“Your best assistance in that respect,” said Applebury, “would lie in telling us, if you can, where and how we can get in communication with our departed guest.” “I don’t think there’ll be any difficulty about that,” I said. “But I’d like to be told first what happened last night.” I realized that he was so angry that he could scarcely speak. He turned away from me now with a gesture of hardly repressed fury and left the answer I asked for to Victoria. She took it up. “Bruce went to bed last night with the necklace under his pillow. We thought it would be safest in his care provided nobody knew he had it. No one was supposed to know it but Judy and me. “Apparently she told Bruce’s cousin, because Bruce was waked up some time in the middle of the night, by a little noise, probably, and saw there was a man in his room standing in front of his bureau by the head of his bed. A man in pajamas. Bruce spoke to him, and it turned out to be William Grant. “He said he couldn’t sleep and was out of cigarettes and had come in to get some. Bruce said there were some on the bureau, and told him to make a light so that he could see. His cousin said, ‘No, I’ve found them, thanks,’ and went back to his own room. “That was all there was to it. Bruce went back to sleep and waked up before half past six. He felt under his pillow and found the necklace was gone. He looked in his cousin’s room and found that he was gone too. He went out into the billiard room and saw that Alec’s door was open, so he went in and told him about it. Alec came straight to me and I had him telephone to you.” So that was the way they meant to tell the story, was it, with Judy’s note left out? Well, if they meant to fence with me, I’d fence with them. “Have you any idea,” I asked Applebury, “that Bill came into your room for any other purpose than to get the cigarettes?” He turned upon me with an angry grin. “It seems fairly obvious, doesn’t it,” he retorted, “that he came to get the necklace?” “It doesn’t seem obvious to me,” I said. “Indeed, I find it hard to believe that you’re making a charge like that seriously.” “He’ll find that it’s serious,” Bruce predicted. “And I think you’ll find that most people regard the inference as obvious.” “Not if we succeed in finding the real thief.” “Since you’re so sure young Grant is innocent,” Victoria put in, “I should think you’d be willing to tell us your version of his performance last night.” “I’m perfectly willing to do that,” I answered. It was declared war now between Victoria and me plainly enough. I couldn’t have been neutral if I’d wanted to. So I went the whole hog.