"
"And your jewels, of course--?"
She pronounced with unbroken composure: "They have left me nothing,
monsieur."
Duchemin groaned and hung his head. "I knew it!" he declared. "No
credit to me, however. Naturally, whoever stole my candle and knocked
me out didn't break into the house for the fun of it ... I imagine
that, what with finding me insensible, waking Jean up, and getting me
back in my room, you must have been away from yours fully half an
hour."
"Quite that long."
"It couldn't have been better arranged for the thieves," he declared.
"If only I had stayed in my room--!"
"If you had, it might possibly have been worse--mightn't it? The
burglar--or burglars--knew precisely the location of the safe. They
were coming to my room, and if they had found me awake ... I think it
quite possible, my friend, that your appetite for cigarettes may have
saved my life."
"There's consolation in that," he confessed--"if it's any to you, who
have lost so much."
"But perhaps I shall get my jewellery back."
"What makes you think that?"
"There's always the chance, isn't there? And I believe I have a clue,
as they call it, an indefinite one but something to work from,
perhaps.
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