You seized on the necklace and
carried it out on the fire-escape balcony, where the cool air or the
milk-driver's hail awakened you. Have you no recollection of seeing
such a thing?"
"Not the faintest, unhappily."
"Then he must have dropped it to the ground below," said Kirby.
"I don't think so," controverted Jones slowly. "Mr. Greene must
have been clinging to it tenaciously when it swung and caught
against the railing, stripping off the three end stones. If the
whole necklace had dropped it would have broken up fine, and more
than three stones would have returned to us in reply to the
advertisements. And in that case, too, the chances against the end
stones alone returning, out of all the thirty-six, are too unlikely
to be considered. No, the fire-blue necklace never fell to the
ground."
"It certainly didn't remain on the balcony," said Kirby. "It would
have been discovered there."
"Quite so," assented Average Jones. "We're getting at it by the
process of exclusion. The necklace didn't fall.
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