his researches. He summed the data up in his mind, telling himself, finally, that they really amounted to nothing at all, and had almost resolved to write to the Marquis and decline the conduct of the case unless he furnished him with fuller information on certain points on which he had refused to give any information at all, when the servant came to announce that Mr. Golden, of the firm of Messrs. Ruby and Golden, was at the door and desirous of an interview.
A minute later Mr. Champnell found himself face to face with the junior partner of the famous firm of jewellers—a shrewd, sharp-looking man, who wasted no time in coming to the point
"I have been made the victim, Mr. Champnell, of an atrocious outrage, and I come to you first, because the matter is one which requires delicate handling, and second, because the author of the outrage is a member of your own order. I may add that if you succeed in this matter we may be able to place a good deal of business in your hands—business of a kind which requires the intervention of a diplomatist rather than of a policeman."
The Hon. Augustus bowed.
"You are acquainted with Lord Hardaway?" Another bow from Mr. Champnell "His lordship has been a customer of ours for some time, and is so largely in our debt that some months ago we felt bound to intimate that we could not allow him to add to the already large figure of his account.
"We have recently received information, through side channels, that his lordship was paying his addresses to Miss Bonnyer-Lees, the sole child and
