"I came from a ball. Word reached me between the dances. I did not go home. I had been bidden to hurry."
He looked his appreciation, but when he spoke it was to say:
"This is the situation. Miss Digby—"
"The lady who is to be married to-morrow?"
"Who hopes to be married to-morrow."
"How, hopes?"
"Who will be married to-morrow, if a certain article lost in this house to-night can be found before any of the persons who have been dining here leave for their homes."
Violet uttered an exclamation.
"Then, Mr. Cornell—" she began.
"Mr. Cornell has our utmost confidence," Roger hastened to interpose. "But the article missing is one which he might reasonably desire to possess and which he alone of all present had the opportunity of securing. You can therefore see why he, with his pride—the pride of a man not rich, engaged to marry a woman who is—should declare that unless his innocence is established before daybreak, the doors of St. Bartholomew will remain shut to-morrow."