George followed, and saw two men race across the lawn and into the belt of trees which girdled Mr. Tait's mansion. As he increased his speed he shouted loudly for assistance. By and by, lights were seen moving in the upper windows of the great house, and into the corridors poured many guests and servants, all in various stages of undress, and all scared by the midnight alarm. Tait, with a dressing-gown thrown hastily over his burly form, pushed his way through the throng down the stairs, and the guests streamed after him. Everyone knew what was the matter, for a wakeful servant had heard the shout of "Thieves!" and the ominous word had hastily passed from lip to lip. "I expect my jewels are gone!" panted Tait, waddling towards the gallery at the head of a picturesque mob. In a second the electric lights were turned on and the gallery blazed with light. Tait uttered a cry of alarm, which was echoed by those behind him, and there was cause for surprise. The door of the strong-room stood wide open, and some distance away lay the insensible body of Maud Ellis, dressed in the attire she had worn during the previous evening. While some of the ladies attended to the girl, Tait with surprising agility plunged into the strong-room, and then they heard him bellow bull-like in mingled rage and astonishment. A moment later he emerged. "The jewels are gone! the jewels are gone!" he shouted, purple with wrath. "Here, some of you, go to Henley for the police; search the grounds, examine the house, and----" "The doors are open, sir," cried a footman. "The thieves must have escaped. After them! after them!" bellowed Tait, in a frenzy of rage. "Your niece, man, your niece," said a gentleman who was supporting the unconscious Miss Ellis; but Tait only swore the more. "Confound my niece. I have lost twenty thousand pounds' worth of jewels." Several people looked disgusted at this callousness. A young doctor, who was stopping in the house, and who was feeling Maud's pulse, looked up. "Miss Ellis has been chloroformed," he remarked quietly. Tait bent down and lightly touched the gold chain which was round the girl's neck. "The key of the strong-room is gone," he cried furiously. "No doubt," explained the medical man. "Miss Ellis has been rendered insensible and then was robbed of the key. But who----" "How did Maud come to be here at this hour?" demanded Tait savagely. "Go for the police, some of you," he shouted, stamping furiously. "I'm not going to lose a fortune in this way." "It's useless; the thieves have escaped," cried a voice at the end of the gallery, and George bounded in at the open door. "Walker," cried the stockbroker, recoiling. "What are you doing here? What do you know about this?" "I came downstairs and heard the thieves at work," explained George quickly. "I tried to lay hands on them, but tumbled over the body of a woman on the floor, and----"