"I believe my cousin was murdered that night," answered Allerdyke. "So, too, does Fullaway there. And you were probably the last person who ever spoke to him alive. Now, you see, I'm a plain, blunt-spoken sort of chap--I ask people straight questions. What did you go into his room to talk to him about?" "Business!" she replied, with a directness which impressed both men. "Mere business. He and I had several conversations on board the _Perisco_--I made out he was a clever business man. I want to invest some money--he advised me to put it into a development company in Norway, which is doing big things in fir and pine. I went into his room to look at some plans and papers--he gave me some prospectuses which are in that bag there just now---I was reading them over again only this evening. That's all. I wasn't there many minutes--and, as I told you, he was very well, very brisk and lively then." "Did he show you any valuables that he had with him--jewels?" asked Allerdyke brusquely. "Jewels! Valuables!" she answered. "No--certainly not." "Nor when you were on the steamer?" "No--nor at any time," she said. "Jewels?--why--what makes you ask such a question?" "Because my cousin had in his possession a consignment of such things, of great value, and we believe that he was murdered for them--that's why," replied Allerdyke. "He had them when he left Christiania--he had them when he entered the Hull hotel--" Fullaway, who had been listening intently, leant forward with a shake of his head. "Stop at that, Allerdyke," he said. "We don't know, now, that he did have them when he entered the hotel at Hull! He mayn't have had. Miss Lennard--we'll drop the professional name and turn to the real one," he said, with a bow to the prima donna--"Miss Lennard here thinks she had her jewels in her little box when she entered the Hull hotel, and also when she came to this hotel, here in Edinburgh, but--" "Do you mean to say that I hadn't?" she exclaimed. "Do you mean--" "I mean," replied Fullaway, "that, knowing what I now know, I believe that both you and the dead man, James Allerdyke, were robbed on the _Perisco_. And I want to ask you a question at once. Where is your maid!" Celia Lennard dropped her knife and fork and sat back, suddenly turning pale. "My maid!" she said faintly. "Good heavens! you don't think--oh, you aren't suggesting that she's the thief? Because--oh, this is dreadful! You see--I never thought of it before--when she and I arrived at Hull that night she was met by a man who described himself as her brother. He was in a great state of agitation--he said he'd rushed up to Hull to meet her, to beg her to go straight with him to their mother, who was dying in London. Of course, I let her go at once--they drove straight from the riverside at Hull to the station to catch the train. What else could I do? I never suspected anything. Oh!" Fullaway leaned across the table and filled his hostess's glass.