's_ account was more sensational. "It has come to light,"
wrote the enterprising reporter, "that Raper, the watchman, was in the
habit of slipping out to the Leather Bottle, on Crown Court, for a
drink at ten o'clock every evening, and leaving the back door of the
shop unlocked. He came into the private bar at the usual time last
night, and remained for twenty minutes. He drank a pint of ale, and was
seen conversing with a shabbily dressed stranger, whose face was
unfamiliar to the publican and the barmaid. This incident suggests two
theories. Did the affable stranger drug Raper's beer, and, at a later
hour of the night, while the watchman was in a stupor, force the window
with one or more companions and carry off the Rembrandt? Or was the
watchman in the plot? Did the thieves slip into the building while he
was in the Leather Bottle, and subsequently bind, gag and drug him, and
force open the window from the outside, in order to screen him from the
suspicions of his employers? We learn that Raper has been suspended from
his position, pending an investigation. Mr. Lamb informs us that the
Rembrandt was insured against fire and burglary for the sum of ten
thousand guineas. The company is the Mutual, and they are sure to do all
in their power to apprehend the thieves and save themselves from such a
heavy loss."

Such was the gist of the newspaper accounts of the puzzling affair. And
now to see how they affected certain individuals who are not strangers
to the reader.

CHAPTER XI.

A MYSTERIOUS DISCOVERY.

Stephen Foster sat in his office at No. 320 Wardour street, with half a
dozen of the morning and afternoon papers scattered about his desk. It
was two o'clock, but he had not gone out to lunch, and it had not
occurred to him that the usual hour for it was past. Footsteps came down
the length of the shop, and Victor Nevill opened the door. He closed it
quickly behind him as he entered the room; his face expressed extreme
agitation, and he looked like a man who has spent a sleepless night.

"You have seen them?" he exclaimed, pointing to the papers. "You have
read the different accounts?"

"Yes, I have read them--that is all. They tell me nothing. You could
have knocked me down with a feather when I bought a _Telegraph_ at
Gunnersbury station this morning, and saw the headlines."

"And I first heard of it at breakfast--I got up rather late. I opened
the _Globe_ and there it was, staring me in the eyes. It k