"Righto. Necklaces, no matter how valuable, have never been known to swim. I do."
It was only a five minute ride from the airport to Miss Carlton's bungalow, so Kitty waited until they had all gone inside the pleasant living-room to open her box, and gaze at her beloved treasure once more.
"I'm dying to see it again," she said, as she took the box from Maurice's hand. "If I had my way, I wouldn't keep it in a safe-deposit vault. I like it where I can look at it."
She took off the rubber bands and opened the box, displaying the velvet case inside. But when she unfastened the clasp, her expression of delight changed abruptly to one of horror. The case was empty!
Her exclamation of distress was pitiful to hear. Her dearest possession—gone!
"Ralph!" she cried with torturing accusation. "Ralph! Are you teasing me?"
Her brother's face became ghastly white.
"What—what's wrong—Kit?" he stammered.
"My necklace! Oh, what has happened?" She burst out crying.
Everybody crowded around and gazed in consternation at the empty box, looking questioningly at Ralph, to see whether it could possibly be intended as a joke. But he did not need to tell them of his innocence; he looked almost as stricken as his sister. He knew now that it had been stolen by the man who pretended to be a pilot! And he had actually made twenty dollars out of Ralph besides, for the transaction! What fools they had been, never to open the box!