"Quite in keeping with Markel, isn't it--to make a sensation on the cheap ?" "But that doesn't change matters!" Wilbur cried out sharply, after a numbed instant's pause.

"You still broke into the safe, even if you didn't know then that the necklace was paste." "Ah, but, you see--I did know then," said Jimmie Dale softly.

"I am really--you must take my word for it--a very good judge of stones, and I had--er--seen these before." Wilbur stared--bewildered, confused.
"Then why--what was it that--" "A paper," said Jimmie Dale, with a little chuckle--and produced it from the cash box.

"It reads like this: 'On demand, I promise to pay--'" "My note!" It came in a great, surging cry from Wilbur; and he strained forward to read it.
"Of course," said Jimmie Dale.

"Of course--your note.