Reggie went to his own room. He had nothing which could be stolen but his brushes, and they were not gone. He looked out of the window. In the cold March moonlight he saw two men moving hither and thither, and recognized one for his chauffeur and factotum Sam, and shouted.
“Nothing doing, sir,” Sam called back. “Clean getaway.”
Reggie went downstairs to the smoking-room. He was stretched in a chair consuming soda-water and a large cigar when there broke upon him in a wave of chattering Tom Beach and Alice and Captain Cosdon.
“Oh, Mr. Fortune, is this a perfect crime?” Alice laughed.
Reggie shook his head. “I’m afraid it had an accident in its youth. The crime that took the wrong turning.”
“How do you mean, Fortune?” Tom Beach frowned. “It’s deuced awkward.”
“Awkward is the word,” Reggie agreed. “What’s gone, Colonel?”
“Well, there’s my pots, you know. And Alice has lost a set of cameos she had in her dressing-room.”
“And Mrs. Faulks says they’ve taken that big ruby brooch she was wearing before dinner. You know it.”
“It’s one of the things I could bear not to know,” Reggie murmured. “Nothing else?”
“She says she doesn’t know, she’s too upset to be sure. I say, Fortune, this is a jolly business for me.”
“She’s gone to bed fuming. Faulks is in a sweet state too.”
“That’s the lot, then? Nice little bag, but rather on the small side. Yes, it didn’t go according to plan.”
“Oh, Mr. Fortune, what are you going to do?”
“Do?” said Reggie reproachfully. “I? Where’s the nearest policeman?”
“Cranston Abbas,” said Tom Beach, “and he’s only a yokel. Village constable, don’t you know.”
“Yes, you are rather remote, Colonel. What is there about you that brings the wily cracksman down here?”
“Mrs. Faulks!” Alice cried. “That woman must travel with a jeweller’s shop. There’s a chance for you, Mr. Fortune. Get her rubies back and you’ll win her heart.”
“Jewelled in fifteen holes. I’d be afraid of burglars. Mrs. Beach, you’re frivolous, and the Colonel’s going to burst into tears. Will anyone tell me what did happen? We were all in the drawing-room--no. Where were you, Cosdon?”
“All in the servants’ hall at supper!” Colonel Beach said. “They are all right.”
“Quite. Miss Winslow went upstairs and saw a man at her window. There’s a ladder at it. She screamed and the lights went out. Why?”