What should I do? It was now long past ten o'clock, and I could not possibly arrive at Parkeston before early morning. Besides, if they had really gone there, they would, no doubt, be arrested. The man with the pimply face whose description so closely tallied with that of Reckitt, was surely too clever a criminal to run his neck into a noose by going to any port of embarkation. Therefore I concluded that whatever had been said at table had been said with the distinct object of misleading the waiter. The very manner in which the diamonds had been stolen showed a cunning and a daring unsurpassed. Such men were certainly not easily trapped. My sole thought was of Sylvia. I could not bring myself to believe that she had wilfully forsaken her home and her husband. Upon her, I felt confident, some species of blackmail had been levied, and she had been forced away from me by reasons beyond her control. That incident of the photograph--the picture believed to have been of myself--which the foreigner tried to secure but which the man Lewis had himself destroyed, was incomprehensible. What had been intended by the foreigner? I gathered all the information I could in the hotel, and then, after a hasty meal, re-entered the car and set out upon the dark, cold return journey to London. Where was Sylvia? Who were her mysterious friends? And, chief of all, who was that man Lewis who addressed her in such endearing terms? What could possibly be the solution of the mystery? CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX "SOME SENSATIONAL REVELATIONS" The days dragged by. The papers were full of the robbery, declaring that it had been executed so neatly as to betray the hand of experts. A gang of Continental thieves was suspected, because, as a matter of fact, a robbery similar in detail had, six months before, taken place on the night express between Cologne and Berlin. In that case also a strange ticket-inspector had been seen. The stolen property had, no doubt, been thrown from the train to accomplices. Such method was perfectly safe for the thief, because, unless actually detected in the act of tossing out a bag or parcel, no evidence could very well be brought against him. Therefore the police, and through them the newspapers, decided that the same gang was responsible for the theft of the Archduchess's necklace as for the robbery in Germany. Myself, I read eagerly every line of what appeared in the morning and evening press. Many ridiculous theories were put forward by some journalists in working up the "story," and more than once I found cruel and unfounded reflections cast upon the sole female member of the party--my dear wife. This was all extremely painful to me--all so utterly incomprehensible that, as I sat alone in the silence of my deserted home, I felt that no further misfortune could fall upon me. The iron of despair had entered my very soul.