Douglas started to move over to her side, but Brett checked him. "Let her alone," he advised in an undertone; "it's a shock, but she will recover." Then, in a louder tone: "By Heavens! that man was a positive genius!" in reluctant admiration. "He probably heard that the case had been turned over to the police, although the Hemmingways had asked to have the search conducted quietly, and therefore it did not reach the papers. Fearing to keep the necklace in his possession, he sent it to his niece with a cryptic message which he knew she would not, under the circumstances, dare show to others, and also reasoned that she would keep the necklace concealed for the same cause. I don't doubt he expected her eventually to ask his advice about the jewels and then he would get them back again, as soon as all danger of detection was over, on the plea that he would have them returned to the rightful owner, or some such plausible excuse." "Upon my word, such villany exceeds belief." Lane gazed incredulously at the detective. "And yet I don't doubt you have guessed the right solution of the problem." "Eleanor, dear,"--Douglas turned to the weeping girl. "If you feel strong enough I wish you would tell us about your quest to which you alluded this afternoon." Eleanor raised her head and looked reproachfully at him. "I realize the subject may prove painful to you at this time, but, Annette having implicated you in her transactions, I think it is best for you to clear up any seeming mysteries." "Perhaps you are right." Eleanor sighed as she wiped away her tears. "I must first tell you that my mother was Nora Fitzgerald----" "The famous actress?" broke in Brett. "The same. She gave up the stage when she married my father, Barry Thornton, then a lieutenant in the United States Navy. Their married life was unusually happy; therefore it was all the more incredible and tragic when one day he disappeared----" "Disappeared?" echoed Douglas blankly. "Disappeared utterly. His ship was at Hampton Roads and he was given shore leave one day. At the wharf he told the coxswain to come back for him at ten o'clock that evening, and he walked on up to the hotel. From that hour to this he has never been seen or heard from." Eleanor paused and pushed her hair off her forehead, then continued: "A short time before his mysterious disappearance my father fell from the rigging of the ship to the deck with such force that he was picked up unconscious. It is supposed that the fall may have affected his brain, and so accounted for his subsequent disappearance." "That is very likely," commented Lane. "I saw a similar case in the Philippines, but pardon me, Miss Eleanor, I did not mean to interrupt."