"I—no!" she answered, a little vacantly. "But it is gone! I was not fit to be trusted with it. I ought to have given it up to you."
She was very pale, and he was afraid of her fainting. He summoned the landlady once more. She was waiting on the stairs close by.
"Something very serious has happened here," he said, sternly. "This young lady has been assaulted and robbed."
"I'm sure I'm very sorry," the woman declared. "You can't blame any of us, though. I never heard a sound, no more did Hilda, and I can't prevent my lodgers having visitors."
"We won't discuss it," Deane said sharply. "But if this is Miss Montague's room,—"
"It isn't," the woman interrupted. "It's my sitting-room. Miss Montague has only an attic, and she came to me and said that she couldn't receive a visitor there, and asked me to lend her my room for a few minutes."
Deane nodded. "The other rooms on this floor are unoccupied, of course," he said. "Oh! it's quite easy to understand. I don't need to ask you any more questions. I don't want any more explanations. If you want to keep this out of the police court, you will do exactly as I tell you."
"Yes!" she exclaimed eagerly. "I will do anything."
"Send your servant for a cab," Deane said, "and arrange this young lady's dress so that I can take her home."
"I will fetch her a bodice of my own," declared the woman, hurrying off.