. Then,
excusing himself, he retired to the office beyond the shop, and left me