"I suppose there is no doubt that Crochard bought it," I said. "So that it is mine now?" "Yes; but I'm going to solicit a bribe." "Go ahead and solicit it." "I want a souvenir, too," I said. "I'd like awfully well to have that letter--besides," I added, "it will be a kind of receipt, you know, if anybody ever questions my giving you the cabinet." Godfrey laughed and threw the letter across the table to me. "It's yours," he said. "And I'll send for the cabinet to-morrow. I suppose it is still at the station?" "Yes; I haven't had time to put in a claim for it. But, Godfrey," I added, "when did _La Bretagne_ sail?" "A week ago to-day. She is due at Havre in the morning." "Did you warn them?" "Warn them of what?" "That Crochard is after the diamonds. They went back on _La Bretagne_, I suppose?" "Yes--and Pigot went with them. So why should I warn any one? Surely they know that Crochard will get those diamonds if he can. It has become a sort of point of honour with him, I imagine. It is up to them to take care of them." "That oughtn't to be difficult," I said. "The strong-room of a liner is about the safest place on earth." "Yes," Godfrey agreed, and blew a meditative ring toward the ceiling. And presently he went away without saying anything more. But the more I thought of it, the more the inflection he had given that word seemed an interrogation rather than an affirmation. And when I opened my paper next morning, I more than half expected to be greeted with a black headline announcing the looting of the strong-room of _La Bretagne_. But there was no such headline, and with a sigh, half of relief and half of disappointment, I turned to the other news. But two weeks later, a black headline _did_ catch my eye: MICHAELOVITCH JEWELS FALSE! FRENCH DETECTIVE TAKES BACK PASTE IMITATIONS FROM AMERICA. Fraud Discovered When the Grand Duke Michael Sends them to a Jeweller to be Reset. I had no need to read the article which followed, for I saw in a flash what had occurred. I saw, too, why Crochard had retained the paste jewels--he had a use for them! How or where the substitution had been made, I could only guess; but one thing was certain: the two weeks which had elapsed before the theft was discovered had given him ample opportunity to dispose of his plunder. I felt sorry for the Grand Duke; sorrier still for that admirable M. Pigot; but, after all, one could not but admire the cleverness of the man who had despoiled them. Who, I wondered, had bought the Mazarin? Surely there was a diamond most difficult to sell. It could, of course, be cut up--- but that would be sacrilege! That question was answered, before long, in an unexpected way--a way which filled many columns in the papers, which delighted the comedy-loving French, and which gave Crochard a unique advertisement. One morning, in the personal column of _Le Matin_, appeared a notice, of which this is the English: