"Thank Heaven, Mary's safe!" ejaculated Travers. "I hope she hasn't had a great fright." Then, after a pause, "And Ramma Lal caught, after all! He deserved a better fate. What an uncommon good thing I got the Pearl! If I hadn't taken it, the Indians would have been well on the way to Bombay with it by now, and if neither of us had taken it, the stone might have been burnt up. Would it, though? There mightn't have been a fire at all. Rummy notion that Agni should blaze the whole show in revenge for my desecration! It shan't interfere with my feelings of satisfaction. I'm a public benefactor--an Illingworth benefactor, anyway. I shall explain this to my lord at an early date. Hullo, what's this? A lawyer's letter. I can tell 'em by the smell. What's he threatenin' this time?" But it wasn't a threat. It was simply an intimation that under the will of Colonel Thomas Archer, a distant relative lately deceased, he, Danby Travers, succeeded to the whole estate, a bequest made "on account of intrepidity shown in the recent Iráwadi campaign." The income therefrom, the solicitor added, was estimated at about £3,000 per annum, and he would be pleased to have an expression of Mr. Danby Travers's wishes with respect to the same. £3,000 a year! Travers jumped out of bed and executed a series of gyrations. £3,000 a year! That meant Mary. But did it? It was a fortune to him, but how would Lord Illingworth view it? Well, if he didn't like it he needn't. Mary and he were now independent of everybody. He made his way to the Burglars' meeting in a blur of happiness. He was rather late. Other men were there already, and they one and all congratulated him. "Aren't you rather premature?" he asked. "You haven't seen the Pearl yet." "Bother the Pearl," said Altamont. "We mean the title." "What the deuce are you drivin' at?" "Haven't you seen the papers?" "Crowds of 'em, and lawyers' letters too. My head's buzzin' with 'em. What is it this time?" "Your cousin tumbled down some stone steps in Vienna last night, and you are Lord Travers now--that's all!" Danby sat down. This final stroke of fortune was too much for him. "I can't say I'm sorry," he blurted at length. "Bertram wouldn't have been sorry if it had been me. And I'm glad about the title because of----. Here, I say, you fellows, what's come over the world since last night?" "The Black Pearl of the Illingworths has changed hands, we hope," said the Secretary, who wanted to start the business of the evening. "The Black Pearl has, and the Luck of the Illingworths went with it. They've had a fire, and I've got a bequest and a title. Perhaps you fellows'll be more superstitious in future. That's what brought my luck, anyway." Saying which, he produced the Black Pearl of Agni. To his unbounded joy and immense surprise Lord Illingworth received the missing stone from London during the course of the next day.