He turned to those seated
about him. "I wonder if the other gentlemen--" he inquired,
tentatively. There was a chorus of polite murmurs, and the Queen's
Messenger, bowing his head in acknowledgment, took a preparatory sip
from his glass. At the same moment the servant to whom the man with
the black pearl had spoken, slipped a piece of paper into his hand.
He glanced at it, frowned, and threw it under the table.
The servant bowed to the Baronet.
"Your hansom is waiting, Sir Andrew," he said.
"The necklace was worth twenty thousand pounds," began the Queen's
Messenger, "It was a present from the Queen of England to celebrate--
" The Baronet gave an exclamation of angry annoyance.
"Upon my word, this is most provoking," he interrupted. "I really
ought not to stay. But I certainly mean to hear this." He turned
irritably to the servant. "Tell the hansom to wait," he commanded,
and, with an air of a boy who is playing truant, slipped guiltily
into his chair.
The gentleman with the black pearl smiled blandly, and rapped upon
the table.
"Order, gentlemen," he said. "Order for the story of the Queen's
Messenger and the Czarina's diamonds.
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