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Kingston Bruce.’
    ‘Alas! only too true, my dear sir. Nothing I hate more than a snob. Well, as I was saying, the Betts came down for the weekend. Last night–we were playing bridge at the time–the clasp of a pendant Mrs Hamilton Betts was wearing broke, so she took it off and laid it down on a small table, meaning to take it upstairs with her when she went. This, however, she forgot to do. I must explain, Mr Blunt, that the pendant consisted of two small diamond wings, and a big pink pearl depending from them. The pendant was found this morning lying where Mrs Betts had left it, but the pearl, a pearl of enormous value, had been wrenched off.’
    ‘Who found the pendant?’
    ‘The parlourmaid–Gladys Hill.’
    ‘Any reason to suspect her?’
    ‘She has been with us some years, and we have always found her perfectly honest. But, of course, one never knows –’
    ‘Exactly. Will you describe your staff, and also tell me who was present at dinner last night?’
    ‘There is the cook–she has been with us only two months, but then she would have no occasion to go near the drawing-room–the same applies to the kitchenmaid. Then there is the housemaid, Alice Cummings. She also has been with us for some years. And Lady Laura’s maid, of course. She is French.’
    Colonel Kingston Bruce looked very impressive as he said this. Tommy, unaffected by the revelation of the maid’s nationality, said: ‘Exactly. And the party at dinner?’
    ‘Mr and Mrs Betts, ourselves–my wife and daughter–and Lady Laura. Young St Vincent was dining with us, and Mr Rennie looked in after dinner for a while.’
    ‘Who is Mr Rennie?’
    ‘A most pestilential fellow–an arrant socialist. Good looking, of course, and with a certain specious power of argument. But a man, I don’t mind telling you, whom I wouldn’t trust a yard. A dangerous sort of fellow.’
    ‘In fact,’ said Tommy drily, ‘it is Mr Rennie whom you suspect?’
    ‘I do, Mr Blunt. I’m sure, holding the views he does, that he can have no principles whatsoever. What could have been easier for him than to have quietly wrenched off the pearl at a moment when we were all absorbed in our game? There were several absorbing moments–a redoubled no trump hand, I remember, and also a painful argument when my wife had the misfortune to revoke.’
    ‘Quite so,’ said Tommy. ‘I should just like to know one thing–what is Mrs Betts’s attitude in all this?’
    ‘She wanted me to call in the police,’ said Colonel Kingston Bruce reluctantly. ‘That is, when we had searched everywhere in case the pearl had only dropped off.’
    ‘But you dissuaded her?’
    ‘I was very averse to the idea of publicity and my wife and daughter backed me up. Then my wife remembered young St Vincent speaking about your firm at dinner last night–and the twenty-four hours’ special service.’
    ‘Yes,’ said Tommy, with a heavy heart.
    ‘You see, in any case, no harm will be done. If we call in the police tomorrow, it can be supposed that we thought the jewel merely lost and were hunting for it. By the way, nobody has been allowed to leave the house this morning.’
    ‘Except your daughter, of course,’ said Tuppence, speaking for the first time.
    ‘Except my daughter,’ agreed the Colonel. ‘She volunteered at once to go and put the case before you.’
    Tommy rose.
    ‘We will do our best to give you satisfaction, Colonel,’ he said. ‘I should like to see the drawing-room, and the table on which the pendant was laid down. I should also like to ask Mrs Betts a few questions. After that, I will interview the servants–or rather my assistant, Miss Robinson, will do so.’
    He felt his nerve quailing before the terrors of questioning the servants.
    Colonel Kingston Bruce threw open the door and led them across the hall. As he did so, a remark came to them clearly through the open door of the room they were approaching and the voice that uttered it was that of the girl who had