"An important one, surely," Steel's voice came thin and clear. "Suppose that our dear friend chances to recognise it? ... No, don't ring off yet."
"I'm not. Oh, you are speaking to the Exchange people ... Yes, yes; we shall be a long time yet ... Are you there? Well, Henson has never seen the star. Enid bought it just before the great trouble came, and afterwards she never had the heart to wear it."
"I understand. You want Merritt to know this?"
"Well, I do and I don't," Chris explained. "I am anxious not to frighten the man. I want to get him in my power, and I want to prove to him that it would be to his advantage for him to come over to my side. Suppose that Enid gave it out that the star had been stolen? And suppose that I could save him at the critical moment? I shouldn't mind him thinking that I had stolen the star in the first place. That is why I am asking you as a novelist to help me."
"You would have made an excellent novelist yourself," David said, admiringly. "Give me five minutes.... Are you there? I fancy I have it. Can't you hear me? That's better. I'll see Miss Gates the first thing in the morning and get her to go over to Longdean and see your sister.... Confound it, don't cut us off yet. What does it matter so long as the messages are paid for? Nobody else wants the line. Well, I may for an hour more.... Are you there? Very sorry; it's the fault of the Post Office people. Here is the plot in a nutshell. Your sister has lost a diamond star. She gives a minute description of it to the police, and drops a hint to the effect that she believes it was taken away by mistake--in other words, was stolen--from her in London by a chance acquaintance called Christabel Lee--"
"I have long suspected it," the thin voice went on, drily. "The full description of the star will be printed in the _Police Gazette_, a copy of which every respectable pawnbroker always gets regularly. I suppose the people where the star was pawned are respectable?"
"Highly so. They have quite a Bond Street establishment attached."
"So much the better. They will see the advertisement, and they will communicate with the police. The Reverend James Merritt will be arrested--"
"I don't quite like that," Chris suggested.