Now that I had the diamonds safe again, it seemed a very
natural mistake. But I doubted if the Foreign Office would think so.
I was afraid it might not appreciate the beautiful simplicity of my
secret hiding-place. So, when I reached the police-station, and found
that the woman was still at large, I was more than relieved.
"As I expected, the Chief was extremely chagrined when he learned of
my mistake, and that there was nothing for him to do. But I was
feeling so happy myself that I hated to have anyone else miserable,
so I suggested that this attempt to steal the Czarina's necklace
might be only the first of a series of such attempts by an
unscrupulous gang, and that I might still be in danger.
"I winked at the Chief, and the Chief smiled at me, and we went to
Nice together in a saloon-car with a guard of twelve carabineers and
twelve plain-clothes men, and the Chief and I drank champagne all the
way. We marched together up to the hotel where the Russian Ambassador
was stopping, closely surrounded by our escort of carabineers, and
delivered the necklace with the most profound ceremony. The old
Ambassador was immensely impressed, and when we hinted that already I
had been made the object of an attack by robbers, he assured us that
his Imperial Majesty would not prove ungrateful.
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