And, further, I compelled her to order her car, and we drove to the General Post Office in Naples, where I saw that she registered the valuable packet. The anonymous return of the pearls was a nine days' wonder throughout Italy; but the Marchesa never knew how I had obtained my information, and never dreamed that I had come to her upon a mission of inquiry from the one person in all the world whom she feared, the man in whose clutches she had been for years--the mysterious "Golden Face." When, with Lola and Madame, I returned home a week later and explained the whole of my adventures, Rayne sat for a few moments silent. Then, as I looked, I saw vengeance written upon his face. "I suspected that she was playing me false, and selling stuff in secret through that fellow Zuccari! She is carrying on the business by herself. I now have proof of it--and I shall take my own steps! You will see!" He did--and a month later the Marchesa Romanelli was arrested and sent to prison for the theft of a pair of diamond earrings belonging to a fellow-guest staying at one of the great palaces of Florence. It was a scandal that Italy is not likely to easily forget. CHAPTER XIII ABDUL HAMID'S JEWELS Rudolph Rayne, though the ruler of aristocratic Crookdom, was sometimes most sympathetic and generous towards lovers. The following well illustrates his strange abnormal personality and complex nature: One night I chanced to enter his bedroom at Half Moon Street, when I found him looking critically through a quantity of the most magnificent sparkling gems my eyes had ever seen. Some were set as pendants, brooches, and earrings, while others--great rubies and emeralds of immense value--were uncut. As I entered he put his hands over them in distinct annoyance. Then, a few seconds later, removed them, saying with a queer laugh: "A nice little lot this, eh? One of the very finest collections I've seen." On the table lay a pair of jewelers' tweezers and a magnifying glass, therefore it was apparent that, as a connoisseur of gems, he had been estimating their value. "By Jove!" I exclaimed. "They certainly are magnificent! Whose are they?" "They once belonged to the dead Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey," he replied; "but at present they belong to me!" He laughed grimly. Inwardly I wondered by what means the priceless gems had fallen into his hands. He read my thoughts at once, for he said: "You are curious, of course, as to how I became possessed of them. Naturally. Well, Hargreave, it's a very funny story and concerns a real good fellow and, incidentally, a very pretty girl. Take a cigar, sit down, and I'll tell you frankly all about it--only, of course, not a word of the facts will ever pass your lips--not to Lola, or to anybody else. Your lips are sealed." "I promise," I said, selecting one of his choice cigars and lighting it, my curiosity aroused. "Then listen," he said, "and I'll tell you the whole facts, as far as I've been able to gather them."