"Her ladyship could give you no clue?"
"None whatever; but you will see her yourself. She is at the town mansion to-day, but leaves for their place in Norfolk to-morrow. The jewel-box is at the Norfolk house. You must arrange with Lady B—— to be quartered in the house as sanitary inspector, or something of that kind. As a sanitary inspector you can roam all over the house without suspicion."
"I will do my best, chief."
There was a slight difference in the ages of Lady B—— and her husband; she was twenty-three, and he would never see sixty-five again. Lord B—— was not always the wealthy man he is now; an elder brother conveniently died without family, and an unusually rich seam of coal was discovered on his property. All at once his income rose from a few hundreds to twenty thousand per annum—that was on the death of his brother—and it is now said to exceed thirty thousand. A man who had such a splendid income was bound to have a pretty wife, and in Miss M— he met the belle of two seasons, admired by everyone, from the prince to the peasant. Envious tongues did not hesitate to say that this union of May and December would not be lasting, and that because a near female relative had gone wrong, Lady B—— would soon give occasion for scandal. These wiseacres were disappointed for once. Lady B—— proved herself an exemplary wife, and there were two children, a boy and a girl, born of the marriage.
Arrayed in frock coat and a tall hat, I presented myself at the town house at four o'clock.
"Her ladyship in?" I asked.
"I will see," replied the man servant. "What name?"
I produced my card—
"Mr. Robert Charrington,
Sanitary Inspector,"