If found send by registered post to Miss Lennard, 503_a_, Bedford Court Mansions, London." Allerdyke memorized that address while he secretly wondered whether he should or should not tell the manager that the missing property was in his possession.

Finally he determined to keep silence for the moment, and he handed back the message with an assumption of indifference.
"I should think a thing of that sort will soon be found," he observed.
"Look here--never mind about sending that chambermaid to me just now; I'll see her later.

I'm going to breakfast." He wondered as he sat in the coffee-room, eating and drinking, if any of the folk about him knew anything about the dead man whose body had been quietly taken away by the doctors while the hotel routine went on in its usual fashion.

It seemed odd, strange, almost weird, to think that any one of these people, eating fish or chops, chatting, reading their propped-up newspapers, might be in possession of some knowledge which he would give a good deal to appropriate.
Of one fact, however, he was certain--that diamond buckle belonged to Miss Celia Lennard, and she lived at an address in London which he had by that time written down in his pocket-book.

And now arose the big (and, in view of what had happened, the most important and serious) question--how had Miss Celia Lennard's diamond buckle come to be in Room Number 263?
That question had got to be answered, and he foresaw that he and Miss Lennard must very quickly meet again.
But there were many matters to be dealt with first, and they began to arise and to demand attention at once.