"At your ladyship's service," he replied. "We are out this morning--Superintendent Narkom and I--in quest of what is probably the most skilful and audacious pair of jewel thieves in the world--just the one particular pair in all the universe to whom a loot so valuable as the Ladder of Light would offer the strongest kind of an appeal. So, if by any chance, something has occurred which threatens the safety of that amazing necklace--and you and Sir Mawson are in a position to know the facts----Come! Take me into your confidence, and--perhaps! Who knows?" Before he had fairly finished speaking, Lady Leake caught up his hand, and, holding it fast squeezed in both her own, looked up at him with bright, wet eyes. "It must have been heaven itself that sent you to us this morning," she cried. "If any man in the world _can_ help us, I believe in my soul that you are the man. Mawson, you hear, dearest? It is Mr. Cleek. The wonderful Mr. Cleek. Why didn't we think of _him_ before? Tell him, Mawson--tell him everything, my dear." Sir Mawson acted upon the suggestion instantly. "Mr. Cleek, I beg, I implore you to come to our assistance!" he exclaimed in a very transport of excitement. "Lady Leake is right. If any man _can_, you are he! You ask if anything has happened with regard to that accursed necklace and if I can give you any information on the subject? To both questions, yes! It is gone! It is lost! It is stolen!" "What's that? Stolen? The Ladder of Light? Good heavens! When? Where? How?" "Yesterday--from my keeping! From my house! And God have mercy on me, I have every reason to believe that the thief is my eldest son!" CHAPTER XXI It was a full minute later and in all that minute's length no one had spoken, no one had made a single sound. The shock, the shame, of such a confession, telling, as it did, why he had attempted to destroy himself, had crumpled the man up, taken all the vitality out of him. He faced round and leaned his bent arm against the wall of the stable, hid his face in the crook of it, and Cleek, pitying him, let him have that minute all to himself. Then: "Come," he said, very gently, going over to him and patting him on the shoulder. "Buck up! Buck up! There's nothing in all the world so deceptive as appearances, Sir Mawson; perhaps, when I've heard the facts----Well, haven't I told you that I am out for a pair of expert jewel thieves, and that that necklace is just the sort of thing they'd be likely to make play for? How do you know, then, that they didn't?" "I wish I could believe that, I wish I could even hope it," he gave back miserably. "But you don't know the facts, Mr. Cleek." "To be sure I don't; and they're what I'm after. Let's have them, please. To begin with, how came the Ladder of Light to be in your possession at all?"