answered.
The property-master unlocked a cupboard and took from it the sparklingcuirass. Hanaud pointed to it, and there, lost amongst the hugeglittering stones of paste and false pearls, Mrs. Blumenstein'snecklace was entwined.
"Then that is why Favart came always to Covent Garden when _The Jewelsof the Madonna_ was being performed!" exclaimed Ricardo.
Hanaud nodded.
"He came to watch over his treasure."
Ricardo was piecing together the sections of the puzzle.
"No doubt he knew of the necklace in America. No doubt he followed itto England."
Hanaud agreed.
"Mrs. Blumenstein's jewels were quite famous in New York."
"But to hide them here!" cried Mr. Clements. "He must have been mad."
"Why?" asked Hanaud. "Can you imagine a safer hiding-place? Who isgoing to burgle the property-room of Covent Garden? Who is going tolook for a priceless string of pearls amongst the stage jewels of anopera house?"
"You did," said Mr. Ricardo.
"I?" replied Hanaud, shrugging his shoulders. "Joan Carew's dreams ledme to Andre Favart. The first time we came here and saw the pearls ofthe Madonna, I was on the look-out, naturally. I noticed Favart at theback of the stalls. But it was a stroke of luck that I noticed thosepearls through my opera glasses."
"At the end of the second act?" cried Ricardo suddenly. "I remembernow."
"Yes," replied Hanaud. "But for that second act the pearls would havestayed comfortably here all through the season. Carmen Valeri--a foolas I told you--would have tossed them about in her dressing-roomwithout a notion of their value, and at the end of July, when themurder at the Semiramis Hotel had been forgotten, Favart would havetaken them to Amsterdam and made his bargain."
"Shall we go?"
They left the theatre together and walked down to the grill-room ofthe Semiramis. But as Hanaud looked through the glass door he drewback.
"We will not go in, I think, eh?"
"Why?" asked Ricardo.
Hanaud pointed to a table. Calladine and Joan Carew were seated at ittaking their supper.
"Perhaps," said Hanaud with a smile, "perhaps, my friend--what? Whoshall say that the rooms in the Adelphi will not be given up?"
They turned away from the hotel. But Hanaud was right, and before theseason was over Mr. Ricardo had to put his hand in his pocket for awedding present.
The Affair at the Semiramis Hotel Page 13
