As he spoke the door opened and Lady Belgrade entered the room, saying softly, as she would have spoken beside the cradle of a sick baby: 

“I am sorry to disturb your grace; but the fifteen minutes permitted by the doctor have passed, and Salome must not sit up longer.”

“I am going now, dear madam,” said the duke, rising.

He took Salome’s hand, held it for a moment in his, while he gazed into her eyes, then pressed it to his lips, and so took his morning’s leave of her.

The same forenoon he rode over to the Lone Station, and dispatched a telegram to the family solicitor, Kage.

CHAPTER X.

THE LETTER AND ITS EFFECT.

Mr. Kage arrived at Lone, within twenty-four hours after having received the duke’s telegram.  He reached the castle at noon and had a private interview with the duke in the library, when it was arranged that the will and the letter should be read the same afternoon in the presence of the assembled household.

“The letter also?  Is not that a private one from the father to his daughter?” inquired the duke.

“No, your grace.  There are reasons why it must be public, which you will recognize when you hear it read,” answered the lawyer.

“Then I fear I have been mistaken in my private thoughts concerning it.  Pray, will it give us any clue to the perpetrators of the murder?”

“None whatever!  It certainly was not a violent death that the banker anticipated for himself when he prepared that letter to be delivered in the event of his sudden decease.”

“Has any clue yet been found to the murderer?”

“None that I have heard of.”

“Or to the mysterious woman who was supposed to have carried off the booty?”

“None, Detective Keightley called on me yesterday for some information regarding the stolen property, and I furnished him with a photograph of that snuff-box given to Sir Lemuel Levison by the Sultan of Turkey—­the gold one richly set with precious stones.  Sir Lemuel had it photographed by my advice, for identification in case of its being stolen.  And he left several duplicate copies with me.  I gave one to Keightley.  But the man could give me no information in return.  The missing woman seemed lost in London.  And the proverbial little needle in the haystack might be as easily found,” said the lawyer.

The announcement of luncheon put an end to the interview.

The two gentlemen passed on into the smaller dining-room where Lady Belgrade awaited them.  She received the solicitor politely and invited him to the table.

After the three were seated and helped to what they preferred, her ladyship turned to the lawyers and said: 

“My niece understands that you have a letter for her, left in your charge by her father.  She wishes you to send it to her immediately.  Her maid is here waiting to take it.”