"Have you any suggestions to offer? I understand that you were on the ground almost as soon as Mr. Deane discovered his loss." His eyes changed a trifle but did not swerve. Of course he had been informed by his mother of the suspicious action of the young lady who had been a member of that gentleman's party, and shrank, as any one in his position would, from the responsibilities entailed by this knowledge. "No," said he. "We have done all we can. The next move must come from you." "There is one that will settle the matter in a moment," I assured him, still with my eyes fixed scrutinizingly on his face,--"a universal search, not of places, but of persons. But it is a harsh measure." "A most disagreeable one," he emphasized, flushing. "Such an indignity offered to guests would never be forgotten or forgiven." "True, but if they offered to submit to this themselves?" "They? How?" "If _you_, the son of the house,--their host we may say,--should call them together and, for your own satisfaction, empty out your pockets in the sight of every one, don't you think that all the men, and possibly all the women too--" (here I let my voice fall suggestively) "would be glad to follow suit? It could be done in apparent joke." He shook his head with a straight-forward air, which raised him high in my estimation. "That would call for little but effrontery on my part," said he; "but think what it would demand from these boys who came here for the sole purpose of enjoying themselves. I will not so much as mention the ladies." "Yet one of the latter--" "I know," he quietly acknowledged, growing restless for the first time. I withdrew my eyes from his face. I had learned what I wished. Personally he did not shrink from search, therefore the jewel was not in his pockets. This left but two persons for suspicion to halt between. But I disclosed nothing of my thoughts; I merely asked pardon for a suggestion that, while pardonable in a man accustomed to handle crime with ungloved hands, could not fail to prove offensive to a gentleman like himself. "We must move by means less open," I concluded. "It adds to our difficulties, but that can not be helped. I should now like a glimpse of Mr. Deane." "Do you not wish to speak to him?" "I should prefer a sight of his face first." He led me across the hall and pointed through an open door. In the center of a small room containing a table and some chairs, I perceived a young man sitting, with fallen head and dejected air, staring at vacancy. By his side, with hand laid on his, knelt a young girl, striving in this gentle but speechless way to comfort him. It made a pathetic picture. I drew Ashley away. "I am disposed to believe in that young man," said I. "If he still has the jewel, he would not try to carry off the situation in just this way. He really looks broken-hearted."