"I am very much afraid that my wife will have to put up with the loss of her gems," he said. "No doubt they and many others are pledged with some great firm of pawnbrokers. The only consolation one has is the possibility of getting the stuff back by paying half its price over again. But matters cannot be allowed to rest here. Carrington knows that he is at the end of his tether; consequently, that clever bogus burglary you heard discussed last night must take place this evening. What do you propose to do? In my present unfortunate condition I can't interfere. The only thing I can do is to leave it entirely in your hands."
Jack went off presently to seek Rigby, whom he found at his rooms. The latter looked up eagerly, for he could see from his friend's face that Jack had a great deal to tell.
"There is one little thing that seems to stand in the way of our ultimate success," Jack said, thoughtfully, "and that is as to Lady Barmouth's brother. I am afraid that he is in some way mixed up with this business--to his detriment, I mean. I should not care to do anything likely to cause additional pain to that estimable lady after all her great kindness."
Rigby looked up in some bewilderment. Apparently he did not quite understand the drift of Jack's argument.
"I may be very dense," he said, "but I don't follow you. What can Lady Barmouth's brother have to do with it?"
"Well, you must cast your memory back to the night of the great adventure, when Lady Barmouth played so courageous a part, and got us out of a serious difficulty. Do you follow?"
"I think I do now," Rigby said slowly. "Oh, yes; it is all coming back to me. Lady Barmouth asked Redgrave where her brother was, and Redgrave replied that he knew nothing about the individual in question. But, my dear fellow, you have not proved to me yet that Lady Barmouth has a brother."
"Now you are puzzling me," Jack murmured.
"Not at all. On the night I speak of, Lady Barmouth had to act on the spur of the moment. It was necessary to gag a bit to play for an opening. You are taking too much for granted. If Lady Barmouth has a brother, you will probably find that he has nothing to do with this matter. In any case, why worry about him to-night? We seem to have a big adventure before us so far as I can gather from what you have just told me. And if you are still in doubt, it will be quite an easy matter to see Lady Barmouth in the morning, and ascertain from her whether or not our proposed line of action is likely to do any harm. I don't suppose that Lady Barmouth knows or cares anything for Redgrave, who appears to be a kind of sottish tool of Anstruther's."
"Quite right," Jack agreed. "And now, come along and let us set the ball rolling again. I think that I have told you everything. And now we will go off without delay, and see Seymour--the man I told you about, who was with me last night."