Lord Ellersdeane, a big, bustling, country-squire type of man, came into the room, nodding cheerily to its occupants.

"Sorry to disturb you, Mr. Chestermarke," he said. "I understand Horbury isn't at home, but of course you'll do just as well. The Countess and I only got back from abroad night before last. She wants her jewels, so I'll take 'em with me, if you please."

Gabriel Chestermarke, who was drawing forward a chair, took his hand off it and stared at his visitor.

"The Countess's--jewels!" he said. "Does your lordship mean----"

"Deposited them with Horbury, you know, some weeks ago--when we went abroad," replied Lord Ellersdeane. "Safe keeping, you know--said he'd lock 'em up."

Gabriel turned slowly to Joseph. But Joseph shook his head--and Neale, glancing from one partner to the other, felt himself turning sick with apprehension.

CHAPTER III

MR. CHESTERMARKE DISCLAIMS LIABILITY

Gabriel Chestermarke, after that one look at his nephew, turned again to the Earl, politely motioning him to the chair which he had already drawn forward. And the Earl, whose eyes had been wandering over the pile of doc.u.ments on the senior partner's desk, glancing curiously at the open door of the strong room, and generally taking in a sense of some unusual occurrence, dropped into it and looked expectantly at the banker.

"There's nothing wrong?" he asked suddenly. "You look--surprised."

Gabriel stiffened his already upright figure.

"Surprised--yes!" he answered. "And something more than surprised--I am astonished! Your lordship left the Countess's jewels with our manager?

May I ask when--and under what circ.u.mstances?"

"About six weeks ago," replied the Earl promptly. "As a rule the jewels are kept at my bankers in London. The Countess wanted them to wear at the Hunt Ball, so I fetched them from London myself. Then, as we were going off to the Continent two days after the ball, and sailing direct from Kingsport to Hamburg, I didn't want the bother of going up to town with them, and I thought of Horbury. So I drove in here with them one evening--the night before we sailed, as a matter of fact--and asked him to lock them up until our return. And as I said just now, we only got home the night before last, and we're going up to town tomorrow, and the Countess wants them to take with her. Of course, you've got 'em all right?"

Gabriel Chestermarke spread out his hands.

"I know nothing whatever about them!" he said. "I never heard of them being here."

"Nor I," affirmed Joseph. "Not a word!"

Gabriel looked at Neale, and drew Lord Ellersdeane's attention to him.

"Our senior clerk--Mr. Neale," he said. "Neale--have you heard of this transaction?"

"Never!" replied Neale. "Mr. Horbury never mentioned it to me."

Gabriel waved his hand towards the open door of the strong room.

"Any valuables of that sort would have been in there," he remarked.

"There is nothing of that sort there--beyond what I and my nephew know of. I am sure your lordship's jewels are not there."

"But--Horbury?" exclaimed the Earl. "Where is he? He would tell you!"

"We don't know where Mr. Horbury is," answered Gabriel "The truth may as well be told--he's missing. And so are some of our most valuable securities."

The Earl slowly looked from one partner to another. His face flushed, almost as hotly as if he himself had been accused of theft.

"Oh, come!" he said. "Horbury, now, of all men! Come--come!--you don't mean to tell me that Horbury's been playing games of that sort? There must be some mistake."

"I shall be glad to be a.s.sured that I am making it," said Gabriel coolly. "But it will be more to the purpose if your lordship will tell us all about the deposit of these jewels. And--there's an important matter which I must first mention. We have not the honour of reckoning your lordship among our customers. Therefore, whatever you handed to Horbury was handed to him privately--not to us."

Joseph Chestermarke nodded his head at that, and the Earl stirred a little uneasily in his chair.

"Oh, well!" he said. "I--to tell you the truth, I didn't think about that, Mr. Chestermarke. It's true I don't keep any account with you--it's never seemed--er, necessary, you know. But, of course, I knew Horbury so well--he's a member of our golf club and our archaeological society--that----"

"Precisely," interrupted Gabriel, with a bow. "You came to Mr. Horbury privately. Not to the firm."

"I came to him knowing that he was your manager, and a man to be thoroughly trusted, and that he'd have safes and things in which he could deposit valuables in perfect safety," answered the Earl. "I never reflected for a moment on the niceties of the matter. I just explained to him that I wanted those jewels taken care of, and handed them over.

That's all!"

"And--their precise nature?" asked Gabriel.

"And--their value?" added Joseph.

"As to their nature," replied the Earl, "there was my wife's coronet, her diamond necklace, and the Ellersdeane b.u.t.terfly, of which I suppose all the world's heard--heirloom, you know. It's a thing that can be worn in a lady's hair or as a pendant--diamonds, of course. As to their value--well, I had them valued some years ago. They're worth about a hundred thousand pounds."

Gabriel turned to his desk and began to arrange some papers on it, and Neale, who was watching everything with close attention, saw that his fingers trembled a little. He made no remark, and the silence was next broken by Joseph Chestermarke's soft accents.

"Did Horbury give your lordship any receipt, or acknowledgment that he had received these jewels on deposit?" he asked. "I mean, of course, in our name?"

The Earl twisted sharply in his chair, and Neale fancied that he saw a shade of annoyance pa.s.s over his good-natured face.

"Certainly not!" he answered. "I should never have dreamt of asking for a receipt from a man whom I knew as well as I knew--or thought I knew--Horbury. The whole thing was just as if--well, as if I should ask any friend to take care of something for me for a while."

"Did Horbury know what you were giving him?" asked Joseph.

"Of course!" replied the Earl. "As a matter of fact, he'd never seen these things, and I took them out of their case and showed them to him."

"And he said he would lock them up?--in our strong room?" suggested the soft voice.

"He said nothing about your strong room," answered the Earl. "Nor about where he'd put them. That was understood. It was understood--a tacit understanding--that he'd take care of them until our return."

"Did your lordship give him the date of your return?" persisted Joseph, with the thorough-going air of a cross-examiner.

"Yes--I told him exactly when we should be back," replied the Earl. "The twelfth of May--day before yesterday."

Joseph moved away from the sideboard towards the hearth, and leaning against the mantelpiece threw a glance at the strong room.

"The jewels are not in our possession," he said, half indolently. "There is nothing of that sort in there. There are two safes in the outer room of the bank--I should say that Mr. Neale here knows everything that is in them. Do you know anything of these jewels, Neale?"

"Nothing!" said Neale. "I never heard of them."