“Was she engaged to be married?”
Snell looked sharply at the detective.
“You’re a keen one,” he said. “No, she wasn’t engaged, and that is another complication.
“Well, it is known that she was in love with a young fellow who wasn’t liked by her father. Naturally he wasn’t at the ball. It is thought possible that she eloped with him, and that the offer of the robbers to restore her was a bluff.”
“Was her lover a rich man?”
“Decidedly not.”
“Then you think she may have taken the jewelry to sell for her own use.”
“It’s possible, yes. I’ve thought of it.”
“And that the robbery of the papers simply happened to come at the same time.”