Petrified with astonishment, the lad slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what would come of this strange affair.

Presently she emerged from the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw that she carried the precious coronet in her hands.

She passed down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see what passed in the hall beneath.

He saw her stealthily open the window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close to where he stood hid behind the curtain.
"As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved.

But the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it right.