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“I am afraid,” she said, “that you have troubled yourself, and incidentally have troubled me, to no purpose. I am already insured against burglary, fire, employers’ liabilities, and all the rest of it, and I am not proposing to take out any further policy.”

“I am so glad,” said the stranger, and in a flash stepped into the hall, and shut the door behind him.

“What are you doing?” said Miss Markham. “You must not come in here like that. Go away at once!”

“I know, my dear lady, it is quite unconventional and wrong, and I can only assure you if you had not been insured against burglary I should never have come in. You may believe me that in the exercise of my profession, I have always done my best to consult the feelings of others.”

“Your profession! What profession?”

“We won’t give it a name. ‘What’s in a name?’ Some of my confreres are rough and violent; I am nothing of the kind. Naturally if you began to make a noise, I should have to take some steps to prevent it. The police in this neighbourhood are few in number and quite inefficient, and I think there is no other bungalow within a quarter of a mile.”

Miss Markham was now alive to the state of the case.

“I think,” she said, “that a police-whistle can be heard at that distance.”

She raised her police-whistle just as he raised his revolver; the two hands went up together.

“Really, Miss Markham, you ought not to force me into such a totally false position. My feelings towards you are those of a chivalrous gentleman; it absolutely repels me to do anything whatever which would appear in the nature of a threat. You have put the police-whistle down? That’s right. Now then we can talk about this necklace. It would be pleasanter if we sat down; we will go into the dining-room, shall we? I say the dining-room rather than the drawing-room, because I think you might possibly like to ask me to take a whisky-and-soda, and the decanters are there.”

Miss Markham followed him into the dining-room; she did not ask him to take a whisky-and-soda. Notwithstanding this, he took it.

“Tell me one thing,” she said, “how did you know about this necklace?”

“That is just it; servants will talk. They are an eternal nuisance, aren’t they? If their employer has anything which is believed to be valuable, they like to brag about it a little. You know, one can understand it; they enjoy reflected glory. It is exactly twelve months ago since I learned in casual conversation with a lady of inferior station to myself–your housemaid, I believe–that you not only possessed a pearl necklace valued at L500, but that you always wore it.”

“The jeweller told me that pearls should always be worn; they keep their colour better that way.”

“Yes,” said the stranger, “they do give that advice; very useful advice it is too.”

“If there is nothing else that you want to take,” said Miss Markham, “perhaps you would not mind going.”

“Certainly, my dear lady. I understand your point of view exactly. Here we have an abominable intrusion at a late hour; my sex makes the intrusion all the worse. When you are about to summon assistance, I raise my revolver, and if you had not put the police-whistle down, I should have been reluctantly compelled to shoot you dead. I then take away from you, as I shall do presently, a pearl necklace, which you value at L500, though I shall be quite satisfied if I get L120 for it myself. Well, when you come to think of it, you must admit that you have suffered nothing but a little inconvenience. The insurance company will give you L500 to buy another necklace, and the one which I am about to take away with me has no sentimental associations for you.”

“How do you know that?”

“You bought the silly thing yourself; correct me if I am wrong.”