We were too late, however, for just as we reached the door we caught a fleeting glimpse of a huge new limousine.

“Who was that man who just went out with the lady?” asked Craig of the negro who turned the revolving-door at the carriage entrance.

“Jack Delarue, sah—­in ‘The Grass Widower,’ sah,” replied the doorman.  “Yes, sah, he stays here once in a while.  Thank you, sah,” as Kennedy dropped a quarter into the man’s hand.

“That complicates things considerably,” he mused as we walked slowly down to the subway station.  “Jack Delarue—­I wonder if he is mixed up in this thing also.”

“I’ve heard that ‘The Grass Widower’ isn’t such a howling success as a money-maker,” I volunteered.  “Delarue has a host of creditors, no doubt.  By the way, Craig,” I exclaimed, “don’t you think it would be a good plan to drop down and see O’Connor?  The police will have to be informed in a few hours now, anyhow.  Maybe Delarue has a criminal record.”

“A good idea, Walter,” agreed Craig, turning into a drug-store which had a telephone booth.  “I’ll just call O’Connor up, and we’ll see if he does know anything about it.”

O’Connor was not at headquarters, but we finally found him at his home, and it was well into the small hours when we arrived there.  Trusting to the first deputy’s honour, which had stood many a test, Craig began to unfold the story.  He had scarcely got as far as describing the work of the suspected hired yeggman, when O’Connor raised both hands and brought them down hard on the arms of his chair.

“Say,” he ejaculated, “that explains it!”

“What?” we asked in chorus.

“Why, one of my best stool-pigeons told me to-day that there was something doing at a house in the Chatham Square district that we have been watching for a long time.  It’s full of crooks, and to-day they’ve all been as drunk as lords, a sure sign some one has made a haul and been generous with the rest, And one or two of the professional ‘fences’ have been acting suspiciously, too.  Oh, that explains it all right.”

I looked at Craig as much as to say, “I told you so,” but he was engrossed in what O’Connor was saying.

“You know,” continued the police officer, “there is one particular ‘fence’ who runs his business under the guise of a loan-shark’s office.  He probably has a wider acquaintance among the big criminals than any other man in the city.  From him crooks can obtain anything from a jimmy to a safe-cracking outfit.  I know that this man has been trying to dispose of some unmounted pearls to-day among jewellers in Maiden Lane.  I’ll bet he has been disposing of some of the Branford pearls, one by one.  I’ll follow that up.  I’ll arrest this ‘fence’ and hold him till he tells me what yeggman came to him with the pearls.”

“And if you find out, will you go with me to that house near Chatham Square, providing it was some one in that gang?” asked Craig eagerly.