"Haven't you got it?"

"I've only got the case--the empty case," said Germaine, with a
startled air.

"The empty case?" said the Duke, with growing surprise.

"Yes," said Germaine. "It was after we came back from our useless
journey to the station. I remembered suddenly that I had started
without the pendant. I went to the bureau and picked up the case;
and it was empty."

"One moment--one moment," said M. Formery. "Didn't you catch this
young Bernard Charolais with this case in his hands, your Grace?"

"Yes," said the Duke. "I caught him with it in his pocket."

"Then you may depend upon it that the young rascal had slipped the
pendant out of its case and you only recovered the empty case from
him," said M. Formery triumphantly.

"No," said the Duke. "That is not so. Nor could the thief have been
the burglar who broke open the bureau to get at the keys. For long
after both of them were out of the house I took a cigarette from the
box which stood on the bureau beside the case which held the
pendant. And it occurred to me that the young rascal might have
played that very trick on me. I opened the case and the pendant was
there."

"It has been stolen!" cried the millionaire; "of course it has been