Raglan made no comment upon these remarks. He was busy with the lining of his sleeve, just beneath the armpit. He had, it appeared, a long pocket in there. Presently he pulled out the necklace. Here and now, I make my apologies for the banal philosophizings I had addressed, at lunch time on the previous day, to its substitute. It was worth all the labor it had cost. It was above price--a masterpiece. The glory of it held the five of us spellbound, the connoisseur, the disappointed thief, the lover who had tried to include it in his bargain, the small boy and myself. We didn’t speak; we hardly breathed. I think Raglan might have bolted had he not been bound by the same enchantment as the rest of us. At last old Mr. Smith broke the spell. “Punch,” he said, “take this down-stairs and give it to your grandmother. Tell her that none of her guests nor of her family had anything to do with its disappearance. Nor her servants either. Ask her if she’s willing that Belden should send up a good hearty breakfast to an old acquaintance of mine whom I am entertaining in my room.” Punch’s hands were shaking as Mr. Smith gently deposited the treasure in the cup he made of them. I remembered the negligence with which the imitation had been reconsigned to the boy’s old pocket handkerchief the day before and wondered that I had not guessed the truth from that. “I’m to tell Gran nothing but that?” Punch asked, his eyes dancing with excitement. “And I’m not to tell any one else anything at all?” “Not if you can help it,” said old Eagle-Eye with a grin. “We must keep our bargain with Raglan if we can. Go on and find Belden, if your grandmother gives you leave, and order the breakfast from him. Then come back here.” Punch darted off on his errand. I think perhaps the return of the necklace to Mrs. Corbin served to remind Bruce of his own injuries and disappointments. It was with a very sulky expression that he watched the boy disappear down the stairs. “I really can’t understand,” he said, turning impatiently back to Mr. Smith, “why a professional criminal should be treated with such extraordinary consideration. He ought to be in handcuffs now and on his way to jail.” “Surely you can understand keeping a bargain,” Mr. Smith answered suavely. “I’ve heard you discourse feelingly on that subject within the hour.” Applebury’s only reply to that was an angry shrug of the shoulders. I think he suspected the old gentleman of meaning to let the thief go altogether now that the necklace was recovered. I didn’t go as far as that, but I was a little uneasy lest his zest in the new game he was playing--I hadn’t yet made out what it was--should betray the old gentleman into trusting too far to Mr. Raglan’s dislike of violence.