The sun was high when Danby Travers reached his rooms, and it was late in the afternoon when he awoke. The morning papers and his letters were at his bedside. He at once opened one of the former, curious to see if there was any reference to the events of the previous night. Good heavens! What was this? "BURGLARY AND FIRE AT KNOWLESWORTH. THE ILLINGWORTH PEARL STOLEN. THE HALL GUTTED. "Knowlesworth Hall, the historic seat of the Illingworths, was last night the scene of two extraordinary events. "Lord and Lady Illingworth were entertaining one of their famous week-end parties at dinner when a daring and successful attempt was made to steal the celebrated Pearl of Agni, the largest known black pearl in the world. "A native Indian was found in a summer house in the Italian garden by a servant. As several determined attempts to steal the Pearl had already been made, the safety of this remarkable jewel was at once called into question. Lord Illingworth and his guests hurried to the Temple room, where the great Pearl was kept, and there found another native, who was promptly secured. The Pearl was missing, and the strictest search failed to bring it to light. It is believed that the thief has swallowed it, a fact which it is to be hoped that the X-rays will be able to demonstrate. "Owing to gross mismanagement somewhere, the two natives escaped from custody, and it was midnight before they were again apprehended--one of them at Dorton, in a state of collapse from fear and cold; the other at Lingfield, defiant, but suffering from a sprained ankle. They will be brought up to-morrow at the Dorton Petty Sessions. "Scarcely had Lord Illingworth and his guests retired to rest after an exciting evening than they were again alarmed, this time by an outbreak of fire in the Temple room. Its cause is unknown, but the flames, assisted by a high wind, spread with extraordinary rapidity, in spite of the prompt measures taken by the Hall fire brigade. Engines quickly arrived from Lingfield and Dorton, but the supply of water was totally inadequate, and it soon became evident that the whole structure was doomed. At the moment of telegraphing, the fire was raging furiously, but all sleeping in the house had been rescued without injury. "In one night Lord Illingworth has lost his great family jewel and his ancestral seat. The 'Luck of the Illingworths' seems to have deserted him. "It is a remarkable coincidence that a fire consumed the Hindu Temple of Agni the night that the Pearl was taken from it by Major Illingworth in 1803. "Agni is the Hindu God of Fire."