"All is well," he announced softly. "I returned last night. The business is finished." "How much?" Brinnen enquired eagerly. "There will be forty-five thousand pounds. I could not draw it all last night, but it will be paid within a week. I have nine thousand with me. Six of that I will hand over at any moment you please." "There is no one in the room," Brinnen murmured suggestively. Harvey Grimm drew out a pocket-book, ran some notes through his fingers, and passed them over to Brinnen. Once more the latter glanced around the room. Then with his left hand he produced from the pocket of his coat a necklace of brilliants, one of which, the centre one, seemed to shine with a faint, rosy light. "Better see what you can do with that," he remarked, tossing it lightly across. Harvey Grimm held the necklace for a moment in his fingers before he slipped it into the concealment of his pocket. During that moment he caught an impression of Henriette's eyes, full of amazement, fixed upon it. She turned towards her brother. "Leopold," she exclaimed wonderingly, "I do not remember----" He brushed her words aside. "You have not seen all," he told her significantly. Harvey Grimm rang the bell. "I warn you," he said, "that it will be a few days before I can abandon civilisation again, even for a task like this." Brinnen moved uneasily in his chair. "It is work, this," he pointed out, "which carries with it a special urgency. Remember that its results will last for a lifetime." "Quite true," was the somewhat grudging admission. "It also means great risks. I have been as near the end of things, within the last twenty-four hours, as I care to be." The waiter appeared with a tray full of cocktails. Harvey Grimm accepted his and leaned back in his chair with a beatific aspect. "This," he murmured, "is one of the decadent luxuries denied to me in my country seclusion. Like many other things in life, it is almost worth while to lose it for a time, for the sake----" He broke off in his speech. They all leaned a little forward in their chairs. From a side door at the further end of the apartment, leading to the private suites in the hotel, a lift man suddenly appeared, with a valet upon his heels. They crossed the room with almost feverish haste. They were obviously distressed. A small boy followed, a moment or two later, with face as pale as death. There was a confused murmur of voices just outside the glass door leading to the main portion of the hotel, and a moment afterwards they reappeared with the manager between them, all talking excitedly at the same time. Then the door opened once more and a woman, tall and dark, in a long dressing-gown of green silk, rushed in. She threw out her hands towards the manager. "Send for the police!" she cried. "My husband--he is murdered! ... and my jewels--they are all stolen! The police, do you hear?"