Distant murmurs of voices inside the house always came distinctly to Toory when he was on guard-command. A few floated to him now.
"Yeah, his name's Peter and he's a nice boy, too. Got plenty of money. Soon as I met him he started spending it on me." Toory knew that was Annie the parlour maid, who roomed high upstairs with Nerina.
Presently there were other, very faint murmurs, faint because they came from the top of the most distant wing of the big house.
"Sure I hid it. You don't think I'd be such a fool, keeping it here in the house? It's hid down in the woods, in that place I showed you. Thirty thousand pounds sterling we'll get for the diamond-string. It's worth easy that."
"Gil, is it really?"
"If it's worth a farthing."
The murmurs came from Higgins and his wife. The barking of the dog down the hill swelled louder, so that Toory listened to the animal as it bayed at the moon. It often did that, mostly all night. Then there was Higgins' murmur again.
"I say, don't lose your nerve, old girl. It'll be a mess. We'll be suspected, of course, but so will all the staff, which makes it quite all right. See what I mean? Miss Babs being blind, anybody could have sneaked up on her to watch her open that strongbox. It's a simple lock, like I said. Anybody could have done it."
"Or even a visitor, Gil."