72
THE SURAKARTA
"You, of course, have heard that the Surakarta has been stolen, but perhaps not yet that they say I was at the bottom of its disappearance?"
"Then there iss no exblanation of how it wass taken—there iss nothings more than wass given in the morning bapers?"
"Nothing."
Max Schimmel rubbed his hands with satisfaction.
"I must help you to show them, then, my friendt, that the jewel wass taken in a way which it could not be taken by you."
Hereford glanced with annoyance about the office. Max, he saw, was about to demand fuller explanation and he felt, under the circumstances, he could not refuse it.
"Come in, then," he ungraciously decided. "I have already carried out so much of your
