They hung as pendants beneath the cross of the arches of the crown, one at each corner. Here they were retained by Edward VII, and still occupy the same position in the State Crown of George V. What wonderful stories those pearls could tell! Of the Great Armada and the pride of that great victory; of the bloody days of Charles I, and of his tragic death outside the window at Whitehall; of the gay days of Charles II, and the long and prosperous reign of Queen Victoria. But in all those centuries they probably had no greater adventures or dangers than they experienced together with the other Crown Jewels during the Great War of 1914-19. The safe place in the Tower chosen for them by Edward VII is burglar-proof, fireproof, and proof against alarms and excursions; but when William the Conqueror built the Tower, he had undoubtedly never expected that it might be subject to an attack from the air. Even so he had made his roofs so thick and strong that a dropping cannon-ball might well be rebuffed. The pearls and their comrades the gems therefore looked on with calm toleration whilst the Germans waged and raged for four years over them. Indeed, they had got quite accustomed to this aerial bombardment, for though bombs fell close around them, still a miss is as good as a mile. It was only just towards the end of the war that news came which made the soldiers think that larger and heavier and more destructive bombs were likely to be used by the Germans. Then William the Conqueror, walking in the pleasant fields of heaven, said to Queen Elizabeth: “I am sorry, but I am afraid my walls and roofs cannot keep these out. You had better send your pearls away to one of the other palaces of the King, out in the open country.” So the pearls and their consorts one day without any fuss just slipped off and went to stay at Windsor till the war was over. That William the Conqueror and Queen Elizabeth were wise in their decision was obvious, for leaning over the ramparts of heaven they saw one great bomb fall into the Tower moat on the west, another they saw hit the railings on the edge of the moat to the north, whilst a third hit the Mint across the road to the east, and a fourth dropped within a few yards of the Jewel House into the river to the south. The next might have sent several million pounds’ worth of jewels to God knows where. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XI THE CRIME OF COLONEL BLOOD