11267.

I also left my ring in the cigar tray.

Wire reply if note and ring are safe .-- ARTHUR NOEL." The address to reply to was added.
Poor Lawson spent an agonized ten minutes in searching over the contents of the mantel-piece.

In the end he had to fill in the reply telegram with the news that nowhere could the five-pound note nor the ring be found.
A little over two hours passed, and again the worthy servant was startled by a telegraphic dispatch.

This was what it contained:-- "Have reasons to believe that the painter Dove is the thief.