Chapter 20
If Miss Bowers¹ had been the kind of woman who enjoyed creating a sensation, she would have
been richly repaid by the result of her action.
A look of utter astonishment² passed over Colonel Race's face as he picked up the pearls from the
table.
"This is most extraordinary," he said. "Will you kindly³ explain, Miss Bowers?"
"Of course. That's what I've come to do." Miss Bowers settled herself comfortably in a chair.
"Naturally it was a little difficult for me to decide what it was best for me to do. The family would
naturally be averse⁴ to scandal of any kind, and they trust my discretion⁵, but the circumstances are
so very unusual that it really leaves me no choice. Of course, when you didn't find anything in the
cabins, your next move would be a search of the passengers, and if the pearls were then found in
my possession it would be rather an awkward situation and the truth would come out just the
same."
"And just what is the truth? Did you take these pearls from Mrs Doyle's cabin?"
"Oh, no, Colonel Race, of course not. Miss Van Schuyler did."
"Miss Van Schuyler?"
"Yes. She can't help it, you know, but she does - er - take things. Especially jewellery. That's really
why I'm always with her. It's not her health at all; it's this little idiosyncrasy. I keep on the alert,
and fortunately there's never been any trouble since I've been with her. It just means being
watchful⁶, you know. And she always hides the things she takes in the same place - rolled up in a
pair of stockings - so that makes it very simple. I look each morning. Of course I'm a light sleeper⁷,
and I always sleep next door to her, and with the communicating door open if it's in a hotel, so that
I usually hear. Then I go after her and persuade her to go back to bed. Of course it's been rather

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