“An inquiry from the hall porter at the North-Western elicited the fact that no such personage as Mr. Schwarz described had entered the hotel.  The young man asked to see Prince Semionicz, hoping against hope that all was not yet lost.  The Prince received him most courteously; he was dictating some letters to his secretary, while the valet was in the next room preparing his master’s evening clothes.  Mr. Schwarz found it very difficult to explain what he actually did want.

“There stood the dressing-case in which the Prince had locked up the jewels, and there the bag from which the secretary had taken the bank-notes.  After much hesitation on Schwarz’s part and much impatience on that of the Prince, the young man blurted out the whole story of the so-called Russian police officer whose card he still held in his hand.

“The Prince, it appears, took the whole thing wonderfully good-naturedly; no doubt he thought the jeweller a hopeless fool.  He showed him the jewels, the receipt he held, and also a large bundle of bank-notes similar to those Schwarz had with such culpable folly given up to the clever rascal in the cab.

“’I pay all my bills with Bank of England notes, Mr. Schwarz.  It would have been wiser, perhaps, if you had spoken to the manager of the hotel about me before you were so ready to believe any cock-and-bull story about my supposed rogueries.’

“Finally he placed a small 16mo volume before the young jeweller, and said with a pleasant smile: 

“’If people in this country who are in a large way of business, and are therefore likely to come in contact with people of foreign nationality, were to study these little volumes before doing business with any foreigner who claims a title, much disappointment and a great loss would often be saved.  Now in this case had you looked up page 797 of this little volume of Gotha’s Almanach you would have seen my name in it and known from the first that the so-called Russian detective was a liar.’

“There was nothing more to be said, and Mr. Schwarz left the hotel.  No doubt, now that he had been hopelessly duped he dared not go home, and half hoped by communicating with the police that they might succeed in arresting the thief before he had time to leave Liverpool.  He interviewed Detective-Inspector Watson, and was at once confronted with the awful difficulty which would make the recovery of the bank-notes practically hopeless.  He had never had the time or opportunity of jotting down the numbers of the notes.

“Mr. Winslow, though terribly wrathful against his nephew, did not wish to keep him out of his home.  As soon as he had received Schwarz’s letter, he traced him, with Inspector Watson’s help, to his lodgings in North Street, where the unfortunate young man meant to remain hidden until the terrible storm had blown over, or perhaps until the thief had been caught red-handed with the booty still in his hands.