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"Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but

he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts.

In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door,

so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin

walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared

into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad

slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what

would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the

room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw

that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed

down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and

slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see

what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the

window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then

closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close

to where he stood hid behind the curtain.