from the glittering trays in the showcases, Mrs. Darcy or one of her
clerks would say:

"We will have Mr. Darcy design something different for you."

"That's what I want," the customer would say--"something
different--something you don't see everywhere."

And so the Darcy trade had grown and prospered.

"Well, let's hear what you have to say," said Carroll, after James
Darcy had given what the detectives considered was, for the time, a
sufficient history of himself and his relative, and had hastily gone
over such of the stock as was kept outside the safe. The latter had
not been forced open--it did not take long to ascertain that. "Is
anything gone?"

"I can't say for sure," answered the young man--he was this side of
thirty. His long, artistic fingers were trembling, and he felt weak
and faint. "But if there has been a robbery they didn't get much. The
safe hasn't been opened, and the best of the goods--all the diamonds
and other stones--are in that. Nothing seems to be gone from the
cases, though I'd have to make a better search, and go over the
inventory, to make certain."

"Well, let that go for the time. How'd you find things when you came
downstairs? What happened during the night? Any of the doors or
windows forced?" and the detective fairly shot these questions at Darcy,

"I think not. The front door was locked, just as it is now. I went