"An aeroplane!" cried the other in amazement. "I don't remember it. I've got no recollection of it whatever. There's only one other thing that I can lay hold of, and that's all dim and muzzy…. Pearls. … A great rope of pearls…. I was to sign a paper; and I wouldn't…. I did once, and then there was a shot, and the light went out, and the paper disappeared…."
"It's at my bank at this moment, Mr. Potts," said Hugh; "I took that paper, or part of it, that night."
"Did you?" The millionaire looked at him vaguely. "It was to promise them a million dollars when they had done what they said…. I remember that…. And the pearl necklace…. The Duchess of…" He paused and shook his head wearily.
"The Duchess of Lampshire's?" prompted Hugh.
"That's it," said the other. "The Duchess of Lampshire's. It was saying that I wanted her pearls, I think, and would ask no questions as to how they were got."
The detective grunted.
"Wanted to incriminate you properly, did they? Though it seems to me that it was a blamed risky game. There should have been enough money from the other three to run the show without worrying you, when they found you weren't for it."
"Wait," said the millionaire, "that reminds me. Before they assaulted me at the Carlton, they told me the others wouldn't come in unless I did."
For a while there was silence, broken at length by Hugh.
"Well, Mr. Potts, you've had a mouldy time, and
20
