"_Ssh!_" whispered Vignoles. "There is no need for that! The man speaking to Miss Oppner there is Detective-Inspector Pepys!" "Detective-Inspector Pepys! But what----" "Never mind now, Megger; he is--that's the point. I'll bring him into the billiard-room. No doubt he can arrange to accompany you." Too perturbed in mind to wonder greatly at the presence of a police officer at Lord Vignoles' dinner-table, Bernard Megger strode hurriedly into the billiard-room, his obese body quivering with his suppressed emotions, and was almost immediately joined by his host, accompanied by Pepys. The latter began at once: "I understand that your chambers have been burgled by Severac Bablon? By a curious instance of what literary critics term the long arm of coincidence I am in charge of the Severac Bablon case--I and Inspector Sheffield." "Before we go any further," said Megger rudely, "I don't share your tomfool ideas about the rogue!" "No?" replied Pepys blandly. "Well, never mind. You must not suppose that, because of them, I am any less anxious to apprehend my man. Tell me, when was the burglary committed?" "While Simons, my servant, was out on an errand. He returned to find the safe open--and empty. He immediately rang me up here." "I believe you have already communicated with Scotland Yard in regard to Severac Bablon?" "Yes, I have. He has threatened me." "In what form?" "He endeavoured to extort money." "By what means?" Bernard Megger frowned, angrily. His flabby cheeks were twitching significantly. "The point is," he said sharply, "that he has rifled my safe." "Did it contain valuables?" "Certainly." "Diamonds?" "It contained valuable papers." "Where is the safe situated?" "It is concealed, I thought securely, at the back of a bookcase. No one else holds a key. No one--not even my man--knows of its location. _Curse_ Severac Bablon! How, in Heaven's name, has he discovered it? I thought it secure from the fiend himself!" Detective-Inspector Pepys scratched his chin thoughtfully, and Bernard Megger seemed to experience some difficulty in meeting the disconcerting gaze of his eyes. "Possibly," said the inspector slowly, "an examination of your chambers may afford a clue. With your permission, Lord Vignoles, we will start at once." "Certainly," said Vignoles. "I fear I have no car in readiness, so someone shall call a cab." He moved to the bell. "What's that, Jerry?" came a musical American voice. "Someone want a lift?" The three men looked towards the door and saw there Zoe Oppner, a bewitching picture in her motor-furs. "I was coming to say good-night," she explained. "I'm off to pick up Pa. But I've got time to run as far as Brighton and back, say. Nearly half an hour anyway!" "You will not be called upon to create that amazing record, Zoe," responded Lord Vignoles. "Inspector Pepys and Mr. Megger are merely proceeding to Victoria Street."