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diff --git a/old/64934-h.htm b/old/64934-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4cde1a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/64934-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5471 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=us-ascii" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Castlecourt Diamond Case, by Geraldine Bonner—A Project Gutenberg eBook + </title> + <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +div.titlepage {text-align: center; page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;} +div.titlepage p {text-align: center; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: 2em;} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} + + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + + +.tdr {text-align: right;} +.tdhi { text-indent: -1em; margin-left: 1em; } + +.pagenum { + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; +} + +p.drop-cap { + text-indent: -0.2em; +} +p.drop-cap2 { + text-indent: -0.5em; +} +p.drop-cap:first-letter, p.drop-cap2:first-letter +{ + float: left; + margin: 0.15em 0.1em 0em 0em; + font-size: 250%; + line-height:0.55em; + text-indent: 0em; +} +.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap, .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap2 { + text-indent: 0em; +} +.x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter, .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap2:first-letter +{ + float: none; + margin: 0; + font-size: 100%; +} + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.ph1 {text-align: center; font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold;} + +.gap {margin-left: 25em;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.xlarge {font-size: 200%;} +.large {font-size: 125%;} + + +.caption {font-weight: bold; text-align: center;} + +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; + page-break-inside: avoid; + max-width: 100%; +} + +.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; + color: black; + font-size:smaller; + margin-left: 17.5%; + margin-right: 17.5%; + padding: 1em 1em 1em 1em; + margin-bottom: 5em; + font-family:sans-serif, serif; } + + + </style> + </head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.1em; font-weight:bold; margin-bottom:1em;'> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Castlecourt Diamond Mystery, by Geraldine Bonner +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and +most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions +whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms +of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online +at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you +are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the +country where you are located before using this eBook. +</div> + +<div style='display:table;margin-bottom:1em;margin-top:1em;'> + <div style='display:table-row;'> + <div style='display:table-cell;padding-right:0.5em;'>Title:</div> + <div style='display:table-cell;'>The Castlecourt Diamond Mystery</div> + </div> + <div style='display:table-row;'> + <div style='display:table-cell;padding-right:0.5em;'></div> + <div style='display:table-cell;'>Being a Compilation of the Statements Made by the Various Participants in This Curious Case Now, For the First Time, Given to the Public</div> + </div> +</div> + <div style='display:table-row;'> + <div style='display:table-cell;padding-right:0.5em;'>Author: </div> + <div style='display:table-cell;'>Geraldine Bonner</div> + </div> + +<div style='height:10px'></div> + + <div style='display:table-row;'> + <div style='display:table-cell;padding-right:0.5em;'>Illustrator: </div> + <div style='display:table-cell;'>Harrie F. Stoner</div> + </div> + +<div style='height:10px'></div> + +<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'> +Release Date: Mar 27, 2021 [eBook #64934] +</div> + +<div style='margin-bottom:1em;'> +Language: English +</div> + +<div style='display:table;margin-bottom:1em;'> + <div style='display:table-row;'> + <div style='display:table-cell;vertical-align:top;'>Produced by: </div> + <div style='display:table-cell;'>D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</div> + </div> +</div> + +<div style='margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1.5em;'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG BOOK OF THE CASTLECOURT DIAMOND MYSTERY ***</div> + + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/cover.jpg" width="40%" alt="" /></div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<h1>THE CASTLECOURT<br /> +DIAMOND CASE</h1> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_frontispiece.jpg" alt="" /></div> +<p class="caption"><i>SHE MADE A SORT OF GRASP AT THE CASE</i><br /> + +<span class="gap">[Page <a href="#Page_30">30</a></span></p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="titlepage"> + +<p><span class="xlarge">The Castlecourt<br /> +Diamond Case</span></p> + +<p>BEING A COMPILATION OF THE STATEMENTS<br /> +MADE BY THE VARIOUS PARTICIPANTS IN<br /> +THIS CURIOUS CASE NOW, FOR THE FIRST<br /> +TIME, GIVEN TO THE PUBLIC :: :: ::</p> + +<p><i>By</i><br /> + +<span class="large">GERALDINE BONNER</span><br /> + +<i>Author of “Hard Pan,” “The Pioneers,” etc.</i></p> + +<p><i>FRONTISPIECE ILLUSTRATION</i><br /> + +BY<br /> + +HARRIE F. STONER</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/i_title.jpg" alt="" /></div> + +<p><span class="large">FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY</span><br /> +NEW YORK AND LONDON<br /> +1906</p> +</div> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1905</span><br /> +BY<br /> +GERALDINE BONNER<br /> +<br /> +[<i>Printed in the United States of America</i>]<br /> +Published, December, 1905</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span> +<h2 class="nobreak">CONTENTS</h2> +</div> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="table"> + +<tr><td class="tdhi">Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady’s maid<br /> +to the Marchioness of Castlecourt</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_9"> 9</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdhi">Statement of Lilly Bingham, known in<br /> +England as Laura Brice, in the<br /> +United States as Frances Latimer,<br /> +to the police of both countries as<br /> +Laura the Lady, besides having recently<br /> +figured as a housemaid at<br /> +Burridge’s Hotel, London, under<br /> +the alias of Sara Dwight</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_47"> 47</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdhi">Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy, formerly<br /> +of Necropolis City, Ohio, now<br /> +Manager of the London Branch of<br /> +the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage<br /> +Company (Ltd.) of Chicago and St.<br /> +Louis</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_95"> 95</a></td></tr> + + +<tr><td class="tdhi">Statement of John Burns Gilsey, private<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6"> [6]</span><br /> +detective, especially engaged on the<br /> +Castlecourt diamond case</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_127"> 127</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdhi">The Statement of Daisy K. Fairweather<br /> +Kennedy, late of Necropolis City,<br /> +Ohio, at present a resident of 15<br /> +Farley Street, Knightsbridge, London</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_157"> 157</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td class="tdhi">Statement of Gladys, Marchioness of<br /> +Castlecourt</td><td class="tdr" valign="bottom"><a href="#Page_189"> 189</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span></p> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> +<p class="ph1">Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady’s<br /> +maid to the Marchioness of Castlecourt.</p> +</div> + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak">Statement of Sophy Jeffers, lady’s<br /> +maid to the Marchioness of Castlecourt.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap">I HAD been in Lady Castlecourt’s +service two years when the Castlecourt +diamonds were stolen. I am +not going to give an account of how +I was suspected and cleared. That’s +not the part of the story I’m here +to set down. It’s about the disappearance +of the diamonds that I’m +to tell, and I’m ready to do it to the +best of my ability.</p> + +<p>We were in London, at Burridge’s +Hotel, for the season. Lord +Castlecourt’s town house at Grosvenor +Gate was let to some rich +Americans, and for two years now +we had stayed at Burridge’s. It was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> +the third of April when we came to +town—my lord, my lady, Chawlmers +(my lord’s man), and myself. The +children had been sent to my lord’s +aunt, Lady Mary Cranbury—she +who’s unmarried, and lives at Cranbury +Castle, near Worcester.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt didn’t like going +to the hotel at all. Chawlmers used +to tell me how he’d talk sometimes. +Chawlmers has been with my lord +ten years, and was born on the estate +of Castlecourt Marsh Manor. +But my lord generally did what my +lady wanted, and she was not at all +partial to the country. She’d say +to me—she was always full of her +jokes:</p> + +<p>“Yes, it’s an excellent place, the +country—an excellent place to get +away from, Jeffers. And the farther<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> +away you get the more excellent it +seems.”</p> + +<p>My lady had been born in Ireland, +and lived there till she was a woman +grown. It’s not for me to comment +on my betters, but I’ve heard it said +she didn’t have a decent frock to her +back till old Lady Bundy took her +up and brought her to London. Her +father was a clergyman, the Rev. +McCarren Duffy, of County Clare, +and they do say he hadn’t a penny +to his fortune, and that my lady ran +wild in cotton frocks and with holes +in her stockings till Lady Bundy saw +her. I’ve heard tell that Lady Bundy +said of her she’d be the most beautiful +woman in London since the Gunnings +(whoever they were), and just +brought her up to town and fitted her +out from top to toe. In a month she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span> +was the talk of the season, and before +it was over she was betrothed +to the Marquis of Castlecourt, who +was a great match for her.</p> + +<p>But she was the beggar on horseback +you hear people talk about. +Lord Castlecourt wasn’t what would +be called a millionaire, but he gave +her more in a month than she’d had +before in five years, and she’d spend +it all and want more. It seemed as +if she didn’t know the value of +money. If she’d see a pretty thing +in a shop she’d buy it, and if she had +not got the ready money they’d give +her the credit; for, being the Marchioness +of Castlecourt, all the shop +people were on their knees to her, +they were that anxious to get her +patronage. Then when the bills +would come in she would be quite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> +surprised and wonder how she had +come to spend so much, and hide +them from Lord Castlecourt. Afterward +she’d forget all about them, +even where she’d put them.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt was so fond of +her he’d have forgiven her anything. +They’d been married five years when +I entered my lady’s service, and he +was as much in love with her as if +he’d been married but a month. And +I don’t blame him. She was the +prettiest lady, and the most coaxing, +I ever laid eyes on. She might well +be Irish: there was blarney on her +tongue for all the world, and money +ready to drop off the ends of her +fingers into any palm that was held +out. There was no story of misfortune +but would bring the tears to +her eyes and her purse to her hand:<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span> +generous and soft hearted she was +to every creature that walked. No +one could be angry with her long. +I’ve seen Lord Castlecourt begin to +scold her, and end by laughing at her +and kissing her. Not but what she +respected him and loved him. She +did both, and she was afraid of him +too. No one knew better than my +lady when it was time to stop trifling +with my lord and be serious.</p> + +<p>It was Lord Castlecourt’s custom +to go to Paris two or three times +every year. He had a sister married +there of whom he was very fond, +and he and her husband would go +off shooting boars to a place with +a name I can’t remember. My lady +was always happy to go to Paris. +She’d say she loved it, and the theaters, +and the shops—tho what she<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> +could see in it <i>I</i> never understood. +A dirty, messy city, and full of men +ready to ogle an honest, Christian +woman, as if she was what half the +women look like that go prancing +along the streets. My lady spent a +good deal of her time at the dressmakers, +and she and I were forever +going up to top stories in little, silly +lifts that go up of themselves. I’d a +great deal rather have walked than +trusted myself to such unsafe, French +contrivances—underhand, dangerous +things, that might burst at any moment, +<i>I</i> say.</p> + +<p>The year before the time I am +writing of we went to Paris, as usual, +in March. We stopped at the Bristol, +and stayed one month. My lady +went out a great deal, and between-whiles +was, as usual, at what they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> +call there “<i>couturières’</i>,” at the jewelers’, +or the shops on the Rue de la +Paix. She also bought from Bolkonsky, +the furrier, a very smart +jacket of Russian sable that I’ll be +bound cost a pretty penny. When +we went back to London for the +season her beauty and her costumes +were the talk of the town. Old +Lady Bundy’s maid told me that +Lady Bundy went about saying: +“And but for me, she’d be the mother +of the red-headed larrykins of an +Irish squireen!” Which didn’t seem +to me nice talk for a lady.</p> + +<p>We spent that summer at Castlecourt +Marsh Manor very quietly, as +was my lord’s wish. My lady did +not seem in as good spirits as usual, +which I set down to the country life +that she always said bored her. Once<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> +or twice she told me that she felt ill, +which I’d never known her to say +before, and one day in the late summer +I discovered her in tears. She +did not seem to be herself again +till we went to Paris in September. +Then she brightened up, and was +soon in higher spirits than ever. +She was on the go continually—often +would go out for lunch, and not be +back till it was time to dress for +dinner. She enjoyed herself in +Paris very much, she told me. And +I think she did, for I never saw her +more animated—almost excited with +high spirits and success.</p> + +<p>The following spring we left Castlecourt +Marsh Manor, and, as I said +before, came to Burridge’s on April +the third. The season was soon in full +swing, and my lady was going out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span> +morning, noon, and night. There +was no end to it, and I was worn +out. When she was away in the +afternoon I’d take forty winks on +the sofa, and have Sara Dwight, the +housemaid of our rooms, bring me +a cup of tea, when she’d sometimes +take one herself, and we’d gossip a +bit over it.</p> + +<p>If I’d known what an important +person Sara Dwight was going to +turn out I’d have taken more notice +of her. But, unfortunately, thieves +don’t have a mark on their brow like +Cain, and Sara was the last girl +any one would have suspected was +dishonest. All that I ever thought +about her was that she was a neat, +civil-spoken girl, who knew her betters +and her elders when she saw +them. She was quick on her feet,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span> +modest and well-mannered—not +what you’d call good-looking: too +pale and small for my taste, and +Chawlmers quite agreed with me. +The one thing I noticed about her +were her hands, which were white +and fine like a lady’s. Once when I +asked her how she kept them so well, +she laughed, and said, not having a +pretty face, she tried to have pretty +hands.</p> + +<p>“Because a girl ought to have +something pretty about her, oughtn’t +she, Miss Jeffers?” she said to me, +quiet and respectful as could be.</p> + +<p>I answered, as I thought it was +my duty, that beauty was only skin +deep, and if your character was honest +your face would take care of +itself.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>She looked down at her hands, and +smiled a little and said:</p> + +<p>“Yes, I suppose that’s true, Miss +Jeffers. I’ll try to remember it. +It’s what every girl ought to feel, +I’m sure.”</p> + +<p>Sara Dwight had the greatest admiration +for Lady Castlecourt. +She’d manage to be standing about +in doorways and on the stairs when +my lady passed down to go to dinner +and to the opera. Then she’d +come back and tell me how beautiful +my lady was, and how she envied +me being her maid. While she was +talking she’d help me tidy up the +room, and sometimes—because she +admired my lady so—I’d let her look +at the new clothes from Paris as +they hung in the wardrobe. Sara +would gape with admiration over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> +them. She spoke a little about my +lady’s jewels, but not much. I’d +have suspected that.</p> + +<p>It was in the fifth week after we +came to town—to be exact, on the +afternoon of the fourth day of May—that +the diamonds were stolen. As +I’d been so badgered and questioned +and tormented about it, I’ve got it +all as clear in my head as a photograph—just +how it was and just +what time everything happened.</p> + +<p>That evening my lady was going +to dinner at the Duke of Duxbury’s. +It was to be a great dinner—a prince +and a prime minister, and I don’t +know what all besides. My lady was +to wear a new gown from Paris and +the diamonds. She told me when she +went out what she would want and +when she would be back. That was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> +at four, and I was not to expect her +in till after six.</p> + +<p>Some time before that I got her +things ready, the gown laid out, and +the diamonds on the dressing-table. +They were kept in a leather case of +their own, and then put in a despatch-box +that shut with a patent +lock. When we traveled I always +carried this box—that is, when my +lady used it. A good deal of the +time it was at the bankers’. Lord +Castlecourt was very choice about +the diamonds. Some of them had +been in his family for generations. +The way they were set now—in a +necklace with pendants, the larger +stones surrounded by smaller ones—had +been a new setting made for his +mother. My lady wanted them +changed, and I remember that Lord<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> +Castlecourt was vexed with her, and +she couldn’t pet and coax him back +into a good humor for some days.</p> + +<p>One of the last things that I did +that afternoon while arranging the +dressing-table was to open the despatch-box +and take the leather case +out. Tho it was May, and the evenings +were very long, I turned on +the electric lights, and, unclasping +the case, looked at the necklace.</p> + +<p>I was standing this way when +Chawlmers comes to the side door +of the room (the whole suite was +connected with doors), and asks me +if I could remember the number of +the bootmakers where my lady +bought her riding-boots. Some +friend of Chawlmers wanted to know +the address. I couldn’t at first remember +it, and I was standing this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> +way, trying to recollect, when I +heard the clock strike six. I told +Chawlmers I’d get it for him. I was +certain it was in my lady’s desk, +and I put the case down on the bureau, +and Chawlmers and I together +went into the sitting-room (the door +open between us and my lady’s +room) and looked for it. We found +it in a minute, and Chawlmers was +writing it down in his pocket-book +when I thought I heard (so light +and soft you could hardly say you’d +heard anything) a rustle like a woman’s +skirt in the next room. For +a second I thought it was my lady, +and I jumped, for I’d no business +at her desk, and I knew she’d be +vexed and scold me.</p> + +<p>Chawlmers didn’t hear a thing, +and looked at me astonished. Then<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> +I ran to the door and peeped in. +There was no one there, and I +thought, of course, I’d been mistaken.</p> + +<p>We didn’t leave the room directly, +but stood by the desk talking for a +bit. When I told this to the detectives, +one of the papers said it +showed “how deceptive even the best +servants were.” As if a valet and +a lady’s maid couldn’t stop for a +moment of talk! Poor things! we +work hard enough most of the time, +I’m sure. And that we weren’t long +standing there idle can be seen from +the fact that I heard half-past six +strike. I was for urging Chawlmers +to go then—as Lady Castlecourt +might be in at any moment—but he +hung about, following me into my +lady’s room, helping me draw the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span> +curtains and turn on all the lights, +for my lady can’t bear to dress by +daylight.</p> + +<p>It was nearly seven o’clock when +we heard the sound of her skirts in +the passage. Chawlmers slipped off +into his master’s rooms, shutting +the door quietly behind him. My +lady was looking very beautiful. She +had on a blue hat trimmed with blue +and gray hydrangeas, and underneath +it her hair was like spun gold, +and her eyes looked soft and dark. +It never seemed to tire her to be always +on the go. But I’d thought +lately she’d been going too much, +for sometimes she was pale, and once +or twice I thought she was out of +spirits—the way she’d been in the +country last summer.</p> + +<p>She seemed so to-night, not talking<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> +as much as usual. There were +some letters for her on the corner +of the dressing-table, and I could +see her face in the glass as she read +them. One made her smile, and then +she sat thinking and biting her lip, +which was as red as a cherry. She +seemed to me to be preoccupied. +When I was making the side “<i>ondulations</i>” +of her hair—which everybody +knows is a most critical operation—she +jerked her head, and said +suddenly she wondered how the children +were. I never before knew my +lady to think about the children +when her hair was being attended to.</p> + +<p>She was sitting in front of the +dressing-table, her toilet complete, +when she stretched out her hand to +the leather case of the diamonds. I +was looking at the reflection in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span> +mirror, thinking that she was as perfect +as I could make her. She, too, +had been looking at the back of her +head, and still held the small glass +in one hand. The other she reached +out for the diamonds. The case had +a catch that you had to press, and I +saw, to my surprise, that she raised +the lid without pressing this. Then +she gave a loud exclamation. There +were no diamonds there!</p> + +<p>She turned round and looked at +me, and said:</p> + +<p>“How odd! Where are they, +Jeffers?”</p> + +<p>I felt suddenly as if I was going +to fall dead, and afterward, when my +lady stood by me and said it was +nonsense to suspect me, one of the +things she brought up as a proof of +my innocence was the color I turned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> +and the way I looked at that moment.</p> + +<p>“Jeffers!” she said, suddenly rising +up quick out of her chair. And +then, without my saying a word, she +went white and stood staring at me.</p> + +<p>“My lady, my lady,” was all I +could falter out, “I don’t know—I +don’t know!”</p> + +<p>“Where are they, Jeffers? What’s +happened to them?”</p> + +<p>My voice was all husky like a person’s +with a cold, as I stammered:</p> + +<p>“They were in the case an hour +ago.”</p> + +<p>My lady caught me by the arm, +and her fingers gripped tight into +my flesh.</p> + +<p>“Don’t say they’re stolen, Jeffers!” +she cried out. “Don’t tell me +that! Lord Castlecourt would never<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> +forgive me. He’ll never forgive +me! They’re worth thousands and +thousands of pounds! They <i>can’t</i> +have been stolen!”</p> + +<p>She spoke so loud they heard her +in the next room, and Lord Castlecourt +came in. He was a tall gentleman, +a little bald, and I can see +him now in his black clothes, with +the white of his shirt bosom gleaming, +standing in the doorway looking +at her. He had a surprised expression +on his face, and was frowning a +little; for he hated anything like +loud talking or a scene.</p> + +<p>“What’s the matter, Gladys?” he +said. “You’re making such a noise +I heard you in my room. Is there +a fire?”</p> + +<p>She made a sort of grasp at the +case, and tried to hide it. Chawlmers<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span> +was in the doorway behind my +lord, and I saw him staring at her +and trying not to. He told me afterward +she was as white as paper.</p> + +<p>“The diamonds,” she faltered out—“your +diamonds—your family’s—your +mother’s.”</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt gave a start, and +seemed to stiffen. He did not move +from where he was, but stood rigid, +looking at her.</p> + +<p>“What’s the matter with them?” +he said, quick and quiet, but not as +if he was calm.</p> + +<p>She threw the case she had been +trying to hide on the dressing-table. +It knocked over some bottles, and lay +there open and empty. My lord +sprang at it, took it up, and shook it.</p> + +<p>“Gone?” he said, turning to my +lady. “Stolen, do you mean?”</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>“Yes—yes—yes,” she said, like +that—three times; and then she fell +back in the chair and put her hands +over her face.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt turned to me.</p> + +<p>“What’s this mean, Jeffers? +You’ve had charge of the diamonds.”</p> + +<p>I told him all I knew and as well as +I could, what with my legs trembling +that they’d scarce support me, and +my tongue dry as a piece of leather. +When I got toward the end, my lady +interrupted me, crying out:</p> + +<p>“Herbert, it isn’t my fault, it +isn’t! Jeffers will tell you I’ve taken +good care of them. I’ve not been +careless or forgetful about them, as +I have about other things. I <i>have</i> +been careful of them! It isn’t my +fault, and you mustn’t blame me!”</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt made a sort of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> +gesture toward her to be still. I +could see it meant that. He kept +the case, and, going to the door, +locked it.</p> + +<p>“How long have you been in these +rooms?” he said, turning round on +me with the key in his hand.</p> + +<p>I told him, trembling, and almost +crying. I had never seen my lord +look so terribly stern. I don’t know +whether he was angry or not, but I +was afraid of him, and it was for +the first time; for he’d always been +a kind and generous master to me +and the other servants.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my lord,” I said, feeling suddenly +weighed down with dread and +misery, “you surely don’t think I +took them?”</p> + +<p>“I’m not thinking anything,” he +said. “You and Chawlmers are to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> +stay in this room, and not move from +it till you get my orders. I’ll send +at once for the police.”</p> + +<p>My lady turned round in her chair +and looked at him.</p> + +<p>“The police?” she said. “Oh, Herbert, +wait till to-morrow! You’re +not even sure yet that they are +stolen.”</p> + +<p>“Where are they, then?” he says, +quick and sharp. “Jeffers says she +saw them in that case an hour ago. +They are not in the case now. Do +either you or she know where they +are?”</p> + +<p>I was down on my knees, picking +up the bottles that had been knocked +over by the empty jewel-case.</p> + +<p>“Not I, God knows,” I said, and +I began to cry.</p> + +<p>“The matter must be put in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span> +hands of the police at once,” my +lord said. “I’ll have the hotel policeman +here in a few minutes, and the +rooms searched. Jeffers and Chawlmers +and their luggage will be +searched to-morrow.”</p> + +<p>My lady gave a sort of gasp. I +was close to her feet, and I heard +her. But, for myself, I just broke +down, and, kneeling on the floor with +the overturned bottles spilling cologne +all around me, cried worse +than I’ve done since I was in short +frocks.</p> + +<p>“Oh, my lady, I didn’t take them! +I didn’t! You know I didn’t!” I +sobbed out.</p> + +<p>My lady looked very miserable.</p> + +<p>“My poor Jeffers,” she said, and +put her hand on my shoulder, “I’m +sure you didn’t. If I’d only a sixpence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> +in the world I’d stake that on +your honesty.”</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt didn’t say anything. +He went to the bell and +pressed it. When the boy answered +it he gave him a message in a low +tone, and it didn’t seem five minutes +before two men were in the +room. I did not know till afterward +that one was the manager, and +the other the hotel policeman. I +stopped my crying the best I could, +and heard my lord telling them that +the diamonds were gone, and that +Chawlmers and I had been the only +people in the room all the afternoon. +Then he said he wanted them to +communicate at once with Scotland +Yard, and have a capable detective +sent to the hotel.</p> + +<p>“Lady Castlecourt and I are going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span> +to dinner,” he said, looking at his +watch. “We will have to leave, at +the latest, within the next twenty +minutes.”</p> + +<p>Lady Castlecourt cried out at +that:</p> + +<p>“Herbert, I don’t see how I can +go to that dinner. I am altogether +too upset, and, besides, it will be too +late. It’s eight o’clock now.”</p> + +<p>“We can make the time up in the +carriage,” my lord said; and he went +into the next room with the policeman, +where they talked together in +low voices. I helped my lady on +with her cloak, and she stood waiting, +her eyebrows drawn together, +looking very pale and worried. +When my lord came back he said +nothing, only nodded to my lady<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> +that he was ready, and, without a +word, they left the room.</p> + +<p>I tried to tidy the bureau and pick +up the bottles as well as I could, and +every time I looked at the door into +the sitting-room I saw that policeman’s +head peering round the door-post +at me.</p> + +<p>That was an awful night. I did +not know it till afterward, but both +Chawlmers and I were under what +they call “surveillance.” I did not +know either that Lord Castlecourt +had told the policeman he believed us +to be innocent; that we were of excellent +character, and nothing but +positive proof would make him think +either of us guilty. All I felt, as I +tossed about in bed, was that I was +suspected, and would be arrested and +probably put in jail. Fifteen years<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> +of honest service in noble families +wouldn’t help me much if the detectives +took it into their heads I +was guilty.</p> + +<p>The next morning we heard about +the disappearance of Sara Dwight, +and things began to look brighter. +Sara had left the hotel at a little +after seven the evening before, +speaking to no one, and carrying a +small portmanteau. When they +came to examine her room and her +box they found a jacket and skirt +hanging on the wall, some burnt +papers in the grate, and the box +almost empty, except for some cheap +cotton underclothes and a dirty wadded +quilt put in to fill up. Sara had +given no notice, and had not at any +time told any of her fellow servants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span> +that she was dissatisfied with her +place or wanted to leave.</p> + +<p>That morning Mr. Brison, the +Scotland Yard detective, had us up +in the sitting-room asking us questions +till I was fair muddled, and +didn’t know truth from lies. Lord +Castlecourt and my lady were both +present, and Mr. Brison was forever +politely asking my lady questions +till she got quite angry with +him, and said she wasn’t at all +sure the diamonds were stolen; they +might have been mislaid, and would +turn up somewhere. Mr. Brison was +surprised, and asked my lady if she +had any idea where they were liable +to turn up; and my lady looked annoyed, +and said it was a silly question, +and that she “wasn’t a clairvoyant.”</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>Three days after this Mr. John +Gilsey, who is a detective, and, I +have heard since, a very famous +gentleman, was engaged by Lord +Castlecourt to “work upon the case.” +Mr. Gilsey was very soft-spoken and +pleasant. He did not muddle you, +as Mr. Brison did, and it was very +easy to tell him all you knew or +could remember, which he always +seemed anxious to hear. He had me +up in the sitting-room twice, once +alone and once with Mr. Brison, and +they asked me a host of questions +about Sara Dwight. I told them all +I could think of; and when I came +to her hands, and how they were +white and fine, like a lady’s, I saw +Mr. Brison look at Mr. Gilsey and +raise his eyebrows.</p> + +<p>“Does it seem to you,” he says,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> +scribbling words in his note-book, +“that this sounds like Laura the +Lady?”</p> + +<p>And Mr. Gilsey answered:</p> + +<p>“The manner of operating sounds +like her, I must admit.”</p> + +<p>“She was in Chicago when last +heard of,” says Mr. Brison, stopping +in his scribbling, “but we’ve information +within the last week that +she’s left there.”</p> + +<p>“Laura the Lady is in London,” +Mr. Gilsey remarked, looking at his +finger nails. “I saw her three weeks +ago at Earlscourt.”</p> + +<p>Mr. Brison got red in the face and +puffed out his lips, as if he was going +to say something, but decided not to. +He scribbled some more, and then, +looking at what he had written as if +he was reading it over, says:</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>“If that’s the case, there’s very +little doubt as to who planned and +executed this robbery.”</p> + +<p>“That’s a very comfortable state +of affairs to arrive at,” says Mr. +Gilsey, “and I hope it’s the correct +one.” And that was all he said that +time about what he thought.</p> + +<p>After this we stayed on at Burridge’s +for the rest of the season, but +it was not half as cheerful or gay as +it had been before. My lord was often +moody and cross, for he felt the loss +of the diamonds bitterly; and my +lady was out of spirits and moped, +for she was very fond of him, and +to have him take it this way seemed +to upset her. Mr. Brison or Mr. +Gilsey were constantly popping in +and murmuring in the sitting-room, +but they got no further on—at least,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span> +there was no talk of finding the diamonds, +which was all that counted.</p> + +<p>This is all I know of the theft of +the necklace. What happened at +that time, and what Mr. Gilsey calls +“the surrounding circumstances of +the case,” I have tried to put down +as clearly and as simply as possible. +I have gone over them so often, and +been forced to be so careful, that I +think they will be found to be quite +correct in every particular.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span> +<p class="ph1">Statement of Lilly Bingham, known<br /> +in England as Laura Brice, in the<br /> +United States as Frances Latimer,<br /> +to the police of both countries as<br /> +Laura the Lady, besides having recently<br /> +figured as a housemaid at<br /> +Burridge’s Hotel, London, under the<br /> +alias of Sara Dwight.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> +<h2 class="nobreak">Statement of Lilly Bingham, known<br /> +in England as Laura Brice, in the<br /> +United States as Frances Latimer,<br /> +to the police of both countries as<br /> +Laura the Lady, besides having recently<br /> +figured as a housemaid at<br /> +Burridge’s Hotel, London, under the<br /> +alias of Sara Dwight.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap">I NEVER was so glad of anything in +my life as to get out of that +beastly hole, Chicago. I’ll certainly +never go back there unless there is +an inducement big enough to compensate +for the elevated railroad, the +lake, the noise, the winds, the restaurants, +the climate, and the people. +Ugh, what a nightmare!</p> + +<p>England’s the country for me, and +London is the focus of it. You can +live like a Christian here, and enjoy +all the refinements and decencies of +life for a reasonable consideration.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> +How my heart leaped when I saw +the old, gray, sooty walls looming up +through the river haze—I thought it +best to sneak by the back way, because +if I go up the front stairs and +ring the bell there may be loiterers +round who had seen Laura the Lady +before, and might become impertinently +curious about her future +movements. And then when I saw +Tom waiting for me—my own Tom, +that I lawfully married, in a burst +of affection, three years ago, at +Leamington—I shouted out greetings, +and danced on the deck, and +waved my handkerchief. It was +worth while having lived in Chicago +for a year to come back to London +and Tom and a little furnished flat +in Knightsbridge.</p> + +<p>We were very respectable and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> +quiet for a month—just a few callers +climbing up the front stairs, and +demure female tea-parties at intervals. +I bought plants to put in the +windows, and did knitting in a conspicuous +solitude which the neighbors +could overlook. When I saw +the maiden lady opposite scrutinizing +me through an opera-glass I felt +like sending her my marriage certificate +to run her eye over and return. +We even hired a maid of all +work from an agency as a touch of +local color on this worthy domestic +picture. But when the Castlecourt +diamond scheme began to ripen I +nagged at her till she was impudent +and bundled her off. Maud Durlan +came in then, put on a cap and +apron, and played her part a good +deal better than she used to when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span> +she acted soubrettes in the vaudeville.</p> + +<p>We were two weeks lying low, +maturing our plans, tho when I left +Chicago I knew what I was coming +back for. Outwardly all was the +same as usual—the decent callers +still climbed the front stairs, and elderly +ladies who, without any stretch +of imagination, might have been my +mother and aunts, dropped in for tea. +I used to wonder how the people on +the floor below—they were the family +of a man who made rubber tires +for bicycles—would have felt if they +could have seen Maud, our neat and +respectable slavy, sitting with the +French heels of her slippers caught +on the third shelf of the bookcase, +dropping cigarette ashes into the +waste-paper basket.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>When all was ready, Tom and I +left for a “business” trip on the +Continent. We went away in a four-wheeler, +driven by Handsome Harry, +the top piled with luggage, my face +at the window smiling a last, cautioning +good-by at Maud. Five days +later, under the name of Sara +Dwight, I was installed as housemaid +on the third floor of Burridge’s +Hotel.</p> + +<p>I had done work of that kind before—once +in New York, and at another +time in Paris; having been +born and spent my childhood in that +cheerful city, my French is irreproachable. +The famous robbery of +the Comtesse de Chateaugay’s rubies +was my work—but I mustn’t brag +about past exploits. I had never been +engaged in a hotel theft of the importance<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span> +of the Castlecourt one. +The necklace was valued at between +eight thousand and nine thousand +pounds. The stones were not so remarkable +for size as for quality. +They were of an unusually even excellence +and pure water.</p> + +<p>After I had been in the hotel for +a few days and watched the Castlecourt +party, all apprehension left +me, and I felt confident and cool. +They were an extremely simple layout. +Lady Castlecourt was a beauty—a +seductive, smiling, white and +gold person, without any sense at +all. Her husband adored her. Being +a man of some brains, that was +what might have been expected. +What might not have been expected +was that she appeared to reciprocate +his affection. Having made a careful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> +study of the manners and customs +of the upper classes, I was not +prepared for this. I note it as one +of those exceptions to rule which +occur now and then in the animal +kingdom.</p> + +<p>Besides the marquis and his lady, +there were a maid and a valet to be +considered. The former was a +dense, honest woman named Sophy +Jeffers, close on to forty, and of the +unredeemed ugliness of the normal +lady’s maid. Such being the case, +it was but natural to find that she +was in love with Chawlmers, the +valet, who was twenty-seven and +good-looking. Jeffers was too truthful +to tamper with her own age, but +she did not feel it necessary to keep +up the same rigid standard when it +came to Chawlmers. It was less of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> +a lie to make him ten years older +than herself ten years younger. +From these facts I drew my deductions +as to the sort of adversary +Jeffers might be, and I found that, +by a modest avoidance of Chawlmers’ +society, I could make her my +lifelong friend.</p> + +<p>The evening of the Duke of Duxbury’s +dinner was the time I decided +upon as the most convenient for taking +the stones. I had heard from +Jeffers that the marquis and marchioness +were going. When her +ladyship left her rooms that afternoon +I heard her tell Jeffers that she +would not be back till after six, and +to have everything ready at that +hour. Off and on for the next two +hours I was doing work about the +corridor with a duster. It was near<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> +six when I heard the two servants +talking in the sitting-room. A bird’s-eye +view through the keyhole showed +me where they were, and that they +were engaged in searching for something +in the desk. It was my chance. +With my housemaid’s pass-key I +opened the door a crack, and peeped +in. The leather case of the diamonds +stood on the dressing-table not twenty +feet from the door. It did not +take five minutes to enter, open the +case, take the necklace, and leave. +Jeffers heard me. She was in the +room almost as I closed the door. +Before she could have got into the +hall I was in the broom-closet hunting +for a dust-pan. But she evidently +suspected nothing, for the +door did not open and there was no +indication of disturbance.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span>Two days later Tom and I returned +from our “business trip” to +the Continent. I quite prided myself +on the way our luggage was labeled. +It had just the right knock-about, +piebald look. We drove up in a +four-wheeler, Handsome Harry on +the box, and Maud opened the door +for us. For the next few days we +were quiet and kept indoors. We +spent the time peacefully in the +kitchen, breaking the settings of the +diamonds and reading about the robbery +in the papers. As soon as things +simmered down, Tom was to take the +stones across to Holland, where they +would be distributed. We threw +away the settings, and put the diamonds +in a small box of chamois-skin +that I pinned to my corset with +a safety-pin.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>That was the way things were—untroubled +as a summer sea—till ten +days after our return, when I began +to get restive. I had had what they +call in America “a strenuous time” +at Burridge’s, working like a slave +all day, with not a soul to speak to +but a parcel of ignorant servant women, +and I wanted livening up. I +longed for the light and noise of +Piccadilly, the crowd and the restaurants; +but what I wanted particularly +was to go to the theater and +see a play called “The Forgiven +Prodigal.”</p> + +<p>Maud and Tom raised a clamor of +disapproval: What was the use of +running risks? did I think, because +I’d been in Chicago for nearly a +year, that I was forgotten? did I +think the men in Scotland Yard who<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span> +knew me were all dead? did I think +the excitement of the Castlecourt +robbery was over and done? I +yawned at them, and then told them, +with a gentle smile, that they were a +“pusillanimous pair.” There might +be many men in Scotland Yard who +knew me, and that, as they say in +Chicago, “is all the good it would +do them.” They couldn’t arrest me +for sitting peacefully at a theater +looking at a play. As for connecting +me with Sara Dwight, I would +give any one a hundred pounds who, +when I was dressed and had my war-paint +on, would find in me a single +suggestion of the late housemaid at +Burridge’s. So I talked them down; +and if I didn’t convince them of the +reasonableness of my arguments, I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> +at least managed to soothe their +fears.</p> + +<p>I dressed myself with especial +care, and when the last rite of my +toilet was accomplished looked critically +in the glass to see if anything +of Sara Dwight remained. The survey +contented me. Sara’s mother, +if there be such a person, would +have denied me. I was all in black, +a sweeping, spangly dress I had +bought in New York, cut low, and +my neck is not my weak point, especially +when <i>crême des violettes</i> has +been rubbed over it. My hair was +waved (Maud does it very well, +much better than she cooks, I regret +to say), and dressed high, with a +small red wreath of geraniums +round it. Nose powdered to a probable, +ladylike whiteness, a touch of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> +rouge, a tiny <i>mouche</i> near the corner +of one eye, and long, black gloves—and, +presto change! I wore no jewels—their +owners might recognize them. +One could hardly say I “wore” the +Castlecourt diamonds, which were +fastened to my corset with a safety-pin. +They were rather uncomfortable, +but they were the only thing +about me that were.</p> + +<p>As I stood in front of the glass +putting on finishing touches, Maud +left the room, and went to the drawing-room +to watch for Handsome +Harry, who was to drive our hansom. +I did not like taking a hired driver, +and, thank goodness, I didn’t! I was +putting a last <i>soupçon</i> of scarlet on +my lips, when she came back, stepping +softly, and with her eyes round +and uneasy looking.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>“I don’t know whether I’m nervous,” +she says, “but there’s a man +just gone by in a hansom, and he +leaned out and looked hard at our +windows.”</p> + +<p>“I hope it amused him,” I said, +looking critically at my lips, to see +if they were not a little too incredibly +ruddy. “It’s a harmless and +innocent way of passing the time, +so we mustn’t be hard on him if it +doesn’t happen to be very intellectual. +Come, help me on with my +cloak, and don’t stand there like +Patience on a monument staring at +thieves.”</p> + +<p>I was irritated with Maud, trying +to upset my peace of mind that way. +She’d had any amount of good times +while I’d been at Burridge’s with +my nose to the grindstone. And here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span> +she was, the first time I’d got a +chance to have a spree, looking like +a depressed owl and talking like the +warning voice of Conscience! As she +silently held up my cloak and I +thrust my hand in the sleeve, I said, +over my shoulder:</p> + +<p>“And you needn’t go upsetting +Tom by telling him about strange +men in hansoms who stare up at our +front windows. I want to have a +good time this evening, not feel that +I’m sitting by a guilty being who +jumps every time he’s spoken to as +if the curse of Cain was on him.”</p> + +<p>Maud said nothing, and I shook +myself into my cloak and swept out +to the hall, where Tom was waiting.</p> + +<p>There had been a slight fog all +afternoon, and now it was thick; not +a “pea-soup” one, but a good, damp,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span> +obscuring fog—a regular “burglar’s +delight.” As we came down the +steps we saw the two hansom lamps +making blurs, like lights behind +white cotton screens. Tom was +grumbling about it and about going +out generally as he helped me in. And +just at that minute, still and quick, +like a picture going across a magic-lantern +slide, I saw a man on the +other side of the street step out of +the shadow of a porch, and glide +swiftly and softly past the light of +the lamp and up the street, to +where the form of a waiting hansom +loomed. It was all very simple and +natural, but his walk was odd—so +noiseless and stealthy.</p> + +<p>I got in, and Tom followed me. +He hadn’t seen anything. For the +moment I didn’t speak of it, because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span> +I wasn’t sure. But I’ve got to admit +that my heart beat against the Castlecourt +diamonds harder than was +comfortable. We started, and I listened, +and faintly, some way behind +us, I heard the <i>ker-lump!—ker-lump!—ker-lump!</i> +of another horse’s hoofs +on the asphalt. I leaned forward +over the door, and tried to look +back. Through the mist I saw the +two yellow eyes of the hansom behind us. +Tom asked me what was +the matter, and I told him. He +whistled—a long, single note—then +leaned back very steady and still. +We didn’t say anything for a bit, but +just sat tight and listened.</p> + +<p>It kept behind us that way for +about ten minutes. Then I pushed +up the trap, and said to Harry:</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>“What’s this hansom behind us +up to, Harry?”</p> + +<p>“That’s what I want to know,” he +says, quiet and low.</p> + +<p>“Lose it, if you can, without being +too much of a Jehu,” I answered, +and shut the trap.</p> + +<p>He tried to lose it, and we began a +chase, slow at first, and then faster +and faster, down one street and up +the other. The fog by this time was +as thick and white as wool, and we +seemed to break through it like a +ship, as if we were going through +something dense and hard to penetrate. +It seemed to me, too, a maddeningly +quiet night. There was no +traffic, no noise of wheels to get +mixed with ours. The <i>ker-lump!—ker-lump!</i> +of our horse’s hoofs came +back as clear as sounds in a calm at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> +sea from the long lines of house +fronts. And that devilish hansom +never lost us. It kept just the same +distance behind us. We could hear +its horse’s hoofs, like an echo of our +own, beating through the fog. It got +no nearer; it went no faster. It did +not seem in a hurry, it never deviated +from our track. There was +something hideously unagitated and +cool about it—a sort of deadly, sinister +persistence. I saw it in imagination, +like a live monster with +bulging yellow eyes, staring with +gloating greediness at us as we ran +feebly along before it.</p> + +<p>Tom didn’t say much. He doesn’t +in moments like this. He’s got the +nerve all right, but not the brain. +There’s no inventive ability in Tom, +he’s not built for crises. Handsome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> +Harry now and then dropped some +remark through the trap, which was +like a trickle of icy water down one’s +spine. I began to realize that my +lips were dry, and that the insides +of my gloves were damp. I knew +that whatever was to be done had +to come from me. I’d got them into +this, and, as they say in Chicago, +“it was up to me” to get them out.</p> + +<p>I leaned over the doors, and looked +at the street we were going through. +I know that part of London like a +book—the insides of some of the +houses as well as the outsides; it’s a +part of our business in which I’m supposed +to be quite an expert. The street +was a small one near Walworth Crescent, +the houses not the smartest in +the locality, but good, solid, reliable +buildings inhabited by good, solid,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span> +reliable people. The lower floors +were all alight. It was the heart of +the season, and in many of them +there were dinners afoot. I thought, +with a flash of longing—such as a +drowning man might feel if he +thought of suddenly finding himself +on terra firma—of serene, smiling +people sitting down to soup. I’d +have given the Castlecourt diamonds +at that moment to have been sitting +down with them to cold soup, sour +soup, greasy soup, any kind of soup—only +to be sitting down to soup!</p> + +<p>We turned a corner sharp, going +now at a tearing pace, and I saw +before us a length of street wrapped +in fog, and blurred at regular intervals +by the lights of lamps. It looked +ghostlike—so white, so noiseless, +lined on either side by dim house<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span> +fronts blotted with an indistinct +sputter of lights. There was not a +sound but our own horse’s hoof-beats, +and far off, like a noise muffled +by cotton wool, the echo of our +pursuer’s. Through the opaque, +motionless atmosphere I saw that +the vista into which I stared was +deserted. There was not a human +figure or a vehicle in sight. It was a +lull, a brief respite, a moment of incalculable +value to us!</p> + +<p>My mind was as clear as crystal, +and I felt a sense of cool, high exhilaration. +I have only felt this +way in desperate moments, and this +was a truly desperate moment—a +pursuer on our heels and the diamonds +in my possession!</p> + +<p>I leaned over the doors, and looked +up the line of houses. It was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span> +Farley Street. Who lived in Farley +Street? Suddenly I remembered +that I knew all about the people +who lived in No. 15. They were +Americans named Kennedy—a man, +his wife, and a little girl. He was +manager of the London branch of a +Chicago concern called the “Colonial +Box, Tub, and Cordage Company,” +that I had often heard of in America. +We had marked the house, and made +extensive investigations before I left, +intending to add it to our list, as +Mrs. Kennedy had some handsome +jewelry and silver. Since my return +I had seen her name in the +papers at various entertainments, +and Maud had told me a lot about +her social successes. She was pretty, +and people were taking her +up. All this—that it takes me some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span> +minutes to tell—flashed through my +mind in a revolution of the wheels.</p> + +<p>I could see now that the windows +of No. 15 were lit up. The Kennedys +were evidently at home, perhaps +had a dinner on. They, along +with the rest of the world, would in +a minute be sitting down to soup. +They might be sitting down now; it +was close on to half-past eight. Why +could not we sit down with them?</p> + +<p>I lifted the top, and said to Harry:</p> + +<p>“Is the hansom round the corner +yet?”</p> + +<p>“No,” he answered, “it’s our only +chance. They’re still a bit behind us. +I can tell by the sound.”</p> + +<p>“Drive to No. 15, second from the +corner,” I said, “and go as if the +devil was after you.”</p> + +<p>I dropped the trap, and as we tore<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span> +down to No. 15 I spoke in a series of +broken sentences to Tom.</p> + +<p>“We’re going in here to dinner. +You must look as if it was all right. +If we carry it off well, they won’t +dare to question. We’re Major and +Mrs. Thatcher, of the Lancers, that +arrived Saturday from India. +They’re Americans, and won’t know +anything, so you can say about what +you like. Give them India hot from +the pan. I’ve been living in London +while you’ve been away. That’s how +I come to know them and you don’t. +My Christian name’s Ethel. Do the +dull, heavy, haw-haw style. Americans +expect it.”</p> + +<p>We brought up at the curb with a +jerk, threw back the doors, and +dashed up the steps. I caught a +vanishing glimpse of Handsome<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span> +Harry leaning far forward to lash +the horse as the hansom went bounding +off into the fog. As we stood +pressed against the door, Tom whispered:</p> + +<p>“What the devil is their name?”</p> + +<p>“Kennedy,” I hissed at him—“Cassius +P. Kennedy. Came originally +from Necropolis City, Ohio; +lived in Chicago as a clerk in the +Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage +Company, and then was made manager +of the London branch. Their +weak point is society. If any people +are there, keep your mouth shut. +Be dense and unresponsive.”</p> + +<p>We heard the rattle of the pursuing +hansom at the end of the street, +then through the ground glass of the +door saw a man servant’s approaching +figure.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span>“Only stay a few minutes over the +coffee. We’re going on to the +opera,” I whispered, as the door +opened.</p> + +<p>I swept in, Tom on my heels. We +came as fast as we could without +actually falling in and dashing the +servant aside, for the noise of our +pursuer was loud in our ears, and +we knew we were lost if we were +seen entering. As Tom somewhat +hastily shut the door, I was conscious +of the expression of surprise +on the face of the solemn butler. He +did not say anything, but looked it. +I slid out of my cloak, and handed +it, languidly, to him.</p> + +<p>“No, I won’t go up-stairs,” I +said, in answer to his glare of growing +amaze.</p> + +<p>Then I turned to the glass in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span> +hat-rack, and began to arrange my +hair. I could see, reflected in it, a +pair of portières, half open, and affording +a glimpse of a room beyond, +bathed in the subdued rosy light of +lamps. I was conscious of movement +there behind the portières—a +stir of skirts, a sort of hush of curiosity.</p> + +<p>There had been the sound of voices +when we came in. Now I noticed +the stealthy, occasional sibilant of a +whisper. There was no dinner-party. +We were going to dine <i>en famille</i>. +So much the better. My hair neat, +I turned to the butler, and, touching +the jet of my corsage with an +arranging hand, murmured:</p> + +<p>“Major and Mrs. Thatcher.”</p> + +<p>The man drew back the curtain, +and, with our name going before us<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> +in loud announcement, I rustled into +the room, Tom behind me.</p> + +<p>Standing beside an empty fireplace, +and facing the entrance in attitudes +of expectancy, were a young +man and woman. In the soft pink +lamplight I had an impression of +their two astonished faces, or, rather, +astonished eyes, for they were making +a spirited struggle to obliterate +all surprise from their faces. The +woman was succeeding the best. She +did it quite well. When she saw me +she smiled almost naturally, and +came forward with a fair imitation +of a hostess’ welcoming manner. She +was young and very pretty—a fine-featured, +delicate woman, in a floating +lace tea-gown. Her hand was +thin and small, a real American +hand, and gleamed with rings. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> +could see her husband, out of the tail +of my eye, battling with his amazement +and staring at Tom. Tom was +behind me, looming up bulkily, not +saying anything, but looking blankly +through the glass wedged in his eye +and pulling his mustache.</p> + +<p>“My dear Mrs. Kennedy,” I said, +in my sweetest and most languid +drawl, “are we late? I hope not. +There is such a fog, really I thought +we’d never get here.”</p> + +<p>My fingers touched her hand, and +my eyes looked into hers. She was +immensely curious and upset, but +she smiled boldly and almost easily. +I could see her inward wrestlings to +place me, and to wonder if she could +possibly have asked us, and had forgotten +that too.</p> + +<p>“And at last,” I continued, glibly,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> +“I am able to present my husband. +I was afraid you were beginning to +think he was a sort of Mrs. Harris. +Harry, dear, Mrs. and Mr. Kennedy.”</p> + +<p>They all bowed. Tom held out +his big paw, and took her little hand +for a moment, and then dropped it. +He had just the stolid, awkward, +owlish look of a certain kind of +army man.</p> + +<p>“Awfully glad to get here, I’m +sure,” he boomed out. And then he +said “What?” and looked at Mr. +Kennedy.</p> + +<p>Mr. Kennedy was not as much +master of the situation as his wife. +He wasn’t exactly frightened, but +he was inwardly distracted with not +knowing what to do.</p> + +<p>“Pleased to meet you,” he said,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span> +loudly, to Tom, quite forgetting his +English accent. “Glad you could +get around here. Foggy night, all +right!”</p> + +<p>I looked at the clock. Tom stood +solemnly on the hearth-rug, staring +at the fire. The Kennedys, for a +moment, could think of nothing to +say, and I had to look at the clock +again, screw up my eyes, and remark:</p> + +<p>“Just half-past. We’re not really +late at all. You know, Harry is +<i>such</i> a punctual person, and he’s +afraid I’ve got into unpunctual +habits while he’s been away.”</p> + +<p>“He <i>has</i> been away for some time, +hasn’t he?” said Mrs. Kennedy, looking +from one to the other with piquant +eyes that yearned for information.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>“Four years with the Lancers in +India,” Tom boomed out again.</p> + +<p>The Kennedys were relieved. +They’d got hold of something. They +both sat down, and it was obvious +that they gathered themselves together +for new efforts.</p> + +<p>I did likewise. I realized that I +must be biographical to a reasonable +extent—just enough to satisfy curiosity, +without giving the impression +that I was sitting down to tell my +life-story the way the heroine does +in the first act of a play.</p> + +<p>“He arrived only last Saturday,” +I said, “and you may imagine how +pleased I was to be able to bring him +to-night, in answer to your kind invitation.”</p> + +<p>“Only too glad he could come,” +murmured Mrs. Kennedy, oblivious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> +of the terrified side-glance that her +husband cast in her direction. +“Very fortunate that you had this +one evening disengaged.”</p> + +<p>“I’m taking him about everywhere,” +I continued, with girlish +loquacity. “People had begun to +think that Major Thatcher was a +myth, and I’m showing them that +there’s a good deal of him and he’s +very much alive. For four years, +you know, I’ve been living here, first +in those miserable lodgings in Half +Moon Street, and after that in my +flat—you know it—on Gower Street. +A nice little place enough, but much +nicer now, with Harry in it.”</p> + +<p>“Of course,” said Mrs. Kennedy, +as sympathetically as was compatible +with her eagerness to pounce upon +such crumbs of information as I let<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> +drop. “How dull these four years +have been for you!”</p> + +<p>“Dull!” I echoed, “dull is not the +word!” And I gave my eyes an expressive, +acrobatic roll toward the +ceiling.</p> + +<p>“She couldn’t have stood it out +there,” said Tom, in an unexpected +bass growl. “Too hot! Ethel can’t +stand the heat—never could.”</p> + +<p>Then he lapsed into silence, staring +at the fire under Mr. Kennedy’s +fascinated gaze. Dinner was just +then announced, and I heard him +saying as he walked in behind us:</p> + +<p>“Is India very hot, Mrs. Kennedy? +Once in Delhi I sat for four +days in a cold bath, and read the +Waverley novels.”</p> + +<p>To which Mrs. Kennedy answered, +brightly:</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span>“I should think that would have +put you to sleep, and you might have +been drowned.”</p> + +<p>That was one of the most remarkable +dinners I ever sat through. Of +the two couples, the Kennedys were +the least at ease. They were more +afraid of being found out than we +were. The cold sweat would break +out on Mr. Kennedy’s brow when +the conversation edged up toward the +subject of previous meetings, and +Mrs. Kennedy would begin to talk +feverishly about other things. She +was the kind of woman who hates +to be unequal to any social emergency; +and I am bound to confess, +considering how unprepared she was, +she held her own this time with +tact and spirit. She had the copious +flow of small talk so many Americans<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span> +seem to have at command, and +it rippled fluently and untiringly on +from the soup to the savory. I +added to the impression I had already +made by alluding to various +titled friends of mine, letting their +names drop carelessly from my lips +as the pearls and diamonds fell from +the mouth of the virtuous princess.</p> + +<p>Tom did well, too—excellently +well. When the conversation showed +signs of languishing, he began about +India. He gave us some strange +pieces of information about that distant +land that I think he invented on +the spur of the moment, and he told +several anecdotes which were quite +deadly and without point. When +they were concluded, he gave a short, +deep laugh, let his eye-glass fall out,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> +looked at us one after the other, and +said, “What?”</p> + +<p>I would have enjoyed myself immensely +if a sense of heavy uneasiness +had not continued to weigh on +me. What troubled me was the uncertainty +of not knowing whether +we really had escaped our pursuers. +There was the horrible possibility +that they had seen us enter the +house, and were waiting to grab us +as we came out. If they were there, +and I was caught with the diamonds +in my possession, it would be a pretty +dark outlook for Laura the Lady—so +dark I could not bear to picture it, +even in thought. As I talked and +laughed with my hosts, my mind was +turning over every possible means +by which I could get rid of the +stones before I left the house, trying<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> +to think up some way in which I +could dispose of them, and yet which +would not place them quite beyond +reclaiming. I think my nerves had +been shaken by that spectral pursuit +in the fog. Anyway, I wasn’t willing +to risk a second edition of it.</p> + +<p>We sat over dinner a little more +than an hour. It was not yet ten +when Mrs. Kennedy and I rose, and +with a reminder to Tom that we +were to “go to the opera,” I trailed +off in advance of my hostess across +the hall into the drawing-room. +Here we sat down by a little gilt +table, and disposed ourselves to endure +that dreary period when women +have to put up with one another’s +society for ten minutes. It +was my opportunity of getting rid of +the diamonds, and I knew it.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>We had sipped our coffee for a +few minutes, and dodged about with +the usual commonplaces, when I suddenly +grew grave, and, leaning toward +Mrs. Kennedy, said:</p> + +<p>“Now that we are alone, my dear +Mrs. Kennedy, I must ask you about +a matter of which I am particularly +anxious to hear more.”</p> + +<p>She looked at me with furtive +alarm. I could see she was nerving +herself for a grapple with the unknown.</p> + +<p>“What matter?” she said.</p> + +<p>I lowered my voice to the key of +confidences that are dire if not actually +tragic:</p> + +<p>“How about poor Amelia?” I +murmured.</p> + +<p>She dropped her eyes to her cup, +frowning a little. I was thrilling<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> +with excitement, waiting to hear +what she was going to say. After a +moment she lifted her face, perfectly +calm and grave, to mine, and said:</p> + +<p>“Really, the subject is a very painful +one to me. I’d rather not talk +about it.”</p> + +<p>It was a master-stroke. I could +not have done better myself. I +eyed her with open admiration. +You never would have thought it of +her; she seemed so young. After she +had spoken she gave a sigh, and +again looked down at her cup, with +an expression on her face of pensive +musing. At that moment the voices +of the men leaving the dining-room +struck on my ear.</p> + +<p>I put my hand into the front of +my dress, and undid the safety-pin.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> +My manner became furtive and hurried.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Kennedy,” I said, leaning +across the table, and speaking almost +in a whisper, “I entirely sympathize +with your feelings, but I am <i>very +much</i> worried about Amelia. You +know the—the—circumstances.” She +raised her eyes, looked into mine, +and nodded darkly. “Well, I have +something here for her. It’s nothing +much,” I said, in answer to a look +of protest I saw rising in her face—“just +the merest trifle I would like +you to give her. <i>She</i> will understand.”</p> + +<p>I drew out the bag, and I saw her +looking at it with curious, uneasy +eyes. The men were approaching +through the back drawing-room. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> +rose to my feet, and still with the +secret, hurried air, I said:</p> + +<p>“Don’t give yourself any trouble +about it. It’s just from me to her. +Our husbands, of course, mustn’t +know. I’ll put it here. Poor +Amelia!”</p> + +<p>There was a crystal and silver +bowl on the table, and I put the bag +into it and placed a book over it.</p> + +<p>“Mrs. Thatcher,” she said, quickly, +“really, I—”</p> + +<p>“Hush!” I said, dramatically, +“it’s for Amelia! <i>We</i> understand!”</p> + +<p>And then the men entered the +room.</p> + +<p>We left a few minutes later. The +butler called a cab for us, and even +if a person had never been a thief +he ought to have had some idea of +how we felt as we issued out of that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> +house and walked down the steps. +We neither of us spoke till we got +inside the hansom and drove off—safe +for that time, anyway.</p> + +<p>We went to Handsome Harry’s +place for that night, and sent him +back for Maud, with the message +she must get out immediately with +what things she could bring. By +eleven she was with us with her +trunk and mine on top of a four-wheeler. +The next morning we had +scattered—I for Calais <i>en route</i> for +Paris, Tom for Edinburgh. Maud +went to join a vaudeville company +that she acts with “between-whiles.” +We had to leave a good +many things in the flat; but I felt +we’d got out cheaply, and had no +regrets.</p> + +<p>That is the history of my connection<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span> +with the Castlecourt diamond +robbery. Of course, it was not the +end of the connection of our gang +with the case, but my actual participation +ended here. I was simply an +interested spectator from this on. +My statement is merely the record of +my own personal share in the theft, +and as such is written with as much +clearness and fulness as I, who am +unused to the pen, have got at my +command.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span> +<p class="ph1">Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy,<br /> +formerly of Necropolis City, Ohio,<br /> +now Manager of the London Branch<br /> +of the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage<br /> +Company (Ltd.) of Chicago and<br /> +St. Louis.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span> +<h2 class="nobreak">Statement of Cassius P. Kennedy,<br /> +formerly of Necropolis City, Ohio,<br /> +now Manager of the London Branch<br /> +of the Colonial Box, Tub, and Cordage<br /> +Company (Ltd.) of Chicago and<br /> +St. Louis.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap">WE HAD been in London two +years when a series of extraordinary +events took place which +involved us, through no fault of our +own, in the most unpleasant predicament +that ever overtook two honest, +respectable Americans in a foreign +country.</p> + +<p>I had been sent over to start the +English branch of the Colonial Box, +Tub, and Cordage Company, one of +the biggest concerns of the Middle +West, and it wasn’t two months before +I realized that the venture was +going to catch on, and I was going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span> +to be at the head of a booming business. +I’d brought my wife and little +girl along with me. We’d been married +five years—met in Necropolis +City, and lived there and afterward +in Chicago, where I got my first big +promotion. She was Daisy K. Fairweather, +of Buncumville, Indiana, +and had been the belle of the place. +She’d also attracted considerable attention +in St. Louis and Kansas City, +where she’d visited round a good +deal. There was nothing green about +Daisy K. Fairweather—never had +been.</p> + +<p>Daisy and I didn’t know many +people when we first came over, but +that little woman wasn’t here six +months before she’d sized up the +situation, and made up her mind +just how and where she was going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span> +to butt in. The first thing she did +was to conform to those particular +ones among the local customs that +seemed to her the most high-toned. +In Chicago we’d always dined at +half-past six, and given the hired +girls every Thursday off. In London +we dined the first year at half-past +seven, and the second at half-past +eight. We had four servants +and a butler called Perkins, who ran +everything in sight—myself included. +I always dressed for dinner +after Perkins came, and tried to +look as if it was my lifelong custom. +I’d have sunk out of sight in a sea +of shame rather than have had Perkins +think I had not been brought +up to it.</p> + +<p>Daisy caught on to everything, and +then passed the word on to me. She<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span> +was always springing innovations on +me, and I did the best I could to keep +my end up. She stopped talking the +way she used to in Necropolis City, +and made Elaine—that’s our little +girl—quit calling me “Popper” and +call me “Daddy.” She called her +front hair her “fringe” and her shirt-waist +her “bloos,” and she made me +careful of what I said before the servants. +“Servants talk so!” she’d +say, just as if she’d heard them. In +Necropolis City, or even Chicago, +we never bothered about the “help” +talking. They said what they wanted +and we said what we wanted, and +that was all there was to it. But I +supposed it was all right. Whatever +Daisy K. Fairweather Kennedy says +goes with me.</p> + +<p>By the second season Daisy’d<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span> +broken quite a way into society, and +knew a bishop and two lords. We +were asked out a good deal, and we’d +some worthy little dinners at our +own shack—15 Farley Street, near +Walworth Crescent, a thirty-five +foot, four-story, high-stooped edifice +that we paid the same rent for you’d +pay for a seven-room flat in Chicago. +Daisy by this time was in with all +kinds of push. She was what she +called a “success.” Nights when we +didn’t go out she’d sit with me and +say:</p> + +<p>“Well, I don’t really see how I’ll +ever be able to live in Chicago again, +and Necropolis City would certainly +kill me.”</p> + +<p>This same season Lady Sara Gyves +dined with us twice (it was a great +step, Daisy said, and I took it for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> +granted she knew), and once at a reception +Daisy stood right up close to +the Marchioness of Castlecourt, the +greatest beauty in London, and +watched her drink a cup of tea. +Daisy didn’t meet her that time, but +she said to me:</p> + +<p>“Next season I’ll know her, and +the season after that, if we’re careful, +I’ll dine with her. Then, Cassius +P. Kennedy, we will have arrived!”</p> + +<p>I said “Sure!” That’s what I +mostly say to her, because she’s +mostly right. You don’t often find +that little woman making breaks.</p> + +<p>It was in our third season in London, +the time the middle of May, +when the things occurred of which +I have made mention at the beginning<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span> +of my statement. It was this +way:</p> + +<p>We’d been going out a good deal, +pretty nearly every night, and we +were glad to have, for once, a quiet +evening at home. Of course, that +doesn’t mean the same as it does in +Necropolis City or even Chicago. +We dine, just the same, at half-past +eight, and both of us dress for dinner. +We have to, Daisy says, no +matter how we feel, because of the +servants. The servants in London +are good servants all right, but the +way you have to avoid shocking their +sensitive feelings sometimes makes +a free-born American rebellious. I +like to think I’m an object of interest +to my fellow creatures, but it’s +a good deal of a bother to have it on +your mind that you mustn’t destroy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> +the illusions of the butler or upset +the ideals of the cook.</p> + +<p>As we were waiting for dinner to +be announced we heard a cab rattle +up and stop, as it seemed, at our +door. We looked at each other with +inquiring eyes, and then heard the +cab go off—on the full jump, I +should say, by the noise it made—and +a minute later the bell rang +sharp and quick. Perkins opened +the door, and Daisy and I heard a +lady’s voice, very sweet and sort of +drawling, say something in the vestibule. +I peeped through the curtains, +and there were a man and +a woman—a distinguished-looking +pair—taking off their coats and +primping themselves up at the hall +mirror. I’d never seen either of +them before, as far as I could remember,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> +but I could tell by their +general make-up that they were the +real thing—the kind Daisy was always +cultivating and asking to dinner.</p> + +<p>I stepped back, and said to her, in +a whisper:</p> + +<p>“Somebody’s come to dinner, and +you’ve forgotten all about it.”</p> + +<p>She shook her head, and whispered +back:</p> + +<p>“I haven’t asked any one to dinner; +I’m sure I haven’t.”</p> + +<p>“Well, they’re here, whether we’ve +asked them or not,” I hissed, “and +you can’t turn ’em out. They expect +to be fed.”</p> + +<p>“Who are they?”</p> + +<p>“Search me! Friends of yours +I’ve never seen.”</p> + +<p>“For pity’s sake, don’t look surprised!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span> +Try and pretend it’s all +right.”</p> + +<p>We lined up by the fireplace, and +got our smiles all ready. The portière +was drawn, and Perkins announced:</p> + +<p>“Major and Mrs. Thatcher.”</p> + +<p>They sailed smilingly into the +room, the woman ahead, rustling in +a long, sparkly, black dress. To my +certain knowledge, I’d never seen +either of them before. The woman +was very pretty; not pretty in the +sense that Daisy is, with beautiful +features and a perfect complexion, +but slim, and pale, and aristocratic-looking. +She had black hair with a +little wreath of red flowers in it, +and the whitest neck I ever saw. She +evidently thought she was all right +as far as herself and the house and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> +the dinner were concerned, for she +was perfectly serene, and easy as +an old shoe. The man behind her +was a big, handsome, dense chap—just +home from India, they said, +and he looked it. He’d that dull +way those dead swell army fellows +sometimes have; it goes with a long +mustache and an eye-glass.</p> + +<p>I looked out of the tail of my eye +at Daisy, and I knew by her face +she couldn’t remember either of +them. But they were the genuine +article, and she wasn’t going to be +feazed by any situation that could +boil up out of the society pool. She +was just as easy as they were. She’d +a smile on her face like a child, and +she said the little, mild, milky things +women say just as milkily and mildly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span> +as tho she was greeting her lifelong +friends.</p> + +<p>Well, it went along as smoothly as +a summer sea. They located themselves +as Major and Mrs. Thatcher, +and told a lot about their life and +their movements—all of which I +could see Daisy greedily gathering +in. I didn’t know whether she remembered +them or not, but I didn’t +think she did, she was so careful +about alluding to places where she +had met them. They seemed to +know her all right—Mrs. Thatcher, +especially. She’d allude to smart +houses where Daisy had been asked, +and tony people that were getting +to be friends of Daisy’s. She seemed +to be right in the best circles herself. +I wouldn’t like to say how many +times she mentioned the names of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> +earls and lords; one of them, Baron—some +name like Fiddlesticks—she +said was her cousin.</p> + +<p>She didn’t stay long after dinner. +I don’t think I sat ten minutes with +the major—and it was a dull ten +minutes, and no mistake. There was +nothing light and airy about him. +He asked me about Chicago (which +he pronounced “Chick-ago”), and +said he had heard there was good +sport in the Rocky Mountains, and +thought of going there to hunt the +Great Auk. I didn’t know what the +Great Auk was, and I asked him. He +looked blankly at me, and said he believed +a “large form of bird,” which +surprised me, as I had an idea it was +a preadamite beast, like a behemoth.</p> + +<p>I was glad to have the major go, +not only because he was so dull, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span> +because I was so dying to find out +from Daisy if she’d placed them and +who they were. They were hardly +on the steps and the front door shut +on them before I was back in the +parlor.</p> + +<p>“Who are they, for heavens’ +sake?” I burst out.</p> + +<p>She shook her head, laughing a +little, and looking utterly bewildered.</p> + +<p>“My dear boy,” she said, “I +haven’t the least idea. It’s the most +extraordinary thing I ever knew.”</p> + +<p>“Isn’t there anything about them +you remember? Didn’t they say +something that gave you a clew?”</p> + +<p>“Not a word, and yet they seem to +know me so well. The queerest +thing of all was that, when you were +in the dining-room with the man, the +woman, in the most confidential tone,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span> +began to ask me about some one +called Amelia. It was <i>too</i> dreadful! +I hadn’t the faintest notion what she +meant.”</p> + +<p>“What did you say? I’ll lay ten +to one you were equal to it.”</p> + +<p>“I realized it was desperate, and, +after going through the dinner so +creditably, I wasn’t going to break +down over the coffee. She said: +‘How about poor Amelia?’ I knew +by that ‘poor’ and by the expression +of her face it was something unusual +and queer. I thought a minute, and +then looked as solemn as I could, and +answered: ‘Really, the subject is a +very painful one to me. I’d rather +not talk about it.’”</p> + +<p>We both roared. It was so like +Daisy to be ready that way!</p> + +<p>“And then—this is the strangest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> +part of all—she put her hand in the +front of her dress and drew out +some little thing of chamois leather, +and told me to give it to Amelia from +her. I tried to stop her, but it was +too late. She put it here in the crystal +bowl.”</p> + +<p>Daisy went to the bowl, and took +out a little limp sack of chamois +leather.</p> + +<p>“It feels like pebbles,” she said, +pinching it.</p> + +<p>And then she opened it and shook +the “pebbles” into her hand. I bent +down to look at them, my head close +to hers. The palm of her hand was +covered with small, sparkling crystals +of different sizes and very +bright. We looked at them, and +then at one another. They were diamonds!</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>For a moment we didn’t either of +us say anything. Daisy had been +laughing, and her laugh died away +into a sort of scared giggle. Her +hand began to shake a little, and it +made the diamonds send out gleams +in all directions.</p> + +<p>“What—what—does it mean?” +she said, in a low sort of gasp.</p> + +<p>I just looked at them and shook +my head. But I felt a cold sinking in +that part of my organism where my +courage is usually screwed to the +sticking-place.</p> + +<p>“Are they real, do you think?” +she said again, and she took the evening +paper and poured them out +on it.</p> + +<p>Spread out that way, they looked +most awfully numerous and rich. +There must have been more than a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> +hundred of them of different sizes, +and shaking around on the surface +of the paper made them shine and +sparkle like stars.</p> + +<p>“It’s a fortune, Cassius,” she said, +almost in a whisper; “it’s a fortune +in diamonds. Why did she leave +them?”</p> + +<p>“Didn’t she say they were for +Amelia?” I said, in a hollow tone.</p> + +<p>“Yes; but who is Amelia? How +will we ever find her? What shall +we do? It’s too awful!”</p> + +<p>We stood opposite one another +with the paper between us, and tried +to think. In the lamplight the diamonds +winked at us with what +seemed human malice. I turned +round and picked up the bag they +had come from, looked vaguely into +it, and shook it. A last stone fell out<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> +on the paper, quite a large one, and +added itself to the pile.</p> + +<p>“Why did she leave them here?” +Daisy moaned. “What did she +bother us for? Why didn’t she take +them to Amelia herself?”</p> + +<p>“Because she was afraid,” I said, +in the undertone of melodrama. +“They’re stolen, Daisy.”</p> + +<p>I had voiced the fear in both our +hearts. We sat down opposite one +another on either side of the table, +with the newspaper full of diamonds +between us. I don’t know whether +I was as pale as Daisy, but I felt +quite as bad as she looked. And sitting +thus, each staring into the +other’s scared face, we ran over the +events of the evening.</p> + +<p>We couldn’t make much of it; it +was too uncanny. But from the first<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> +we both decided we’d felt something +to be wrong. Why or how they’d +come? who they were? what they +wanted?—we couldn’t answer a single +question. We were in a maze. +The only thing that seemed certain +was that they had one hundred and +fifty diamonds of varying sizes that +they had wanted, for some reason, to +get rid of, and they’d got rid of them +to us. And so we talked and talked +till, by slow degrees, we got to the +point where suddenly, with a simultaneous +start, we looked at one another, +and breathed out:</p> + +<p>“The Castlecourt diamonds!”</p> + +<p>We had read it all in the papers, +and we had talked it over, and here +we were with a pile of gems in a +newspaper that might be the very +stones.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>“And next year I’d hoped to know +Lady Castlecourt. I’d been sure I +would!” Daisy wailed. “And +now—”</p> + +<p>“But you haven’t stolen the diamonds, +dearest,” I said, soothingly. +“You needn’t get in a fever about +that.”</p> + +<p>“But, good heavens, I might just +as well! Do you suppose there’s any +one in the world fool enough to believe +the story of what happened +here to-night? People say it’s hard +to believe everything in the Bible! +Why, Jonah and the whale is a simple +every-day affair compared to +it!”</p> + +<p>It did look bad; the more we +talked of it the worse it looked. We +didn’t sleep all night, and when the +dawn was coming through the blinds<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> +we were still talking, trying to decide +what to do. At breakfast we sat +like two graven images, not eating a +thing, and all that day in the office +I found it impossible to concentrate +my mind, but sat thinking of what +on earth we’d do with those darned +diamonds.</p> + +<p>I’d suggested, the first thing, to go +and give them up at the nearest police +station. But Daisy wouldn’t +hear of that. She said that no one +would believe a word of our story—it +was too impossible. And when I +came to think of it I must say I +agreed with her. I saw myself telling +that story in a court of justice, +and I realized that a look of conscious +guilt would be painted on my +face the whole time. I’d have felt, +whether it was true or not, that nobody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> +really ought to believe it, and +as an honest, self-respecting citizen +I ought not to expect them to. Here +we were, strangers that nobody knew +a thing about, anyway! Daisy said +they’d take us for accomplices; and +when I said to her we’d be a pretty +rank pair of accomplices to give up +the swag without a struggle, she +said they’d think we got scared, and +decided to do what she calls “turn +State’s evidence.”</p> + +<p>She thought the best thing to do +was to keep the stones till we could +think up a more plausible story. +We tried to do that, and the night +after our meeting with Major and +Mrs. Thatcher we stayed awake +till three, thinking up “plausible +stories.” We got a great collection +of them, but it seemed impossible to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> +get a good one without implicating +somebody. I invented a corker, but +it cast a dark suspicion on Daisy; +and she had an even better one, but +it would have undoubtedly resulted +in the arrest of Perkins and the +housemaid, and possibly myself.</p> + +<p>It was a horrible situation. Even +if we could possibly have escaped +suspicion ourselves, it would have +ruined us socially and financially. +Would the Colonial Box, Tub, and +Cordage Company have retained as +the head of its London branch a man +who had got himself mixed up with +a sensational diamond robbery? Not +on your life! That concern demands +a high standard and unspotted record +in all its employees. I’d have +got the sack at the end of the month.</p> + +<p>And Daisy! How would the bishop<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> +and two lords have felt about +it? Had no more use for that little +woman, you can bet your bottom +dollar! Even Lady Sara Gyves, +who, they say, will go anywhere +to get a dinner, would have given +her the Ice-house Laugh. <i>I</i> know +them. And I saw my Daisy sitting +at home all alone on her reception +day, and taking dinner with me +every night. No, sir! That wouldn’t +happen if Cassius P. Kennedy had +to take those diamonds to the +Thames and throw them off London +Bridge in a weighted bag.</p> + +<p>So there we were! It was a dreadful +predicament. Every morning +we read the papers with our hearts +thumping like hammers. Every +ring at the bell made us jump, and +we had a deadly fear that each time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span> +the portière was lifted and a caller +appeared we’d see the buttons and +helmet of a policeman with a warrant +of arrest concealed upon his +person. I began to have awful +dreams and Daisy didn’t sleep at all, +and got pale and peaked. We +thought up more “plausible stories,” +but they seemed to get less probable +every time, and all our spare moments +together, which used to be so +happy and care free, were now dark +and harassed as the meetings of conspirators.</p> + +<p>Even concealing the miserable +things was a wearing anxiety. First +we decided to divide them, Daisy to +wear her half in the chamois bag +hung around her neck, while I concealed +mine in a money-belt worn +under my clothes. We had about decided<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span> +on that and I’d bought the +belt, when we got the idea that if we +were killed in an accident they’d be +found on us, and then our memoirs +would go down to posterity blackened +with shame. So we just put +them back in the bag and locked +them up in Daisy’s jewel-case, round +which we hovered as they say a +murderer does round the hiding-place +of his victim.</p> + +<p>I never knew before how burglars +felt; but if it was anything like the +way Daisy and I did, I wonder +anybody ever takes to that perilous +trade. We were the most unhappy +creatures in London, feeling ourselves +a pair of thieves, and our unpolluted, +innocent home no better +than a “fence.” There was less in +the papers about the Castlecourt<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> +diamonds robbery, but that did not +give us any peace; for, in the first +place, we didn’t know for certain +that we had the Castlecourt diamonds, +and, in the second, when we +now and then did see dark allusions +to the sleuths being “on a new and +more promising scent,” we modestly +supposed that we might be the quarry +to which it led. Daisy began to +talk of “going to prison” as a termination +of her career that might +not be so far distant, and to the +thought of which she was growing +reconciled.</p> + +<p>This about covers the ground of +my immediate connection with the +stolen diamonds. Their subsequent +disposition is a matter in which my +wife is more concerned than I am. +She also will be able to tell her part<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span> +of the story with more literary frills +than I can muster up. I’m no writing +man, and all I’ve tried to do is to +state my part of the affair honestly +and clearly.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span> +<p class="ph1">Statement of John Burns Gilsey, private<br /> +detective, especially engaged on<br /> +the Castlecourt diamond case.</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span></p> + +<h2 class="nobreak">Statement of John Burns Gilsey, private<br /> +detective, especially engaged on<br /> +the Castlecourt diamond case.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap2">AT A quarter before eight on the +evening of May fourth a telephone +message was sent to Scotland +Yard that a diamond necklace, +the property of the Marquis of Castlecourt, +had been stolen from Burridge’s +Hotel. Brison, one of the +best of their men, was detailed upon +the case, and three days later my +services were engaged by the marquis. +After investigations which +have occupied several weeks, I have +become convinced that the case is an +unusual and complicated one. The +reasons which have led me to this +conclusion I will now set down as +briefly and clearly as possible.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span>As has already been stated in the +papers, the diamonds, on the afternoon +of the robbery, were standing +in a leather jewel-case on the bureau +in Lady Castlecourt’s apartment. +To this room access was obtained by +three doors—that which led into +Lord Castlecourt’s room, that which +led into the sitting-room, and that +which led into the hall.</p> + +<p>Lord Castlecourt’s valet, James +Chawlmers, and Lady Castlecourt’s +maid, Sophy Jeffers, had been occupied +in this suite of apartments +throughout the afternoon. At six +Jeffers had laid out her ladyship’s +clothes, taken the diamonds from the +metal despatch-box in which they +were usually carried, and set them +on the bureau. She had then withdrawn +into the sitting-room with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span> +Chawlmers, where they had remained +for half an hour talking. +During this period of time Jeffers +deposes that she heard the rustle of +a skirt in the sitting-room, and went +to the door to see if any one had +entered. No one was to be seen. She +returned to the sitting-room, and resumed +her conversation with Chawlmers. +It is the general supposition—and +it would appear to be the +reasonable one—that the diamonds +were then taken. According to Jeffers, +they were in the case at six +o’clock, and on the testimony of +Lord and Lady Castlecourt they +were gone at half-past seven. The +person toward whom suspicion +points is a housemaid, going by the +name of Sara Dwight, who had a +pass-key to the apartment.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>The suspicions of Sara Dwight +were strengthened by her actions. +At quarter past seven that evening +she left the hotel without giving +warning, and carrying no further +baggage than a small portmanteau. +Upon examination of her room, it +was discovered that she had left a +gown hanging on the pegs, and her +box, which contained a few articles of +coarse underclothing and a wadded +cotton quilt. She had been uncommunicative +with the other servants, +but had had much conversation with +Sophy Jeffers, who described her as +a brisk, civil-spoken girl, whose manner +of speech was above her station.</p> + +<p>The natural suspicions evoked by +her behavior were intensified in the +mind of Brison by the information +that the celebrated crook Laura the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> +Lady had returned to London. I +myself had seen the woman at Earlscourt, +and told Brison of the occurrence. +It had appeared to Brison +that Jeffers’ description of the +housemaid had many points of resemblance +with Laura the Lady. The +theft reminded us both of the affair +of the Comtesse de Chateaugay’s rubies, +when this particular thief, who +speaks French as well as she does +English, was supposed to have been +the moving spirit in one of the most +daring jewel robberies of our time.</p> + +<p>Brison, confident that Sara Dwight +and Laura the Lady were one and +the same, concentrated his powers in +an effort to find her. He was successful +to the extent of locating a +woman closely resembling Laura the +Lady living quietly in a furnished<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span> +flat in Knightsbridge with a man +who passed as her husband. He +discovered that this couple had left +for a “business trip” on the Continent +shortly before Sara Dwight’s +appearance at Burridge’s, and had +returned shortly after her departure +therefrom.</p> + +<p>He regarded the pair and their +movements as of sufficient importance +to be watched, and for a week +after their return from the Continent +had the flat shadowed. One +foggy night, while he himself was +watching the place, the man and +woman came out in evening dress, +and took a hansom that was waiting +for them. Brison followed them, +and the fog being dense and their +horse fresh, lost them in the maze of +streets about Walworth Crescent.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> +He is positive that the occupants of +the cab realized they were followed +and attempted to escape. He assures +me that he saw the driver +turn several times and look at his +hansom, and then lash his horse to +a desperate speed.</p> + +<p>One of the points in this nocturnal +pursuit that he thinks most noteworthy +is the manner in which the +occupants of the cab disappeared. +After keeping it well in sight for +over half an hour, he lost it completely +and suddenly in the short +street that runs from Walworth +Crescent, north, into Farley Street; +ten minutes later he is under the +impression that he sighted it again +near the Hyde Park Hotel. But if +it was the same cab it was empty, +and the driver was looking for fares.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span> +For some hours after this Brison +patrolled the streets in the neighborhood, +but could find no trace of +the suspected pair. It was midnight +when he returned to his surveillance +of the flat. The next morning +he heard that its occupants had +left. A search-warrant revealed the +fact that they had gone with such +haste that they had left many articles +of dress, etc., behind them. +There was every evidence of a hurried +flight.</p> + +<p>All this was so much clear proof, +in Brison’s opinion, of the guilt of +Sara Dwight. Upon this hypothesis +he is working, and I have not disturbed +his confidence in the integrity +of his efforts. The result of my +investigations, which I have been +quietly and systematically pursuing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> +for the last three weeks, has led me +to a different and much more sensational +conclusion. That Sara Dwight +may have taken the diamonds I do +not deny. But she was merely an +accomplice in the hands of another. +The real thief, in my opinion, is +Gladys, Marchioness of Castlecourt!</p> + +<p>My reasons for holding this theory +are based upon observations taken at +the time, upon my large and varied +experience in such cases, and upon +information that I have been collecting +since the occurrence. Let me +briefly state the result of my deductions +and researches.</p> + +<p>Lady Castlecourt, who was the +daughter of a penniless Irish clergyman, +was a young girl of great +beauty brought up in the direst poverty. +Her marriage with the Marquis<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> +of Castlecourt, which took place +seven years ago this spring, lifted +her into a position of social prominence +and financial ease. Society +made much of her; she became one +of its most brilliant ornaments. Her +husband’s infatuation was well +known. During the first years of +their marriage he could refuse her +nothing, and he stinted himself—for, +tho well off, Lord Castlecourt is +by no means a millionaire peer—in +order to satisfy her whims. The lady +very quickly developed great extravagances. +She became known as +one of the most expensively dressed +women in London. It had been +mentioned in certain society journals +that Lord Castlecourt’s revenues +had been so reduced by his +wife’s extravagance that he had been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> +forced to rent his town house in +Grosvenor Gate, and for two seasons +take rooms in Burridge’s Hotel.</p> + +<p>This is a simple statement of certain +tendencies of the lady. Now let +me state, with more detail, how these +tendencies developed and to what +they led.</p> + +<p>I will admit here, before I go +further, that my suspicions of Lady +Castlecourt were aroused from the +first. It was, perhaps, with a predisposed +mind that I began those explorations +into her life during the +past five years which have convinced +me that she was the moving spirit +in this theft of the diamonds.</p> + +<p>For the first two years of her +married life Lady Castlecourt lived +most of the time on the estate of +Castlecourt Marsh Manor. During<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> +this period she became the mother +of two sons, and it was after the +birth of the second that she went to +London and spent her first season +there since her marriage. She was +in blooming health, and even more +beautiful that she had been in her +girlhood. She became the fashion: +no gathering was complete without +her; her costumes were described in +the papers; royalty admired her.</p> + +<p>I have discovered that at this time +her husband gave her six hundred +pounds per annum for a dressing +allowance. During the first two +years of her married life she lived +within this. But after that she exceeded +it to the extent of hundreds, +and finally thousands, of pounds. +The fifth year after her marriage she +was in debt three thousand pounds,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> +her creditors being dressmakers, furriers, +jewelers, and milliners in London +and Paris. She made no attempt +to pay these debts, and the tradesmen, +knowing her high social position +and her husband’s rigid sense of +pecuniary obligations, did not press +her, and she went on spending with +an unstinted hand.</p> + +<p>It was last year that she finally +precipitated the catastrophe by the +purchase of a coat of Russian sable +for the sum of one thousand pounds, +and a set of turquoise ornaments +valued at half that amount. Each +of these purchases was made in +Paris. The two creditors, having +been already warned of her disinclination +to meet her bills, had, it is +said, laid wagers with other firms to +which she was deeply in debt, that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> +they would extract the money from +her within the year.</p> + +<p>It was in the summer of the past +year that Lady Castlecourt was first +threatened by Bolkonsky, the furrier, +with law proceedings. In the +end of September she went to Paris +and visited the man in his own +offices, and—I have it from an eyewitness—exhibited +the greatest trepidation +and alarm, finally begging, +with tears, for an extension of a +month’s time. To this Bolkonsky +consented, warning her that, at the +end of that time, if his account was +not settled, he would acquaint his +lordship with the situation and institute +legal proceedings.</p> + +<p>Before the month was up—that +was in October of the past year—his +account was paid in full by Lady<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span> +Castlecourt herself. At the same +time other accounts in Paris and +London were entirely settled or compromised. +I find that, during the +months of October and November, +Lady Castlecourt paid off debts +amounting to nearly four thousand +pounds. In most instances she settled +them personally, paying them in +bank-notes. A few claims were paid +by check. I have it from those with +whom she transacted these monetary +dealings that she seemed greatly relieved +to be able to discharge her +obligations, and that in all cases she +requested silence on the subject as +the price of her future patronage.</p> + +<p>I now come to a feature of the +case that I admit greatly puzzles me. +Lady Castlecourt was still wearing +the diamonds when this large sum<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> +was disbursed by her. As far as can +be ascertained, she had made no effort +to sell them, and I can find no +trace of a frustrated attempt to +steal them. She had suddenly become +possessed of four thousand +pounds without the aid of the diamonds. +They were not called into +requisition till nearly six months +later.</p> + +<p>The natural supposition would be +that “some one”—an unknown donor—had +put up the four thousand +pounds; in fact, that Lady Castlecourt +had a lover, to whom, in a +desperate extremity, she had appealed. +But the most thorough examination +of her past life reveals +no hint of such a thing. Frivolous +and extravagant as she undoubtedly +was, she seems to have been, as far<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> +as her personal conduct goes, a moral +and virtuous lady. Her name has +been associated with no man’s, either +in a foolish flirtation or a scandalous +and compromising intrigue; in +fact, her devotion to Lord Castlecourt +appears to have been of an +absolutely genuine and sincere kind. +While she did not scruple to deceive +him as to her pecuniary dealings, she +unquestionably seems to have been +perfectly upright and honest in the +matter of marital fidelity.</p> + +<p>Where, then, did Lady Castlecourt +secure this large sum of money? My +reading of the situation is briefly +this:</p> + +<p>Her creditors becoming rebellious +and Lady Castlecourt becoming terrified, +she appealed to some woman +friend for a loan. Who this is I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span> +have no idea, but among her large +circle of acquaintances there are +several ladies of sufficient means and +sufficiently intimate with Lady Castlecourt +to have been able to advance +the required sum. This was done, +as I have shown above, in the month +of October, when Lady Castlecourt +was in Paris, where she at once began +to pay off her debts. After this +she continued wearing the diamonds, +and, in my opinion—such is her shallowness +and irresponsibility of character—forgot +the obligations of the +loan, which had probably been made +under a promise of speedy repayment, +either in full or in part.</p> + +<p>It was then—this, let it be understood, +is all surmise—that Lady Castlecourt’s +new and unknown debtor +began to press for a repayment.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> +There might be many reasons why +this should so closely have followed +the loan. With a woman +of Lady Castlecourt’s lax and unbusinesslike +methods, unusual conditions +could be readily exacted. She +is of the class of persons that, under +a pressing need for money, would +agree to any conditions and immediately +forget them. That she did +agree to a speedy reimbursement I +am positive; that once again she +found herself confronted by an angry +and threatening creditor; and that, in +desperation and with the assistance +of Sara Dwight, she stole the diamonds, +intending probably to pawn +them, is the conclusion to which my +experience and investigations have +led me.</p> + +<p>How she came to select Sara<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span> +Dwight as an accomplice I am not +qualified to state. In my opinion, +fear of detection made her seek the +aid of a confederate. Sara’s flight, +with its obviously suspicious surroundings, +has an air of prearrangement +suggestive of having been carefully +planned to divert suspicion from +the real criminal. Sophy Jeffers assured +me that Lady Castlecourt had +never, to her knowledge, conversed +at any length with the housemaid. +But Jeffers is a very simple-minded +person, whom it would be an easy +matter to deceive. That Sara Dwight +was her ladyship’s accomplice I am +positive; that she took the jewels +and now has them is also my opinion.</p> + +<p>Being convinced of her need of +ready money, and of the rashness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> +and lack of balance in her character, +I have been expecting that Lady +Castlecourt would make some decisive +move in the way of selling the +diamonds. With this idea agents of +mine have been on the watch, but +without so far finding any evidence +that she has attempted to place the +stones on the market. We have +found no traces of them either in +London or Paris, or the usual depots +in Holland or Belgium. It is true +that the Castlecourt diamonds, not +being remarkable for size, would be +easy to dispose of in small, separate +lots, but our system of surveillance +is so thorough that I do not see how +they could escape us. I am of the +opinion that the stones are still in +the hands of Sara Dwight, who, +whether she is an accomplished thief<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span> +or not, is probably more wary and +more versed in such dealings than +Lady Castlecourt.</p> + +<p>That her ladyship should have +been the object of my suspicions +from the start may seem peculiar +to those to whom she appears only +as a person of rank, wealth, and +beauty. Before the case came under +my notice at all, I had heard her +uncontrolled extravagance remarked +upon, and that alone, coupled with +the fact that Lord Castlecourt is +not a peer of vast wealth, and that +the lady’s moral character is said +to be unblemished, would naturally +arouse the suspicion of one used to +the vagaries and intricacies of the +evolution of crime.</p> + +<p>During my first interview with +her ladyship I watched her closely,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> +and was struck by her pallor, her +impatience under questioning, her +hardly concealed nervousness, and +her indignant repudiation of the suspicions +cast upon her servants. All +the domestics in her employment +agree that she is a kind and generous +mistress, and it would be particularly +galling to one of her disposition +to think that her employees +were suffering for her faults. Her +answers to many of my questions were +vague and evasive, and to both Brison +and myself, at two different times, +she suggested the possibility of the +jewels not being stolen at all, but +having been “mislaid.” Even Brison, +whose judgment had been warped +by her beauty and rank, was +forced to admit the strangeness of +this remark.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>The description given me by +Sophy Jeffers of her ladyship’s deportment +when the theft was discovered +still further strengthened +my suspicions. Lady Castlecourt’s +behavior at this juncture might have +passed as natural by those not used +to the very genuine hysteria which +often attacks criminals. That she +was wrought up to a high degree +of nervous excitement is acknowledged +by all who saw her. It is alleged +by Jeffers—quite innocently +of any intention to injure her mistress, +to whom she appears devoted—that +her ladyship’s first emotion on +discovering the loss was a fear of her +husband; that when he entered the +room she instinctively tried to conceal +the empty jewel-case behind her, +and that almost her first words to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span> +him were assurances that she had +not been careless, but had guarded +the jewels well.</p> + +<p>Fear of Lord Castlecourt was undoubtedly +the most prominent feeling +she then possessed, and it showed +itself with unrestrained frankness +in the various ways described above. +Afterward she attempted to be more +reticent, and adopted an air of what +almost appeared indifference, surprising +not only myself and Brison, +but Jeffers, by her remarks, made +with irritated impatience, that they +still might “turn up somewhere,” +and “that she did not see how we +could be so sure they were stolen.” +This change of attitude was even +more convincing to me than her +former exhibition of alarm. The +very candor and childishness with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> +which she showed her varying states +of mind would have disarmed most +people, but were to me almost conclusive +proofs of her guilt. She is +a woman whose shallow irresponsibility +of mind is even more unusual +than her remarkable beauty. No +one but an old and seasoned criminal, +or a creature of extraordinary +simplicity, could have behaved with +so much audacity in such a situation.</p> + +<p>Having arrived at these conclusions, +I am not reduced to a passive +attitude. I will wait and watch until +such time as the diamonds are either +pawned or sold. This may not occur +for months, tho I am inclined to +think that her ladyship’s need of +money will force her to a recklessness +which will be her undoing. Sara +Dwight may be able to control her to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> +a certain point, but I am under the +impression that her ladyship, frightened +and desperate, will be a very +difficult person to handle.</p> + +<p>This brings my statement up to +date. At the present writing I am +simply awaiting developments, confident +that the outcome will prove +the verity of my original proposition +and the exactitude of my subsequent +line of argument.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span></p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span> +<p class="ph1">The Statement of Daisy K. Fairweather<br /> +Kennedy, late of Necropolis<br /> +City, Ohio, at present a resident of 15<br /> +Farley Street, Knightsbridge, London.</p> +</div> +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span> + +<h2 class="nobreak">The Statement of Daisy K. Fairweather<br /> +Kennedy, late of Necropolis<br /> +City, Ohio, at present a resident of 15<br /> +Farley Street, Knightsbridge, London.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap">I BELIEVE it is not necessary for me +to state how a chamois-skin bag +containing one hundred and sixty-two +diamonds came into my hands +on the evening of May 14th. That it +did come into my possession was +enough for me. I never before +thought that the possession of diamonds +could make a woman so perfectly +miserable. When I was a +young girl in Necropolis City I used +to think to own a diamond—even +one small one—would be just about +the acme of human joy. But Necropolis +City is a good way behind +me now, and I have found that the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> +owning of a handful of them can be +about the most wearing form of +misery.</p> + +<p>I suppose there are fearless, upright +people in the world who would +have taken those diamonds straight +back to the police station and braved +public opinion. It would have been +better to have had your word doubted, +to be tried for a thief, put in jail, +and probably complicated the diplomatic +relations between England and +the United States, than to conceal in +your domicile one hundred and sixty-two +precious stones that didn’t belong +to you. I hope every one understands—and +I’m sure every one +does who knows me—that I did not +want to keep the miserable things. +What good did they do me, anyway,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> +locked up in my jewel-box, in the +upper right-hand bureau drawer?</p> + +<p>We knew no peace from that tragic +evening when Major and Mrs. +Thatcher dined with us. First we +tried to think of ways of getting rid +of them—of the diamonds, I mean. +Cassius, who’s just a simple, uncomplicated +man, wanted to take +them right to the nearest police station +and hand them in. I soon +showed him the madness of <i>that</i>. +Was there a soul in London who +would have believed our story? +Wouldn’t the American ambassador +himself have had to bow his crested +head and tame his heart of fire, and +admit it was about the fishiest tale +he had ever heard?</p> + +<p>It would have ruined us forever. +Even if Cassius hadn’t been deposed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span> +from his place as the head of the +English branch of the Colonial Box, +Tub, and Cordage Company (Ltd), +of Chicago and St. Louis, who would +have known me? The trail of the +diamonds would have been over us +forever. Lady Sara Gyves would +have gone round saying she always +thought I had the face of a thief, +and the bishop and the two lords +I’ve collected with such care would +have cut me dead in the Park. I +would have received my social quietus +forever. And, I just tell you, +when I’ve worked for a thing as +hard as I have for that bishop and +the two lords and Lady Sara Gyves, +I’m not going to give them up without +a struggle.</p> + +<p>Cassius and I spent two feverish, +agonized weeks trying to think what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> +we would do with the diamonds. I +never knew before I had so much +inventive ability. It was wonderful +the things we thought of. One of +our ideas was to put a personal in +the papers advertising for “Amelia.” +We spent five consecutive evenings +concocting different ones that would +have the effect of rousing “Amelia’s” +curiosity and deadening that +of everybody else. It did not seem +capable of construction. Twist and +turn it as you would, you couldn’t +state that you had something valuable +in your possession for “Amelia” +without making the paragraph bristle +with a sort of mysterious importance. +It was like a trap set and +baited to catch the attention of a +detective. We did insert one—“Will +Amelia kindly publish her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> +present address, and oblige Major +and Mrs. Thatcher?”—which, after +all, didn’t involve us. And for two +weeks we read the papers with beating, +hopeful hearts, but there was +no reply. I thought “Amelia” never +saw it. Cassius thought there was +no such person.</p> + +<p>A month dragged itself away, and +there we were with those horrible +gems locked in my jewel-box. I began +to look pale and miserable, and +Cassius told me he thought the diamonds +were becoming a “fixed idea” +with me, and he’d have to take me +away for a change. Once I told him +I felt as if I’d never have any peace +or be my old gay self again while +they were in my possession. He said, +that being the case, he’d take them +out some night and throw them in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> +the Serpentine, the pond where the +despondent people commit suicide. +But I dissuaded him from it.</p> + +<p>“Perhaps they’ll never be claimed,” +I said. “And some day when +we’re old we can have them set and +Elaine can wear them.”</p> + +<p>“You might even wear them yourself,” +Cassius said, trying to cheer +me up.</p> + +<p>“What would be the good?” I +answered, gloomily. “I’d be at least +sixty before I’d dare to.”</p> + +<p>All through June I lived under +this wearing strain, and I grew +thinner and more nervous day by +day. The season which is always so +lovely and gay was no longer an exciting +and joyous time for me. I +drove down Bond Street with a +frowning face, and it did not cheer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span> +me up at all to see how many people +I seemed to know. Looking down +the vistas of quiet, asphalted streets, +where the lines of sedate house +fronts are brightened by polished +brasses on the doors and flower-boxes +at the windows, I was no longer filled +with an exhilarating determination to +some day be an honored guest in +every house that was worth entering. +When I drove by the green ovals of +the little parks, which you can’t +enter without a private key, I experienced +none of my old ambition +to have a key too, and go in and +mingle with the aristocracy sitting +on wooden benches.</p> + +<p>Even meeting the Countess of +Belsborough at a reception, and being +asked by her, in a sociable, +friendly way, if I knew her cousin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span> +John, who was mining somewhere in +Mexico or Honduras—she wasn’t +sure which—did not cheer me up at +all. The change in me was extraordinary. +When I first came to London, +if even a curate or a clerk from +the city had asked me such a question, +I’d have made an effort to remember +John, as if Mexico had been +my front garden and I’d played all +round Honduras when I was a child. +Now I said to Lady Belsborough +that neither Mexico nor Honduras +were part of the United States quite +snappishly, as if I thought she was +stupid. And all because of those +accursed diamonds!</p> + +<p>It was toward the end of June, +and the days were getting warm, +when the climax came.</p> + +<p>The pressure of the season was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> +abating. The rhododendrons were +dead in the Park, and there was dust +on the trees. In St. James’ the grass +was quite worn and patchy, and +strangely clad people lay on it, sleeping +in the sun. One met a great +many American tourists in white +shirt-waists and long veils. I +thought of the time when I, too, innocently +and unthinkingly, had worn +a white shirt-waist, and it didn’t +seem to me such a horrible time, +after all—at least, I did not then +have one hundred and sixty-two +stolen diamonds in my jewel-box. +My heart was lighter in those days, +even if my shirt-waist had only cost +a dollar and forty-nine cents at a +department store in Necropolis City.</p> + +<p>The month ended with a spell of +what the English call “frightful<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> +heat.” It was quite warm weather, +and we sat a good deal on the little +balcony that juts out from my window +over the front door. Farley +Street is quiet and rather out of the +line of general traffic, so we had +chairs and a table there, and used +to have tea served under the one +palm, which was all there was room +for. We could not have visitors +there, for it opened out of my bedroom. +So our tea-parties on the +balcony were strictly family affairs—just +Cassius, and Elaine, and I.</p> + +<p>The last day of the month was really +very warm. Every door in the +house was open, and the servants +went about gasping, with their faces +crimson. I dined at home alone that +evening, as one of the members of +the Box, Tub, and Cordage Company<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span> +was in London, at the Carlton, and +Cassius was dining with him. I did +not expect him home till late, as +there would be lots to talk over.</p> + +<p>I had not felt well all day. The +heat had given me a headache, and +after dinner I lay on the sofa in the +sitting-room, feeling quite miserable. +Only a few of the lamps were lit, +and the house was dim and extremely +quiet. Being alone that way in +the half dark got on my nerves, and +I decided I’d go up-stairs and go +to bed early. I always did hate sitting +about by myself, and now more +than ever, with the diamonds on my +conscience.</p> + +<p>Our stairs are thickly carpeted, +and as I had on thin satin slippers +and a crêpe tea-gown I made no +noise at all coming up. I always<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> +have a light burning in my room, +so when I saw a yellow gleam below +the door I did not think anything +of it, but just softly pushed +the door open and went in. Then I +stopped dead where I stood. A man +with a soft felt-hat on, and a handkerchief +tied over the lower part of +his face, was standing in front of +the bureau!</p> + +<p>He had not heard me, and for a +moment I stood without making a +sound, watching him. The two gas-jets +on either side of the bureau +were lit, and that part of the room +was flooded with light. Very quickly +and softly he was turning over +the contents of the drawers, taking +out laces, gloves, and veils, throwing +them this way and that out of his +way, and opening every box he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> +found. My heart gave a great leap +when I saw him seize upon the +jewel-box, and my mouth, unfortunately, +emitted some kind of a sound—I +think it was a sort of gasp of +relief, but I’m not sure.</p> + +<p>Whatever it was, he heard. He +gave a start as if he had been electrified, +raised his head, and saw me. +For just one second he stood staring, +and then he said something—of a +profane character, I think—and ran +for the balcony.</p> + +<p>And I ran too. There was something +in the way—a little table, I believe—and +he collided with it. That +checked him for a moment, and I +got to the window first. I threw +myself across it with my arms spread +out, in an attitude like that assumed +by Sara Bernhardt when she is barring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> +her lover’s exit in “Fedora.” +But I don’t think any actress ever +barred her lover’s exit with as much +determination and zeal as I barred +the exit of that burglar.</p> + +<p>“You can’t go!” I cried, wildly. +“You’ve forgotten something!”</p> + +<p>He paused just in front of me, and +I cried again:</p> + +<p>“You haven’t got them; they’re in +the jewelry-box.”</p> + +<p>He moved forward and laid his +hand on my arm, to push me aside. +I felt quite desperate, and wailed:</p> + +<p>“Oh, don’t go without opening the +jewelry-box. There are some things +in it I know you will like.”</p> + +<p>He tried to push me out of the +way—gently, it is true, but with +force. But I clung to him, clasped +him by the arm with what must have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> +appeared quite an affectionate grip, +and continued, imploringly:</p> + +<p>“Don’t be in such a hurry. I’m +sorry I interrupted you. If you’ll +promise not to go till you’ve looked +through my things and taken what +you want, I’ll leave the room. It +was quite by accident that I came +in.”</p> + +<p>The burglar let go my arm, and +looked at me over the handkerchief +with a pair of eyes that seemed quite +kind and pleasant.</p> + +<p>“Really,” he said, in a deep, gentlemanly +voice that seemed familiar—“really, +I don’t quite understand—”</p> + +<p>“I know you don’t,” I interrupted, +impulsively. “How could you be +expected to? And I can’t explain. +It’s a most complicated matter, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> +would take too long. Only don’t be +frightened and run away till you’ve +taken something. You’ve endangered +your life and risked going to +prison to get in here; and wouldn’t +it be too foolish, after that, to go +without anything? Now, in the jewelry-box”—I +indicated it, and spoke +in what I hoped was a most insinuating +tone—“there are some things +that I think you’d like. If you’d +just look at them—”</p> + +<p>“You’re a most persuasive lady,” +said the burglar, “but—”</p> + +<p>He moved again toward the window. +A feeling of absolute anguish +that he was going without the diamonds +pierced me. I threw myself +in front of him again, and in some +way, I can’t tell you how, caught +the handkerchief that covered his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> +face and pulled it down. There was +the handsome visage and long mustache +of Major Thatcher!</p> + +<p>I backed away from him in the +greatest confusion. He too blushed +and looked uncomfortable.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Major Thatcher,” I murmured, +“I beg your pardon! I’m +so sorry. I don’t know how it happened. +I think the end of the handkerchief +caught in my bracelet.”</p> + +<p>“Pray don’t mention it,” answered +the major, “nothing at all.”</p> + +<p>Then we were both silent, standing +opposite one another, not knowing +what to say. It is not easy to feaze +me, but it must be admitted that the +situation was unusual.</p> + +<p>“How is Mrs. Thatcher?” I said, +desperately, when the silence had become +unbearable. And the major<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span> +replied, in his deepest voice, and with +his most abrupt military air:</p> + +<p>“Ethel’s very fit. Never was better +in her life, thank you. Mr. Kennedy +is quite well, I hope?”</p> + +<p>“Cassius is enjoying the best of +health,” I answered. “He’s out to-night, +I’m sorry to say.”</p> + +<p>“Just fancy,” said Major Thatcher. +Then there was a pause, and he +added: “How tiresome!”</p> + +<p>I could think of nothing more to +say, and again we were silent. It +was really the most uncomfortable +position I ever was in. The major +was a burglar beyond a doubt, but +he looked and talked just like a gentleman; +besides, he’d dined with us. +That makes a great difference. +When a man has broken bread at +your table as a respectable fellow<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span> +creature, it’s hard to get your mind +round to regarding him severely as a +criminal. I felt that the only thing +to do was to graciously ignore it all, +as you do when some one spills the +claret on your best table-cloth. At +the same time, there were the diamonds! +I could not let the chance +escape.</p> + +<p>“Oh, Major Thatcher!” I said, +with an air of suddenly remembering +something. “I don’t know +whether you know that your wife +left a little package here that evening +when you dined with us. It was +for Amelia.”</p> + +<p>Major Thatcher looked at me with +the most heavily solemn expression.</p> + +<p>“To be sure,” he murmured, “for +Amelia.”</p> + +<p>“Well,” I went on, trying to impart<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span> +to my words a light society +tone, “you know we can’t find her. +Very stupid of us, I have no doubt. +But we’ve tried, and we can’t, anywhere.”</p> + +<p>Major Thatcher stared blankly at +the dressing-table.</p> + +<p>“Strange, ’pon my word!” he said.</p> + +<p>“So, Major Thatcher, if you don’t +mind, I’ll give it back to you. I +think, all things considered, it will +be best for you to give it to Amelia +yourself.”</p> + +<p>I went toward the dressing-table.</p> + +<p>“You don’t mind, do you?” I +said, over my shoulder, as I opened +the jewelry-box.</p> + +<p>“Not at all, not at all,” answered +the major. “Anything to oblige a +lady.”</p> + +<p>I drew out the sack of chamois-skin.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span> +“Here it is,” I said, holding +it out to him. “You’ll find it in perfect +condition and quite complete. +I’m so sorry that we couldn’t seem +to locate Amelia. Not knowing the +rest of her name was rather inconvenient. +There were dozens of +Amelias in the directory.”</p> + +<p>The major took the sack, and put +it in his breast-pocket.</p> + +<p>“Dozens of Amelias,” he repeated, +slapping his pocket. “Who’d have +thought it!”</p> + +<p>“We even advertised,” I continued. +“Perhaps you saw the personal; +it was in the morning <i>Herald</i>, +and was very short and noncommittal, +but no one answered it.”</p> + +<p>“We saw it,” said the major. +“Yes, I recollect quite distinctly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span> +seeing it. It—it—indicated to us—aw—aw—”</p> + +<p>The major reddened and paused, +pulling his mustache.</p> + +<p>“That we hadn’t found Amelia +and still had the present,” I answered, +in a sprightly tone. “That +was just it. And so you came to get +it? Very kind of you, indeed, Major +Thatcher.”</p> + +<p>The major bowed. He was really +a very fine-looking, well-mannered +man. If he only had been the honest, +respectable person we first +thought him I would have liked to +add him to my collection. I’m +sure if you knew him better he +would have been much more interesting +than the bishop and the lords.</p> + +<p>“The kindness is on your side,” +he said. “And now, Mrs. Kennedy,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> +I think—I think, perhaps”—he +looked at the window that gave on +the balcony—“I think I’d better—”</p> + +<p>“You must be going!” I cried, +just as I say it to the bishop when +he puts down his cup and looks at +the clock. “How unfortunate! But, +of course, your other engagements—”</p> + +<p>I checked myself, suddenly realizing +that it wasn’t just the thing to +say to the major. When you’re +talking to a burglar it doesn’t seem +delicate or thoughtful to allude to +his “other engagements.” That I +made such a break is due to the fact +that I’d never talked to a burglar +before, and was bound to be a little +green.</p> + +<p>The major did not seem to mind.</p> + +<p>“Exactly so,” he said. “My time<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span> +is just now much occupied. I—er—I—”</p> + +<p>He looked again at the window.</p> + +<p>“I—er—entered that way,” he +said, “but perhaps—”</p> + +<p>“I don’t think I’d go out that way +if I were you,” I answered, hurriedly, +“it would look so queer if any one +saw you.”</p> + +<p>“Would the other and more usual +exit be safe?” he asked. His eye, +as it met mine, was charged with a +keener intelligence than I had seen +in it before.</p> + +<p>“It would have to be,” I answered, +with spirit. “What do you suppose +the servants would think if they saw +you coming out of here? This, Major +Thatcher, is my room.”</p> + +<p>“Dear me!” said the major, “I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span> +suppose it is. I never thought of +that.”</p> + +<p>“Wait here till I see if it is all +right,” I said, “and then I’ll come +back and tell you.”</p> + +<p>I went into the hall and looked +over the banister. The gas was +burning faintly, and a bar of pink +lamplight fell out from the half-drawn +portières of the drawing-room. +There was not a sound. I +knew the servants were all in the +back part of the house, quite safe +till eleven o’clock, when, if we were +home, they turned out the lights and +locked up. I stole softly back into +my room. The major was standing +in front of the mirror untying the +handkerchief that hung round his +neck.</p> + +<p>“It’s all right,” I assured him, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span> +an unconsciously lowered voice. +“You can go quite easily; I’ll let +you out. Only you mustn’t make +the least bit of noise.”</p> + +<p>He thrust the handkerchief in his +pocket and put on his hat, pulling +the brim down over his eyes. I must +confess he didn’t look half so distinguished +this way. When the +handkerchief was gone, I saw he wore +a flannel shirt with a turned-down +collar, and with his hat shading his +face he certainly did seem a strange +sort of man for me to be conducting +down the stairs at half-past ten at +night. If Perkins, who’d come to +us bristling with respectability from +a distinguished, evangelical, aristocratic +family, should meet us, I +would never hold up my head again.</p> + +<p>“Now, if you hear Perkins,” I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span> +whispered, “for heavens’ sake, hide +somewhere. Run back to my room, +if you can’t go anywhere else. Perkins +<i>must not</i> see you!”</p> + +<p>The major growled out some reply, +and we tiptoed breathlessly +across the hall to the stair-head. I +was much more frightened than he +was. I know, as I stole from step +to step, my heart kept beating faster +and faster. Such awful things +might have happened: Perkins suddenly +appear to put out the lights; +Cassius come home early from the +dinner, and open the front door just +as I was about to let the major out! +When we reached the door I was +quite faint, while the major seemed +as cool as if he’d been paying a call.</p> + +<p>“Very kind of you, I’m sure,” he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> +said, trying to take off his hat. “I +shan’t forget it.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, never mind being polite,” I +gasped. “You’ve got the diamonds. +That’s all that matters. Good-night. +Give my regards to Mrs. Thatcher.”</p> + +<p>And he was gone! I shut the door +and crept up-stairs. First I felt faint, +and then I felt hysterical. When +Cassius came home at eleven I was +lying on the sofa in tears, and all I +could say to him was to sob:</p> + +<p>“The diamonds are gone! The +diamonds are gone!”</p> + +<p>He thought I’d gone mad at first, +and then when I finally made him +understand he was nearly as excited +as I. He went down-stairs and +brought up a bottle of champagne, +and we celebrated at midnight up in +our room. We had to tell lies to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span> +Perkins afterward to explain how +we came to be one bottle short. But +what did lies matter, or even Perkins’ +opinion of us? We were no +longer crushed under the weight of +one hundred and sixty-two diamonds +that didn’t belong to us!</p> + +<p>That is the history of my connection +with the case. From that night +I’ve never seen or heard of the +stones, nor have I seen Major or Mrs. +Thatcher. The diamonds entered +our possession and departed from +them exactly as I have told, and tho +my statement may call for great credulity +on the part of my readers, all +I can say is that I am willing to +vouch for the truth of every word +of it.</p> + + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> +<p class="ph1">Statement of Gladys, Marchioness of<br /> +Castlecourt.</p> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span></p> +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + +<div class="chapter"> +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> +<h2 class="nobreak">Statement of Gladys, Marchioness of<br /> +Castlecourt.</h2> +</div> + + +<p class="drop-cap">I AM sure if any one was ever punished +for their misdeeds it was I. +I suppose I ought to say sins, but +it is such an unpleasant word! I can +not imagine myself committing sins, +and yet that is just what I seem to +have done. I couldn’t have been +more astonished if some one had told +me I was going to commit a murder. +One thing I have learned—you do +not know what you may do till you +have been tried and tempted. And +then you do wrong before you realize +it, and all of a sudden it comes upon +you that you are a criminal quite +unexpectedly, and no one is more surprised +than you. I certainly know I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> +was the most surprised person in +London when I realized that I— But +there, I am wandering all about, and +I want to tell my story simply and +shortly.</p> + +<p>Everybody knows that when I +married Lord Castlecourt I was +poor. What everybody does not +know is that I was a natural spend-thrift. +Extravagance was in my +blood, as drinking or the love of +cards is in the blood of some men. +I had never had any money at all. +I used to wear the same gloves for +years, and always made my own +frocks—not badly, either. I’ve made +gowns that Lady Bundy said— But +that has nothing to do with it; I’m +getting away from the point.</p> + +<p>As I said before, I was poor. I +didn’t know how extravagant I was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> +till I married and Lord Castlecourt +gave me six hundred pounds a year +to dress on. It was a fortune to me. +I’d never thought one woman could +have so much. The first two years +of our married life I did not run over +it, because we lived most of the time +in the country, and I was unused to +it, and spent it slowly and carefully. +I was still unaccustomed to it when, +after my second boy was born, Herbert +brought me to town for my first +season since our marriage.</p> + +<p>Then I began to spend money, +quantities of it, for it seemed to me +that six hundred pounds a year was +absolutely inexhaustible. When I +saw anything pretty in a shop I +bought it, and I generally forgot to +ask the price. The shop people were +always kind and agreeable, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span> +seemed to have forgotten about it as +completely as I.</p> + +<p>After I had bought one thing they +would urge me to look at something +else, which was put away in a drawer +or laid out in a cardboard box, and +if I liked it I bought that too. If I +ever paused to think that I was buying +a great deal, I contented myself +with the assurance that I had six +hundred pounds a year, which was +so much I would never get to the +end of it.</p> + +<p>After that first season a great +many bills came in, and I was quite +surprised to see I’d spent already, +with the year hardly half gone, more +than my six hundred pounds. I +could not understand how it had +happened, and I asked Herbert +about it and showed him some of my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> +bills, and for the first time in our +married life he was angry with me. +He scolded me quite sharply, and +told me I must keep within my allowance. +I was hurt, and also rather +muddled, with all these different +accounts—most of which I could not +remember—and I made up my mind +not to consult Herbert any more, as +it only vexed him and made him +cross to me, and that I can not bear. +All the world must love me. If +there is a servant-maid in the house +who does not like me—and I can feel +it in a minute if she doesn’t—I must +make her, or she must go away. But +my husband, the best and finest man +in the world, to have him annoyed +with me and scolding me over stupid +bills! Never again would that happen. +I showed him no more of them;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span> +in fact, I generally tore them up as +they came in, for fear I should +leave them lying about and he would +find them. If I could help it, nothing +in the world was ever going to +come between Herbert and me.</p> + +<p>I also made good resolutions to be +more careful in my expenditures. +And I really tried to keep them. I +don’t know how it happened that +they did not seem to get kept. But +both in London and in Paris I certainly +did spend a great deal—I’m +sure I don’t know how much. I did +little accounts on the back of notes, +and they were so confusing, and I +seemed to have spent so much more +than I thought I had, that I gave up +doing them. After I’d covered the +back of two or three notes with figures, +I became so low-spirited I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span> +couldn’t enjoy anything for the rest +of the day. I did not see that that +did anybody any good, so I ceased +keeping the accounts. And what was +the use of keeping them? If I had +not the money to pay them with, why +should I make myself miserable by +thinking about them? I thought it +much more sensible to try to forget +them, and most of the time I did!</p> + +<p>It went on that way for two years. +When I got bills with things written +across the bottom in red ink I paid +part of them—never all; I never +paid all of anything. Once or twice +tradesmen wrote me letters, saying +they must have their money, and +then I went to see them, and told +them how kind it was of them to +trust me, and how I would pay them +everything soon, and they seemed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span> +quite pleased and satisfied. I always +intended doing it. I don’t +know where I thought the money was +coming from, but you never can +tell what may happen. Some friends +of Herbert had a place near the +Scotch border, and found a coal-mine +in the forest. Herbert has no +lands near Scotland, but he has in +other places, and he may find a coal-mine +too. I merely cite this as an +example of the strange ways things +turn out. I didn’t exactly expect +that Herbert would find a coal-mine, +but I did expect that money would +turn up in some unexpected way and +help me out of my difficulties.</p> + +<p>The beginning of the series of +really terrible events of which I am +writing was the purchase of a Russian +sable jacket from a furrier in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> +Paris called Bolkonsky. It was in the +early spring of last year. I had had +no dealings with Bolkonsky before. +A friend told me of the jacket, and +took me there. It was a real <i>occasion</i>. +I knew the moment that I saw +it that it was one of those chances +with which one rarely meets. It fitted +me like a charm, and I bought it for +a thousand pounds. That miserable +Bolkonsky told me the payments +might be made in any way I liked, +and at “madame’s own time.” I also +bought some good turquoises, that +were going for nothing, from a jeweler +up-stairs somewhere near the +Rue de La Paix, who was selling out +the jewels of an actress. It was +these two people who wrecked me.</p> + +<p>Not that they were my only debtors. +I knew by this time that I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> +owed a great deal. When I thought +about it I was frightened, and so I +tried not to think. But sometimes +when I was awake at night, and +everything looked dark and depressed, +I wondered what I would do if +something did not happen. In these +moments I thought of telling my +husband, and I buried my head in +the pillow and turned cold with +misery. What would Herbert say +when he found out his wife was +thousands of pounds in debt—the +Marquis of Castlecourt, who had +never owed a penny and considered +it a disgrace.</p> + +<p>Perhaps he would be so horrified +and disgusted he would send me +away from him—back to Ireland, or +to the Continent. And what would +happen to me then?</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>That summer we went to Castlecourt +Marsh Manor, and there my +anxieties became almost unbearable. +Bolkonsky began to dun me most cruelly. +Other creditors wrote me letters, +urging for payments. The jeweler +from whom I had bought the +turquoises sent me a letter, telling +me if I didn’t settle his account by +September he would sue me. And +finally Bolkonsky sent a man over, +whom I saw in London, and who +told me that unless the sable jacket +was paid for within two months he +would “lay the matter before Lord +Castlecourt.”</p> + +<p>We went across to Paris in September, +and there I saw those dreadful +people. My other French and +English creditors I could manage, but +I could do nothing with either Bolkonsky<span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span> +or the jeweler. They spoke +harshly to me—as no one has ever +spoken to me before; and Bolkonsky +told me that “it was known Lord +Castlecourt was honest and paid his +debts, whatever his wife was.” I +prayed him for time, and finally +wept—wept to that horrible Jew; +and there was another man in the +office, too, who saw me. But I was +lost to all sense of pride or reserve. +I had only one feeling left in me—terror, +agony, that they would tell +my husband, and he would despise +me and leave me.</p> + +<p>My misery seemed to have some +effect on Bolkonsky, and he told me +he would give me a month to pay up. +It was then the tenth of September. +I waited for a week in a sort of +frenzy of hope that a miracle would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> +occur, and the money come into my +hands in some unexpected way. But, +of course, nothing did occur. By the +first of October the one thousand +pounds was no nearer. It was then +that the desperate idea entered my +mind which has nearly ruined me, +and caused me such suffering that +the memory of it will stay with me +forever.</p> + +<p>The Castlecourt diamonds, set in +a necklace and valued at nine thousand +pounds, were in my possession. +I often wore them, and they were +carried about by my maid—a faithful +and honest creature called Sophy +Jeffers. On one of my first trips to +Paris a friend of mine had taken me +to the office of a well-known dealer +in precious and artificial stones who, +without its being generally known,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span> +did a sort of pawnbroking business +among the upper classes. My friend +had gone there to pawn a pearl necklace, +and had told me all about it—how +much she obtained on the +necklace, and how she hoped to redeem +it within the year, and how she +was to have it copied in imitation +pearls. The idea that came to me +was to go to this place and pawn the +Castlecourt diamonds, having them +duplicated in paste.</p> + +<p>I went there on the second day of +October. How awful it was! I wore +a heavy veil, and gave a fictitious +name. Several men looked at the +diamonds, and I noticed that they +looked at me and whispered together. +Finally they told me they would give +me four thousand pounds on them, +at some interest—I’ve forgotten<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> +what it was now—and that they +would replace them with paste, so +that only an expert could tell the +difference. The next day I went +back, and they gave me the money. +I do not think they had any idea +who I was. At any rate, while the +papers were full of speculations +about the Castlecourt diamonds, they +made no sign.</p> + +<p>I paid off all my debts, both in +Paris and London; I even paid a +year’s interest on the diamonds. For +a short time I breathed again, and +was gay and light-hearted. My husband +would never know that I had +not paid my bills for five years and +had been threatened with a lawsuit. +It was delightful to get rid of this +fear, and I was quite my old self. +I suppose I ought to have felt more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> +guilty; but when one is relieved of +a great weight, one’s conscience is +not so sensitive as it gets when there +is really nothing to be sensitive +about.</p> + +<p>It was after I had grown accustomed +to feeling free and unworried +that I began to realize what I had +done. I had stolen the diamonds. +I was a thief! It did not comfort me +much to think that no one might +ever find it out; in fact, I do not +think it comforted me at all, and I +know in the beginning I expected +it would. It was what I had done +that rankled in me. I felt that I +would never be peaceful again till +they were redeemed and put back +in their old settings. That was what +I continually dreamed of. It seemed +to me if I could see them once more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span> +in their own case I would be happy +and care free, as I had been in those +first perfect years of my married +life.</p> + +<p>The fear that at this time most +haunted me and was most terrifying +was that my husband might discover +what I had done. His wife, +that he had so loved and trusted, had +become a thief! No one who has not +gone through it knows how I felt. +I did not know any one could suffer +so. I went out constantly, to try and +forget; and, when things were very +cheerful and amusing, I sometimes +did. And then I remembered—I was +a thief; I had stolen my husband’s +diamonds, and, if he ever found it +out, what would happen to me?</p> + +<p>This was the position I was in +when the false diamonds were taken.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span> +It was the last thing in the world I +had thought could happen. When, +that night of the Duke of Duxbury’s +dinner, I saw the empty case and +Jeffers’ terrified face, the world +reeled around me. I could not for +a moment take it in. Only, in my +mind, the diamonds had become a +sort of nightmare; anything to do +with them was a menace, and I followed +an instinct that had possession +of me when I tried to hide the empty +case from my husband.</p> + +<p>Then, when my mind had cleared +and I had time to think, I saw that +if they recovered the paste necklace +they might find out that it was not +real, and all would be lost. It was +a horrible predicament. I really did +not know what I wanted. If the diamonds +were found, and seen to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> +false, it would all come out, and Herbert +would know I was a thief. +When I thought of this I tried to +divert the detectives from hunting +for them, and I told that silly, sheepish +Mr. Brison that I did not see +how he could be so sure they were +stolen, that they might have been +mislaid. Mr. Brison seemed surprised, +and that made me angry, because, +after all, a diamond necklace +is not the sort of thing that gets mislaid, +and I felt I had been foolish +and had not gained anything by being +so.</p> + +<p>The days passed, and nothing was +heard of the necklace. I wished +desperately now that it would be +found. For how, unless it was, could +I eventually redeem the real diamonds, +and once more feel honest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span> +and respectable? If I suddenly appeared +with them, how could I explain +it? Everybody would say I +had stolen them, unless I invented +some story about their being lost +and then found, and I am not clever +at inventing stories. As to where I +should get the money to redeem +them, I often thought of that; but +never could think of any way that +sounded possible and reasonable. I +have always waited for “things to +turn up,” and they generally did; +but in this case nothing that I wanted +or expected turned up. Besides, +four thousand pounds is a good deal +of money to come into one’s hands +suddenly and unexpectedly. If it +were a smaller sum it might, but +four thousand pounds was too much. +There was nobody to die and leave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span> +it to me, and I certainly could not +steal it, or make it myself.</p> + +<p>So, as one may see, I was beset +with troubles on all sides. The season +wore itself away, and I was glad +to be done with it. For the first +time, there had been no pleasure in +it. Anxieties that no one guessed +were always with me, and always I +found myself surreptitiously watching +my husband to see if he suspected, +to see if he showed any symptoms +of growing cold to me and being +indifferent. As I drove through +the Park in the carriage these dreary +thoughts were always at my heart, +and it was heavy as lead. I forgot +the passers-by who were so amusing, +and, with my head hanging, looked +into my lap. Suppose Herbert +guessed? Suppose Herbert found<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span> +out? These were the questions that +went circling through my brain and +never stopped. Sometimes, when +Herbert was beside me, I suddenly +wanted to cry out:</p> + +<p>“Herbert, <i>I</i> took the diamonds! +<i>I</i> was the thief! I can’t hide it any +more, or live in this uncertainty. +All I want to know is, do you hate +me and are you going to leave me?”</p> + +<p>But I never did it. I looked at +Herbert, and was afraid. What +would I do if he left me? Go back +to Ireland and die.</p> + +<p>We went to Castlecourt Marsh +Manor in the end of June. By this +time I had begun to feel quite ill. +Herbert insisted on my consulting a +doctor before I left town, and the +doctor said my heart was all wrong +and something was the matter with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> +my nerves. But it was only the +sense of guilt, that every day grew +more oppressive. I thought I might +feel better in the country. I had +always disliked it, and now it seemed +like a harbor of refuge, where I +could be quiet with my children. I +had grown to hate London. It was +London that had played upon my +weaknesses and drawn me into all +my trouble. I had not run into debt +in the country, and, after all, I had +never been as happy as I was the +two years after our marriage, when +we had lived at Castlecourt Marsh +Manor. Those were my <i>beaux jours</i>! +How bright and beautiful they +seemed now, when I looked back on +them from these dark days of fear +and disgrace!</p> + +<p>It was not much better in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> +country. A change of scene can not +make a difference when the trouble +is a dark secret. And that dark secret +kept growing darker every day. +I feared to speak of the diamonds to +Herbert, and yet every letter that +came for him filled me with alarm, +lest it was either to say that they +were found or that they were not +found. Herbert went up to London +at intervals and saw Mr. Gilsey, and +at night when he came home I trembled +so that I found it difficult to +stand till he had told me all that Mr. +Gilsey had said. Once when he was +beginning to tell me that Mr. Gilsey +had some idea they had traced the +diamonds to Paris I fainted, and it +was some time before they could +bring me back.</p> + +<p>July was very hot, and I gave<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> +that as the cause of my changed appearance +and listless manner. I was +really in wretched health, and Herbert +became exceedingly worried +about me. He suggested that we +should go on the Continent for a +trip, but I shrank from the thought +of it. I felt as if the sight of Paris, +where the diamonds were waiting to +be redeemed, would kill me outright. +I did not want to leave Castlecourt +Marsh Manor to go anywhere. I +only wanted to be happy again—to +be the way I was before I had taken +the diamonds.</p> + +<p>And I knew now that this could +never be till I told my husband. I +knew that to win back my peace of +mind I had to confess all, and hear +him say he forgave me. I tried to +several times, but it was impossible.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span> +As the moment that I had chosen for +confession approached, my heart beat +so that I could scarcely breathe, and +I trembled like a person in a chill. +With Herbert looking at me so kindly, +so tenderly, the words died away +on my lips, or I said something quite +different to what I had intended saying. +It was useless. As the days +went by I knew that I would never +dare tell, that for the rest of my +life I would be crushed under the +sense of guilt that seemed too heavy +to be borne.</p> + +<p>It was late one afternoon in the +middle of July that the crash came. +Never, never shall I forget that day! +So dark and awful at first, and +then— But I must follow the story +just as it happened.</p> + +<p>Herbert and I had had tea in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> +library. It was warm weather, and +the windows that led to the terrace +were wide open. Through them I +could see the beautiful landscape—rolling +hills with great trees dotted +over them, all the colors brighter and +deeper than at midday, for the sun +was getting low. I was sitting by +one of the windows looking out on +this, and thinking how different had +been my feelings when I had come +here as a bride and loved it all, and +been so full of joy. My hands hung +limp over the arms of the chair. I +had no desire to move or speak. It +is so agonizing, when you are miserable, +looking back on days that were +happy!</p> + +<p>As I was sitting this way, Thomas, +one of the footmen, came in with the +letters. I noticed that he had quite<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span> +a packet of them. Some were mine, +and I laid them on the table at my +elbow. Idly and without interest I +saw that in Herbert’s bunch there +was a small box, such as jewelry is +sent about in. Thomas left the room, +and I continued looking out of the +window until I suddenly heard Herbert +give a suppressed exclamation. +I turned toward him, and saw that +he had the open box in his hand.</p> + +<p>“What does this mean?” he said. +“What an extraordinary thing! +Look here, Gladys.”</p> + +<p>And he came toward me, holding +out the box. It was full of cotton +wool, and lying on this were a great +quantity of unset diamonds of different +sizes. My heart gave a leap into +my throat. I sat up, clutching the +arms of the chair.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span>“What are they?” I said, hearing +my voice suddenly high and loud. +“Where did they come from?”</p> + +<p>“I don’t know anything about +them! It’s too odd! See what’s +written on this piece of paper that +was inside the box.”</p> + +<p>He held out a small piece of paper, +on which the creases of several folds +were plainly marked. Across it, in +typing, ran two sentences. I snatched +the paper and read the words:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"> + +<p>We don’t want <i>your</i> diamonds. You can +keep them, and with them accept our kind +regards.</p> +</div> + +<p>The paper fluttered to my feet. +I knew in a moment what it all +meant. The thieves had discovered +that the diamonds were paste, and +had returned them. I was conscious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> +of Herbert’s startled face suddenly +charged with an expression of sharp +anxiety as he cried:</p> + +<p>“Why, Gladys, what is it? You’re +as white as death!”</p> + +<p>He came toward me, but I motioned +him away and rose to my +feet. I knew then that the hour had +come, and tho I suspect I <i>was</i> very +white, I did not feel so frightened +as I had done in the past.</p> + +<p>“Those <i>are</i> your diamonds, Herbert,” +I said, quietly and distinctly, +“or, perhaps, I ought to say those +are the substitutes for them. <i>Your</i> +diamonds are in Paris, at Barriere’s, +<i>au quatrème</i>, on the Rue Croix des +Petits Champs.”</p> + +<p>“Gladys!” he exclaimed, “what +do you mean? What are you talking +about? You look so white and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> +strange! Sit down, darling, and tell +me what you mean.”</p> + +<p>“Oh, Herbert,” I cried, with my +voice suddenly full of agony, “let +me tell you! Don’t stop me. If +you’re angry with me and hate me, +wait till I’ve finished before you say +so. I’ve got to confess it all. I’ve +got to, dear. You must listen to me, +and not frighten me till I have done; +for if I don’t tell you now, I shall +certainly die.”</p> + +<p>And then I told—I told it all. I +didn’t leave out a single thing. My +first bills, and Bolkonsky, and the +jeweler, and the pawnbroking place, +and everything was in it. Once I +was started, it was not so hard, and +I poured it out. I didn’t try to +make it better, or ask to be forgiven.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> +But when it was all finished, I said, +in a voice that I could hear was +suddenly husky and trembling:</p> + +<p>“And now I suppose you’ll not +like me any more. It’s quite natural +that you shouldn’t. I only ask one +thing, and I know, of course, I have +no right to ask it—that is, that you +won’t send me away from you. I +have been very wicked. I suppose +I ought to be put in prison. But, +oh, Herbert, no matter what I’ve +been, I’ve loved you! That’s something.”</p> + +<p>I could not go any further, and +there was no need; for my dear husband +did not seem angry at all. He +took me, all weeping and trembling, +into his arms, and said the sweetest +things to me—the sort of things<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> +one doesn’t write down with a pen—just +between him and me.</p> + +<p>And I?—I turned my face into +his shoulder and cried feebly. No +one knows how happy I felt except +a person who has been completely +miserable and suddenly finds her +misery ended. It is really worth being +miserable to thoroughly appreciate +the joy of being happy again.</p> + +<p>Well, that is really the end of the +statement. Herbert went to Paris +a few days later and redeemed the +diamonds, and they are now being +set in imitation of the old settings, +which are lost. I would not go to +Paris with him. Nor will I go to +London next season. Both places +are too full of horrible memories. +Perhaps some day I shall feel about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> +them as I did before the diamonds +were taken, but now I do not want +to leave the country at all. Besides, +we can economize here, and the four +thousand pounds necessary to get +back the stones was a good deal +for Herbert to have to pay out +just now. And then it is so sweet +and peaceful in the country. Nothing +troubles one. Oh, how delightful +a thing it is to have an easy conscience! +One does not know how +good it is till one has lost it.</p> + +<p>This finishes my statement. I +dare say it is a very bad one, for I +am not clever at all. But it has the +one merit of being entirely truthful, +and I have told everything—just +how wicked I was, and just why I +was so wicked. Nothing has been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> +held back, and nothing has been set +down falsely. It is an unprejudiced +and accurate account of my share +in the Castlecourt diamond case.</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> + + +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="transnote"> +<p class="ph1">TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:</p> + +<p>Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.</p> + +<p>Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized.</p> + +<p>Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original.</p> +</div></div> +<div style='margin-top:1.5em;margin-bottom:1em;'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG BOOK OF THE CASTLECOURT DIAMOND MYSTERY ***</div> + +<div style='text-align:left'> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will +be renamed. +</div> + +<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> +Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright +law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, +so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United +States without permission and without paying copyright +royalties. 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