"Has anything gone?
Has anything been stolen?
There was a jewel-case upon the dressing-table.

I saw it." The maid looked at him curiously, before she answered.

"Nothing has been touched." Then, with a glance towards the bed, the maid stooped quickly to a trunk which stood against the wall close by the door and then slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.

The corridors were now lighted up, as though it were still evening and the household had not yet gone to bed.

Ralston saw that the maid held a bundle in her hands.
"I do not think," she said in a whisper, "that the thief came to steal any thing." She laid some emphasis upon the word.
Ralston took the bundle from her hands and stared at it.
"Good God!" he muttered.