E. Phillips Oppenheim

“ De Mendoza, and I listened for the opening of either of her doors. Presently what I had divined might happen, came to pass. The door of her bedroom, in a line with the one behind which I was lurking, opened. I peered through the crack.
Annette, the maid, a trim, dark figure, had crossed the threshold. She stood for a moment listening. Then without even glancing toward the sitting-room, she walked swiftly along the corridor and turned to the left towards the lift and staircases. In a couple of stealthy strides I too had reached the corner, and peering round, watched her movements. ”

“ The last thing I noticed about her was her wonderful string of pearls.
“That is a very beautiful woman,” I remarked. “Do you know who she is?”
“A South American widow—De Mendoza, her name is.”
“You know her?”
“My humble apartment is on the same floor as her suite,” my companion replied. “She is gracious enough sometimes to remember the fact that we meet occasionally in the lift.” ”

“ De Mendoza, the reputed widow of a fruit merchant in Buenos Aires. She is the fortunate possessor of a very wonderful pearl necklace, which she has insured with our firm for a hundred thousand pounds. Our acceptance of the policy was a grave error which we recognized almost immediately afterward. We know nothing of the lady, and under those circumstances it is against our business policy to accept the risk. We have done our best to protect ourselves, however. Since the policy was issued we have kept in constant touch with her, and have been in daily communication with the hotel detective. ”

“ The maid had recovered sufficiently to sit up. The empty jewel-case told its own story.
“That certainly seems strange,” I replied. “The servants at this hotel are more carefully chosen than at any other hotel in London, and the guests are in nearly every case old clients.”
She shrugged her shoulders.
“Apprehensions such as mine,” she said, “are not based upon reason. However, I must confess that I feel more comfortable now that the insurance company has engaged your services. Would you not like to examine the pearls?” ”

“ De Mendoza and her gorgeous rope of pearls. My host intervened.
“It is women like that,” he commented, “who choose to deck their bodies with jewels of fabulous value, who encourage crime.”
“Roughly speaking, I dare say that necklace is worth eighty thousand pounds. For purposes of theft, it could probably be disposed of for fifty thousand. What a haul for the scientific thief! If it is really true that Pugsley is once more at work, what an opportunity!”
“A woman must be very brave,” my hostess declared, “to run the risks.” ”

“ Our host smiled.
“I can imagine Pugsley finding a few minutes in the hotel quite sufficient,” he observed. “He or his successors, whoever they may be, would think little enough of human life by the side of, say, fifty thousand pounds. The modern maxim of the thief seems to be all or nothing. By killing at sight they certainly increase their chances of escape.”
That closed our conversation upon the subject. We sat about in the lounge and drank coffee and liqueurs, danced for a time and smoked a few cigarettes. The party broke up as the lights in the lounge were being lowered. ”

“ If the man who had last concealed his identity under the name of Pugsley, but whom I strongly suspected to be the notorious Michael Sayers, had really come out into the open once more, life would certainly possess a new interest for me during the next few few months. ”

“ We want to know if, for any fee which you care to name, you will do your best to guard the necklace for us during that week?”
“Have you had any intimation of thieves working in this neighborhood?” I asked him
“None whatever,” he replied. “I will be perfectly frank with you. It is not an ordinary robbery of which we are afraid. For some reason or other, our inquiry department has formed a dubious opinion of Mrs. De Mendoza herself.”
“I see,” I remarked. “You are afraid of a fraud.”
“Precisely! Directly we received the letter from the hotel detective, we rang up the manager here. ”

“ Among my fellow-guests was an official of the Home Office, and our conversation naturally drifted into the subject of social order.
“Your connection with Scotland Yard having long since ceased, Sir Norman,” he remarked to me, “you will not be oversensitive as to facts. The epidemic of crime which was raging about two years ago seems to have broken out again with exactly the same results. There are four undetected murders and five great robberies up to the debit of your late department. ”

“ I observed, “but I think you can make your mind quite easy about the necklace. If you should need me at any time, the number of my room is Four-thirty-two.”
“On this floor?”
“On this floor.”
“Tell me,” she asked a little abruptly as I rose to take my leave, “who was the man with whom you were talking last night in the lounge—a slim, middle-aged man with a very hard face? I am always seeing him in the lift.”
“A man I know scarcely anything of,” I replied. “His name, I believe, is Stanfield. I once played golf with him down at Woking.” ”

“ One day while Sir Norman, as a guest at the golf-club, was playing the course with “Stanfield,” Janet shot and killed a police officer who had tracked Sayers to the spot. The maid professed to her master and to Sir Norman complete ignorance, but later confessed to “Stanfield” and became his accomplice, as is told in the present story by Sir Norman.
Illustrated by W. B. King
ON the evening of my return from the Riviera after a three months' holiday, I was accosted in the lounge of Marridge's Hotel by a middle-aged man of inconspicuous appearance who had been seated in a corner alone. ”

“ Stanfield.”
She laughed scornfully.
“That funny little man who sits about in the lounge? I would as soon believe that you yourself were the thief, Sir Norman! I have my necklace back, and that is all I care about,” she concluded.
THE manager departed, very much relieved. Mrs. De Mendoza beckoned me to follow her to her suite. Arrived in her sitting-room, she closed the door. She had rather the look of a tigress as she turned and faced me. Never was a woman born, of more splendid courage. ”

“ By tonight's post, however, we had a message from the latter to say that he was at home ill, and that during his absence his duties would be taken over by the night watchman. The policy has only one more week to run, and will not under any conditions be renewed. ”

“ I retorted. “You killed a man in cold blood to shield a murderer and a criminal. The hand of justice is slow, especially where evidence is scanty, but in the end it grips.”
She laughed scornfully.
“You speak in ignorance,” she declared. “At least be friends,” she went on, “until you can drag me to the gallows. I shot him with my right hand.”
She held out her left fingers. I raised them to my lips.
“The kiss of Judas,” I warned her.
“You will need more than his cunning,” she answered.
A new adventure in this pursuit of an arch criminal by a master-detective will be described by Mr. ”