“And,” concluded Blake, taking his cigar between his thumb and forefinger and shaking it to give all possible emphasis to his words, “we have had our agent at Palm Beach on long-distance ’phone twice this afternoon.  Mrs. Branford did not go to Palm Beach.  She did not engage rooms in any hotel there.  And furthermore she never had any intention of going there.  By a fortunate circumstance Maloney picked up a hint from one of the servants, and he has located her at the Grattan Inn in this city.  In other words, Mrs. Branford has stolen her own jewels from herself in order to collect the burglary insurance—­a common-enough thing in itself, but never to my knowledge done on such a large scale before.”

The insurance man sank back in his chair and surveyed us sharply.

“But,” interrupted Kennedy slowly, “how about—­”

“I know—­the maid,” continued Blake.  “I do not mean that Mrs. Branford did the actual stealing.  Oh, no.  That was done by a yeggman of experience.  He must have been above the average, but everything points to the work of a yeggman.  She hired him.  But he overstepped the mark when he chloroformed the maid.”

For a moment Kennedy said nothing.  Then he remarked:  “Let us go out and see the safe.  There must be some clue.  After that I want to have a talk with Mrs. Branford.  By the way,” he added, as we all rose to go down to Blake’s car, “I once handled a life insurance case for the Great Eastern.  I made the condition that I was to handle it in my own way, whether it went for or against the company.  That’s understood, is it, before I undertake the case?”

“Yes, yes,” agreed Blake.  “Get at the truth.  We’re not seeking to squirm out of meeting an honest liability.  Only we want to make a signal example if it is as we have every reason to believe.  There has been altogether too much of this sort of fake burglary to collect insurance, and as president of the underwriters it is my duty and intention to put a stop to it.  Come on.”

Maloney nodded his head vigorously in assent with his chief.  “Never fear,” he murmured.  “The truth is what will benefit the company, all right.  She did it.”

The Branford estate lay some distance back from the railroad station, so that, although it took longer to go by automobile than by train, the car made us independent of the rather fitful night train service and the local cabmen.

We found the house not deserted by the servants, but subdued.  The body of the maid had been removed to a local morgue, and a police officer was patrolling the grounds, though of what use that could be I was at a loss to understand.

Kennedy was chiefly interested in the safe.  It was of the so-called “burglar-proof” variety, spherical in shape, and looking for all the world like a miniature piece of electrical machinery.

“I doubt if anything could have withstood such savage treatment as has been given to this safe,” remarked Craig as he concluded a cursory examination of it.  “It shows great resistance to high explosives, chiefly, I believe, as a result of its rounded shape.  But nothing could stand up against such continued assaults.”