"Terribly upset, terribly upset!" he remarked as he set down his glass and refilled it. "Somebody is going to pay for this! Where the devil are the police?" "They are coming a long way pretty late at night," remarked Peaches. "I don't know that I'd come at all in their place, Mark." He simply glared at her and bit into a cheese sandwich. And then we settled down more or less restlessly to a quarter of an hour of waiting, dividing our attention between the sandwiches, repetition of the obvious facts of the situation, and glances at Markheim's wrist watch. At length we heard the siren of an automobile at the gates below the hill, and in a few moments more, Wilkes, still the most self-possessed servant present, opened the door to admit the inspector from Tarrytown, who came accompanied by an officer and a third man in plain clothes--presumably a detective. "Good evening--or rather good morning, inspector!" said Mr. Markheim, rising to greet him. "Sorry to have brought you out, but it's not a common burglary at all." "It's usual to report such things," replied the inspector. "We came as quickly as possible. Nobody hurt, was there?" "No," said Markheim. "But a picture has been stolen." The faces of all three newcomers expressed a disgust that was so apparent as to bring a smile even to the face of our profoundly troubled host. "Wait!" he said. "Did you ever hear of the Madonna of the Lamp, inspector?" "Can't say that I did," the police official admitted. "And I'm a pretty good Catholic myself." "Well--it's a painting," Markheim explained, concealing his impatience as best he could, which in point of fact is not saying a great deal for his power of self-control. "It is not only a painting but a very famous one." "Kind of an antique, eh?" suggested the officer. "Not only an antique but one of the most famous and valuable paintings in the world. I paid five hundred thousand dollars for it." At length officialdom seemed impressed. "And it's been stolen?" said the spokesman of the law. "What else under God's heaven did you think I sent for you about?" Markheim exploded. "You don't seem to understand this at all!" "Italian, eh?" said the man in plain clothing. "International complications are very possible if the thing gets too much publicity. That's about the idea, isn't it?" Markheim turned on him in some surprise. "You seem to know a lot about the Italian Government's theories of ownership!" he snarled.