Sellars would have dearly liked to have an actual inkling of what his astute leader was planning, but he knew it was useless asking. Lane never revealed his _coups_ beforehand. When they were accomplished, he was as frank as he had previously been reticent, and would explain with perfect candour the processes by which he had engineered them. “Well, good-bye, Lane. Sorry the result wasn’t satisfactory. Better luck next time. Can I get on to any other portion of the job?” The detective thought not, at the moment; what was left he was going to take into his own hands. But he praised his able young lieutenant very highly for the work he had done down at Brinkstone, the foundation on which the superstructure of the subsequent investigations had been built. In the meantime, while Lane was preparing his _coup_, Rupert Morrice had been stealthily pursuing his line of investigation. A passionate man by nature, he had experienced the greatest difficulty in restraining himself on his return from the jeweller who had told him that the supposed “birthday” necklace was a worthless imitation. When his wife returned about five o’clock unconscious of the tragic happenings during her brief absence, his first impulse was to follow her up to her room, tell her what he had learned and wring from her a confession. But he held himself in by a great exercise of self-control. He wanted more evidence, he wished to make sure if this was an isolated instance or one of a series of similar transactions. As it happened, fortune was adverse to the wrong-doer, and in the banker’s favour. Mrs. Morrice’s friend was very unwell, and the lady drove down to her on the two following days to cheer her up, leaving early in the morning and returning about the same time in the afternoon. As on the previous occasion, the maid was given a holiday during the few hours of her mistress’s absence. The coast therefore was quite clear for Morrice, and he took advantage of his unique opportunities with grim determination. Rosabelle alone in the house had an idea that something was going on from noting the fact that she met him in the hall on one of the mornings, carrying a small bag and wearing a very grim expression, as if he were engaged on some urgent but disagreeable business. In all he took some ten very valuable pieces of jewellery to the same man for examination. The result in each case was similar, they were all cleverly executed imitations of the original gifts he had presented to her. That was enough for him. She had a pretty large collection, and it might be that a great many of them were not substitutes; that she had not so far made use of them for her secret purposes. On those of which he was quite certain from the expert’s evidence, he reckoned that, even selling at a greatly depreciated price, she must have realized several thousands of pounds.