To make sure that nobody did come near that room Mr. Golden turned the key in the lock, and pocketed the key. CHAPTER II When Messrs. Ruby and Golden arrived at Datchet House they found the Duke at home. He received them in his own apartment. On their entrance he was standing behind a writing table. "Well, gentlemen, to what am I indebted for the honour of this visit?" Mr. Golden took on himself the office of spokesman. "We have called, your Grace, upon a very delicate matter." The Duke inclined his head--he also took a seat. "The Duchess of Datchet has favoured us this morning with a visit." "The Duchess!" "The Duchess." Mr. Golden paused. He was conscious that this was a delicate matter. "When her Grace quitted our establishment she _accidentally_"--Mr. Golden emphasised the adverb; he even repeated it--"_accidentally_ left behind some of her property in exchange for ours." "Mr. Golden!" The Duke stared. "I don't understand you." Mr. Golden then and there resolved to make the thing quite plain. "I will be frank with your Grace. When the Duchess left our establishment this morning she took with her some twenty thousand pounds worth of diamonds--it may be more, we have only been able to give a cursory glance at the state of things--and left behind her paste imitations of those diamonds instead." The Duke stood up. He trembled--probably with anger. "Mr. Golden, am I--am I to understand that you are mad?" "The case, your Grace, is as I stated. Is not the case as I state it, Mr. Ruby?" Mr. Ruby took out his handkerchief to relieve his brow. His habit of showing excessive deference to the feelings and the whims of very great people was almost more than he could master. "I--I'm afraid, Mr. Golden, that it is. Your--your Grace will understand that--that we should never have ventured to--to come here had we not been most--most unfortunately compelled." "Pray make no apology, Mr. Ruby. Allow me to have a clear understanding with you, gentlemen. Do I understand that you charge the Duchess of Datchet--the Duchess of Datchet!"--the Duke echoed his own words, as though he were himself unable to believe in the enormity of such a thing--"with stealing jewels from your shop?" "If your Grace will allow me to make a distinction without a difference--we charge no one with anything. If your Grace will give us your permission to credit the jewels to your account, there is an end of the matter." "What is the value of the articles which you say have gone?" "On that point we are not ourselves, as yet, accurately informed. I may as well state at once--it is better to be frank, your Grace--that this sort of thing appears to have been going on for some time. It is only an hour or so since we began to have even a suspicion of the extent of our losses." "Then, in effect, you charge the Duchess of Datchet with robbing you wholesale?"