"The Princess Nastirsevitch's jewels!" said the chief softly. "That's just what I expected ever since the manageress gave me this parcel. This, of course, is the parcel which your cousin sent that night from Hull, Mr. Allerdyke. It fell into Mrs. Marlow's hands--alias Miss Slade--and here it is! That's all right." The other two men stared at the contents of the cigar-box, then at the chief, then at each other. A deep silence had fallen--it was some minutes before Allerdyke broke it. "All wrong, I should say!" he muttered. "However, if those are the things--I only say if, mind--I suppose we're a step nearer to something else. But--what?" The chief, who appeared to both of them to be strangely phlegmatic about the whole affair, proceeded to close the box, re-invest it in its wrappings, and tie it about with the original string. "We are certainly a step nearer to a good deal," he said, making a neat job of his parcel and patting it affectionately as if he had been a milliner's apprentice doing up a choice confection. "And the next thing we do is to take a walk together into Hyde Park. On the way I will tell you why we are going there--that is, I will tell you what I know of the reason for such an expedition. It isn't much--but it has certain possibilities." The two North-countrymen listened with great curiosity as they marched across the grass towards the tea-house. Each possessed the North-country love of the mysterious and the bizarre--this last development tickled their fancy and stirred their imagination. "What on earth d'ye make out of it all?" asked Allerdyke. "Gad!--it's more like a children's game of hide-and-seek in an old house of nooks and corners than what I should have imagined police proceedings would be. What say you, Ambler?" "I don't know how much romance and adventure there usually are in police proceedings," replied Appleyard cautiously. "A good answer, Mr. Appleyard," said the chief laughing. "Ah, there's a lot more of both than civilians would think, in addition to all the sordid and dismal details. What do I make out of it, Mr. Appleyard? Why--I think somebody has all this time been making a special investigation of this mystery for himself, and that at last he's going to wind it up with a sensational revelation to--us! Don't you be surprised if you've an application for that fifty thousand pound reward before to-night!" "You really think that?" exclaimed Allerdyke incredulously.