THE GREANT RUDY RODDERY. 393

aiv of profound deference, s no respecter of persons.”

• But it ought to be of

Maclure eried, warmly. of having a blamcles like to know, it af

“ It doesn’t allow you to commit a rob- Lery with impunity 2 7 the detective inter- poscd, fintshing her sentence his own way. “Well, well, that’s true. That's per-feetly truc-—-but Sir Justin’s character; you sce, can hardly be called blamceless.”

“He's a gcntlunan Persis cried, \\ith flashm(f cyes, turning round upon the officer

“and he's quite 1110:11)‘11)1p of such a mean .md des) )1(4211)1unmu asyoudarc to suspect him of.

Oh, 1 see,” the officer answered, like onc

to \\hom 2 welcome ray of light breaks suddenly through a great darkness. S Justin's a fllLfld of \()ms* Did he come mnto the pomh with you?”

“He did,” Persis answered, flushing crim- son; “and if you have the insolence to bring a charge agamnst him '

“Calm yoursclf, madam,” the detective replied, coolly. 1 do nothing of the sort at this stage of the proceedings. 1t's possible there may have been no ]()1)1)01\ m the case at all. We must keep our minds open for the present to every possible alternative. It's —it's a delicate matter to hint at: but

characters,” Tady “Wihat's [hL “()()d character, | should

before we go any further- -do vou think, perhaps, Siv Justin may have carried the

rubjes away by mistake, entangled in Dis clothes ?-- say, for example, his coat-sleeve ?

It was a loophole of cscape: but Persis didn’t jump at it.

“He had never the opportunity,” she answered, with a flash. *“And 1 know quite well they were there on my neck when he left me, for the last thing he said to me was, looking up at this very window: *That balcony’s awfully convenient for a burglary. Mind you take good carc of the Remanct rubies.” And I remembered what he'd said when I took them off last night 1 and that's what makes me so sure I really had them.”

“And you slept with the window open!” the detective went on, still smiling to himseclf. “Well, here we have the matcnals to be sure, for a first-class mystery !”

1V,

For some days more, nothing further turned up of 1mportance about th(, Gireat Ruby Robbery. 1t got into the papers, of course, as cvervthing dogs nowadays, and all London was talking of it. Persis found herself quite famous as the American lady who had lost

her jewels. People pomted her out e the park : people stared at her hard through their opera-glasses at the theatre. Indeced, the possession of the celebrated Remanct rubies "had never made her hall so con- spicuous N the world as the loss of them made her. It was almost worth while losing them, Persis thought, tH be so much made of as she was o socicty - conscquence, Al the world knows a voung lady must Lie somebody when she can offer a reward of five hundred pounds for the recovery of goew- caws valued at six thousand.

Sir Justin met her i the Row one day. “Then you don't go to J’m 1s for awhile yet untll you get them back 27 he mmquired very

low.,

And Persis answered, blushing, “ No, Sir JTustin ; not yet ; and- -I'm almost glad of 10.”

“ No, you don’t mean that!” the voung man cried, with perfect boyish ardour. “Well, T confess, Miss Remanct, the firet thing I thought mysclf when 1 read it i Z%e Tines was ]ust the very same "l‘hcn, alter all; she won't go yet to Paris !

Persis ]oukcd up at him from her pony with American frankness. “And 1,7 she, satd, quivering, “ I found anchor in Browning. IFor what do you think I rcad?

“And learn (o rate a (rue nan’s heart I'ar above rubies.’ The book opened at the very place; and there T found anchor !”

But when Sir Justin went round to his rooms that same cevening his servant said to him, A gentleman was inquiring for you here this afternoon, sir. A close-shaven gentleman. Not very prepossessin’. And it seemed to me somehow, sir, as 1l he was trying to pump me.”

Sir Justin's face was grave, his bedroom at once. He knew what that man wanted ; and he turned straight to his wardrobe, looking hard at the dress coat he had worn on the eventful evening. Things may cling to a sleeve, don’t you know—or be cntangled m a cuff—or get casually into a pocket! Or somecone may put them there.

V.

I'or the next ten days or so Mr. Gregory was busy, constantly busy. Without doubt, he was the most activeand energetic of detectives. He carried out so fully his own official principle of suspecting cvu)l)()d), from China to Peru, that at last poor Persis got fairly mazed with his web of possflnhhes Nobody was safe from his cultivated and highly-trained sus- picicn —-not Sir Everard in his studio, nor

He went to