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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8aa466b --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #68727 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/68727) diff --git a/old/68727-0.txt b/old/68727-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index a31a379..0000000 --- a/old/68727-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5915 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The emerald of Catherine the Great, by -Hilaire Belloc - -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 -www.gutenberg.org. 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. - -Title: The emerald of Catherine the Great - -Author: Hilaire Belloc - -Illustrator: Gilbert Keith Chesterton - -Release Date: August 11, 2022 [eBook #68727] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Laura Natal Rodrigues (Images generously made available by - Hathi Trust Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMERALD OF CATHERINE THE -GREAT *** - - -_THE -EMERALD -CATHERINE THE GREAT_ - - - - -_By Hilaire Belloc_ - - - - -_With Illustrations by -G. K. Chesterton_ - - - - -1926 - -Publishers - -New York and London - -Harper & Brothers - - -[Illustration: _Mr. Collop describes the Finesse Diplomatique -of Bogotar._] - - - - -TO MAURICE BARING - - -MY DEAR MAURICE: - - -This is the fourth book I have dedicated to you, and you will see why if -you read it--which no one need do. - -First, emeralds are green; and, on principle, like the Green Overcoat, -it owes to you of the Green Elephant, a dedication. Next, there is -Catherine the Great. She plays no long part, but she founded the -fortunes of them all; and we are in communion in the matter of that -large and generous but regal soul; we agree that it is a pity she died -before we were born. Also, you who know all about Russia, and I who know -nothing, have, in the matter of Russia, this Monarch of all the Russias -for a link. - -Lastly, you have often urged me to write a detective story, because (you -assured me) they have gigantic sales. I promised you I would, on -condition there was nothing to find out. - - -Here it is. - - -KING'S LAND, - -_Whitsun_, 1926. - - - - -CONTENTS -CHAPTER ONE -CHAPTER TWO -CHAPTER THREE -CHAPTER FOUR -CHAPTER FIVE -CHAPTER SIX -CHAPTER SEVEN -CHAPTER EIGHT -CHAPTER NINE -CHAPTER TEN -CHAPTER ELEVEN -CHAPTER TWELVE -CHAPTER THIRTEEN -CHAPTER FOURTEEN -CHAPTER FIFTEEN -CHAPTER SIXTEEN -TALE-PIECE - - - - -THE EMERALD OF -CATHERINE THE GREAT - - - - -CHAPTER ONE - - -William Bones was a stalwart man, some thirty-five years of age, the -master of a Brig which sailed from the port of Boston in Lincolnshire -and was half his own property. He was a native of that town, his father -having been therein a pork butcher in a fair way of business, his mother -the daughter of a small farmer in the Wring Land. He traded with the -Baltic when George the Third was King--indeed, when George the Third was -still young and long before George the Third first went mad. - -Among other ports, he had found profit more than once in visiting that -of the River Neva, and was acquainted with the Russian trade. The great -city of St. Petersburg, still new but already splendid, became familiar -to him; and he himself, in his humble visits to the local factors, -became a familiar figure to the Secret Police of that capital. Even his -most domestic and private actions during his dealings in this port were -registered; and, it must be added, his strong English frame and handsome -English face admired, but also duly noted and their description passed -on to the proper authorities. - -On his third voyage to Russia he was honoured by the invitation of a -merchant somewhat wealthier than the common of his acquaintance and at -that table met some official of the Court, of what exact situation his -ignorance of Russian and of French forbade him to inquire. Before -returning to his native Lincolnshire, his happy spouse and his young -family, he enjoyed the singular privilege of a further unexpected -invitation from this same Court official whom he had thus chanced to -meet, and so found himself at supper in one of the smaller and more -discreet rooms of the Palace, upon its mezzanine floor, in a choice -company of both sexes. - -It is characteristic of the Empress herself--a great woman!--that a -large humanity and a laudable curiosity combined rendered her -indifferent to the conventions of rank. No sooner had she heard of the -British merchant captain's cheerful and manly habit than she desired a -more exact description, upon her receiving which he was permitted an -entrance to the Presence. - -He enjoyed, partly by means of an elderly female who interpreted for him -until he had improved his few words of German--the Empress's mother -tongue and most familiar idiom--no little conversation with the august -sovereign, who, when he arrived at this stage, deigned to keep him by -her alone for some while. The interview was repeated upon more than one -occasion and her Imperial Majesty was so good, upon his reluctant -leave-taking some two or three weeks after his first arrival, as to -press him with an invitation to return. - -Next season, the moment the Baltic ice was melted, he did so, disposing -of a mixed cargo; and, while leisurely awaiting his return charge, was -almost daily conveyed to the Palace from his humble lodging. For four -successive seasons running this strange adventure persisted. - -Meanwhile his Boston neighbours could not but remark that his home in -the British haven of which he was a native and mariner, showed a -considerable advance in prosperity. His wife was better dressed, his -growing family could boast an increasing and superior acquaintance among -children of a rank with whom they would not earlier have mixed. It was -even whispered that Bill Bones had made formidable investments in the -City of London, which he certainly had visited more than half a dozen -times during his last winter stay in England; and though his friends -very charitably agreed that the profits of the Baltic trade might be -large, and that Bill Bones might have had exceptional opportunities, -they none the less talked among themselves upon the various possible -sources of a fortune which that trade could hardly account for. - -With the fifth season there came an end to what had certainly been a -remarkable series. Whatever advantages communion with a throne might -have had for William Bones, the future would no doubt show; but the -fifth season was the end. There had been farewells, and yet no loss of -the high regard in which, for some extraordinary reason, he had been -held by the Semiramis of the North. He had acquired a certain assurance -of bearing which marked his new fortunes, and indeed, in this final -scene of his presence upon the quays of St. Petersburg, he seemed by his -gait to be some one of consequence. And no wonder, for he had left the -Palace for the last time bearing secreted in the bosom of his ample coat -a jewel worthy to be a memorial of the greatest passages in any life. - -It was an emerald, exceptionally large--the largest, he had been -assured, in the world--square in shape, of the purest water and set in a -delicate little gold mounting after a fashion which recalled the -ornaments of the French Court. - -It speaks well for Captain Bones that on his return to Boston he handed -this jewel to his wife, who thenceforward had it fixed with a pin, to -serve the office of a brooch, and wore it upon great occasions; notably -at a dance given by the mayor of the town, to which she brought her -eldest daughter, though barely of an age for such ceremonials. - -The next year William Bones let his house in Boston and abruptly -transported himself and his family to the metropolis. His neighbours -were interested to discover that before abandoning them he had purchased -not a little property in the town and had even appointed a substantial -agent to deal with his rentals. He was clearly an advancing man and -their respect for him grew profound when they learnt what figure he now -cut in a world above their own. In London he was found entertaining -largely and standing upon an equal footing with merchants of repute, -though not perhaps as yet of the first fortune. Meanwhile he had -preferred the name of Bone, in the singular, to that of his earlier -life, conceiving it to be more consonant with his present position and -his residence in Cornhill and his interests in the banking world. - -His only son George, when of an age for such occupations, which was some -five years after the family had come up to London, was taken in as a -partner by Mr. Worsle the India merchant, partly, no doubt, as a -testimony of friendship to his father, but partly also because William -Bone, who would now indifferently sign himself Bone or Bohun--the -original form of the name--had put at the young fellow's disposal a very -considerable capital. - -William Bohun himself died somewhat prematurely in the eighth year after -his transmigration, and his wife, who, though much desiring to cut a -proper figure in her new world, had never properly succeeded in doing -so, followed him within three months to the grave. Her younger daughters -had received an excellent education; her eldest, born in her father's -earlier days, had perhaps less refinement of accent and deportment--but -on the other hand, her solid worth and quite exceptional dowry had -procured her alliance with the heir to Sir Philip Goole, a landed -gentleman in the West of England possessed of a fine town house in -Cavendish Square, but indifferent to politics. - -George de Bohun--he had at first rejected but later began to use the -prefix "de" which a friend in the Heralds' College had suggested to -him--prospered, I am glad to say, exceedingly, as the son of such a -worthy father should, and acquired the playful nickname of "The Nabob," -which spread from the city to the more exalted circles into which he was -welcomed, west of Temple Bar. It is a sufficient indication of the -respect in which he was held when I say that he was elected to Brooks's -Club, and there, by his generous behaviour at the card table, failed not -to become a favourite with the most exalted of his contemporaries in -Whig circles. - -It may or may not interest the reader to know that upon his father's -death it was discovered that the Emerald of Catherine the Great had been -made an heirloom and was devised by an explanatory letter--since the law -could not enforce such a succession--for the eldest son, or, failing -sons, the eldest daughter of the reigning de Bohun on arriving at his -twenty-first, or her eighteenth birthday, his or her parents or trustees -being its successive custodians until that date. Failing such a -personage, the jewel was to be passed to any cadet branch, the eldest in -succession. If the great line of de Bohun should fail--which Heaven -forfend!--the sacred object was to be buried with the last of that -illustrious lineage. - -The legal complications to which such a disposition would give rise need -not concern us, for in fact they never arose. George de Bohun had but -one son, Richard, born in the same year that saw the death of General -Bonaparte, the famous Corsican adventurer. To this son in his old age he -conveyed the jewel with the instructions concerning it, but he had -previously got rid of its unfashionable Louis XVI mounting and had it -set again, now as a pendant, after the fashion prevalent in the first -years of Queen Victoria. - -Mr. George de Bohun had acquired--perhaps from his father--an unusual -reverence for the gem which he believed, with a mystical devotion -curious in a business man, to be in some way the tutelary genius of his -House. He would frequently tell young Richard, his heir, during the -boyhood of that philanthropist, the story of how Catherine the Great -herself had given it to his own father, the grandfather of the lad, when -that powerful genius was engaged upon a secret diplomatic mission to the -Russian Court. Hence had the emerald come to be known by the title of -"The Emerald of Catherine the Great" in the private circle of the de -Bohuns--pronounced "Deboons." That it should be preserved in the family, -certainly never sold and--please God!--never lost, was a religion with -George, which grew more fanatical as he approached the tomb. He came, -perhaps from an idea inherited from his father, to regard it as a -necessary condition of their prosperity, and he imbued his son Richard -with I know not what vague fears of disaster should its possession be -abandoned or should the stone itself be mislaid. - -This second in the great line, George de Bohun--pronounced Deboon--the -son of its founder, though born as long ago as 1780, lived to see the -inauguration of the Hyde Park Exhibition by Queen Victoria in 1851, and, -having refused a peerage, closed his eyes in the fine country house -known as Paulings. - -This mansion was--and is--situated in Herts, at no more than twenty-five -miles from Westminster. The successful Russian merchant purchased it -upon advantageous terms from the bankrupt and disreputable Parrall -family, whose last and seventeenth representative not only proved -incapable of preserving the patrimony of his ancestors, but had joined -the Romish Church and perished miserably at Boulogne. - -Richard de Bohun was of course the "Dirty Dick" of mid-Victorian -politics, and an intimate friend of Lord Palmerston. There is little to -record of him except that after doing good and lucrative work in two -administrations he also refused a peerage; in which he was wise, for -though the family fortunes had not diminished, the general increase of -wealth around him made his position less conspicuous than that of his -father had been in the City of London. Indeed, the family was now no -longer connected with trade. - -He died--as he had been born--at Paulings, a country house of such -absorbing interest that I shall later be compelled to describe it in -accurate if tedious terms. - -The now reigning de Bohun, called Humphrey--after an illustrious -ancestor, the Humphrey de Bohun who fought at Bannockburn under Edward -II and undoubtedly held land, through his wife, in the neighbourhood of -Boston--the son of this statesman, is the Mr. de Bohun--pronounced -Deboon--of our own day: the highly respected Home Secretary who has -already passed with such distinction through what he himself will call -the _Cursus honorum_, having been Parliamentary Secretary to Harry Gates -during all of the great Paramooka Scandal--when he was the Baby of the -House--then successively rejected by Middleham West after the Seychelles -Scandal--when Gates went to the Lords--elected after a second attempt by -Middleham East, Under-Secretary during the period of the Second General -Strike and at last, after the usual vicissitudes of public life, -occupying the exalted position which he still adorns. - -His figure is familiar to the public, I fear, rather by early -photographs than by recent portraits. He is a man tall and carefully -clothed, with a rather weary expression, set on a long face, with -insufficient grey hair neatly brushed. He is of a courteous demeanour. -He is much attached to his country life at Paulings, so happily -convenient to London, and sheltered from the large growth of suburban -villas about it by a dense fringe of more or less ancient trees. He is a -widower, possessed of three motor cars, but with only a flat in town. He -has refused a baronetcy, for he has (alas!) no son, but one daughter, -now just entering her nineteenth year. The name of the charming child is -Marjorie, and it was but recently, upon her eighteenth birthday, the -15th of January, that her father somewhat solemnly presented her with -the famous heirloom. - -He had used no little ceremonial, speaking a little pompously of her -dead mother--a Ginningham--of the immemorial traditions of their house, -and with curious insistence upon the supposed influence of the jewel -upon their fortunes. He smiled somewhat lugubriously as he touched that -point, but Marjorie, though not extravagantly intelligent, had brains -enough to believe in omens, mascots, talismans, and was proud, as a girl -should be at her age, to enter upon the possession of the Sacred Gem of -the de Bohuns. - -Her father had discarded, for so great an occasion, the Victorian gold -setting which, he was assured by Mr. Marolovitch and other experts, was -in deplorable taste. The jewel was now set once more--by Mr. -Marolovitch--as a brooch, since a woman was to wear it. The new setting -was in platinum, designed in the finest taste of Berlin, with writhing -curves and dead square divisions of the most entrancing variety. Large -as the Emerald was, and its new Prussian setting adequately broad, yet -the whole lay easily on the palm. - -If it be not blasphemy to suggest any inefficiency in our Teutonic -cousins, I should suggest that the pin was a thought too long and -capable, on careless handling, of biting the hand that fed it. But for -any such trifling defect the grey colour of the new and more expensive -mounting, resembling that of a leaded grate, and the awful severity of -its odd rectangles and unexpected heavings of its re-entrant curves, -made ample atonement. Such was the aspect of the Emerald of Catherine -the Great in the winter when it entered upon its liveliest activities. - - - - -CHAPTER TWO - - -About a fortnight had passed since Mr. de Bohun had given his daughter -Marjorie the family mascot. It was Friday, the 30th of January, 1930: -the weather unpleasantly cold, overcast, with a threat of snow, and the -dark already set in. - -After the heavy strain of an English working week, especially in -Parliament, complete relaxation is necessary from Friday after lunch to -the Monday's return to town by the afternoon. Nor was any mansion more -fitted to recuperate the exhausted energies of statesman or politician -than Paulings. - -It had been built in the classical manner some twenty years before the -decline of the Parrall fortunes, which got their worst blow after the -year 1745. It was classical and highly symmetric; its fine great doors -had been designed to stand slightly above the level of the drive and -looked upon a shallow sweep of stone stairway. Upon either side of them, -windows in the Palladian fashion, with a pediment above each, announced -the wealth within; a hanging wreath of flowers and fruit in stone went -the length of the great wall, and against the sky was a balustrade. - -That was all very well for the eighteenth century; but the nineteenth -and the new wealth of the de Bohuns put on useful excrescences. There -was a bulb to the east, and yet another bulb at the end of that, where -new stables, now a garage, were added to new offices, and on the west -there had been built, a little after the Crimean War, something like -half as much again of house room, in a manner pleasingly different from -all the rest. Here a new and more convenient door gave into a large -hall, not without suits of armour purchased at considerable expense, and -giving by various doors into the larger, older, and grander rooms of the -house, into a panelled dining-room, a large drawing-room, too often -changing in style, and on the extreme west a room very rarely used save -for the reception of whatever was not wanted about the living parts of -the house, or--in theory at least--for the complete seclusion of its -master, when--in theory--his heavy responsibilities demanded heavy -concentration. - -This room we must know, for it was here that blind Fate, an all-seeing -Providence, or--more probably--a lively and mischievous sprite had laid -the scene of the loss of the Emerald. - -The room was not large; it was in good proportions, for it dated from a -time when we were still civilized. It was strangely apparelled. There -was a large, rather shabby desk, at which the Home Secretary was -supposed to write and where he did at least leave accumulated a few old -letters and kept them down with a paper-weight of Chinese crystal, -carefully chiselled into the form of a little god who smiled. - -There were five deep chairs of the sort called lounge, upholstered in a -leather almost black. There were as many more comfortable common chairs. -There was a really good fireplace brought over from one of the old -houses in Dublin, of marble with a Bacchic frieze. There was in front of -that really good fireplace a rug made of the skin of a polar bear, -singularly fierce in its open red mouth of ferocious grin, its gleaming -teeth and staring eyes--the room was so deserted that no one had knocked -that head to pieces with his feet. It seemed almost new, fresh from the -Arctic. - -There were six windows looking to the west, south, and north, and coming -down close to the floor with deep sills forming seats after the fashion -of our fathers. For the room projected out into the park upon three -sides and the western one faced a long grass path between an avenue of -trees. There were one or two tables which did nothing, after the fashion -of most tables--outside dining-rooms, and even there they do no work -which I can recommend. There was above the mantelpiece one of those -looking-glasses of the First French Empire, round, lens-like, and -diminishing the picture of all the room. It had a round, broad, gilded -rim and upon its summit an eagle of the sort that flew from the Pyramids -to Cadiz, from Cadiz to Paris, from Paris to Moscow, and from Moscow -back again. - -The floor was of the sort called, I believe, in the trade, antique -Austrian parquet. That is, it consisted of some half dozen slabs of -cheap pine firmly bolted together, on the top of it a veneer of -herring-bone Baltic oak, chemically treated to simulate the age and -dignity of Schönbrunn. The thing was designed for rapid laying down and -lifting and fitted together simply upon joists with what are--again -technically--called invisible screws, but at the corners of the room the -contraption was held by certain clamps which wanted a hell of a lot of -hammering down when it was fixed. On the surface of this dignified -flooring lay, carelessly chucked about, a few Oriental rugs from -Brighton and one charming little Chinese mat from London, damnably out -of place and swearing with the rest of the room like a cat run up a tree -from a dog. - -What else was there in the room? Ah, yes, there was a parrot cage, and -if you are wise, unfortunate reader, you will pay particular attention -to that parrot cage, for later on it has a speaking part. - -It hung by a chain from the ceiling against the west window looking out -on the long avenue, and within it lived--not melancholy, for he was too -stupid, but in a mixture of stolid age, indifference, and -nothingness--the parrot Attaboy. Nor must I omit either the appearance -of the parrot Attaboy, but only later can I tell you how the parrot -Attaboy came by his name. - -Of his lineage I know nothing, nor even of his age. He might well have -been one hundred. Certainly there was nothing young about his eyes or -gestures, and I have always heard that parrots, like family servants and -others whom the gods hate, live to a great age. - -Aunt Amelia had made a pompous present of him three years before to her -beloved niece Marjorie after her beloved Marjorie had reached her -fifteenth birthday; she bestowed not only the parrot but the cage, and -simultaneously a kiss upon her niece's forehead. At first the recipient -of the fowl did not appreciate the gift. But love will grow. The -thing--by which I mean the cage and the parrot and all--was hung by a -hook--at Aunt Amelia's expense--to the roof of this room simply because -it was so little used. - -It happened precisely at the opening of the flat racing season, three -years before the opening of the story which you now have the ecstatic -pleasure of reading, that young Lord Galton, Marjorie's cousin--recently -acceded to the title by the sudden and unexpected death of his father -from I know not what forms of excess--had pulled a horse. - -He was one of our modern youths, loving the risks of life and living -dangerously. Therefore had he pulled a horse and the horse he had -pulled--his very own--he had named Attaboy. - -It was never brought home to him, as the phrase goes; that is, everybody -knew that it was true. Attaboy was famous at Paulings--a sort of family -crime to be proud of--a word used as often as any other for the moment -at Paulings; and the poor old parrot--we have no initiative in -age--picked it up and refused to learn anything else. - -In a way it was awkward. Tommy Galton would come to his uncle's house -from time to time, and when he came it was rather important to keep him -out of the West Room during daylight. For the parrot had a way of -croaking quite suddenly, in the strong colonial accent of his tribe, -"Attaboy!" at the most unexpected moments. However, the parrot Attaboy -possessed a cover of black felt carefully put over his cage at night, -and whenever it found itself in darkness it was habitually silent after -the honourable fashion of parrots--and, after all, the room was not -commonly used. There was little risk of Lord Galton's being in it save -after the black cover was over the detestable bird. - -Of Attaboy the parrot--Attaboy the horse had already gone to -stud--Marjorie grew fond. For one thing, she was not unattracted by her -cousin Tom, and Attaboy made a sort of bond between them. For another, -she was at the age when women can be fond of anything, even Tommy -Galton, let alone a parrot. - -So much for Attaboy and the deserted room. - -It has been remarked--without payment--by more than one philosopher that -the great events of this world arrive through the action of agents who -did not intend them. And this you will find to be true of Attaboy, of -the Polar Bear, and the deserted West Room. - -I think it only fair to add, since I am writing a detective story, that -when Aunt Amelia visited her brother the Home Secretary, which was, all -totted up, for something like a third of the year, she was given the -principal guest room, known in the family as Bannockburn, which lay -immediately above. - -So much for Paulings and its now famous, then deserted, West Room; its -Parrot, its Polar Bear. - -I return to that winter week-end, that cold January Friday and the few -gathered in the great drawing-room of Paulings round its tea table. - -It was not a party: it was a family meeting of a very few people. - - -[Illustration: _Dear Aunt, so good, so kind, and a little deaf._] - - -Old Lady Bolter, a much elder sister of the Home Secretary, known among -the Great as "Aunt Amelia," we have seen was half a permanency. She had -already given them three weeks of herself a month before; and she had -now settled down to another bout. They suffered her in this fashion -often enough; but as for her, she knitted. I have read in one of those -books which are published anonymously upon the people of that world, -that she had been famous in King Edward's day for her wit. Maybe. She -would hardly be famous for it now. However, she was not nearly so blind -nor so deaf as she pretended to be. She had met most people up to the -Great War and resembled a sheep. - -Victoria Mosel was there, Marjorie's friend of another generation, still -sinuously moving round and round from house to house forever. There were -two men, close relatives, cousins: an elder and a younger. - -The first was the hippo-phile, the expert in things of the Turf whom you -have just heard of, young Lord Galton, the son of the Home Secretary's -first cousin, Cecily, who had brought to Algernon, first--and very -nearly last--Lord Galton, a sufficient dowry, drawn from the then ample -funds of the de Bohuns, for her father had been the younger brother of -the Home Secretary. But this first--and very nearly last--Lord Galton -indeed was dead, and so was Lady Galton his wife, and the young man, now -his own father, found his inheritance less than he might have desired. -The Galtons, wisely taking their title from their name, had not done -well since they had left Liverpool; they had left that town too early. -So here he was, a tall, dark young man, a little too solid and certain -of himself, and--unhappily--attached to racing, a pastime for which his -fortune might have been sufficient fifty years ago, but was not at all -sufficient to-day. - -It was not every house in England in which Lord Galton would have been -welcomed; but family counts, and he was here, with his rather sullen -face, strong chin and fixed mouth, and sub-challenging eyes. They were -sub-challenging because of Attaboy the horse. He had not suffered as he -might have done; he went a good deal less to one or two of his better -clubs than he had done before the rumour spread, but he was still a -constant member of the Posts and gambled there assiduously and with some -success. Yet was he always embarrassed, and his embarrassment did not -help his reputation. - -He sat at the tea table that afternoon, fighting the boredom of Aunt -Amelia with what was toleration if it was not courtesy, and looking at -Marjorie without admiration but perhaps with intention. Now and then he -cast a furtive sharp look, when he thought it was safe, at Victoria -Mosel. She always knew too much, and as she stood there in front of the -fire, with a sham vacant look on her shrewd face, and the eternal -cigarette hanging from her lip, he wished her farther. - - -[Illustration: _Mr. B. Leader, Reader in Crystallogy to the -University, reading in Crystallogy to the -University._] - - -The second guest at that table, next to the Home Secretary himself, was -yet another cousin, but a whole first cousin this time--the only son of -the youngest uncle of all, who had married very young and very -imprudently. Wherefore was the said cousin, William by name, unable to -go into the City, and, compelled to become a Don, had become by -profession a professor. For a first cousin he was rather absurdly older -than the head of the family. The Home Secretary, who had himself married -late, was not more than fifty-five; but the Don, William de Bohun, -Fellow of Burford and holding the Chair of Crystallography, was quite -ten years older--perhaps a little more. He had a simple pride in the -excellence of his birth, a distracted manner due to his immense -learning--not indeed in the general field of the Humanities or the Arts, -but upon the particular point of dodekahedral crystals--and even of -octohedrals he had a smattering. Such was his fame that he had been -mentioned more than once in the proceedings of learned societies abroad -and had been elected Corresponding Member to the Crystallographic -Society of Berne. - -Unmarried, with a small private income, the poor nest egg of his -improvident father, amply endowed, with no pupils to speak of, and the -dodekahedral hobby, he would have been as happy as it is possible for an -atheist approaching death to be, had it not been for the existence of -that infamous charlatan, Bertram Leader, not even a Fellow of St. -Filbert's, and mere Reader to the University in Amorphic Crystallogy. - -I need not insist on the gulf that separates crystallography, a true -science, from crystallogy, its base mercantile application. To the one, -as was but right, a chair was attached; a chair founded by Z. Leizler -the philanthropist, before his flight, and now occupied by the aged -figure of the de Bohun. The other was thought hardly worth a Readership -at £600 a year, and only under secret threats had that wealthy college, -St. Filbert's, been persuaded by certain City men whom B. Leader in his -turn had threatened, to cough up. It took its revenge by admitting B. -Leader to its high table, and refusing to elect him a Fellow. - -He it was who, waging secret war upon university caste, dug his -revengeful fangs into the Professor's naked soul. He it was who spotted -with relentless eye all the misprints in the Professor's papers, and -denounced them as enormities of ignorance in the _British -Crystallographic Review_, with which is combined the _Crystal -Gazetteer_ and _Bulletin_. He it was who exploded de Bohun's ancient -German doctrines with the recent research of horrid Dagoes, and exposed -it to derision whenever he lectured to a class of more than a dozen; for -his department being mixed up with commerce, there was money in it, and -a few undergraduates on the scent of the same; not so the Professor's -department. Now two, now one student, sought the well of learning, and -sometimes none. - -On the other hand, Professor de Bohun could--and did--nourish a burning -happiness in his heart to remember that the infamous B. Leader was of no -lineage and had no private income at all. Nay, worse; an accent--almost -a twang. - -But alas! for the alloyed happiness of risen man, in whom the highest -have something in them of the ape, (Poggles _General View_, Vol. II, Ch. -XXII, p. 222). B. Leader himself nourished a secret burning joy in his -heart; for he had found out--what the great thought was peculiar to -their own circle--the dreadful story of William de Bohun and the -Mullingar Diamond. - -Because he loved crystals--not because he loved wealth: because the -Mullingar Diamond was the largest of its yellow kind in the world, and -had a flaw which was confidently reported to be due--incredible!--to a -bubble, William de Bohun had, eight years before, while stopping at the -Abbey as an honoured guest, pinched the Mullingar Diamond--not for a -permanency, but to make a close examination of the incredible bubble. He -had returned it, but already his action had got known, and some people -were cold to him. The less instructed among the great whispered that he -had been a famous thief in youth; the more instructed believed that his -profound science had produced a momentary lapse. The Family knew, but -had long forgiven him; indeed, there was nothing to forgive--they said. - -Let it be added that Professor de Bohun had acquired, from so much -concentrated study upon dodekahedral crystals--with fatiguing excursions -among the octohedrals--a pleasing habit of repeating a word, never less -than three times, and sometimes six or eight. - -In dress the old gentleman was careless, and, though perpetually -washing, never apparently clean. However, he did shave--save for the -whiskers which were the badge of his attainments in the learned world. - -There was expected a third man, as young as, or younger than, Lord -Galton, and of a very different and meaner kind, a certain Hamish -McTaggart, who had become suddenly famous within the narrow circle of -the people in the know, because the Prime Minister, upon reading an -article of his upon Protection had said--in the full hearing of the very -narrow circle--"This is the only man on Protection whom I really -understand." The article had appeared by the order of McTaggart's master -in _The Howl_, whence it may be rightly assumed that McTaggart knew no -more of economics than would a warthog of Botticelli. Hence the lucid -style which the Prime Minister had saluted with such discovering joy. - -His argument had been very simple. If you prevent things coming in to -the sacred Island, Albion, the Albionese will have to make these things -for themselves, and that means more employment, doesn't it? The truth -had struck the Prime Minister with far more effect thus set down in -clean print, than when he had heard it, as he had heard it a thousand -times, from the proprietor of _The Howl_, whom he had himself so rightly -ennobled. - -Therefore was Hamish McTaggart now glowing with a vivid, though, alas! -restricted fame. - -He himself was getting heartily tired of it. It had halved his -income--that is, it had brought it down below five hundred pounds a -year. No one would print him except upon the subject of Protection, and -he had to write in the way that was really understood. And he was -allowed to write only in those papers peculiar to the little inner -circle with the little inner circulation corresponding--and there's no -money in that! When he wanted to write about tigers, and get his -expenses paid free to the East and a lump sum--a job he would have got -for the asking two years before, when he wrote by the thousand words, to -order, just after leaving the University--he was asked what on earth he -knew about it? Tigers! And was bundled back to Protection. - -Therefore was his future black; but in the little circle he was a sort -of lion. Victoria Mosel was always talking of him; Marjorie was eager to -see him once and then to discard his company for ever; Lady Bolter, full -of the intellectual Victorian time, wanted to be able to say that she -had been in the same room with a man of whom the Prime Minister himself -had said that he was the only man whose writing he really understood. -The Home Secretary had met him once or twice in other people's houses; -Marjorie herself and her aunt were the only two for whom he was still -quite a stranger. - -"What train is he coming by?" said Tommy Galton, sunk into a deep chair. - -The Home Secretary looked at his watch, then at the clock, noted they -did not correspond, frowned, and said he'd be here any time. - - -[Illustration: _Victoria Mosel lays odds on Mr. McTaggart's -saying "Dee-Boe-Hunn."_] - - -"I'll give you evens," said Victoria Mosel, "that he calls you Dee Boe -Hunn." - -"Done!" said Tommy Galton, putting up a finger. - -"Bradburys?" said Vic, sucking a pencil. "Gimme a bit o' paper." - -Tommy Galton wrote on his cuff. "That'll do," he said. - -"I often wish," bleated Aunt Amelia, "that you young people could have -met John Bright. I was only in the schoolroom, of course, but my dear -father had no scruples in----" - -She was not allowed to go on. - -"We can't all sit here kicking our heels till he's kind enough to -parade," said Marjorie, with girlish simplicity. - -"No one wants you to," said Vic, delicately tearing off the last -cigarette like a plaster, and sticking in another one. "I'm clamped -down. Me for Hamish!" - -The Professor suddenly gave tongue. His exceedingly pale old eyes were -wide open, and his foolish mouth almost as wide. - -"Oh, I think it'll be exceedingly interesting--exceedingly interesting," -he quavered. "Exceedingly interesting to meet one of the new generation -of ... shall we say, ah! journalists? Yes, journalists.... Journalists." - -"Yes, Bill," replied young Galton. "We'll say journalists." Marjorie -yawned and stretched. - -"Well, I'm not going to wait any longer," she said, when the buzz of a -motor was heard on the gravel outside, the approach of middle-class -feet, the door solemnly thrown open as for a dancing bear, and the -unfortunate McTaggart appeared, his name preceding him. - -The Home Secretary, who had preserved some of the traditions, unfolded -himself painfully from his chair and stood up, greeting McTaggart with -the wan smile of the public man. - -"Good evening, Mr. de Bohun." And behold! he pronounced it Deboon. With -the business-like rapidity that became her so well, Victoria Mosel -handed a crushed ball of three one-pound notes undemonstratively to Tom -Galton, who stretched forward to take it and elaborately crossed out the -note on his cuff. - -Young McTaggart stood there a moment, not daring to sit down, suffering -great torture. Nor did any of the company relieve it, though Aunt -Amelia, to do her justice, did tell him how glad they all were to see -him, much as a spokesman for the Divinities might welcome any clod. - -The poor devil was out of place. He did not know why he had come; he had -come because he was pressed, because he had nothing else to do, because -he was lonely, because he had heard of Paulings and wanted to see it, -because he thought such a visit to such a house might improve his -prospects; and now that he was here, he wished it had never been built. - -He was never at his ease with his social superiors. His father and -grandfather had been mere soldiers; his great-grandfather one of -Nelson's captains; _his_ father again a very small laird in -Ayrshire--but one had to go back as far as that to get to gentility. He -dressed awkwardly, and he knew it. He never seemed to know quite where -to put the hands and feet at the extremities of his uncouth frame. He -also had a rather irritating trick of never looking anybody in the face. -It was nervousness, and came of writing too much. He was, I regret to -say, terrified of women, but especially of Ladies; and he had already -spent the first hours of his exile in wondering why on earth he had -allowed himself to be over-persuaded and had come. - - * * * * * * * - -So much for the tea table and those that sat round it. The Home -Secretary, damnably full of courtesy but rather silent, sat helpless; -Victoria Mosel still stood by the fire surveying them all--and -particularly McTaggart--not unsaturnine for the others, but with a -singular touch of kindness in her slits of eyes for the embarrassed boy. -Then she recovered the firm pressure of her lips, emphasised by the -drooping cigarette, and the others looked on inanely or surlily, -according as God had made them. - - * * * * * * * - -If you think I am going to describe to you in any detail how they passed -their time between tea and dinner, you are mistaken. Some books are -written like that, and there is an art of making them readable. I have -it not. - -To action, therefore--to the Emerald! - - - - -CHAPTER THREE - - -It was that same Friday night, and about 9.55 by the clock. The men had -just come in from the dining-room. They had been warned that the -housekeeper, Mrs. Bankes (fear nothing--you will never meet her again) -had commandeered the drawing-room. They were not allowed to go back -there, for even now the belated serfs were spreading, under Mrs. Bankes' -eye, large dingy cloths over the chairs and tables against the early -sweep of the morrow. - -The Home Secretary had no choice but to shepherd them into the somewhat -forlorn, hardly used West Room. A good fire had been ordered. He trusted -humbly in God that the parrot Attaboy, securely covered in its black -cage cloth, could utter no unseemly Attaboy cry. If it did--well, if it -did, Tommy must laugh. After all, it was his fault if he had pulled a -horse. - -The men crawled in. McTaggart, being by far the meanest, was -compelled--in an agony--to go first. Next the Professor slid; after him -with sullen assurance Tom Galton. And the great statesman filed in last, -as host and chief, and shut the door with all the discretion of the -Front Bench and fourteen years of Westminster. - -Marjorie was standing on the polar-bear skin rug by the fire, near that -fierce grinning head, those ironical teeth, holding the emerald--the -brooch--in her open hand; showing it to Victoria, who peered at it -cynically enough. She had already heard the story of it--for the third -time in two weeks, and for the three hundred and fifty-first in her -life--she knew it to be false, and she dreaded to hear again the myth of -the diplomat, the old Bohunian lie. But a good heart thumped behind that -bony breast and Victoria Mosel spared the child. - -With this coming in of a new audience, Marjorie summoned them at once, -and they crowded round in obedience to that summons; and once more to -the listening earth she told--in her innocence!--the largesse of -Catherine the Great to her ancestor the diplomat, in whom she firmly -believed. - -Lord Galton looked at the jewel with a sort of animosity, as much as to -say, "Put on no suspicious airs with me!" McTaggart tittered at it with -a nervous smile, as though he liked it well enough, but was rather -frightened of it; the Professor glared it down with an expert's pose. -The three men stood thus, bunched round their young hostess, touching -shoulders, while Marjorie continued her story of the de Bohun mission to -the great Empress, adding sundry other details which in her judgment -gave a heightened historical value to the gem. - -Then the gods struck. - -What she did, or how she did it, she never remembered. She felt a sharp -shoot in her finger: she should have known it was due to the -ill-calculated length of the pin. She said to herself--but in her heart -she did not believe it--that some one had jogged her elbow. Anyhow, the -Emerald of Catherine the Great jerked out suddenly and fell from her -palm, making no noise. It must have fallen upon the bearskin at her -feet, where a standard electric light upon a little table near at hand -happened to cast a shadow. She gave a startled cry, and at once the -three men were on their knees--yes, even the old Professor--groping in -the fur. - -They were longer at their groping than one might have thought. The -object was small, but not so small as all that. It was flat, heavy, -metallic: it could not have rolled. It must be within a few inches, or a -foot at the most, of the place on which its proprietress had stood. - -Unfortunately she moved, and in that movement no one could remember, to -half a foot or so, exactly where it should have lain. While the three -men still groped, and the impatient Marjorie tapped with her foot in the -suspense of it, the unfortunate McTaggart cried excitedly, "I've got -it!" - -Lord Galton at once jumped up, relieved; the Professor also extended -upwards--less smartly; but when they had risen McTaggart was still on -his knees. Then with his face peering into the fur of the bearskin, he -added, "No! It's a splinter of coal,"--and he threw that fragment into -the fire and continued to rummage. - -The Professor and Lord Galton looked at each other. They hesitated -whether to go down again; they thought it better to leave it to -McTaggart. Poor McTaggart thus remained in the abject attitude to which -he had now been subjected for two minutes or more, becoming increasingly -convinced that something terrible had happened.... He could not conceive -why he should not put his hand upon the thing.... But it was not -there.... At last, flushed, more disordered than ever, he pressed the -fingers of his left hand upon the floor and stood upright. He was a -little blown. - -"I can't find it!" he said. - -"You must find it!" said Marjorie sharply. Then, remembering herself, -she looked at the two who were her equals and cousins and she said: - -"_One_ of you must find it! It can't be lost! Nonsense.... Look here, -stand back!" She pushed her poor old aunt, who was peering about in a -futile fashion. She enlarged the circle, and then said again: - -"Now then, you must find it! Look here, I'll find it." They went down -again reluctantly, and she herself sank suddenly to her knees and helped -the group. - -But they looked in vain. They separated the hair of the rug carefully, -they lifted it up pettily, edge by edge, and looked beneath. They -pressed upon it with their palms to see whether they could not find a -lump. Then they took the poor beast up and shook him savagely. But he -yielded no emerald. It was gone. - -When at last they all rose again--appalled, for the moment -silent--Marjorie was as white as the skin upon which she trod. - -"It can't be lost," she said again, bitterly. "I say, it _can't_ be -lost." - -But lost it was. - -"Father," she said angrily. "Do come and look!" - -The Home Secretary reluctantly hoisted himself from his chair with a -secret groan, shuffled up to the place, and looked down at the rug in a -refined manner. - -"Look for it, father! Do look for it! Come, it can't be lost!" - -Painfully but obediently the Home Secretary went down on his knees in -his turn and groped about, with far less chance than any other man would -have had, of laying his hand upon the stone. He drew blank, as the -others had, and rose with more difficulty, McTaggart helping him; he -shuffled back, and sank again into his chair. - -"Well, well, well!" he said. "Well! Well!" - -There were tears in Marjorie's eyes--which was a weakness in one so born -and in such a place, but she could hardly keep them back. They were -tears as much of anger as of anything else. Upon Victoria Mosel's -face--somewhat apart, and smiling awfully at the bunch of them--there -was a look you could not see through. But upon the face of each of the -three men who had been first down upon their knees--not upon the face of -the Home Secretary--was now drawn an indefinable veil, as of instinctive -protection against a censorious world. - -It had dawned upon each of them, in varying degrees of rapidity, that -_he_ was possibly suspect. - -It had flashed first upon the lordlet. He lived and breathed in an air -of challenge. It would not have surprised him if he had seen some day on -a glaring sky sign flaming up large over Piccadilly Circus and winking -in and out to compel the eye: "Attaboy? Who pulled Attaboy? Tommy -Galton!" - -The Professor got the message to his brain about a quarter of a minute -later. He very nearly spoke--but he caught the words in time. The -Mullingar Diamond oppressed him: all the world pointed a finger at him, -and the air was full of demoniac whispers: "Mullingar! Mullingar!" - -And as for the miserable McTaggart, he was already such a worm in his -own eyes among these exalted folk that he thought his poverty might -alone have him arrested that very night. It struck him with a pang that, -in his innocence, he had remained there on his knees long after the -others had risen. Then a new shaft stabbed him. Ingenuous, he had dug -his own grave! They would interpret that cry, "I've found it!" as the -sudden shock of a real discovery: for him there sounded dully all -around, "Ar-r-rest that mon!"--and he was nearly sick. - -So there they stood--three men, none of whom had any idea what had -happened, and each well convinced that he was the suspect who must fight -it out sooner or later: each at the same time firmly believing that one -of the other two was the culprit. In Marjorie's pure mind there spread a -growing certitude that they were all of them guilty, all of them, and -that each of them had the emerald in his pocket--yet were there not -three emeralds but one emerald. At least, that was how it felt. But -within the soul of the Home Secretary--if I might so call it--there was -a strong sense of botheration and of wishing the beastly thing had never -happened. - -Under the keen inward light of Victoria Mosel's intelligence, standing -apart, a fascinating problem was being discussed. She was delighted. It -would occupy her for days. It was just what she liked. - -In all that circle of heads, showing in different degrees--Victoria's -least of all--the mood of the mind through some transfiguration of the -face, each silent for the moment, only one head stood frankly stamped -with a fierce joy. It was the head of the polar bear. - -If he could have spoken he might--or he might not--have told them. It -might have amused him more to keep them in suspense. His great red -grinning open mouth and shining teeth were full of joy. His fierce glass -eyes glared upon them mischievously. It was almost worth while being -shot and skinned for such a revenge as this! _He knew where the emerald -was_.... It was in his right ear. - -They had taken him and shaken him with great indignity, but they had -foolishly taken him up by the hind legs. One should never take a polar -bear up in that way, especially when it is a bear who has been a prince -in his own country of keen wind, low shining sun, and little dancing -seas against the ice. They had shaken him, but they had shaken--oh, -shame!--upside down, and the more they had shaken him, the more firmly -had they wedged the emerald in his right ear, where it so snugly lay. - -He could have told them, and I have hastened to tell you. Then where, -you ask me, does the detective fun come in? - -You shall see! - - * * * * * * * - - Far in the Eastern Wing where, mured in stone - Arrived at by a passage cold that ran - Along the North o' the House, and barred with iron - As to its windows: also by a door - Which leads from the considerable room - Wherein are great receptions held at Paulings - [An Antrum gaunt, abandoned, having only - Upon its walls the Oils of dead de Bohuns - (Pronounced Deboons) and sundry dusty sofas: - The Room grandiloquently named the Ballroom], - There stand the Servants' Quarters. It is there, - That, ruled by their dread Queen, the Housekeeper, - And by her Coadjutor King, the Butler, - The serfs Boonesque repose. The Cook, the Chauffeur, - The Kitchen Maids, the Footmen, and the Boy: - And Lord! how many others! These that night-- - That winter night of doom--held high discourse, - Upon the EMERALD. Samuel had heard - (While bearing in the tray of drinks, himself - Arrayed in livery) how its disappearance - Had flummoxed all the Toffs. "You bet your breeches!" - Said he, to either sex, indifferent - And indiscriminate. "You bet your breeches! - Whoever's pinched it's got to cough it up! - The Boss, he ain't Home Secretary, not - For nothing!" and with that his tongue was still. - Then spake young Gwendoline, the Tweeny Maid, - "I pity Him or 'Er as 'as it!" Words - Which, when she had them spoken, froze their souls-- - Nor none more starkly than the Second Housemaid's, - Unless it were the Boy's--and so to Bed. - - - - -CHAPTER FOUR - - -The majestic poise of the Nordic blood is nowhere seen in greater -perfection than in that crown of our civilization, a modest English -Country House. Here is there no class consciousness, here is there no -class war. Each is in his or her own place, and there is peace through -order. - -To consider only the servile portion of the establishment: the Butler -has his own dignity, and the various other males--upon whose titles I am -a little shaky--have theirs. So the Females of the species: the Cook -cooks; the Kitchen Attendants attend the kitchen; the Nurse nurses. So -with the external squad: the Groom grooms; the Gardener and all his -Assistants garden. With regularity and zeal the Footmen footle. The mere -Maids go maidenly about their tasks. Below these specialised -functionaries, for which Our Race is famous, comes one who may be -regarded indifferently as the foundation of the fabric or the last rung -of the ladder, and who is known as the Boy. On him the petty, -unorganised, lesser work devolves, for which his Superiors are indeed -responsible, but the mere brute labour of which is his alone. - - -[Illustration: _The Boy Ethelbert in Captivity._] - - -Thus it is the Boy who blacks the boots, fills all the coal scuttles and -carries them about, lays the fires and lights them, polishes the knives, -the silver plate--the silver itself, when there is any--and the antique -pewter; washes up the dishes of the supper below stairs, cleans the door -knobs and bell handles; pulls up the blinds; pulls back the curtains of -the ground floor. Notably it is he also who conveys to the Upper -Servants--who then shall have risen from slumber--the numbers of the -bells that have sounded. It is he who opens the windows when they should -be shut, and shuts them when they should be open--so far at least as the -early hours are concerned, for when the Great are about this function is -performed by a young man in uniform. It is the Boy who lays out the -morning post, sets the newspapers in order--therein discovering the -odds--lets out the little dog--or dogs--and after some few other -trifling tasks accomplished, brushes and carefully folds the clothes of -the male guests and lays them out where stronger and older men shall -carry them up, each parcel to its room, and for that service receive an -ultimate reward. It is the Boy who carries up the boots themselves--for -these are defiling to the fingers!--and it is the Boy--mark you: this is -essential to the tale, you must not miss it--_it is the Boy who picks up -the rugs and shakes them_, room after room, a ritual preparatory to the -settling of great clouds of dust, which, shortly after, not the Boy but -a Maid brings down to the rugs again with feathery instruments and -devastating cloths. - -Hence it was that the Boy--Ethelbert by his full baptismal name, but in -the daily, Bert--before yet the wintry dawn was more than grey on that -Saturday in January, whistling gaily at his task, was holding the polar -bear up by its _forepaws_ and shaking it, as in duty bound. - -His heart was gay, for he was redeemed. - -Not so long since, this same Ethelbert had (alas!) in company with -youths of his own age and a little more, not yet free from the trammels -of elementary education, purloined from a shop certain fruits: two -bananas. - -The Deed might have appeared upon his record at Scotland Yard and dogged -him through life, for he was already eight years of age and knew full -well the wickedness of his act. He had been spared by the noble -elasticity of the English Common Law. His sobbing widowed mother had -seen, indeed, the shadow of the police across her threshold, -and Ethelbert had stood in the Felons' Dock before the dud -parliamentary lawyer who had got the local stipendiary job. But our -Magistracy--especially that of the Stipendiary Sort--is famous -throughout the whole world for its merciful wisdom. Young Bert had -escaped imprisonment, as having been led away by his senior Charlie -Gasket, who was nearly ten. - -He had, I say, been saved; but the memory of the peril had burnt into -his soul. And now, though he was nearly fifteen years of age, the -incident still stood out the sharpest of his memories. It was known to -his lord the Butler--perhaps to his Master--but to no others. He had -been taken into the Great House in spite of it all, because his father -had worked upon the estate. Therefore, I say, did Ethelbert feel himself -redeemed. But he trembled still at the apparatus of National Justice. - - -[Illustration: _The Boy Ethelbert untouched by -Civilisation._] - - -In the innocence of youth he whistled gently to himself. His other work -was done; this performed, he had but now to settle the last rug, the -Polar Bear, and then to rouse his superiors in the hierarchy below -stairs, to lay their breakfast out and to attend thereon as minister. So -shook he perfunctorily the Arctic Ursine Fleece, the Hyperborean -Candour, when he heard something fall sharply at his feet. He even -caught a flash of it as it fell. He saw it issuing from that ear of -Thule which would hear no more; he saw it sliding down the whiteness of -the hair and gleaming dully in the candlelight upon the polished wood of -the flooring. - -There was no mistake. It was _IT_. It was that pledge of respect and -esteem which the ever-memorable Catherine, Empress of All the Russias, -had bestowed three lives ago upon the stalwart Bones. It was the -heirloom of that noble House of de Bohun which Ethelbert served. It was -the Stone on which he had heard all the domestics of the house inflamed -in the last hours of the previous evening. - -There is an instinct planted in man by Mr. Darwin, which impels him to -pick up a thing, anything dropped. That instinct Ethelbert obeyed. The -act was half unconscious, immediate; he had slipped the Emerald into his -pocket and was already off with a candle in one hand and the other in a -side pocket, fondling the stone. He was off down the long stone corridor -which led along the north of the house towards the offices; and as he -went his mind was full of some vague intention to hand over the -treasure-trove to those in authority--in good time. - -But even as he thus went up by the dim candlelight in the cold dawn, -along that prison-like perspective of iron-barred windows and whitewash, -with stone flags ringing to his feet, a vision of judgment arose within -him. His teeth chattered at the memory of the police. - -Ethelbert, that product of no more than an elementary education, had -received some general outline of the world from cinemas and from police -reports, which that same education enabled him to read in the more -widely circulated Sunday papers. - -He could not have told you that society was organized to the advantage -of circles to which he did not belong, and to the disadvantage of his -own; but he did know that this piece of green glass in its -leaden-coloured setting of hideous lines would sell for a sum that would -free him from servitude for ever. He also knew that to be found -possessed of it would involve a far worse servitude; a servitude not to -the Gentry but to the Force, and lasting, one way or another, the whole -of his life. He knew that such servitude was torture. The people of his -world knew all those things. Therefore did not the emerald represent to -Ethelbert immediate wealth so much as a vision of confinement alone in -a small mechanical cell; upon release, a life-long chain binding him as -an informer and spy over whom further imprisonment should hang at will; -a crushing and overwhelming tyranny; and perhaps at last a secret and -abominable death. Of all these things had young Bert's mind been full -from very early years, for all these things still haunt the distorted -fancy of the poor. - -He saw himself presenting with trembling hand this Thing of Power, this -Emerald, to his Emperor the Butler; he imagined a first awful and -immediate trial at the hands of that Justiciar, and later an -overwhelming sentence from the Master himself. He heard the key turning -in the door of his room; he saw himself a gibbering prisoner therein; he -heard the voices of the Inspector and his accompanying Sergeant; he felt -the gyves upon his wrist. - -All this in the few seconds between the West Room of Paulings and the -offices built out of the extreme east. - -So was Ethelbert's mind made up. For his good angel, failing to -penetrate the first thick skin of stupidity and to suggest the simple -delivery of the gem to his superiors, at any rate got through the second -skin and suggested a second best. - -He had the brushing of the clothes. He would put it into the pocket of -some one of the guests, and then he could breathe freely. - -Which guest should it be? No one was yet astir; he was free to choose. -There was a minute or two before the clock would strike the half hour -and bid him summon the earliest riser--after himself--the kitchen-maid. -Her name, Kathleen Parkinson, I take the liberty of giving you, although -she will appear no more in these pages. - -There lay the three little piles of clothes, to be carefully brushed and -folded up by himself, within the next half hour, and among them how -could a youth of romantic genius hesitate? Did not every novelette, -every Sunday paper, every cinema, point with unerring finger to the -lord? Are not lords and jewels made one for the other, like love and -laughter, or politics and stocks and shares? The lord could not but be -the recipient of the emerald, and when he should have received it, who -fitter than he to deal with such trifles? Bert could see him in his -mind's eye, and hear him in his mind's ear, strolling up to the Master -of the House and saying, in that airy accent which had always so -astonished him in the wealthy: - -"Oh, I say, Humph, I found the bloody thing this morning and picked it -up--what?" - -Now into which pocket of Lord Galton's quiet blue suit should it go? -Into the right-hand trousers pocket; for therein, as Bert knew by -fruitful search, his lordship carried loose change. From the waistcoat -it might fall out. In the coat pockets it might lurk for long without -being found; in Lord Galton's right-hand trousers pocket, therefore, did -the emerald go, to the full depth thereof. The garment was folded again -very neatly. And all was well. - - * * * * * * * - -In the fulness of time, the sun being already risen--yes, for an hour or -more--one of those older young domestics of whom I have spoken bore up a -parcel of clothes and a can of hot water to Lord Galton's door. All the -ritual of these palaces was gone through. The socks were turned inside -out, the shirt laid out like a corpse in its shroud, the pile of brushed -and folded clothes set upon a chair, the fire lit--as though the room -were not already stifling with a hot-air machine; the window opened -wider, as though the piercing air had not already started a draught -which had fought with the hot air all night long. The under-upper -servant glided away, and Lord Galton got out of bed and shaved and -washed and dressed; considering in his mind what all others woke to -consider in that same house on that same morning, but especially the -Fated Three: the Emerald. - -He looked at his watch; it was a quarter past nine. He stood gazing out -of the window at the frosty mist on the damp gaunt trees of the park, -and tried to estimate how he really stood in the minds of those about -him. - -Who would believe that he knew nothing of the stone? Which of them had -heard--several of them, he knew--which of them _believed_ that story -about Attaboy? Certainly his host, almost certainly Vic--she knew -everything. He was not quite certain that she had not meant to rag him -about it in something she had said during the day before. She would not -misunderstand, but she knew about it. - -Did that damned greasy fellow the journalist know? He doubted it; they -never did know the things that counted. And as for the Don, he might as -well have suspected the first imbecile in the County Asylum. - -Marjorie did not know; he was pretty sure of that by her way to him. But -still ... it was known enough; it was known to two.... After all, what -was pulling a horse, and what had it to do with pinching emeralds, -anyhow? ... Yet ... yet ... he could not leave Paulings till it was -cleared up.... If the damned thing turned up in town in some receiver's -shop they might connect it with him.... He was glad he hadn't brought a -man.... No, he must stay till it was cleared up. It was a damned -nuisance. They were getting up a party on Sunday night at the Posts. -There was to be a rich young fool from Ireland whom they would all play -with. Those occasions were not so common nowadays. But he must sacrifice -it. He must stay on. - -He made his decision; he slowly picked up the small change off his -dressing table and shuffled it into his trousers pocket. Then he -mechanically followed it with his hand, and found something that was not -a coin.... - -At first he had the grotesque idea that he was handling a pebble, though -how it could have got there he could not conceive. Then a matchbox, for -it was smooth and cold.... When he pulled it out and saw what it was, -his whole mind went through a violent shock of revulsion. - -He was so sickened, strong as he was, that he had to sit down and -recover himself. And as he so sat, he fixed the dreadful thing with his -eye, holding it there between the fingers of his right hand, unmoving. - -Now indeed was a resolution to be taken! - -At first his mind would not work. A man possessed of a thing, no matter -what he does with it, carries his communications about with him, leaves -traces about of his possession. If he threw it out of the window, it -would be found within the radius of such a throw. There was nowhere in -the room where he would dare to hide it. If he dropped it as he went -downstairs, a servant might pass and find it within a minute, connecting -him with what was so found. - -Give it back himself he dared not. That would mean, "Poor Tommy! He gave -way, but he did the honest thing in the end." He would be branded for -life. Attaboy was enough, without that. - -At first the easiest course lured him; to say nothing; to keep it upon -his person until everything had blown over; then to take it up with him -to town.... Then? ... He could not help remembering how Alfred had told -him about his uncle and the cutting establishment in Amsterdam. It was -all mixed up with the committee for inquiring into the Meldon -business when there was that trouble in Parliament a few years -before.... It seemed that one could have a stone cut and get it back -unrecognisable.... Then he thrust the thought out of his mind and -shuddered a little at the danger. - - -[Illustration: _Lord Galton discovers the Emerald._] - - -But if he kept it, where should he put it? Where could he put it so as -to be certain during the night--to be _absolutely_ certain--that no one -could find it with him or near him? What if he should fall faint or ill? -What if ... No, there was only one thing to be done. He must pass it on. -No matter what tale he told--even if he told the truth--to appear with -it in his possession and to make an explanation was to damn himself -finally, and that just at the moment his half-damnation on the turf was -beginning to be forgotten.... He must pass it on.... He must pass it on. - -There was one obvious repository; an aged fool of that profession whose -incompetence is stamped upon them; a native dupe. It should go into the -pocket of his distinguished cousin, the Professor; it should pass into -the unwitting possession of the expert on dodekahedral crystals. His -mind thus decided, he was half at peace. - -Lord Galton went down to breakfast. He found his host already at the -table. The others came in gradually, and no one talked of the stone; nor -upon anything else to speak of--for of the stone everyone was thinking. - -It was, naturally, the learned cousin, the Professor, who first put in -the word that should not have been spoken. He did it somewhere about the -jam, and when the Home Secretary was already feeling the need for a -pipe. Perhaps food had strengthened him. He piped up in his quavering -voice: - -"Ah! Any news about the emerald, Humphrey? Any news this morning about -the emerald? About the emerald? ... the emerald? ... the emerald?" - -There is a natural sequence in fools, as in all others of God's -creatures. Aunt Amelia came in a good second. - -"Oh, yes, Humphrey," she bleated, in that woolly-mutton voice which -fitted her as does sodden mist a marshy formless hill. "Is there any -news about the emerald?" - -"There is hardly likely to be, Amelia," said her brother, as tartly as -he could be got to say anything, for long years of suave politician's -make-believe had untartled his tongue. - -"I thought," said Aunt Amelia in self-defense, "that some servant might -have found it and told you." - -"Well, they have not," said her brother, shortly; and there was silence. - -The journalist opened his mouth--which he should not have done--and -began rather too loudly, and in too high a pitch: - -"What I think, you know ..." and then stopped suddenly--which put him in -no better case. - -What Victoria Mosel would have said nobody knew, for she took her -breakfast in bed--always. But Marjorie had come down in the midst of -this, and spoke sharply. She had slept little and her temper was on -edge. - -"Oh, that's enough about the emerald!" she said. "What's the good of -talking of it _now_?" Then she gave one sweeping look around, like a -searchlight trying to spot a boat, and betook herself to the jam. - -The one who said nothing was the young racing man with the emerald in -his trousers pocket. He was not sure of it--he touched its pin point two -or three times furtively to make certain the gem had not dropped out; -and then he began, by way of clearing the air, to talk to the learned -Professor about indifferent things. - -But these indifferent things had a purport in them. For first he talked -of the University, then of that degraded College, St. Filbert's, and so -worked things round to the infamous B. Leader, and that fairly started -his companion off--as Lord Galton had intended he should be started. - -The old Don was still at it when they got up from the breakfast table. -He was shepherded--though he did not know that he was being -shepherded--by the younger man, out into the hall, helped into his rusty -overcoat, led out through the glass doors into the park, and there did -Lord Galton patiently listen to his academic victim for something over a -quarter of an hour, as they walked side by side up the swept gravel to -the very far end of the avenue, and then turned back again towards the -house. - -Long before they thus faced about, the learned cousin's mind was a -thousand miles away from reality. The harangue which poured forth -against the infamous B. Leader needed but little sympathetic jogging--a -word here and there--from his companion. His soul was not in his body. -You might have stuck a pin into him, and he would not have felt it; and -Lord Galton, who knew men nearly as well as he knew horses--at least on -the side of their weaknesses--felt secure that the moment had come. And -as he leaned forward, sympathetically close to the left side of his -companion, he gently dropped into the loose, wrinkled side pocket of the -rusty overcoat that perilous gem, and felt as though he had cast off a -garment of lead. - -The expert in dodekahedral crystals still poured out unceasingly and -shrilly his grievance, with many a "Would you believe it?" and "If you -please!" and "Then he actually wrote to the Society at Berne," and so -on; and Lord Galton, almost grateful in the new lightness of his heart, -applauded heartily and loudly marvelled that the Society at Berne did -not drum Leader out of their ranks with every mark of infamy. - -"So," he thought, as they came into the house again--the quavering voice -of the Crystallographer still more emphatic within four -walls--"salvation comes with a little intelligence, a little decision, -and a little opportunity." - -He helped the old fool out of his overcoat; hung it up for him on a peg, -and saw its owner go shambling off to his books. - -Lord Galton was pleased with himself; he saw his way fairly straight -before him, but he would do nothing hastily ... which might flurry the -head of the house.... It would be a wise and a small risk, to bide his -time. He would bide it till the noon post had come in, until his host -had looked at his letters. Then only would he take the next step in his -programme. He sauntered out again into the Park, where he would feel the -strain of waiting less, with a walk to occupy him. He looked back over -his shoulder when he had got round towards the lodge, and saw for one -moment through the window of the library his aged relative pottering -among the shelves. He was safe till lunch. And Lord Galton, though all -alone, smiled. - - * * * * * * * - -The young man walked briskly for a couple of miles, thinking clearly and -concisely. He came back to Paulings through the mill gate, up by the -stables, walking strongly and well. He knew exactly what he had to do. - -He met one of the servants, and asked where Mr. de Bohun might be, and -was told he was in the garage; sought him there, and found him giving -orders about a repair, and trying--unsuccessfully--to understand whether -the proud chauffeur were lying or no. - -He went straight up to his cousin, who turned round at hearing his step, -and said in a very low voice, and quickly: - -"Let me see you in your study alone for a moment. It is urgent!" - -And the Home Secretary, glancing up hurriedly with a half-frightened -look, said, "Yes? Certainly! Come." - - - - -CHAPTER FIVE - - -Lord Galton stood by the Home Secretary in his study, looked round -suddenly, and said, "May I lock the door?" locked it without leave and -then came back and began talking. - -The young fellow talked as impressively as ever he had talked when he -was giving instructions to a jockey, or rather, to the go-between who -took the risk. He knew how to talk, as do most men who are successful in -giving instructions to jockeys. His sentences came, weighty, short, -decisive, and each had its effect. Men said he would have done well in -the House of Commons, but the men who have said that do not know the -House of Commons. Yes, he would have done well in the House of Commons: -not by oratory, but by what I may call the Attaboy side of his -character. He began: - -"Humphrey, I'm going to tell you about the emerald. I think I know where -it is." - -The Home Secretary looked up, startled; but he did not interrupt. - -"I want to begin by saying that I know I am myself under suspicion." - -"Oh, my dear Tommy," began his unfortunate host. But the younger man put -up a hand like a slab of stone. - -"No," he said. "There's no time to be wasted, and we must have things -absolutely clear. One of us three must have got that brooch. No doubt we -are all under suspicion--but I know why I am under suspicion. People say -I pulled a horse." Again the Home Secretary would have interrupted, but -the heavy hand made an impatient gesture, and again he checked himself. -"Marjorie mayn't believe it, and of course that old fool of a Cousin -Bill hasn't heard of it; and as for that journalist fellow McTibbert, or -whatever his name is, he may or may not have; I don't care. But anyhow, -you know it. _You've_ heard all about it!" - -"But, my dear Tommy," broke in the Home Secretary, lying eagerly and -almost with affection, "I don't believe it. Believe me, I don't believe -it. Do you suppose," he added with beautiful tact, "that if I believed -it I'd have you here at Paulings?" - -Lord Galton just showed at the muscles of the mouth what a fool he -thought the man. He went on undisturbed. - -"It's nothing to do with the value of the lie--they haven't turned me -out of the Posts, for that matter; nor warned me off. But the point is, -the story has gone the rounds. A man that would cheat would steal. Also -you know I'm on the rocks, and therefore I'm under suspicion. Now we're -all three under suspicion, as I say. That old ass, Cousin Bill, got -mixed up with the Mullingar Diamond years ago--too much of a fool to -pinch it for selling; wanted to look at it through one of his -contraptions. Anyhow, he can't keep his hands off crystals. And an -emerald's a crystal." - -"Is it?" asked the Head of the Family with great interest. - -"I think so--I don't know," said Galton impatiently. "Anyhow, it's a -jewel, a precious stone--what?" - -"Oh, yes! It's a jewel, yes, a precious stone. Oh, yes," admitted -Humphrey de Bohun. - -"Well then, so's a diamond. A man who'll take diamonds'll take -emeralds--what? ... Then there's that journalist fellow--he's under -suspicion because he's a journalist; they're all on their uppers, and -you told me yourself about the one who stole the spoons when you were at -the Board of Works." - -A faint smile appeared for a moment on the face of his host. It was his -favourite funny story--all about a journalist who once stole some -government spoons. He had told it on every occasion. He told it to -journalists. But then he was never really featured by the Press. - -"Now of those three," went on Lord Galton, rather more slowly, and -separating his words, "the man who has got it is our miserable old -family goat, Cousin Bill...." - -The Home Secretary started. - - -[Illustration: _Lord Galton explains to the Home Secretary his -theory--or rather, certitude--upon the -whereabouts of the Great Emerald._] - - -"Yes, I know what you'll say ... he got the fright of his life over the -Mullingar Diamond. You'd say he'd never dream of doing it in the house -of the head of the family." (A dignified look passed over the features -of the Chieftain of the de Bohuns.) "Then he's such a clumsy old ass -that you can't imagine him doing it so quickly. After all, it took him -half an hour to fish the Mullingar Diamond out of an open drawer, and -even then he left things topsy-turvy. You'll say all that, and if I were -just guessing I'd half agree with you. But I'm not guessing. And I tell -you _he's got it_. I don't pretend to do any of this private detective -work, and I've never read one of their rotten mystery stories in my -life. That's how I've kept my common sense clear--men who are blown upon -need their wits about them. I know Bill's got it for a very simple -reason--_I've seen it in his hand with my own eyes_. Some one told the -old goat that the place to hide anything was where it would be most -obvious and simple. He's got it in the left-hand pocket of that damned -smelly overcoat he wears; but he's such a nervous old balmy that he -can't help fingering it the whole time; and when he thinks no one's -looking he pulls it half out and looks at it furtively out of the corner -of his eye. Dons are always as mad as hatters. He did it three separate -times while we were out walking just now. He couldn't help himself. He's -too much shut up inside his own addled head to notice other people. And -I'll tell you something else, which is also common sense. He won't take -it out of that pocket till he's left the house. An overcoat's the only -thing they don't brush or fold up, in this house; you're old-fashioned, -with these things on pegs and not on marble tables. He knows that. It'll -hang there on the peg till he goes away. That's the whole point of -leaving it in such a place.... _And it's there now_. You look for it -there, and you'll find it." - -The Home Secretary put on his expression of gravity in the third -degree--the expression with which he would meet a deputation for saving -an innocent man from the gallows and gratify them with a majestic -refusal. - -"What you say, Tommy," he began, slowly, "is very serious. Very serious -indeed. In my judgment ..." - -"Oh, look here," said Lord Galton impatiently, "cut out all that! He's -not in the hall. He went off to the library, and when he gets there he -strikes root. There'll be no one about--they're laying the table. Come -with me, and I'll prove it." - -"I hesitate ..." began the Home Secretary. His powerful young relative, -by way of reply, hooked him by the arm, unlocked the door, and marched -him straight out into the hall. The ghost of what might well have been -an ancestor--for we all have such things--must have mourned, if, as such -things do, it had taken up its kennel in a suit of armour standing by -the side of the fireplace in the hall: it would have mourned to see the -head of the de Bohuns stand by while the deed was done. - -Lord Galton went smartly up to the bunch of coats, plunged his hand into -the left-hand pocket of that one wretched old garment, and turned it -sharply inside out, so that the damning evidence should fall before his -cousin's eyes. There fell out no small amount of gathered dirt, some -paper torn into minute fragments, and a stub of pencil; also a rather -repulsive handkerchief--nothing more. Nothing rang upon the hall floor. -There was no Emerald. - -Lord Galton for once did a weak thing--or a superstitious one. As though -not trusting his senses, he picked the repulsive handkerchief up and -shook it. But there was no emerald. Indeed, one could see and hear by -the way it had fallen that there was no emerald within its large but -unattractive folds. He knew that well enough before he touched the -rag--but it was a forlorn hope. - -It was the older man who hastily picked up these evidences, not of the -Professor's dishonour, but his own, and rapidly put them back where they -belonged; darting a glance over his left shoulder and sighing with -relief to find that there was still no one about, not the sound of a -distant footfall, not the glide of a serf. His companion's face was -darker and flushed. - -"I could have sworn ..." he opened. Then he added, murmuring, "He must -have taken it away." - -"I wish we hadn't ..." began the Home Secretary, and then switched off -to, "You're quite sure you saw it with your own eyes, Tommy?" - -"Absolutely certain," said the young man, with a fearless steady gaze, -and proud to be telling one truth at least. - -The Home Secretary held his chin in his hand, stood silent for a good -quarter of a minute, and then said something characteristic of his -profession as a statesman. He said, "Humm!" - - * * * * * * * - -What had happened? - -Dear--or, if that is too familiar a term--charming reader, this is not -one of the detective stories of commerce. You shall know all about it -beforehand, as you have already known all about it, step by step. You -shall be subjected to no torture of suspense. We will leave that to the -people of our story. They were born for it. - -What had happened was simple enough. The Professor had gone off to the -library. He wanted to make certain of the Society at Berne in the -_Almanac de Gotha_. With men such as he, an obsession having cropped up -has a horrid fascination for the mind and holds it. He was worrying -about the exact title: whether it was Crystallographique, or -Crystallographische, or de Crystallographic. He was determined to get it -right. - -He kept on talking to himself, as was his learned habit, repeating with -a hideous smile the words, "Crystals ... ah! yes ... crystals.... -Crystals, eh? Crystals ... yes.... Crystallograph ... something, eh? Now -then, it'll be among the books of reference, eh? Crystals.... Oh, what a -dirty trick that was of Leader to play!" His left hand was fumbling in -the left-hand pocket, where he always kept those indispensable -instruments of research, his large tortoise-shell spectacles. His hand -groped. He muttered the word "Berne" three times in less and less -confident tones. Then the message so tardily conveyed reached his -erudite brain. "Oh! ... I've lost my spectacles!" - -He never got used to the shock of losing his spectacles, though he -suffered from it a dozen times a day. Each time he lost them it was all -up with him; each time he went through a crisis. Here he was in the -depths of the country and without eyes! There was a touch of agony in -his muttering now, as came louder the words, "My spectacles, oh, ah! my -spectacles ... now where could I ..." He bent his powerful will to the -control of his, if possible, less powerful memory; he traced events back -one after the other for a good three minutes, and then he remembered -that he had gone out in his overcoat and had left it hanging in the -hall. - - -[Illustration: _The Professor gave an odd little scream like a shot -rabbit._] - - -He shambled out and groped in the recesses of the left-hand pocket, and -there, side by side with his familiar handkerchief, the faithful -companion of many days, was the feel of the rough spectacle case; it was -all right, but also, what annoyed him a little, a pebble. It was natural -that pebbles should get into one's pockets when one was out walking in -the country; at least, he thought it was. He thought it went with those -terrible animals called cows, and all that sort of thing. But he pulled -it out mechanically, felt the prick of a pin and then gave an odd little -scream, like a shot rabbit. Next (excuse him!) he rapped out a frightful -oath. "My God!" cried the aged blasphemer. No less. But the violence of -his emotion must have shaken his standards. - -He stood there, with the emerald in the palm of his right hand, staring -at it, distraught. And once more in his bewilderment he fell to -repeating the name of his Creator--upon whose existence indeed, he had -more than once learnedly discoursed, concluding upon the whole against -it. - -It is said that under the strain of very severe emotion men do things -unnatural, out of themselves. And behold! Professor William de Bohun -behaved for the next half hour like a whole group of characters, any one -of whom you would have said he could not have thrown himself into for -the world. Terror inspired him, and the tragic sense of impending doom. - -It must be got rid of! - -He had a mad impulse to swallow it. Luckily he restrained it in time: it -was too big, its metal fastenings too angular for health; and then, -there was the pin. - -After he had given up the swallowing baulk, another, far more feasible, -arose and formed itself more clearly. There appeared before his mind's -eye a young, round naïve face, fresh to the world, an awkward figure, -the whole standing out against the background of known poverty. It was -the figure of McTaggart, the journalist. - -A wicked glint illumined the Professor's eye. - - - "Oh! Baleful, hellish light, thus to suffuse - The inactive optic, wontedly so dulled, - But now with evil purpose all inflamed!" - - -as Milton has it in the matter of the fish-god, Dagon. - -He made no excuses for himself. He recked nothing of the young man's -ruin. He plunged heartily and heavily into sin. As his colleague the -Professor of Pastoral Theology had once finely quoted in his Luther -Commemoration Lecture, "_Si peccas pecca fortiter_." - -It is generally held by the more liberal school among theologians that -man acting of his own free will is not mastered by an external evil -impulse, but may well submit to it. - -So it was with Cousin William on this never-to-be-forgotten occasion of -his chief downfall. - -A Minor Devil happened at that moment to be wandering rather emptily -through Paulings, seeking what he might devour. He was hungry, poor -spirit; he had eaten nothing since he had left his own place at midnight -and he had got lost in the fog all morning. He had almost caught a small -housemaid, but she had slipped away through the efforts of her patron -saint, sweet Millicent, and left him perfectly ravenous. It was almost -noon and devils are not built for fasting. Judge then his joy at coming, -by pure chance, upon this evil old man. He almost jumped out of his -black fiendish skin for joy to perceive the flashing violet light which -surrounds, in the eyes of supernatural beings, the head of a wicked man. -He spotted it first from a corner of the hall where he had just come out -of a corridor. He rubbed his hands together and even flapped his clawed -wings in his excitement. He flew up to the Professor and began pouring -all sorts of excellent suggestions into his ear--his left ear. - -Young McTaggart could play billiards ... the Professor had heard them -say that ... young McTaggart was probably proud of his billiards ... he -could be got to go round the table exhibiting his billiards. He would -take off his coat before exhibiting his billiards. And when the coat was -once off, and its owner's eye was concentrated on the billiard table ... -oh, then!... - -The Devil, who can see through walls, gently shepherded his pupil into -the little room next the library where the overflow of books was kept. -That door, with horrid smile, the old conspirator opened; and there, -indeed, he found the youth, looking miserably enough out of the window -with his hands in his trousers pockets. He had slunk into that -inhospitable fireless den in order to be free for a while from the -terrors of high society. - -"Ah, Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart!" carolled the -scientist--and as he said it he opened his arms wide in a most genial -gesture. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" There slyly wagging a -knotted forefinger, "And I wonder if you can guess why? Eh? Why? Guess -why!" Which words said, and smiling still broader, he repeated them once -more three times, as was his wont, and then added: "I wonder whether you -can guess why, Mr. McTaggart, whether you can guess why ... whether you -can guess why?" - -The Devil was now so happy that he could hardly refrain from manifesting -himself, which would have been fatal. He whisked all round the room, -jeering at McTaggart. - -Poor young Mr. McTaggart! He had been all night and all that morning a -most unhappy man. He exaggerated in his own mind the suspicions under -which he lay. He was too innocent to believe that he shared it with such -exalted beings as the lord and the Professor, of whom--though he had -never heard his name--he was assured the fame to be European, and who, -anyhow, was connected by blood with a cabinet minister. - -The lad imagined himself watched by a thousand eyes. He dared not take -his leave, and yet he was in hell during those hours he passed at -Paulings. He would have been unhappy anyhow, for it was not his world; -but to be within all that set and at the same time a marked -criminal--for that is what he felt himself to be--was almost -intolerable. How he had sprung up when the learned Ancient approached -him, with those seeming kindly eyes! Ah! had McTaggart enjoyed a few -more years of human experience he would have seen in those eyes such a -mixture of cunning and evil joy as might have put him on his guard. But -no; he thought that in his loneliness he had found a friend. Who -knew?--perhaps a supporter. - -The Professor's plan was simple, but McTaggart was simpler still. - - -[Illustration: _Sudden interest in the game of Billiards upon the -part of the Professor of Crystallography -to the University._] - - -"Mr. McTaggart," said the Ancient, with horrible geniality, "I hear that -you are astonishing at billiards.... Billiards, billiards, yes, -billiards.... Billiards. The Home Secretary was telling me, Humphrey, I -mean, my cousin, my cousin Humphrey ... the Home Secretary, yes ... the -Home Secretary was telling me that you were astonishing at billiards. -Now you know"--and here he went so far as to make a step sideways and -seize the young man by the arm--"it is the one thing I can watch for -hours ... billiards ... good billiards.... I have gone into the -mechanics of the thing"--he was lying freely, and gambling, rightly, on -the idea that his companion could not distinguish between -Crystallography and any other science--"and it fascinates me ... -fascinates me ... oh! fascinates me. I wonder whether--" and in a -fashion which would have been crude to any other man, but to the lonely -McTaggart was heavenly kindness, he urged with linked arm and long -sidling crablike step towards the billiard-room. - -It was in the Professor's conception of things that when one is -deceiving a fellow being one must talk the whole time. He is not the -only one to suffer from that delusion. - -He talked all the way to the billiard-room; he talked while McTaggart -was pulling off the cloth; he talked while McTaggart was putting on the -lights to see clearly on that dim January day; he talked while McTaggart -was chalking his cue and thoughtfully placing the three balls in -position. - -The torrent of rapid words--all dealing with excellency at billiards, -all squeaky--was interrupted only at one moment. It was the moment when -McTaggart did what he had been expected to do--the moment when he took -off his coat and threw it on the leather cushions by the side of his -newly-made and slightly eccentric friend. - -The sight of that coat so thrown immediately by his side, and subject to -his hand, almost choked the senile conspirator with joy. But he -recovered himself, and still poured out a torrent of repeated words as -the young fellow walked slowly round the table, getting absorbed in a -continuous break. The Professor interrupted that verbal spate only now -and then to gaze with a murderous keenness at a projected stroke and to -mutter "Marvellous!" two or three times; but all the while his heart was -failing him. It was not the only mean thing he had done in his life by a -long chalk. He had spent the whole of his life doing nothing but mean -things; but it was the first actively and perhaps dangerously wrong -thing the old booby had ever dared to do: for he did not count the -Mullingar Diamond--that was in the cause of Science, and in the cause of -Science you can do anything. - -But the Devil chose his moment for him; it was a moment of silence when -young McTaggart was waiting long and breathlessly to be certain of a -stroke that would bring his break over the hundred. His back was turned -to the Professor; he was intent upon his play. - -The old bony hand, with the gesture of one that takes rather than gives, -put the emerald into a side pocket of the coat, where lay he knew not -what--but in point of fact, a tobacco pouch, a pipe, a pencil, and a -piece of chocolate--of all things in the world!--no longer clean. Nor -had the Emerald ever been in such society before, from the day when it -had started life in the splendid court of Moscovy to these last evil -days of ours. - -McTaggart had brought off his shot: his break was 102, and the spot and -the red lay perfect for a cannon and red in the pocket. - -But you exaggerate the diplomatic value of the Professor if you think -that he had the wit to continue his stream of gabble after the deed was -done. - -It was lucky for him that he was dealing with the candour of youth, or -that abrupt retreat of his from the scene of his crime would have -brought suspicion. For, his deed accomplished, he simply got up with a -jerk, dropped all attention to the play, looked at his watch, muttered -the time of day with an exclamation, and sidled out of the room, leaving -his companion marooned ... and with him, full of success, went the -Lesser Devil. - -McTaggart could do without him; he went on playing for another ten -minutes or so, till the break ended, and had reached the pretty figure -of 151. Then he in turn looked at his watch in his waistcoat pocket, -found it would be time for luncheon in a few minutes, put up his cue, -and sadly resumed his coat. - -Had he been of those who smoke all day he would have pulled out his -pipe, and ten to one would have found the thing lurking there next his -tobacco; but he thought of the meal coming on, and much more did he -think with dread that it would be breaking some mysterious etiquette of -country houses if he were to smoke a pipe. He would not dare to do it -till he saw some one of his betters at the same work. For the same -reason, after he had heard them going towards the dining-room and had -joined them, he was too nervous to put his hands in his pockets in a -gesture of repose. He kept them dangling in his extreme anxiety to -commit no solecism. He moved nervously about amid the sullen silence of -the rest and wondered a little why the burst of geniality upon the part -of the man of gems should have dried up so suddenly. For not a word more -did the Professor speak to him; and all through luncheon McTaggart sat -there in the same terror and the same misfortune of soul, never daring -to speak some artificial word during the rare moments when anyone broke -the silence. - -They had not yet risen from table; he was still wondering what one did -at the end of luncheon in the houses of the great--at what point one got -up, whether immediately after one's host or simultaneously with one's -host; whether the women went out first, as he knew they did at dinner; -whether it was his duty to open the door for them--when Lord Galton -pulled out his pipe, filled it deliberately enough, and lit it. After -the easy manners of our happy times he slowly and with deliberation blew -a cloud of smoke across the board which wreathed itself, not -ungracefully, about the venerable head of Aunt Amelia. So natural an -action was followed by his host, who in turn thoughtfully pulled out his -own pipe and lit it, as he rose to fetch himself wine: he mixed tobacco -and wine, did Humphrey de Bohun. - -"Then," thought McTaggart to himself, in an agony of desire for tobacco, -"it seems this kind of thing _can_ be done,"--and he felt for his pipe, -and pulled out his pouch. - - -[Illustration: _Mr. McTaggart discovers the Emerald._] - - -Now there happened to be in the room at that moment an Angel. He had -come to Paulings express to counteract the Devil who had been putting in -such strong work on the Professor, and the Angel saved the quill driver, -whom, for his poverty, he loved. For that innocent, finding something -that felt like his slab of chocolate in among his tobacco, and knowing -himself to be well capable of having put it there, was just about to -pull it out, and was already speculating on what sort of flavour -chocolate gave to Bondman--or Bondman to chocolate--when the Angel -seized his wrist and pinned it. He did not know the Angel was doing -this--we never know our luck--he could not have told you what happened, -except that he hesitated, and being of the opposite sex, was not lost. -But for the Angel, he would have pulled out the thing before them all, -and said, "Hallo, what's this?" and there would have been an end of -McTaggart. Instead of which the Angel, with angelic swiftness, put a -thought into his head. - -"Don't pull out that lump of chocolate! It will make you look a fool. -The great don't eat chocolate, except out of large expensive wooden -boxes with Japanese pictures outside; elaborate boxes. The rich do not -carry half-broken slabs of chocolate in their pockets--still less in -their tobacco pouches!" - -Therefore was it that McTaggart did not take out the lump, whatever it -was; he grasped a fingerful of tobacco and peered down with one eye into -the recesses of the pouch. When he saw what was there, his heart stopped -beating! For a moment he felt faint and giddy.... But the angel firmly -put the pouch back again, leaving the tobacco in his fingers, and with -shaking hand he filled his pipe, and with shaking hand he lit it! - -What the devil? - -How on earth ...? - -The unfortunate boy actually examined his own mind to see whether he -could possibly have done such a thing, and then forgotten it--have done -it inadvertently. Then he thought it had fallen into his coat when -Marjorie had let it drop. Then he remembered that he had not been -wearing that coat, that he had been in evening dress. Then he thought -that the universe was made in some way that he did not understand. He -looked at his coat, and fingered it. It was all right. His mind would -not work properly again until he had satisfied himself beyond a doubt -not once, but many times. He allowed--through terror--too long a time to -pass lest he should seem in haste; strolled, looking as careless as he -could, towards the library, looked round to make sure that no one had -noticed him, leaped upstairs to his room, locked the door, took out his -pouch and that which was within. He gazed at it for something like half -a minute, putting it down on his dressing-table in the strong light to -make sure. - -There was no doubt at all. Either he was mad, or that was the emerald. -He remembered some odiously vivid dreams that he had had as a child -during the air raids--but he was certain this was no dream. He was -McTaggart all right, a miserable young journalist against whom fate had -woven some hellish plot; and there was the Emerald. - -Next he tortured himself as to what he should do; obviously he must keep -it upon him; he dared not secrete it anywhere. If one secretes things -one can be traced. Conscience for one moment bade him go and tell his -host, and risk all; but unfortunately the Angel had been called away at -that very moment to tackle the Devil again, who had settled in the -Vicarage; and in lack of such heavenly aid McTaggart fell, as any one of -us would have fallen. He put the emerald into the inner pocket of his -coat, pinned three pins round it carefully to make certain that it -should not escape; and then went down with leaden heart to mix with his -fellow beings and to trust to time. - - - - -CHAPTER SIX - - -The boy Ethelbert was suffering; not from contrition--which, I need -hardly tell one of your learning, is the pure sorrow for sin--but from -attrition--which, I need hardly tell one of your learning, is the sorrow -for sin only in so far as one considers its unpleasant consequences to -oneself. - -The boy Ethelbert clearly appreciated that in attempting to save himself -from one danger he had run himself into another far greater. He had put -a valuable jewel into a nobleman's pocket and that might be, in legal -terms, for all he knew, embezzlement, malversation or even a compound -and chronic felony of _malice prepense_; perhaps a misdemeanour--with -which word he was familiar through the fate of an uncle of his called -John. - -He was in great agony, was the boy Ethelbert; in agony of that sort -which youth cannot endure until it has relieved itself by communion. But -how should he speak? His duty was to his natural lord, the Butler. The -glorious, the remote Mr. Whaley: God of the Underworld. Should he -confess to the Butler? It would be madness. Yet he must speak: he must -unburden his mind. - -The innocent child was not long in finding a plan. He would go to his -true superior and, naming no names, mentioning no-one-like, he would -give a nod as good as a wink to a blind horse, and them as understood -could follow if they chose, and if they asked no questions they wouldn't -be told no lies. And mum's the word. Such, in rapid succession, were the -Napoleonic thoughts of Ethelbert. - -It was shortly after luncheon that he sought the room in which the -dignified O.C. of the household of Paulings was wont to repose from his -labours: and never more thoroughly than after luncheon. - -Midday sleep is unknown to the young, at least after they are very, very -young. Those of young Ethelbert's age have no use for it and cannot -understand what a boon it may be to others. Foolishly, therefore, did -young Ethelbert knock at the door of the holy of holies, thereby -suddenly awakening the sacred being within, who jerked into a startled -gasp. He pulled a handkerchief from his face, thought for a moment that -the house was on fire, expected to see an angry master perhaps; was on -his feet with labouring breath, purple, expectant; when there entered -the Boy. - -A fine and hearty curse greeted the youth and almost blasted him from -the room, but what he had to say was of such moment that he just stood -his ground. - -"Oh, sir!" he said, "I thought I'd come and tell you..." - -"Come and tell me what? You young devil!" roared Mr. Whaley with a lack -of dignity which I should have thought impossible had I not myself once -spied upon him in his more relaxed moments, when he thought that none -could observe. "I've a mind to have you larroped! Damned if I don't -larrop you myself!" He made a vicious dash at the Boy, who was only -spurred by such terror to the arresting cry of. - -"Ho, sir! The Hemerald....!" - -"The Emerald ..." gulped Mr. Whaley in a very changed tone. And then, -almost meekly: "Well, what about the Emerald, young Bert? What about -it?" The fierceness had gone out of him altogether; he sat down. "Anyone -been saying who took it?" For conscience that makes cowards of us all -makes us most cowardly when we are innocent--especially in a trade with -perquisites. - -Ethelbert recovered some little of his composure, and there came into -his eyes a look of simple cunning. - -"There's some," he said, nodding mysteriously, "what might speak if they -chose." - -"Oh! Is there?" said Mr. Whaley. "Well then, speak, you little rat!" - -"I didn't say it was me as knew," answered Ethelbert a little -plaintively. "But don't you think, sir, that when the clothes are -brushed and all, him as brushes finds out what's in the pockets--yes" -(mysteriously) "even in them of the 'ighest?" - -"'Oo'd be fool enough to leave such a thing in their pocket?" said Mr. -Whaley contemptuously. "And 'oo do you mean by the 'ighest?" - -Ethelbert nodded with a superior air. - -"Ah!" he answered doggedly, "all I said was, 'there's some could speak -if they chose.' And there's things that may be left in the pockets even -of the 'ighest." - -"Look 'ere, young Bert," said Mr. Whaley, rising again ponderously, and -with a new threat in his face: "I'm not going to have any of _that_." -Then shaking a considerable sausage of a forefinger at the lad, he -added, "When you say 'the 'ighest' that's enough! Don't let me 'ear you -speak again: leastways not on jewels and such like. There's only one -name that it can mean you're driving at"--and there rose up within his -mind the majesty of the master, Humphrey de Bohun. - -"I'm driving at no one," said the Boy, struck suddenly again with -terror. He had not dreamed that the upper servants felt so strongly upon -the immunity of lords such as he in whose pocket the gem, to Ethelbert's -certain knowledge, reposed--for he had put it there. - -"You've been a-brushing the clothes, young lad, have yer? Yes, of course -you have; that's your place; and setting 'em out as they should be set. -And you say you found something in the pocket of the 'ighest, did you?" - -"I never ..." began Ethelbert, almost on the point of howling. - -"You shut your dangerous young mouth," shouted Mr. Whaley. "It's talking -like that against your betters as 'as put many and many a lad in -prison." - -"Oh, sir!" said the unfortunate Bert. - -"Now look here, my Boy," went on Mr. Whaley, in his heaviest manner, -slowly transforming himself into the distant Superior and pronouncing -divine moral judgment and guidance, as it were, for the very young. "You -listen to me, and listen solemn. This may be a turning point in your -life, it may. Talk like this among the lower servants, let alone a -little bastard not yet sixteen, 'as been the ruin of some--aye, of many. -So I tell ye. The gaols are full of 'em. Now, you mark what I say, young -Ethelbert"--it was the first time he had ever used the entire name, but -the occasion demanded it--"one word from your lips, and you're ruined. -It's well you come to one like me, that might be your father like, and -that has a care for your future, my lad. Remember that! One word from -your lips, and you're ruined. It's not for you to be piecing this and -that together. Gentlemen 'ave got ways o' their own, and, anyhow, I'm -slow to believe you. There may be a game about all this, and, anyhow, -not a word from your lips. Mark, my lad!" he went on, his voice booming, -"ye're lost if ye speak. Have you taken that?" he ended, almost shouting -again. - -"Oh, yes, sir!" said the miserable Ethelbert, trembling. "Oh, sir, I -meant no harm...." - -"Well, then, you go and _do_ no harm," concluded Mr. Whaley, and waved -the infant away. - - * * * * * * * - -Mr. Whaley rose to his full height and girth and stretched. He looked in -a little square looking-glass, one of his necessaries of life, thought -his tie doubtful, carefully and gingerly put on a new one, worthy of the -occasion. His boots--he glanced down at them--yes, his boots would do. -His trousers were just what they should be. The fringe of hair round the -majestic dome of his head never needed attention less than now. - -It was a solemn moment in history. He, George Whaley, a man of weight -and years, possessed, moreover, now of a sufficient competence, but not -undesirous of making it larger still, was in possession of the dread -secret. The head of the de Bohuns, one of His Majesty's principal -Secretaries of State, had fallen, fallen, fallen! Humphrey de Bohun had -pinched his own daughter's emerald. The Emerald of Catherine the Great. -The fortune of the de Bohuns lay concealed by his master's hand, -awaiting the receiver's gold. Oh, horror! In what embarrassment the -unfortunate man had committed the fatal act Mr. Whaley knew not: could -so good a man have been blackmailed by scoundrels? Why should he need -money--and money at such risk? Alas! who can plumb the depths of the -human heart? thought George Whaley--indeed, he almost spoke the words -aloud, so apposite did they seem, and so often had he read them in his -book of devotions. Yet was it so! And ever, in the least expected -places, thought George Whaley again, lies the solution of a mystery. He -shot his cuffs, drew himself up, coughed a little, and rehearsed the -scene. - -"I beg your pardon, sir, may I have the honour of a moment's -confidential word with you?" And then another discreet cough. - -Then how to put it? He thought long and deeply. He must put it with -sympathy--almost as a friend. He must not forget that he was talking to -a superior. It would need very skilful handling; but what are butlers -for if they cannot skilfully handle? It is the very core of buttling! - -He had handled other situations in his other situations, had Mr. Whaley: -none quite so delicate as this, but still, some of 'em pretty delicate. -Yes; he must talk to Humphrey as a friend. Respectfully, but as a -friend: and above all firmly. It was clear that such a service would -merit some reward. - -God knows, there would be no tone of menace! Oh, no! Whatever honorarium -might accrue to George Whaley as a reward for such revelation should be -the gift of a grateful heart alone: and, said Mr. George Whaley to his -own conscience, why not? He would be doing his master a very great -service. Indeed, he would be doing a double service--nay, a treble one. -For he would be rescuing the Home Secretary of England from his lower -self; that was a moral service. He would be preventing him from -inevitable discovery; that was a material service. He would be serving -him faithfully as an honest domestic should; and that was a service of -loyalty. - -Was it to be wondered at (the whole scene rose vividly before his eyes -as it was to be--as it certainly would be), was it to be wondered at -that the grateful man should, on an impulse, seize the honest servitor's -hand, grasp it warmly, and then, with a catch in his voice, cry aloud, -"Whaley, you have served me well!" The rest would follow. Not less, he -took it, than five hundred pounds. - -Should he go further? Should he offer his services for taking back the -gem discreetly and seeing that it should be laid, through means he could -command, upon the dressing-table of the culprit's daughter--no one -should know whence? - -Time must show; the opportunity would develop; the details of the drama -would be filled in. But the main lines were clear. George Whaley would -save the head of the family of de Bohun; he would save the soul--and, -incidentally, the more earthly reputation--of the head of the family of -de Bohun. He would receive the little spontaneous, heartfelt reward due -to so honest a liegeman of the de Bohuns. Ah! Chivalry was not dead.... - -But nothing must be done on impulse. He glanced at his watch. It was -only just past three. He must watch the poor tortured soul until there -had developed in it, as inevitably there would through the effect of -time, a false security--a false security brought by suspicions and -counter-suspicions among the guests, who could never dream the real -truth. Upon such a mood the revelation would fall with tenfold effect. - -Then, and then only--he would watch his moment--would George Whaley -unburden himself of the curse of the de Bohuns and turn that curse into -a blessing; moral to his master, and to himself material. - -Such was the plan of George Whaley. Once more he recited, but in an -undertone, a whisper, the words of which could not be heard by another, -the very phrases he was to use, the gestures proper to the great moment -when it should come. So discreetly did he rehearse that young Ethelbert -without, his ear glued to the keyhole, heard nothing but a murmur of -monologue within, and feared in one wild moment that the awful -revelation about Lord Galton had driven the butler mad. - - - - -CHAPTER SEVEN - - -Marjorie had insisted upon seeing her father alone, and she had worked -it easily enough. - -The Professor in his relief from the accursed emerald had fallen into a -sprightly mood. He had compelled young Galton to take a _second_ walk, -and therein had bored the turfist to agonies; which only shows that God -is just, and that we are punished in that by which we sinned; in -Galton's case, the avenue. During that walk the crystallographist -volubly explained his exciting experiences in the past as an amateur -detective. His large prattling mouth discoursed of marvellous -sleuth-deeds in the past. But he did not go too far. He said nothing of -emeralds. He kept the tit-bit, the great revelation, for his host--and -he knew at what time to deliver it. - -As for McTaggart, there was no difficulty in getting rid of _him_. All -he desired was to be alone. He wandered off all solitary. Victoria -Mosel, left with no one but Aunt Amelia, fled; and Aunt Amelia, once in -her chair, was safe to remain there for the rest of the afternoon. -Therefore was Marjorie safe to tell her father what should be done. - -Her temper was at breaking point; she was in that mood when women will -blame whatever is nearest at hand and most defenseless; and what more -admirable butt than a widowed parent? - -"Papa," she said, "there's only one thing to be done. You must get a -detective! At once!" - -"My dear child! My dear child!" said the shocked politician, all the -traditions of the de Bohuns rising in his blood, "a detective at -Paulings!" - -"Oh, stuff and nonsense!" said the dutiful daughter. "I'm sick of all -that. Considering the kind of people you _do_ have in Paulings--gaol -birds like Tommy, and that damned old fool Cousin Bill, who steals -diamonds ..." - -"Hush! My dear, hush!" begged the appalled and terrified Home Secretary. -He had noticed an open door, and hurriedly shut it. "Besides which, -apart from being overheard, really, one must not say such things!" - -"Say what?" retorted Marjorie sharply. "Oh, papa, for Heaven's sake -don't talk any more nonsense, but do get that detective!" - -"I can hardly telephone on such a thing as that," hesitated the poor man -weakly. "Everything I say over the telephone is known at the exchange. -And we know what happened that time when they were paid by _The Howl_. -As for letting one of the servants do it ..." - -"Oh! Good heavens, papa!" said Marjorie. "Isn't there a car? Go up in -the car! Tell Morden all about it." - -"Morden can hold his tongue," mused de Bohun thoughtfully. - -"Of course he can!" snapped Marjorie. - -"But ..." hesitated her father, again, "I don't see how ... what with -the guests ... and I wouldn't have them suspect for worlds...." - -And as he said this he saw out of the corner of his eye his two cousins -coming back towards the house, close at hand; the elder one was -gesticulating in fine fury in his new-found happiness, and the other -paced sombrely fierce at the end of his torture. Before they could open -the front door ... - -"Oh, damn!" said Marjorie--and she nearly added "you." "I'll telephone -to you from my room. I'll give you an excuse to say the Home Office is -calling." And she flew upstairs. - -She was safely at her telephone before the two cousins had passed the -front door. She gave them time to get into her father's presence, or for -her to guess, at any rate, that one of them would be in the library. -Then, with the promptitude of the young and the modern, she did the -trick. The basement had put her through, and the bell on the big desk -rang smartly. Galton and the Professor, sitting there in the room with -the Home Secretary, looked up as quickly as did their host. He was on -the receiver with a nervous rapidity; and the conversation was of a -simple sort which I almost blush to recall. - -"Now, papa, just tell them you've got to go to town because there is a -hurried summons in London. Tell them you'll be back in a couple of -hours." - -"Who's on?" said Lord Galton. - -"Yes! Yes!" said de Bohun. "All right! Yes! The Home Office? Ah! Yes? -Tell me the details," knitting his brows a little; then turning to his -two cousins, "It seems they want me at Whitehall." - -_The Telephone_: "Hurry up, papa; it's all got to be fitted in pretty -damn close, you know; they've got to get the man, and he's got to be got -here by this afternoon, and got somehow!" - -_The Home Secretary_: "Ah? Yes!" Frowning, "Oh! that's serious--well! -You want me at once? All right! It's Saturday afternoon you know! Is -Morden there? Tell him I'll be up within the hour." Then he turned to -his guests. "Yes, they want me at once, it seems. Most urgent. But they -say it won't take long." He spoke into the receiver in his turn: "Do you -think I can get back here by five or a little after in the car? ... -Yes," turning round and nodding at his guests thoughtfully, "they say I -can get back by five--or a little after, in the car. What a business it -is! I have often wondered," he added sententiously as he hung up the -receiver on its hook and rang the bell to order the car--"I have often -wondered what makes men take office. It's a tradition," he sighed, "Some -one must serve the State! But it's a weary business." All this for the -benefit of his two cousins, as though they had been a public meeting. -"I'll get back at once; my man can do it in forty minutes from here if -he takes the cut by Muffler's Lane, and there's not much traffic after -the first two hours of a Saturday afternoon." - -The car was round promptly enough. It was stopped within five miles for -the great man to telephone back--from a local box--to Paulings for -something he had forgotten to leave word of. But he did not telephone to -Paulings. He telephoned to the Home Office, of which he was the chief. -To such abasement do modern contrivances drive us. He called up the -invaluable Morden and discovered to his enormous relief that the -invaluable Morden, though it was a Saturday and already a quarter to -four, was working away. - -Within twenty minutes more the great statesman was in his official -palace of Whitehall. Morden was there all right, as the telephone had -told him. Morden was there! Oh invaluable Morden! have you not earned -those directorships and that sinecure in the Engrossing Department? By -God! you have. - -"Morden," said the Home Secretary. - -"Aye, aye," answered Mr. Morden wittily. - -"You know Scotland Yard?" - -Morden did not turn a hair. Did he know Scotland Yard? Did he? He, -Morden of the Home Office! The man who laid the traps for the -scapegoats ... the man who worked the parks. - -So young--not forty--he had already seen pass before him a long troop of -politicians, and he was ready to take any folly from them, short of -physical violence. So when he was asked whether he, the junior brain of -the Home Office, knew the place and institution called Scotland Yard, he -said that he did; and he said it as naturally as though he had been -asked for some information on Thibet. - -"Now who do you think," said the Home Secretary musingly, as he rose -from his chair and paced up and down the enormous room, his brows -tortured with deep thought--"who do you think there would be--connected -with Scotland Yard, mind you!--who would undertake a private inquiry, -and be rigidly secret?" - -"They are all rigidly secret," said Morden simply. - -The Home Secretary wagged his long head with a weary simulation of -cunning, and a would-be sly smile illuminated--or at least undimmed--his -eye. - -"That's all right for the _public_, Morden," he said. "But you'll see -what I mean in a moment. Could they find some one even _more_ rigidly -secret than the rest? Eh?" - -"_I_ could," said Morden. "I can tell you his name. A man called -Brailton, close over sixty, but very good indeed. He was the man we used -when there was that trouble about the death in Lady Matcham's house just -before her administration went out of office." - -"Oh, was he?" cried the Home Secretary eagerly. "Was he?" Then with -great satisfaction in his voice: "In that case he is all right. It was -certainly astonishing, the way that was kept back....You see, Morden, -it's something of the same case here. _The trouble is in my own -house_ ... _Paulings_." - -For once Morden was genuinely taken aback. He was silent. "I see," he at -last murmured gravely. "_Your_ house--and the safe side?--Of course!" - -"It's in my own house--and the safe side? Good God, yes!" The Home -Secretary spoke firmly. Then after a pause he added, "When they find out -who has done it ..." - -"Done what?" said Morden. - -"Never mind," answered his courteous chief. "You're bound to know all -about it in good time. Well, as I was saying, when they know who's done -it, it might turn out to be some one of whom not a soul in the Press -must know that he has done it. I mean, if he _has_ done it, nobody must -know that it was he who did it, outside the few who know that he _has_. -Have I made myself quite, quite clear?" he asked anxiously. - -"Perfectly," said Morden. - -"Now this man Brailton. When could he get down to Paulings?" - -"He could come at an hour's notice," said Morden. "He got back from -Yorkshire last night, and he's got nothing on for the moment." - -"Ring him up," said the Home Secretary. - -It was at six removes, and took just over ten minutes. The man in the -outer room rang up the department, which told the section, which sent -for the controller, who gave the order to the third floor, which got -hold of the group, and the group had the good fortune to find Brailton -at the end of a wire. Brailton would take whatever train he was told, -and was waiting. - -The Home Secretary meditated. - -"I am going down by car now," he said. He looked at his watch. "It takes -well under the hour by train--it's not seventeen miles. I shall be home -by half past five, and I'll tell Marjorie. The best train is the -six-thirty from St. Pancras. It gets down in forty minutes. I'll have -him met and brought straight to Paulings. He'd be in time for dinner.... -By the way," he added suddenly, as a thought struck him, "he'll be all -right, will he? Go down?" - -"Perfectly," said Morden eagerly. "Perfectly." - -"No one'll suspect anything?" persisted his chief anxiously. - -"Oh, no, no, no!" assured Morden airily. "I know the man like an uncle. -Quiet, silver, rather too refined, silent, tall. Dresses--if -anything--a little too carefully. At Lady Matcham's he passed for a Don -working in Egypt who hadn't come to London for months. And in this last -Yorkshire case he passed as a _Times_ correspondent just back in England -from the east after some years. All you have to do is to make up good -reasons for people not having seen him before. He passes perfectly." - -"The accent?" said the Home Secretary, knitting his brows again. -"Is--well--you know what I mean?" - -"Oh, perfectly. It's beautiful; it's remarkably smooth--yet not -conspicuous," said Morden. Then, "You knew old Dickie Hafton?" he added -suddenly. - -"Of course I knew old Dickie Hafton!" answered the indignant Home -Secretary. "He was my mother-in-law's first cousin--went to the Lords in -1895 and to the Lord in 1910. Fond o' women." And there rose before his -mental eye the image of that aged peer, thin, aquiline, too proud, too -careful of his dress, a man of exquisite voice a trifle thin in tone, -but how precise! with the old, not uncharming habit of a few French -words here and there. A public figure to the last, famous for his -activities in the evangelical world. - -"Well," answered Morden, "old Brailton's the startling image of Dickie -Hafton. You'll like him. He goes down." - -"All right," said the Home Secretary, hugely satisfied. "That's settled! -I'm off; I leave it to you to make arrangements. The six-thirty." - -But to make his chief quite at ease, Morden whispered something in his -ear. - -"Really?" said the Home Secretary, as he struggled into his coat--and he -said it very loudly, so that everyone could hear it in the next room, to -Morden's horror. "Not old Dickie's _son_? There wouldn't be time for -it!" - -Morden nodded mysteriously, and whispered again: "Yes, there is! He was -only eighteen.... It was the housemaid at his grandmother's." And the -Home Secretary went out bemused and marvelling at the strange -revelations of this pur world. - - - - -CHAPTER EIGHT - - -Many of our most important modern inventions have been forestalled by -the Chinese, for whom we should have the greater regard in that they are -not Christians. Gunpowder, False Money, the art of Printing, Diplomacy, -Propaganda, Prison Fortunes, Taximeters and the Strike--all these are of -the extreme Orient. But what have I to do with all these? It is of the -Mariner's Compass that I sing--which also was first spotted by the -Chink. - -Now of the various forms of Mariner's Compass there is one with which -some few of my readers may be acquainted. It is used in certain -scientific experiments which have nothing to do with pointing to the -North, but with the measurement of delicate electrical hints. The needle -swings on a jewelled pivot, very nicely balanced, encased in a small -round box about an inch across, covered in with glass so that no dust -can affect the very sensitive affair; and at the side there is a little -stud on a spring which you press with your finger when you want to fix -and register the pointing of the needle. So long as you press the stud -the needle stands firm. When you release the stud the needle trembles -again. - -All very interesting. But what of it? - -Wait a moment. Retain this clearly in your mind, and I will proceed to -the second point. - -It has been remarked by the less stupid of psychologists--and that is -not saying much--that cunning and intelligence are not often combined. -Conversely, as Dr. Nancy Neerly shrewdly remarked, when her assistant at -the Hospital for Nervous Diseases, gonophed her microscope, extreme -incompetence is often accompanied by cunning. Nothing is more cunning -than your half-wit. - -Getting that principle firmly into your head, you will appreciate that -when Professor de Bohun slunk out in the evening after his cousin's -departure for town, into the neighbouring suburban villas of Bakeham -(which, for one thing, fringed the Park--the de Bohuns had long ago -screened it by a dense row of quickly-growing timber--and for another, -provided the Home Secretary with a considerable part of his insufficient -income) his action was not unconnected with that upon which his mind had -been exercised for now nearly twenty-four hours. - -He sought a policeman, and said with a sudden squeak which made that -high official jump: - -"Oh! Can you tell me if anyone round here sells scientific instruments? -Optical instruments? Electrical instruments? ... Instruments?" - -"Wot?" said the policeman. - -"Let us say ... ah, for instance," went on the squeaky voice, -"clinometers.... Shall we say Clinometers? Clinometers? ... Yes! -Clinometers!" - -"Pass along!" said the policeman. "Pass along!" And there was that in -his eye of a man who hesitates between a verdict of lunacy and arrest -for leg-pull. - -"But, Constable ..." pleaded the unfortunate cadet of an ancient house. - -"Pass on! Pass on!" boomed the tyrant, and as there was a difference of -at least three octaves between the two men's voices, the unfortunate -Professor obeyed the double bass, crossed the street at the risk of his -life, and wandered inanely past the shop windows. - -But there is a Providence for such as he, as also for drunkards and -babes; and there, right before him, was an ancient bow window of -bottle-glass panes; the name of the shop in old Georgian script; the -information that it had been founded in 1805; and, behind the glass, two -telescopes, a microscope, a clock, several watches, and a sextant of -immense age. - -The Professor went in. - -"What I want ... ah!" he said. Then his eye fell upon the very thing he -desired. It lay there in a glass case, and the owner of the shop, no -younger than his customer, brought it out with a palsied hand. - -"That's it," said the Professor, nodding genially. "That's it. That's -what I want. That's it." Slipping it into his pocket, he made for the -door, nodding good day. - -"Hi! Mister! That'll be five guineas," said the ancient. Oh! vileness of -avaricious age! He had seen his client coming out by the garden gate by -the Great House, he had noted guilty haste, he had noted academic -idiocy, and he charged accordingly. - -"Oh, yes! Of course ... ah! _What_! Five guineas? ... five _guineas_! -FIVE GUINEAS!" - -It was a sickener. But the wages of Sin is Death. He must have it--or -something of the sort. And he must have it now, before Humphrey got -home. Sin will not wait. - - -[Illustration: _Deplorable moral lapse of Professor de Bohun -(pronounced Boon)._] - - -Believe me or not, but there was positively a flush upon the yellow -cheek of the hoary intriguer, a flush that contrasted charmingly with -his straggling white whiskers, as he parted with two half crowns and a -note. It was a severe struggle. To comfort himself he pressed the stud -again. Yes, it worked all right. He toddled back, and got in at the very -moment when his cousin's car was buzzing up the drive, back from London. - -Professor de Bohun was determined to lose no time. He got rid of his -overcoat and his hat with surprising agility, and met the master of the -house at the door as though he had been in for hours. - -But his was not a temperament to introduce a subject with finesse. He -went blindly at it. - -"Humphrey," he said, ere ever the Home Secretary was across the step, "I -want to see you. I want to see you now ... yes, now ... rather -urgently.... I want to see you now." - -The Man of Little Peace nodded wearily. - -"Come along," he said. - -His mind jumped back to the false scent of the morning. He suddenly -wondered whether, after all, Cousin Bill was going to confess? Galton's -statement had been clear enough. He had said in so many words that he -had _seen_ an emerald in the Professor's hand. And the head of the -family would have believed anything, almost of the Professor in the way -of such follies since the great Mullingar affair. - -"What is it, Bill?" he said, as he shut the door of his study. - -"Ah!" said the Ancient, almost archly. "What do you think? The -E-M-E-R-A-L-D! Eh? Eh?" - -He searched in his pocket. Humphrey de Bohun looked to see the jewel -appear. Not at all. What appeared was a little round brass box, glass -cased, and in it a trembling needle, that shook and shivered like a -gossamer in a breeze. - -"Now, my dear Humphrey," said the Professor, "let us take two chairs; -yes ... two chairs ... two chairs. Ah! yes, two chairs." They took two -chairs. "And let me pull up this little table...." He had become almost -businesslike, not to say sprightly, in concentrating upon what he was -about to do. - -"Now, then; here we are, we two on these two chairs as it were, are we -not? Yes! And here you see this little instrument, do you not? Yes! And -do you know what it does ... what it is? What it is ...? It's a -talcometer." - -"A what?" said the Home Secretary. - -"A talcometer," said Professor de Bohun, lying freely, and puffing -slightly after the effort. "Now, Humphrey, I want you to watch -something. To watch something, eh! Ah! yes. You have, I take it--ah!--or -Marjorie has, or some one has a jewel--sure to have one. A diamond, say. -Any stone--crystal. A stone, at any rate...." - -"I don't know," began Humphrey de Bohun, wondering what was to be. "Will -this do?" he asked, leaning over towards his writing table and pulling -off it the little crystal Chinese god which was used to weight down the -papers which he had abandoned there so many days. - -Anything would do for the deceitful pedant. He nodded cheerfully. - - -[Illustration: _Professor de Bohun explains to the head of the -family his theory--or rather, certitude--upon -the whereabouts of the Great Emerald._] - - -"Yes," he said, "so long as it's crystal. Anything crystal. Crystal." -Then he added, "Now, Humphrey, watch. Here," holding the little round -brass disk with its trembling needle, "I have our talcometer. Now here," -moving the Chinese god into line with the axis round which the tiny -filament of metal trembled, "here we have this talcometer, _and_ the -crystal. Eh! _And_ the crystal.... Now watch, Humphrey!" - -Holding the little round brass case with his left finger and thumb, he -gradually with his right hand approached the heathenish idol, sliding -the False God slowly along the polished table-top towards the -instrument. It came closer and closer. It was at 9 inches, 6 inches, 3 -inches, ... but there was as yet no apparent effect, when, suddenly, -with the Pot-bellied Dwarf Deity at about 2 inches off, or a little -less, the needle behaved like a pointer: it stood immovable, held -rigidly by some strange force. The stud, dear friends, but how could -Humphrey de Bohun know that? - -"There! You see that? See that? See that?" squeaked the Professor -triumphantly. "Now I want you to test it for yourself. Move the little -devil away! Move it yourself! Humphrey, move it yourself!" - -Humphrey de Bohun very slowly pushed back the crystal, and almost -immediately the needle trembled again. - -"There!" said the Professor in happy confidence, leaning back. "There! -What did I tell you?" - -"Well, what of it, Bill?" said the harassed master. - -"What of it?" answered his cousin. "The Emerald. Ah! the Emerald!" and -he rubbed his hands together. - -"I don't understand a word you're saying," said poor Humphrey. - -The Professor leaned forward and tapped his cousin twice upon the -shoulder with that knotted forefinger. - -"That instrument," he said, as solemnly as such a voice can say -anything, "tells a crystal close at hand. According to the cube of the -distance. I have to use it perpetually. Very well known. German, you -know--wonderful people, the Germans. It was Meitz's idea," he went on, -adding verisimilitude by the effective use of detail. "But _he_ couldn't -have done it without Speitzer. Often like that in research work. Any -doubt about a crystal's character. Even amorphous--put that thing close -enough, and it points at once. Now do you see? Eh! Now do you see?" - -"Not exactly," said Humphrey de Bohun. - -"Why, it's plain enough! I hadn't thought of it. It suddenly occurred to -me. It suddenly came to me while you were off to London. Here I had what -could solve all our troubles. I put it first here, then there. -Everywhere I could. Went on for an hour--all over the room! All over the -rug where it dropped. Then one of your guests came in. I didn't want to -be seen at it. I was putting it back into my pocket when my hand came -close by the side of his coat. Bless my heart! It pointed!" - -He leant forward again and tapped his cousin more solemnly still, this -time on the chest. "Mark my words! That young man's got it!" - -"Which young man?" said Humphrey, remembering what counter accusation -the Professor would naturally make, and thinking at once of Galton. - -"That young writing fellow," said Cousin Bill. "That newspaper chap -McTaggart. McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart." - -Humphrey de Bohun hesitated. "My dear Bill," he said, "you never know. -He might have had something else in his pocket--also crystal, or--I -don't know ... something." - -The Professor wagged his head with all the dignity of a goat. - -"Won't work, Humphrey!" he said. "Won't work! One can always tell the -size by the distance. It wasn't some ring or small thing of that kind. -Besides which, he wouldn't have such a small thing of his own in his -pocket. No, the Emerald's there all right. And I'll tell you something -that makes me surer still. I took occasion to brush up against -him--there was a hard slab in that pocket, Humphrey. In that pocket. A -small, hard slab! Slab! ... Hard slab! ..." - -An awful task arose in the conscience of Humphrey de Bohun. He must play -the spy again. He must mistrust yet another guest. - -But wait! Should he tell the great detective when he arrived? No. It -would be only fair to seek the young man first and warn him. But he -hesitated and he put it off. He would wait till dinner time, or nearly -dinner, when the poor fellow was changing. He would make it quite clear -that there would be no consequences--only, he must confess and restore. -Then he suddenly thought of what would happen if he drew blank, as he -had in the case of the strange being before him. But he was in some -agony. - - - - -CHAPTER NINE - - -The Home Secretary was in his study before a pleasing fire. The -Professor had left him. His daughter was with him. There was no one else -in the room. He had asked her to come down a little earlier that he -might explain things to her. There was yet a quarter of an hour before -they need dress for dinner, and the dread stranger from the Yard might -be with them at any moment. He had warned each of his guests that a -distinguished diplomat had asked to run down to see him at short notice. -The F.O. had sent him on to the Home Office. The matter concerned both -departments. The distinguished diplomat would dine. They must excuse his -retirement with that official, later in the evening, to discuss high -affairs of State. - -Such was the fairy tale Humphrey de Bohun had pitched; he hoped it had -gone down. And now he was alone again to discuss the matter with his -only confidant, his daughter. - -"Marjorie," he said, "that man Brailton was to come by the six-thirty. -It must be late. I have told them to show him in here at once. It is -exceedingly important you should know all about it, and that nobody else -should. We must hear from him, very briefly, some essential points: for -instance, his assumed name." - -"He's all right, papa?" asked Marjorie anxiously. - -"Perfectly, my dear, perfectly. Morden assures me ... in fact, Morden -told me that he is actually ..." and then checked himself. He was still -Victorian, was poor Humphrey de Bohun. He didn't like to talk to the -bastards of his own class, and to a daughter at that. "At any rate he's -all right. Elderly, distinguished--what they call cavalier, I'm told, -yes, cavalier.... I've already told Aunt Amelia and Tommy that he's a -diplomat--a fellow I've got to see after dinner.... It's all exact. -Which room did you say?" - -"Senlac, papa. Crécy's being repapered." - -The Home Secretary nodded solemnly. - -"Senlac will do all right. But you must remember, my dear, that this -Mr.--ah!--_Brailton_, that is the name, _Brailton_, is somewhat advanced -in years--and ... and ... I needn't insist ... but a refined man and on -his _father's_ side, of good blood! He will be sensitive." - -There was a silence--but not for long. The door was solemnly flung open -with a majesty worthy of the occasion, and the Master of the -Ceremonies--if I may so call him--George Whaley announced in a -controlled but oily voice: - -"Mr. Collop!" - -Collop? Collop? What was this? The disguise for Brailton? - -The father rose to his feet, somewhat painfully, the daughter looked -round. And behold! a man sturdy, broad-shouldered, short, clad, not in -some soft clinging stuff, but in stout Scotch tweed, which--as to his -upper part--was a roomy coat with poachers' pockets, and--as to his -lower--plus-fours. His stockings were thick and ribbed, as fashion in a -certain world demanded at that moment; but his boots were of that -unmistakable sort provided by the Government of the King for his police. -The hair was short, coarse, and thick; the face broad and determined; -the eyes straightforward, grey and far too bold. What the mouth might -really be like only its Creator knew, for it was thatched by a moustache -so bristling, curt, aggressive and sprouting-out that the eye of the -onlooker was fascinated and could not note the ugly lips below. - -"Evenin'!" said the Apparition in a powerful voice of low pitch; and as -he said it he bobbed the head and shoulders of him towards the man -who--for a year or two--controlled the peace--and police--of England. - -"Evenin', ma'am," added the Apparition with the same jerk of the head -and shoulders towards the Lady of the House. "Cold evenin'? Good fire, I -see!" he added with a charming familiarity. "Pleasant thing evenin's the -likes o' this, a good fire is." - -And as he thus delivered himself with all the natural grace and charm of -long experience, his two staggered victims waited for their breaths. - -There was but one reply, and the Home Secretary made it pompously and, I -am afraid, a little distantly. - -"Good evening, Mr....?" - -"Collop," said the stranger, decisively. - -"Collop. Ah, yes, Collop. I should have remembered. Mr. Collop, my -dear," he said, bending his head towards his daughter, who stared -astonished and had not yet recovered herself. "Collop. Yes. Mr. -Collop.... Mr. Collop. I understand fully. We are to call you Mr. -Collop." - -"Rather!" said that solid individual. "That's my name _here_," and he -winked. "What my name may be elsewhere we both know, eh?" and he winked -again. - - -[Illustration: _Sudden Entry of Mr. Collop._] - - -"Ah, Mr. Collop--it is to be Mister, is it not?" - -"Yes, Mister," answered the gentleman solemnly, "not Miss nor Master. -Who ye're kidding?" He did not say it insolently. He knew his place. He -knew he was talking to the Home Secretary. He said, "Who ye're kidding?" -by way of a respectful jest. - -"Mr. Collop.... Yes.... Mr. Collop...." stuttered the Home Secretary -like a man half stunned. "We expected ... ah! ... you will pardon -me? ... a Mr. _Brailton_; yes, a Mr. _Brailton_.... Eh? Shall -I ... ah! ... if by any accident there should be a mistake?" - -"There's no mistake," said the genial Collop, "old Brailton 'twas to be! -You're right there, mister! But he was that sick he asked me to run -down. ''Tis only a suburb job,' says he. So here I am!" - -The Home Secretary whispered to his daughter in an agony: "Can't we stop -it? Shall we telephone?" - -"Too late now--before dressing," said the despairing girl. "I'll tell -you when I hear." - -Her father knew she was right. They must make the best of it. "Put -dinner on in twenty minutes," he whispered to her in an aside; then -aloud to his guest, "What ... ah ... what shall we ... to put it -plainly, Mr. Collop, what shall we say you are?" - -"Ah, I've got that all fixed," said Mr. Collop, his voice bravely riding -the air. "Old Brailton told me what he was and I'm that. I'm a diplomat, -I am. Tokio the last four years." - -The call on Marjorie's intelligence woke her to action. - -"It won't do," she said sharply. - -"Why not? Eh?" said Mr. Collop, with less ceremony than might have been -expected from so recent an acquaintance. - -"Because," replied the young lady, a little acidly, "one of our guests, -Miss Victoria Mosel, has just come back from Japan. She was there in -September staying with our Ambassadress at Tokio." - -"Ah!" said Mr. Collop. "That makes it awkward like." - -"I think," began the Home Secretary timidly ... but the stronger will -prevailed. - -"Make it Bogotar?" was Mr. Collop's suggestion. - -Time, which destroys love itself, and brings mighty states to ruin, the -implacable master of ephemeral man, caught the unfortunate father and -daughter in his iron grip. There was not a moment to spare. And it was -as Mr. Collop, just back from his long but patriotic exile in "Bogotar," -that the welcome stranger was led out and ritually introduced to the -guests in the next room. There is no need to introduce a guest at such -an hour, but this guest! Oh, yes! - -As the master of the house and his daughter were making that -introduction their cup of agony was full. - -What made it worse was that McTaggart, being less of a man of the world, -as the saying goes, than the rest of the prisoners, was quite openly -startled, and instead of looking at Mr. Collop's determined face, his -eyes at once fell to the plus-fours, and he said to himself, as his eyes -fell lower still, "Thank God, he hasn't put on those brown boots with -funny little tabs to them! But really! For a detective...." Then he -looked up at the face--and he, of Fleet Street, knew his man. - -Lord Galton stared at the Apparition. He could make neither head nor -tail of it. He was not of the Horse Pulling, privileged world. Then he -remembered that your professional politicians had to herd with all -manner of cattle and he shrugged his mental shoulders so violently that -his physical shoulders perceptibly heaved. He turned his back upon the -company and examined a picture until the nervous strain was over. - -Victoria Mosel was vastly pleased. It was as good as the Zoo--and she -loved the Zoo. She promised herself an unholy feast and whispered to -Marjorie to put her next the Diplomat at dinner. She was not a woman of -gesture, or of external expression; but she very nearly clapped her -hands for joy. She had seen some funny things in the diplomatic service -in the time of her teeth, which were no longer short, but the like of -this she had never seen; and she thought, as many a contemporary has -thought since Queen Victoria's death, "We're getting on!" - -Then she began to speculate within her own clear mind as to how this -monster had got into the diplomatic service at all. But she remembered -certain odd accidents during the war and other people than he who had -suddenly popped up in embassies at the F.O.--quite out of nature; and -just as she had all but clapped her hands, so she now all but whistled. -However, she in fact did neither. Only she looked upon Mr. Collop with a -happy, happy face, and felt that here, at last, was not a wasted day. - -The Professor was vastly interested. He said "Bogotar" three times, -beamed, nodded, and then for a fourth time he said "Bogotar" -lingeringly, as though he loved it, and then whispered again, "Ah, yes, -of course. Bogotar." And put his head a little on one side and left it -there. - -As for Aunt Amelia, her failing eyes did not distinguish the Apparition, -but her ears distinguished the accent, and the type of English; and she -marvelled feebly that things had changed so much since the days of the -Great Lord Salisbury and Peace with Honour. But of one thing she was -sure. That if the type of man used for delicate missions abroad might -have changed, the policy of Britain was still secure in the hands of -whomever the Secretary for Foreign Affairs might choose to entrust with -that mighty task; and Bogotar (she imagined) was the capital of Ormuzd -and of Ind; barbaric, splendid, and in fee to the British Crown. - -"Ah! Shall I show you to your room--eh?" said the Home Secretary -courteously, putting an end to what could not be prolonged. "Ah, let me -show you to your room." - -He went so far as to take the terrible thing by the elbow and actually -conduct it out; ... after an interval sufficient, but not too long, -McTaggart followed. He would again be alone. He could not bear to remain -with the rich longer than he was compelled, and now that there was a -detective in the house he would be discovered. Well, let it be so; let -the end come soon. - -Now there stood, awaiting McTaggart in the hall, that Devil and that -Angel who had been off duty for a few hours, and were now back again, -fresh and keen, and bickering, as is the wont of such opposed beings of -the other world. - -The Angel, seeing his human friend and ward, made him a suggestion at -once: - -"You ass!" he blew into McTaggart's ear. "Put it in the Rozzer's -pocket." The Devil began to object violently. - -"You shut up!" said the Angel, turning to him annoyed. "I'll come back -and talk to you about it later!" Then he turned again to McTaggart, and -pumped brilliant thoughts into his same ear with such violence that the -young man's soul was all irradiated and full and he suddenly thought -himself a genius. Such is the vanity of man! So little do we recognise -inspiration from on high! - -"It's as easy," prompted the Angel, "as falling off a log. All you've -got to do is to say you've met him, and tell him who you are. He'll know -you're from the Press--you look like it--and he'll think he's met you. -_Then_ slip it into his pocket, bully boy! Slip it into his pocket!" - -And all the time McTaggart was saying within his own soul: "That's a -brilliant idea! Now I don't suppose anyone else would have an idea like -that! But, there! I'm always getting good ideas at the right time!" - -He stalked his host and Collop round the top of the stairs and down the -long passage above. - -He saw the door open; he heard the Home Secretary say cheerfully, -"There's a bath through that door. Have you got everything you want? I -hope they've unpacked your things?" - -He heard the cheerful voice of Collop reply: "Right-o! Everything in the -garden's lovely!" - -He saw the Home Secretary go off with a very changed expression in the -gloom of the passage. He flattened himself in a deep doorway, a little -angry that he should be playing the spy--but necessity drove him. He -waited till he had heard his host go down the stairs; then he knocked at -the detective's bedroom door. Full of angelic inspiration--which human -pride mistook for genius--he entered in. - -"Mr. Collop," he said without hesitation, "you know me? Hamish -McTaggart--the Daily Sun? ... You'll excuse me for not using your real -name?" And he smiled. - -"Why, Mr. McTaggart, I've heard of you often enough. Where did we meet? -And as for the real name"--he winked--"less said the better! I'm in the -Foreign Office just now. I'm from Bogotar ... How come? When did we -meet?" - -"In the Savoy bar," hushed the Angel hurriedly into McTaggart's ear. - -"In the Savoy bar," said McTaggart, aloud. - -"Not during the Bullingdon case?" said the delighted but indiscreet Mr. -so-called Collop, stretching out both his hands. - -"Wink!" pumped the Angel; and Hamish McTaggart winked--for the first -time in his life. - -It was a clumsy wink, rather like that of the hippopotamus when he comes -out of the water, in which element the huge pachyderm so serenely -sleeps. But it was good enough for the Secret Service. - -"Ah! Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart!" said Collop, shaking both the -journalist's hands up and down like pump handles. "Well met! Now then, -you'll make a feature of this in the paper, won't you?" - -"I'm not here for that," said McTaggart modestly. "I'm only a guest; but -of course I can see that _The Howl_ ..." - -"Ah! That's the style, laddie! You'll do!" said the Man of Mystery, -bringing down a palm like a Westphalian ham on the wincing shoulder of -the youth. "A few kind words on the discreet agent, eh? The Bosses'll -note 'em down!" He dived into a pocket. "I've got a flask here!" he -said, and winked in his turn. "What I call my good old prohibition! -We'll drink to it, eh? To think of meeting the likes of you in a 'ouse -like this!" - -This last remark wounded McTaggart's pride; but the Angel stood by him, -and they that have angels at their side are firm. - -Mr. Collop's dress clothes lay beautifully aligned upon a couch, a shirt -by the side of them; but the owner's brow clouded as he said: - -"Where the devil did I put that flask? Curse them slaveys! I do 'ate -'avin' things done for me on these toff jobs!" He buried his head in the -large kit-bag which he had been assured was the proper receptacle or -container to bring to the Palaces of the Rich. - -And even as he therein delved and groped, with head hidden in the -kit-bag, the Angel brought it off! - -"Attaboy!" urged the Angel to Hamish. "Slip it into the tail-coat -pocket! QUICK!" - -And before you could have breathed a silent prayer the Emerald was in -the tail-coat pocket of Mr. Collop's evening tail coat, lying there on -the couch all innocent. - -Up came Mr. Collop's head out of the kit-bag, very red and puffy. - -"I thought as much, my 'earty," he said. "Dirty tykes! ... There it -was...." And he brought out a gigantic flask holding perhaps a quart of -the detestable beverage. The bottom of it was a silver cup fitted to the -glass, and inscribed, "In grateful memory of the Bullingdon Burglary, -August, 1928" and with the initials B.F. Mr. Collop solemnly half filled -the receptacle, smelt it with delicate _bonhomie_, and handed it to his -guest, who sipped it with the resolution in which a man must face -whatever torture has to be endured. - -"Thank you," said Mr. McTaggart, gasping, from his flayed throat. - -"Cheerio!" said the Collop man, and he tossed off all that -remained--enough, you would have thought, to have felled an elephant in -stupor!--down his own more acclimatized gullet. Then he brought out a -large tongue, licked his lips, and smacked them. - -"Ah, that's something like!" he said. He put the flask and the silver -cup belonging to it down on his table with a happy grunt. - -"Well, boy, I've got to dress," he said. "So long! We meet again in the -Khyber Pass, _i.e._, at his Nobship's groaning board!" And he laughed -heartily at his own wit. - -McTaggart remembered something essential. "I say, they mustn't know that -I know you!" - -"No fear!" said the redoubtable Collop, winking again. "I don't give you -away, nor myself away, nor no one away." He had already taken off his -tweed coat and waistcoat. "You run off and dress, laddie ... You keep -mum. Same here!" And he dug a podgy finger into McTaggart's staggering -chest. And they parted. - - * * * * * * * - -From her room, interrupting the induing of those three pieces which -formed all her raiment, shaking shorn hair, Marjorie telephoned in a -fever regardless. "The Home Office.... Yes, the Home Office ... No -reply? Oh! Nonsense! ... What, our line gone wrong? D'you mean to say we -can't get London? ... Oh! hell!" - -She banged down the receiver ... There's a schlemozzle! Telephone broken -down! Saturday night--the Monster in the Home! And no redress, no aid. - -Had she had tears she would have wept. What would come of all this? - - - - -CHAPTER TEN - - -Mr. Collop came out, dressed, he was surprised to find his host waiting -for him, not to say waylaying him, in the passage outside. - -"I thought ..." began the politician nervously--"I thought I ought to -have a word with you, Mr. Collop, before we ..." - -"That's right!" roared Mr. Collop. "That's my style too. Always think of -everything!" - -"Not so loud! Not so loud!" implored his agonized host. He took the -detective aside into yet another room with yet another fire. It looked -like some little nursery or schoolroom, and Mr. Collop, used as he was -to the houses of the great, marvelled at so many rooms, so many -fires ... an empty room all ready, and with so many pictures in it, -though on a bedroom floor. - -"Mr. Collop," said the Home Secretary hurriedly when he had shut the -door, "I thought I ought to tell you privately, and alone, before we go -down to dinner what the circumstances are. The jewel was dropped by my -daughter--last night after dinner. My three guests went down on the -floor at once to look for it--it was upon the polar-bear rug which you -will see in the West Room later. We shall go there together after all -have retired. When they got up it had not been found ... they _said_ it -had not been found ... they _all_ said it had not been found.... There -is suspicion naturally, Mr. Collop.... You understand me?" - -"There's always suspicion when vallybles are missing," said Mr. Collop, -after some thought. - -"Yes, Mr. Collop, exactly! Precisely!" said the Home Secretary. "But of -course, you know, I must be told when you come to any clue.... I blame -no one. I suspect no one.... But the emerald is missing. And what's -more," he added with the firmness of a newly stuffed pillow, "I shall -not spare the culprit." - -"No, of course not," said Mr. Collop sympathetically. "I'll get it for -you, never fear." - -His manner, though hearty, was respectful enough in such privacy, for he -knew that though his promotion depended principally upon permanent -officials, a good word from one of the fleeting politicians was not -without its value at the Home Office. Therefore did he forbear to lay a -hand upon the Home Secretary's shoulder; and therefore--still more--did -he forbear to slap it as nature would have seemed to demand. - -"Thank you, Mr. Collop," said the Home Secretary gratefully, as though -he had been given a considerable sum of money. "I trust you. I trust you -implicitly." - -"You may trust me _im_plicitly and _ex_plicitly," declared Mr. Collop in -solemn religious tones. - -"Thank you, oh! Ah! Thank you! Thank you again! Thank you most warmly!" -said his host more and more nervously. "Really you know, we must not be -seen together. Pray take your time, Mr. Collop; the ladies are always -late coming down." - -"Ah, that's their sort, ain't it? Girls are the devil nowadays, aren't -they?" said Mr. Collop in his friendliest tones; and with that farewell -in his ears the master of the house slipped out. - -The Home Secretary's next action was to go straight to McTaggart's room. -It was an act of decision and initiative that you would hardly have -expected in so well-bred a man. But suffering is a powerful tonic. He -knew what he was after. He had to speak. He would come boldly, directly -and simply. He would tell the young man of what he was accused, and ask -him straightforwardly and at once to clear himself--or at any rate to -say "yes" or "no." He knocked on the door; he went in; and he began -thus: - -"Ah, Mr. McTaggart! Mr. McTaggart! I'm afraid I am interrupting you in -your dressing. It is really very rude of me! I wish ... But the fact -is ... It's rather important.... I want to put it to you as clearly as I -can, and you'll understand me when I say that time presses after a -fashion ... so to speak...." - -McTaggart was at the last stage when the male brushes the hair before he -puts on the coat; all the rest of the detestable ritual was -accomplished, including the sacrosanct tie. He stood gaping with his -round face, a brush in either hand. Then he said: - -"Yes, certainly, sir, if you please." He rapidly brushed his disordered -hair into a shape yet more disordered, struggled into his coat, and -then, with an odd reminiscence of manner elsewhere, said, "Won't you sit -down," feeling that he was a temporary host, as it were, a host within -his host's house; a nest of Chinese boxes. - -"Thank you," said the Home Secretary. "Thank you. Thank you very much. -Thank you." And he sank his long, lean and therefore gentlemanly body -into the only armchair. He crossed his long, lean and therefore -gentlemanly legs, poised his two hands together like a steep Norwegian -roof, and said: - -"Mr. McTaggart, you will think it very odd of me, this invasion of -your ... er, your, ah ... privacy? Yes, your privacy, er! If I may say so. -But there is something very important I must say to you before we go -down to dinner." - -"Yes, sir," said McTaggart, still expectant, as he slowly filled his -pockets with the various things which journalists carry about with them, -even among the great, and which destroy the shape of their clothes. - -"Mr. McTaggart ..." began the Home Secretary desperately, now leaning -forward with his elbow on his knee and his forehead in his hand. "What I -have to say is not very easy, but it is best to get these difficult -things over at once. Don't you think so?" - -"Yes, certainly," said McTaggart. - -"I mean," said the Home Secretary, "it would be a great pity to waste a -moment in beating about the bush. There's no sense in mere verbiage and -slow approach to the essentials. Moreover, my time is short: I mean our -time is short.... I mean there's not much time before dinner, and to -tell the truth, that's why I came in here, so apparently suddenly.... -What was I saying?" - -Then, looking up and leaning back again in the chair: "But we need not -go into all that. As I say, the great thing is to come to the point at -once, isn't it?" - -McTaggart was tired of standing up. He sat down in another chair, and -said "Yes," with a look of expectancy not quite unmixed with approaching -boredom. - -"Well, Mr. McTaggart," went on the great statesman at last desperately, -like a man who has determined to take a plunge. "You will excuse my -being quite blunt and straightforward, won't you?" - -"Of course," said McTaggart. - -"I mean, we have already agreed that wasting time in preliminaries over -a matter of this kind ..." - -"But a matter of _what_ kind?" said McTaggart, now roused--though his -guilty soul told him well what was coming. - -"Well, the fact is, Mr. McTaggart," said the Home Secretary, suddenly -uncoiling himself and straightening out the joints until he stood up -above the younger man--he felt it gave him a kind of moral advantage, -and he needed it--"the fact is, it's only fair to tell you ... only the -difficulty is how to put it. But one must be straightforward, mustn't -one?" - -And once more Mr. McTaggart said "Yes." But certain ancient traditions -of the middle class were stirring in his blood and he very nearly added, -"You doddering old fool." - -"Why then, Mr. McTaggart, to put it quite plainly, ... well, now, -perhaps I ought to say this first. You know my cousin William? The -Professor?" - -"Yes," said Mr. McTaggart, for the sixth time and with a touch of -savagery in his voice, "I do. I have been in this house with him for -over twenty-four hours." - -"He tells me, Mr. McTaggart," began the Home Secretary seriously and -half an octave lower--"mind you, I don't say I believe it!" - -"No?" said McTaggart, "Well, go on." - -"He tells me he has proof, scientific proof-- Mind you, I don't say I -believe him! I'm only saying what he said." - -"Yes," said McTaggart, for the seventh time, and with more patience. - -"Scientific proof, I say--not personal, you understand. No personal -insinuation whatever--only _scientific_ proof that the emerald is or -was--shall I say, has been, upon your--damn it all!--_person_." - -McTaggart started up. The issue was joined. He behaved very well. - -"Mr. de Bohun," he said, in a slow but frank and straightforward way, -"you are not bound to believe me. But not only have I not the emerald, -but I will not even take the trouble to swear I have not got it. _I have -not got the Emerald_. Is that clear?" - -"Yes," said his unfortunate host. With a world of apology in his voice -and stretching forth a deprecating hand! "Oh, yes, Mr. McTaggart! Yes, -quite clear!" - -"Not only have I _not_ got the emerald," McTaggart went on with -painfully clear diction, "but I know who has." - -"Oh! Lord," thought the Home Secretary, "another of 'em!" Then he said -aloud: "Ah? Oh! most _interesting_! Who?" - -The other phrases he had heard during the last twenty-four hours crowded -upon him, and he felt slightly faint. - -"Yes," said McTaggart, continuing in a virile intonation, "I know who -has it. _Mr. Collop has it_!" - -"What?" shouted the Home Secretary, startled into a lucid interval of -terseness. "Think what you are saying, young man! Collop! He wasn't in -the house when it was lost! He's only just come." - -"That's true," hesitated the journalist, slowly turning over in his own -mind how he should get out of this mess. "But I tell you what, I tell -you he's got it.... It's only an instinct," he added with sudden -humility. "I have these odd feelings sometimes--and they are usually -right. My mother was a Highland woman, and I am the seventh son of a -seventh son. I don't pretend to any proof. All I say is"--more -firmly--"Mr. Collop has got the emerald." He gathered confidence. He -struck his left open palm with his right fist and said: "Mr. de Bohun, -Mr. Collop has got the emerald ... and as for me, you may go through my -pockets, here and now, you may have me searched, here and now if you -will, and all my clothes and all the drawers in the room and every -corner in the room, and anything else you will. And what's more," he -said, as he saw still further weakness in that weak old face, "I mean to -stay in this house till the emerald appears. I owe that to my honour." - -"Oh, Mr. McTaggart," said the Home Secretary imploringly, and even as he -spoke, he heard steps on the stairs and knew that they must be going -down, "don't misunderstand me! I am not accusing you! I wouldn't accuse -you for a moment! I am only saying ... I am only repeating to you what -was told to me. Indeed, I should be treating you very ill had I not done -so. Don't you agree?" and he actually seized the young man's hand. - -McTaggart accepted the gesture. - -"I am grateful, sir," he said simply. "I quite understand that a man in -my position would be naturally suspected." - - -[Illustration: _Mr. McTaggart explains to the Great Statesman -his theory--or rather, certitude--upon the -whereabouts of the Great Emerald._] - - -"Don't say that, Mr. McTaggart"--all the gentleman in him arising to -patronize poverty--"don't say that!" - -"I say I can understand that a man in my position should be suspected. -But you will see; mark my words, you will see after no long space of -time that I was right. I have an instinct in such things." - -"But damn it all! Mr. McTaggart! Collop? Damn it all, think!" - -"No," said Mr. McTaggart, moving towards the door, "I tell you I am -sure, for I had it in a dream." And he and his bewildered host went -downstairs. - -The Home Secretary, as he moved by the young man's side towards the big -drawing-room where they were all to assemble, felt in his mind something -like a kaleidoscope or like the music in the drunken scene of "The -Master Singer," or like a Wiggle-Woggle or like the Witching Waves.... -Galton had seen Cousin William with the emerald. He had seen it with his -own eyes--or else he lied. Cousin William had worked an infallible -scientific test, and the Emerald had certainly been on McTaggart or else -_he_ lied. And yet McTaggart had not got it--or else _he_ lied. The Home -Secretary's powerful mind kept on returning to the central point, "How -the hell could they _all_ have it, and least of all how could Collop -have it? That _must_ be nonsense! ... Anyhow, Collop was there, that was -a relief. It was his business to find out." Had Mr. de Bohun been in the -habit of prayer he would have prayed fervently that Collop would track -down the real man. - -But side by side with that relief rose an immense wave of apprehension, -for he remembered what manner of deep-sea beast Collop was, and he -sickened at the coming ordeal of the dinner. - -Nor was he wrong. - - * * * * * * * - -In the hall the Devil and the Angel were having a most furious row. - -"What I want to bring home to you," said the Devil, pressing a red-hot -forefinger upon a smoking palm, "is that you've intruded. You've done -something I only had the right to do. It was my place to suggest -McTaggart passing the Emerald on!" - -"It was nothing of the sort," said the Angel angrily. "You're like all -devils; you won't listen to reason." Then he began to count off on the -larger feathers of his wing. "Firstly, it's up to me to protect the -young man. _Secondly_, it does no sort of harm if the 'tec finds that -stone; why, it's all the better for him! It relieves a lot of honest and -dishonest men from suspicion. Thirdly"-- Here he hesitated, as -theologians often do upon thirdly, thinking what he could scrape up. But -the Devil interrupted him. - -"Never mind your 'thirdly.' It's a dirty trick, slipping jewels into -people's pockets! And dirty tricks are my stunts, not yours. Wasn't it -me," he added with a rising grievance in his voice, "that made the old -Don stick it into his pocket to begin with?" - -Then the Angel played the trick which I am sorry to say is always being -played upon poor devils: he played the trick of the superior person. - -"Well," he said, "you may be right. I can't bother about it. I've got -something else to do, and you can go back to hell." - -The Devil, stung beyond endurance, grappled and closed. They wrestled -magnificently and it was fifty-fifty--as it always is with devils and -angels in this world--when the Angel began to get the worst of it. The -Devil, though shorter, was in far better training--humanity had seen to -that--and he was pressing the Angel down, when the Angel, without -scruple, began to increase his size and strength prodigiously, till he -towered above the poor Devil like a giant and half broke his back. - -"You're cheating!" gasped the Devil. "You're working a miracle!" - -"Anything's fair with devils!" said that most unjust Angel. - -With which words he transferred himself into the sixth dimension, and -the Devil, snubbed, angered, disappointed, impotent to revenge himself, -burning to be eased by some ill deed, flew through the night to the -Duchess's--it was only four miles--and inspired her with the odious -thought that she should start yet another league for bothering the -poor. After such beastly solace he went back for the moment to his own -place. - - - - -CHAPTER ELEVEN - - -During dinner Mr. Collop was not silent. In vain did the Home Secretary -indicate to his servant by a grimace that Mr. Collop's wine should be -spared. Mr. Collop had all the assurance of his breeding, and when he -wanted more wine he asked for it. It added, if that were possible, to -his remarkable courage. - -That night was forever memorable to all those present for the -instructive lecture which he delivered upon the habits of the people of -Bogotar. They all inwardly suffered, or chuckled, as their temperaments -demanded. Vic ignored Marjorie's eyes and shamefully stayed on at table -as late as possible to carry the torture forward. - -The men did not stop long over their wine--for by that name I deign to -call the beverage. The evening passed as on a rack for most, while Mr. -Collop roared busily of Bogotar, with many a droll tale and many a -gesture of large effect to underline it. Once more Vic stuck it out. She -was in heaven. She egged the Startler on. She asked question after -question on the famous oil-town of the Pearson Contracts. She even asked -about the women's love affairs and the British prospectors' -entanglements in that ill-known resort. - -The Master of the House had to force the situation. - -"I am going to ask you," said the Home Secretary, rather pompously, "to -excuse me for the rest of the evening. I have to talk of very important -matters with Mr. Collop. We shall be closeted together, I fear, till the -small hours of the morning; and I beg that you will not think me -discourteous." - -The only one of the clot to whom this public speech could possibly be -addressed--all the rest were of the Family--was the lately unfortunate, -but now radiant, McTaggart. But it is a politician's habit to be pompous -whenever he gets the least excuse, and McTaggart was the excuse. - -"On official business connected with the ... ah, with the ... well ... -it would not be to the public interest to say precisely." - -McTaggart looked very carefully from under his eyelashes at his nearest -neighbour; Victoria Mosel darted a corner look at Galton, and Galton -grimly smiled at Marjorie. Aunt Amelia did not hear properly. Only the -Professor rose to the occasion, carolling: - -"Certainly, Humphrey, certainly. By all means, Humphrey, by all means." -Then he squeezed his bony hands together, as though he had made a joke. - -The women dropped out of the room. Marjorie waited above with her door -ajar till she should know the way was clear. Then she was to come down. - -"Shall we go into my study?" said the Home Secretary to his latest -guest, when the women had gone. - -"Thank you, I would not give ye that trouble, I wouldn't," said Mr. -Collop heartily. "I'd as soon talk 'ere. I think better like in large -rooms." And as he said that, the three men went out--perforce. But -Galton went not to bet but to the small smoking-room, and Victoria Mosel -did the same. Collop filled himself a whiskey and soda. And without -giving his employer time to open the ball, he entered on the plan -engendered by his mighty brain. - -As he began to speak, Marjorie, following the sound of voices, slipped -in. Mr. Collop stared at her, said "'Ullo?" but returned to his -business. - -"First of all," he said, with a good gulp at the spirits, "ye want a -plan made of this here West Room, as ye call it. Now mark me," he -insisted, as the Home Secretary half opened his never-quite-shut mouth, -"that plan'll 'ave to be in not less than five colours--and I'll tell -you for why. In a case of this kind, you 'ave got to distinguish between -materials. Remember what ye're looking for! Ye're looking for a object -that might be called transparent in a manner o' speaking." - -"Mr. Collop," broke in the Home Secretary desperately, "how long will it -take to make such a plan?" - -"If there's a harchitect 'andy, it needn't take three days. I've 'ad -dozens. And next," said Mr. Collop, as loudly as before, "we 'ave to -'ave measurements. We don't need regular surveys and we don't need to -fill the garden wi' standards nor flags, but just measurements." - -"And how long will these take?" asked the Home Secretary, a fabulous sum -mounting up before his eyes, and the impossibility of keeping his guests -forever. - -"You will observe," said Mr. Collop, clearing his throat as for a -speech, and addressing the lady--"you will observe, Miss, that what two -men can do in one time, four men can do in arf the time, and eight -men--why, eight men in a quarter of the time. And sixteen men," he -continued, turning to her progenitor, "they'd take arf as much again. -While they're making the plan in one room, if you 'ave enough men with -chains in the grounds. Then there's the probing." - -"The what?" asked de Bohun. - -"The probing," answered his guest briefly. "That's a longer job, -'specially as I noticed that there's stone floors about. Now 'ere's -another matter. Look at this carpet. That's Aubusson, that is. Ah, I -notice everything! Aubusson--that's what it is." - -"Mr. Collop," broke in Marjorie, in her suffering.... - -"Now, Miss," said Mr. Collop with command, "don't you interrupt me. Let -me put the necessaries before you. When you get all this done, sir, what -are you to do, then? What are you to do next? Why, I'll tell you. You'll -have all the shutters shut: I noticed you 'ad shutters: and those -curtains pulled. Then you'll put what they call Marlin's New Irridiant -up. That's the light we work by. And I'll tell you for why. You 'ave -plain electrics in the room and they casts shadows. Don't they, Miss?" -he appealed to his hostess. But before she could agree, he went on, like -a mighty river in flood: - -"Now, casting shadows, you might miss a small object. That's how objects -do get missed. You've got to think of these things. Artificial light -that is distributed high and in the corners...." - -The Home Secretary could bear no more. "Yes, yes, yes," he said. "Where -does one get the stuff?" - -"You'll see!" said Mr. Collop tartly, but with pardonable pride. "It's -expensive, mind you," he added honestly. "But you got to do this job -well or not at all." - -"But, Mr. Collop," said poor Marjorie, who could hardly bear another -moment, "before all this expense couldn't we ..." - -"No, Miss," said the redoubtable Collop, shaking his head firmly. "Not -to be thought on! I wouldn't undertake the responsibility, I wouldn't. -And mind you, this ain't the first job of the sort I've tackled; not by -thousands it ain't." (An exaggeration--due, I am afraid, to the -whiskey.) "I wouldn't undertake the responsibility! I'll put no man -under a cloud till I've made certain that it's not lost and hiding of -its own. If it's not found, why then it'll be time to begin." - -It was Marjorie who found the decision to break off the battle. She got -up suddenly. - -"Good night, Mr. Collop," she said. "I understand all about it now. We -leave it to you." - -"Thanks, Miss," said Mr. Collop. "That's the right spirit! You leave it -to the perfessional man, and you'll never regret it! Is it good night to -you, sir?" he added in a voice as loud as ever, stretching out a firm -hand and seizing that of the Home Secretary. He crushed it in an iron -grip, so that the poor old gentleman winced with pain. - -"No, Mr. Collop! ... No, pray ... I must see you again in a moment, -indeed I must ... but will you excuse me a moment?" He rose. "My -daughter and I must have a private word together I think...." - -"It's my place to retire, my lord," said Mr. Collop all in the grand -manner, weak in the distinctions. "I'll be in the library, and when you -want me, why, come and cop me," and out he went. - -Without a moment's warning, Marjorie threw herself upon a sofa, crossed -her arms upon the back of it, and began crying and sobbing in a storm. -Her father was enormously distressed. - -"There, there, my dear," he said, "you are quite overwrought; you are -tired. Get to bed. It can't be helped. We must go through with it." - -"Oh, papa," she sobbed, "it's intolerable. I can't help thinking! Just -think what they'll all think!" - -"Yes, my dear; I was thinking that they would be thinking what you say -they will be thinking. I'm afraid some of them must have been thinking -already." - -"Perhaps," moaned poor Marjorie, half consoled by the relief of tears, -"that b-b-b-loody b-b-beast will find the b-b-b-b-b-bloody thing after -all." - -"Yes, my dear, yes. I hope he will. I'm sure he will. I am indeed!" - -She dried her eyes, sighed wearily, kissed her father good night, and -went off to bed. It was nearly one o'clock. The poor man, as he heard -her step go slowly up the great stairs, retained his daughter's -despairing voice vividly in his ears. It reminded him of his -wife's--only the vocabulary had somewhat changed since the days when -Queen Victoria gave so admirable an example to the ladies of the land. - - * * * * * * * - -He rose wearily, feeling fevered, and the worry on him increasingly -intolerable. He stepped out into the hall; it was still fully lit. He -rang, and when the servant came he asked him whether the offices were -shut up. He was told that all had gone to bed but the man who had come -at his summons. He bade him go in his turn, and put out all the lights. -Then he himself switched out the bulbs in the hall and stared at the -great window beside the door. It was singularly light outside, and the -air was oppressive within. Cold as was the weather, he needed to feel -the open. He thrust up the sash and drank in the rush of freezing air. - -The moon must have just risen, but a slight mist was ascending. Half an -hour's light fall of snow had again marked off the lawn, but evidently -hours before, since the paths were swept round the house and along up -the avenue to the left. He shut down the sash again, a little refreshed, -but still most ill at ease. - -With a sigh he turned towards the door of the library, within which -room, alone, crouched the nightmare policeman. He forced himself in, and -found the fellow there. - -"We must go into the West Room, Mr. Collop," he said. "My daughter has -gone to bed; the house is all shut up, and we can discuss matters -undisturbed. It is in the West Room that the thing happened. Come." - - - - -CHAPTER TWELVE - - -In the West Room the Home Secretary opened fire on his guest. - -"All these schemes of yours, Mr. Collop," he said firmly, "you must -discard. Time is essential. I ask you for some immediate action. This -very night. Mr. Collop, I beg you to proceed." - -Mr. Collop needed no further invitation. Proceeding was his passion--I -might almost say, his vice. - -"Got to be done express?" he asked. "Right-o! Now I'll tell ye my way. I -divide it," he continued, roaring powerfully, "into three heads." Then, -much more loudly, "Head number one." - -"Pray, pray, Mr. Collop," agonised the Home Secretary, with outstretched -hands. "A little lower, please! We must not be overheard!" - -"I'll tell you my express method--since ye want it express," said Mr. -Collop, speaking now no louder than your ordinary street orator, -railways guard or the cabinet minister at election. "First, to establish -what I call negative evidence. This term," he added sententiously, "I -will make clear in a moment. Two"--he ticked them off on his podgy -fingers--"what I call the search, comparable to the experiment conducted -by men of science; with no hypothetic bless you, none at all! Just -random like. Now then, in the midst of that we shall find a clue. What -then? Then number three. The hypothetic is formed, modified, readjusted, -co-ordinated, and leads infallibly to the inevitable conclusion." - -He coughed and spat in the fire. It was perhaps the thirty-seventh time -in the last ten years that he had recited that piece. It had been -written out for him by his nephew, who, he was proud to say, attended -lectures at Manchester University, and he had it typewritten on a now -rather dirty sheet of paper which he carried about with him all over -England. - -"So what do we do now?" he continued heartily. "Why, we begin by -establishing our negative evidence. Chrm! Chrm! And how do we do that? -Why, we make sure that it is not in this room." - -"But how can one make sure of that?" said the Home Secretary, puzzled. - -"Why, plain and straightforward, sir. I 'ave brought down my men and my -apparatus. We'll want the floor taken up. But that won't take long." - -"What?" said the Home Secretary, in alarm. - -"The floor, sir. The floor," said Mr. Collop magisterially. "And I say -again, it won't take long. My men will prise it up before you can say -'Sir Garnet'! And afore we do that another set of 'em will cut the -furniture open to see if it's not in the cracks. Then I have got two -with the new white light." - -"What?" said the Home Secretary again. - -"Why, this new dazzle I told you on," said Mr. Collop proudly. - -"But my dear sir, my dear sir, when you say your men, what do you mean?" - -"My men, Mr. Dee Boe Hun? Why, them men I ordered to come and 'elp me -with this job. They're at the Lion now, waiting." - -And without asking his host's leave, he sat down squarely at the little -table by the telephone and rang up the Lion. When he had given his -message, he waited, head in air, hands clasped behind his back, a -monument of Induction and Deduction. - -"Do I understand you to say," groaned Mr. de Bohun miserably, "that you -mean to pull up the floor to-night?" - -"That's it," nodded Mr. Collop. "That's right. And open the furniture. -Only just enough to see it's not in any of the cracks. Then," he added, -looking critically at the fine Empire looking-glass upon the wall, "we -must have things down, of course. You never know what may lie concealed -lurking behind." - -"Really, Mr. Collop, really," groaned the Home Secretary, clasping and -unclasping his hands, "I should think that ..." - -"Job must be done thorough," frowned Mr. Collop, wagging his head. "I'd -never undertake the responsibility of searching individuals till I'd -made sure 'twasn't in the room where 'twas lost." - -Even as he spoke there came an honest bang upon the outer door; shortly -after another, still more honest, upon the door of the room, and the -shuffling of many feet. Once more dispensing with the formality of -consulting his host, the great Collop unbolted the door, and with a -Napoleonic gesture introduced his merry men. - -They were a sight, they were! Six of them seemed to have been chosen -rather for strength than for intellectual power. Two staggered under an -enormous iron tripod with heaven knows what contraption poised on its -summit, and a cylinder of gas. Three more bore with them sundry -instruments. And of all this little army Mr. Collop, with fine decision, -took immediate charge. - -"Now, then, lads!" he said; "hearty! The job's got to be done quick. All -the rugs first, please. You two with the light, stand off! Stand on the -window-sill. Then you won't be in the way." So they did, the marks of -their heavy boots contrasting finely with the delicate woodwork of that -Jane Austen room. - -"Rugs all rolled?" said Mr. Collop. "Yes! That's right! Shake 'em first, -yes! That's right! Pile 'em up on that other window. Now then, tables -out of it! Smart!" - -He opened the door, and behold! half a dozen willing pairs of hands -pushed the small table, the middle table, the big desk, the little -table, and the what-not, one after the other, vigorously into the -hall--and the door was shut again. - -"Now, me boys! up with the Austrians!" - -His heart was in his work, and he inspired his command as all great -leaders can. The sundry instruments so useful in work of this kind did -their rapid work, lifting one large square after another, while the -owner of the same danced with astonishing agility from spot to spot, -remaining at last on one isolated island, which he was courteously -bidden to abandon; taking refuge then upon the remaining low -window-sill, while the five large lounge chairs in the room were laid -carefully on their backs across the joists as the work proceeded. - -"That's the style!" said Mr. Collop, cheerfully. "Pile 'em up, lads! -Pile 'em up!" - -And those sham-ancient polished parquet squares, their very base modern -pitch pine reverse pitifully exposed--but, as Mr. Collop proudly pointed -out, not one of them broken--were carefully laid against the wall, -nicely missing the Cox and the Morland, but threatening in some degree, -should they shift or slip, the large picture of Paulings in the early -eighteenth century, which was the place's pride--and so it ought to be! -Paulings belonged to gentlemen then. Two of them were to be seen riding -horses which had done nothing but eat for years and yet walked on their -hind legs. They were followed by four dogs.... - -But to my tale.... - -The two citizens with the tripod set it down between the old dusty -joists upon which the floor boards had rested, and of a sudden a most -abominable glare, like the white heat from molten iron, shot in a shaft -upon a corner in the uncovered lower flooring. It was brilliant beyond -the dreams of avarice. It revealed like remorse. Mr. Collop with an -agility surprising in a man of his build, leaped down that little -distance, and kept on shouting directions. - -"That's right now! Sweep it along! Sweep it along! Sweep it along!" The -blinding shaft of light slowly traversed the edges of the shallow void -from end to end, from left to right. "Now back again!" said Mr. Collop. -"Now back again!" - -The intense beam travelled back in another band, slightly nearer, from -right to left; and all the while the detective followed with keen eyes -every patch which it successively illuminated. - -It was not a long process. Three or four minutes at the most. And while -it continued, the Home Secretary, perched in security on his -window-sill, was interested in spite of himself: new science is always a -toy.... And that was how they searched for the jewels in the flooring of -the West Room. - -Mr. Collop's hand went up, and the blinding shaft of light disappeared -as suddenly as it had come. - -"That'll do, lads!" he said. "We know one thing now, any'ow. It didn't -get down through the flooring; that's certain. Now then, if you please, -we'll open the furniture." - -Mr. de Bohun did not please. - -"Surely, surely it can be spared," he begged. "It's Victorian." - -"Now, sir," protested Collop firmly, "I'll be responsible for nothing -unless I'm pursuing my own method." - -The Home Secretary sighed and surrendered. With deft fingers two of the -three extras began picking out the stitching of the chairs after every -loose cushion had been lifted, shaken, and put aside. - -It was beautiful to see such expert work; at least, it was beautiful in -Mr. Collop's eyes; but the Home Secretary almost shed tears. Those -chairs were his father's! The Great Peal, the immortal Benjamin Israel, -had graced them. And again--who was going to pay for all this? All the -edges of the leather stood out; the secret places were revealed. There -was no emerald. - -Mr. Collop beamed with satisfaction. - -"That, sir," he said triumphantly, "is the end of what we've called our -_Negative_ process. Hey! Number One!" And he ticked off on his thumb, as -he had done before. - -"We are now assured," he boomed, tucking his thumbs into the armholes of -his waistcoat, "that wherever the Em'rald may be, it's not in this room. -Stay a moment! I'd forgotten! The pictures down, please!" - -Again the owner gave tongue. "Do you _really_ think, Mr. Collop ..." - -"Yes, I do," answered Mr. Collop with decision. "Come. Smartly, lads!" - -No harm was done to the pictures; they knew their work. The Cox was -lifted down and now leaned at a secure angle. The Morland turned its -back canvas to the ceiling, pushed on a capsized armchair. I wish I -could say as much for the Napoleonic looking-glass. - -It was just too high for one of the men's hands; he slipped, and down it -came: an omen of ill-fortune, smashed upon the floor--round gilded -frame, Eagle of the Legions, and all. - -"Well, well!" said Mr. Collop cheerfully. "No battle without losses, ye -know--hey?" - -"I really think...." urged the Home Secretary, with something as near -anger as his temperament allowed. - -"Never you fuss, sir," thrust in Mr. Collop genially. "It's all right -now. We've proved our point. That's the 'sential. I say again, the -Negative part is accomplished," and he smiled upon his chief with all -the satisfaction of genius. "The em'rald's not in this room where it was -lost. That's a cert. What's the conclusion? Why, sir, the conclusion is -that it's _somewhere else_. And when I say somewhere else, what do I -mean?" - -"You mean...." began the Home Secretary nervously, stepping down -gingerly from his perch and trying to make his way across the -joists--"you mean that you must now consider which, if any, of my -guests ..." - -Again Mr. Collop's hand went up. - -"Now, sir; pardon me! That's not the scientific spirit. I shall send -these men back to the Lion, with your leave"--it was the first time he -had asked it, and it was granted with enthusiasm--"and then I shall ask -you, sir, to give me details, and I shall make notes. After that we'll -sleep on it.... Before you go, men, get the Austrians down again. Hammer -the clamps down: hammer 'em down good and strong at the corners; whang -'em in! You know how these Austrians buckle! We'll 'ave everything right -again in a jiffy"--to his host--"and then we'll sleep sound on it. Like -'Ogs." - -With clamouring echo which shook those ancient walls, square after -square of Austrian antique was thrown back into its place; with -Cyclopean noise the clamps were driven into their former holes, and the -shattering bangs of the heavy iron hammers sounded like thunder through -the silent night. Twenty yards away, in the small smoking-room, Victoria -Mosel and Tommy Galton had remained to exchange a few insults after the -others had gone off to bed. They started at the unusual din; she very -slightly, he with a jerk. - -"What are they doing?" said he suspiciously. - -"Making your scaffold," shot Vic decidedly: then, more doubtfully. "It's -a damned shame! For I don't suppose you did take it after all, Tommy? -Eh?" - -"If I thought there was room on you for that bloody stone," began Tommy -viciously.... - -"Oh, search me!" said Vic, without sincerity. - -"No, but, Vic, what _are_ they doing?" - -"Shifting the scenery, Tommy. Summoning the dead. Christ knows!" She -yawned, to the peril of her agglutinative cigarette, but it held nobly. -"It can't go on forever. I'm going to bed. By the time they've stopped -I'll be asleep. So long! I'll come and look you up at Wormwood Scrubbs, -never fear!" And the Virgin departed. - -"Not while you're still in Holloway," fired the puller of horses after -her as he got up in his turn, and went out to get his candle for bed. - -A few moments later, when the Master of the House peeped out into the -hall, he found all dark and deserted. He was pleased to think that his -guests had suspected nothing. - -When everything was accomplished, and the little army of Scotland Yard -men had fallen back upon its billets at the Lion (Humphrey de Bohun -himself let them out at the front door, on tiptoe and with agonised -whispers entreating caution. He himself had locked and bolted these -doors); when, I say, all this affair was over Mr. Collop, first making -quite sure that his seat was secure, took out a notebook, shot a blot of -ink on to the re-established polar bear, and gave tongue. - -"Now, sir, fire away!" - -"What do you want me to do?" said de Bohun doubtfully. - -"Why, just give me details of what those coves 've been doing of," said -Mr. Collop, relapsing into the vernacular. - -"You mean my guests?" said the Home Secretary rather stiffly. - -"That's right," said Mr. Collop cheerfully, "the toffs." - -"Well, really.... I haven't played the spy on my guests, Mr. Collop." - -"Oh, I'm looking after that," said Mr. Collop with another of his -healthy winks. "Now, just you tell me all they did. I've got my first -notes here. These three men what I've just met at dinner--and one of -them's young McTaggart--I know 'im--they went down on their knees and -they looked for it in that rug. Well and good. Then they got up, and -they all swore they hadn't got it." - -"McTaggart was the last," said de Bohun, defending the interests of the -family. - -"Ar? ... I didn't know that!" mused the modern Napoleon deeply. And he -noted it down. "Well, what next?" - -"Why, to tell you the truth--the full truth, and I beg you to keep it -private--my cousin, Lord Galton, has told me that he has seen the -emerald--seen it with his own eyes--in the Professor's hands." - -"Ar!" said Mr. Collop again. "That's important, that is!" and down it -went. "Saw it with 'is own eyes: where and 'ow?" - -"Wait a moment, Mr. Collop, wait a moment. Not long after, the Professor -told me he had infallible scientific proof that it was in McTaggart's -pocket. He showed me the very instrument wherewith he had been able to -discover its presence through the thickness of the coat." - -"That's important too!" murmured Mr. Collop, intelligently noting it -down. "An' what does McTaggart say?" - -"McTaggart ..." The Home Secretary was about to blurt out the truth and -tell him what McTaggart had singularly announced. But he checked -himself. To insult his last remaining prop would be fatal. "Oh, -McTaggart?" he evaded. "Why, McTaggart said he hadn't got it." - -"Ar! just so. 'E did, did 'e? Now, that's _very_ important," affirmed -Mr. Collop, and he noted that down also. - -"Now here," he continued, slipping an elastic band over the notebook and -putting it back into his pocket--"here, Mr. Dee Boe Hun, we 'ave got -three 'ypothetics." He again began ticking them off on the thumb and -fingers of the left hand. "First 'ypothetic: Lord Galton stole the -em'rald. Second 'ypothetic: Old Giglamps stole the em'rald ... -Tortoise-shell specs, I mean: the schoolmaster," and he winked again. -"Third 'ypothetic: McTaggart stole the em'rald. Now these three -'ypothetics," he went on, "lead to three totally different conclusions. -Each of 'em has its conjunctions and conjugations. Mr. Dee Boe Hun," he -concluded, rising and assuming hieratic tones, "I shall not sleep -to-night." (There is many a true word spoken in lying.) "I shall bend -all the energies of me mind in the ensuing hours of darkness, and on the -morrow you shall 'ave my conclusions.... I'll trouble you, sir, to leave -me a syphon and a drop o' something. Helps me to concentrate." - -"I'm afraid," said the Home Secretary, "the servants will have cleared -the drinks away from the library, and they have all gone to bed." Then, -terrified lest the lack of sustenance should imperil victory, he added -hurriedly: "Don't move! Pray don't move! I think I know where to find -it." - -He was away some time, going on tiptoe in the offices. When he returned -it was with an unopened bottle of whiskey, a syphon and a glass. "I'm -afraid I have no corkscrew," he apologised. - -"I 'ave," said the imperturbable Collop, who had sat royally in his -chair to receive this tribute. He pulled out the cork, smelt the brand, -approved of it, poured himself out a dope and a most miserable little -splash from the syphon. - -"Here's luck!" he said. "Cheerio! Now you leave me _to_ it!" - -And de Bohun left him to it, ardently praying with what was left of his -childhood's faith to a God in whom he still vaguely believed, that never -again in the remaining years of his declining life should he be -compelled to harbour under the roof of Paulings any unit from the mighty -Secret Service which he commanded, and inwardly deciding that he would -relinquish that command for India, Paris, South Africa--nay, New -Zealand--anything rather than bear such a burden again. - - - - -CHAPTER THIRTEEN - - -It is a fascinating occupation to watch a powerful human brain at work -upon some great problems--the face alive with mind, the tension of the -muscles, the frowning eyes; and to feel behind it all that driving, -compelling power of the intelligence wherein man is God-like. - -But no one would have seen this sight in the case of Mr. Collop had he -remained. What he would have seen was a hand pouring out whiskey for -itself over and over again and adding smaller and smaller splashes of -soda; and at last an obese body attempting sleep in the lounge chair -which it filled. - -He had comfortably made up his mind. He was going to stay in the West -Room and sleep as he could, leaving his bed untouched by way of giving -the impression of a long night's intellectual wrestling. Next morning he -would take every one of the three in turn, tell each separately that he -was from the Yard, tax them brutally with the theft, and terrify and -bully the culprit, whichever of the three it might turn out to be, into -confession. So decided, he chose a good chair among the mutilated -victims, wheeled it close to the electric switches by the fire, settled -himself down, turned off the light and shut his eyes for sleep. - -Now it is paradoxically true of the substantial more than it is of the -insufficient, that they must shift and turn to find that posture in -which their persons can best repose, especially in chairs. Nor could Mr. -Collop at once and easily fall into the arms of Morpheus. He shifted and -turned, and wedged in and re-wedged in and out, and moved again and -replaced those various muscles and anatomical names of which escape -me--or rather I never knew them, though the things themselves I know -well enough--when all of a sudden he gave a loud and piercing cry and -leapt up broad awake. Something had stuck into him--something abominably -sharp. His reaction had been instantaneous. He struck a match. He -switched on the light. - -He groped in the offending tail-coat pocket and--not the first to do -so!--stared at what he found in his hand--the emerald! Its brooch -setting was unclasped, the wicked steel pin of it was pointing at a -challenging angle in the air. He glared viciously at the offending point -which had wounded his innocent person; then his eyebrows relaxed into a -stupefied stare at the stone itself. - -"Great God!" he said three times, "Great God! Great God!" - - -[Illustration: _Birds of the Empire. -I.--The Parrot Attaboy, in action._] - - -There is a current impression, taken I think from the great spate of -detective stories upon which we are all fed, that your professional -detective has no brains whatsoever and would be no match for the sloth -of the Andes, or the sluggish waddle-duck of Australian and Imperial -fame. It is an error. They are men as we are and their intelligences, -such as they are, work more or less under the spur of prospective -advantage. Within three minutes Mr. Collop had grasped the fact that -fame, security, promotion, a permanent, good, appreciated, livelihood -lay in his outstretched palm. Had he not found the emerald? _How_ he had -found it, why it was there at all, he knew not. But he had quickly seen -how its possession might be used. - -"There you are, you great blighter," he murmured, addressing the -charming gem. "Damn your green eyes! I'll make you work, I will! -William, my boy, here's something that's got to be thought out!" - -For the first time for many months, Mr. Collop thought, really thought; -"concentrated" as he would have put it. - -He would have done it better perhaps if he had not been so full of -whiskey. But shock is a powerful stimulus. And he was already -three-quarters sober and coming to conclusions. - -For a long time the effect of this unusual exercise was a blank and a -confusion of mind; then there broke in upon the silence a sound which -startled him horribly. A voice, somewhat muffled, uncertain, had spoken -in that silence where none but him could be. He had heard it! Or was he -mad? - -"Attaboy!" - -Was it a divine command? Had some dear wraith of the dead--his sainted -mother perhaps, who could tell--come to comfort him in this dread hour -of his fate? All was dead still. His hand trembled a little as he pulled -out his watch. It was a quarter past two, and the silence was enormous. - -Most awfully it came again. - -"Attaboy!" - -He hardly dared to look around. Look round he did and there he saw what -he had not before grasped--that the dome of black cloth, suspended, -covered a cage; thence it was that once again, but this time in a -failing, drowsy manner, came the unearthly summons: - -"Attaboy!" - -A revelation burst upon his mind. It was a revelation indeed! The whole -scheme blazed suddenly before him. - -He walked boldly to the cage, took off the cover and saw what may very -properly be called the blinking bird, for the sudden light had dazzled -it. - -"Attaboy!" croaked the parrot again in a rather peevish fashion. - -"I'll Attaboy you!" hissed Mr. Collop through his teeth. - -He made his preparations to capture that innocent accomplice; his scheme -was now fully developed. - -He had heard that this kind of fowl was of a very fierce and dangerous -sort; but the plan must be pursued at all risks. He took his -handkerchief from his pocket--a large bandanna of the noblest--and with -a decision worthy of a better cause, whipped it round the gaudy coloured -neck after the fashion of a cravat. A muffled protest proceeded from -that insulted organ. - -"You wait!" muttered Mr. Collop vindictively, as though the poor bird -were his enemy. He looked about him. There was a large square of black -cloth on his host's writing-table. With that he made a second deadener, -hoodlike, entirely covering the animal's head, and tied it securely on; -all that now penetrated from within was a faint, varying sound which one -had to be in the closest neighbourhood to hear. Next he cut off a piece -of tape from the coil neatly disposed by the side of the official -papers, and bound the fierce talons securely. Then with infinite -precaution he slipped off the chain from its ring, and held the exotic -biped firmly in both hands. - -The clipped wings fluttered a little, but they were contained by strong -hands. Mr. Collop made for the window. He laid his living parcel down, -where it struggled in vain; opened the shutters with infinite -precautions for avoiding sound--above, Aunt Amelia, happily deaf, was -deep in slumber; pulled up the sash so slowly that it seemed an age; -went back on tiptoe, extinguished the light and--a stroke of -genius--went noisily upstairs, bearing the parrot, to give full warning -to anyone who might be still awake that he had gone to bed, after all. -He tumbled his bed about. He returned. - -He came down gingerly in shoeless feet, and stepped out into the night. - -The stillness was awful, but all propitious to his plan. The thin snow -lay even and spotless on the grass on either side of the avenue. The -nearer trees were clear in the half light. The gravel walk, though well -swept and clear of snow, leaving no trace of his passage, was bitterly -cold to his thinly clad feet--for his socks were of silk, I am glad to -say. - -There was a wintry mist and beyond it the white suffused radiance of the -moon. - -He looked up cautiously. There was not a chink of light in any window. -All slept, and the Holy One presided in the heavens above, beyond the -fog in her blurred aureole of light. It was the hour for great deeds. -And a great deed was done. - -Mr. Collop, with infinite precautions, lifted up his captive and planted -its two talons firmly upon the snow to the side of the swept alleyway -and pointing at a small, most aged and somewhat stunted oak about thirty -yards ahead of him on the edge of the swept path. He himself kept -crouching on the swept gravel and holding poor Attaboy to the side above -the snow. Then, still creeping noiselessly along, he planted the bird's -claws down again about six inches further. And so on, hop by hop. - -It was merciful in Providence to have spared that tropical exile any too -sensitive nerves in its claws; but it protested. It thought the march an -indignity, and it was abominably cold. The parrot squirmed. The parrot -resisted. But the parrot was for it. - -Six inches by six inches the double imprint of the claws appeared in a -lengthening chain upon the thin snow until they had come to within ten -feet of the oak. Then did Mr. Collop most cautiously rise from his stoop -and, taking the bird under his left arm and standing upon tiptoe, -stretch his right hand up to a small hollow in the stump of a branch -that had decayed long ago: he felt its concavity. It would do. He -carefully felt for the emerald in (now) his waistcoat pocket. It was -safe. He turned back swiftly towards the great dark house in the -moonlight. - -The thing was accomplished. - -As stealthily as he had come, but far more rapidly, thanking Heaven that -still no light showed through any cranny of the mansion, he loped back, -shut the window down again with infinite precautions and even then -dreaded a slight sound, put his dumb confederate back, released it of -its bandages, slipped on the cover of the cage, and crept up to bed. - - * * * * * * * - -So true it is that once in every man's life comes an opportunity and -that in every man some talent, however unsuspected, lurks. - - - - -CHAPTER FOURTEEN - - -Sunday morning had dawned brilliant, had grown in splendour. The mist -had gone. A low but clear and even glorious sun flashed heaven athwart -the snowy levels and transfigured the winter sky. - -The Home Secretary came down to breakfast late, and no wonder! Marjorie -came down to breakfast late, and no wonder! Tommy and Vic came down -late, and no wonder! The Professor and Aunt Amelia had met at the table -before anyone else was about. If she expected a flirtation, she was -disappointed. If he expected a quiet reading of the Sunday newspaper, he -was more bitterly disappointed still. The advent of the late comers was -a relief. - -Last of all drifted in, heavy-eyed but big with mastery achieved, the -Collop. - -At that breakfast very little was said. McTaggart was getting used to -the rich. He lit a pipe. But he stood mum. - -Victoria Mosel and Tom Galton met in Marking Room. - -"Vic," said Tommy Galton, "who do you think has got it?" He lounged back -in the absurdly low, fat chair, letting himself go all loose, as is the -habit of your hard-riding man--especially those who pull horses--and -looking down at her calves after the admirable breeding of our day. - -"You haven't, anyhow, Tommy!" lisped Victoria Mosel, in spite of the -hanging cigarette. "I've got that much!" - -"Thank God for that! Spread it!" said Galton. - -"Thank me, too," said Vic. - -"All right. Thank _you_, too. Damn you! Who's got it?" - -Victoria Mosel turned round, spat the fragment of the cigarette into the -fire, and lit another one. - -"I'm thinking," she said. - -"The natural thing," said Galton, shutting his eyes, "would be that -putrid fellah McTaggart: the journalist fellah!" - -"_He_ hasn't got it," said Vic decidedly. "And he's not so putrid, -either. Nothin' like as putrid as you are!" - -"That's neither here nor there. He's putrid, all right. Shall I tell you -who's got it?" - -"You don't know," said Vic. "Lie away." - -"Old Footle's got it," said Tommy, with decision. "Cousin Bill. It may -be sewn into his sagging skin: but he's got it." - -Victoria Mosel looked at him curiously through her half-closed -buttonhole eyes. - -"Go on!" she said. - -"I saw him take it," said Galton. "I saw him with my own eyes." - -"And you told the chief, I suppose?" said Vic, with a sneer. - -"Yes, I told him," answered Tommy determinedly. - -"More fool you!" said Vic, sighing. "He hasn't. Old Bill hasn't got it, -Tommy.... I've been watching you all since Collop came under this -accursed roof. The Don's not oppressed. It's not with _him_. _He_ hasn't -got it." - -"Well, then, who _has_, Vic? Damn it, who _has_?" savagely. - -Then did Victoria Mosel open her eyes wide, as wide as cigar-shaped eyes -can open, and look at the questioner; next she folded her lids into a -most natural slit of repose, and turned her gaze to the ceiling, saying: - -"Look here, Tommy, I've told you already that _you_ haven't got it, and -that ought to be enough for you. _You_ ought to be grateful. In fact, -you _were_ grateful just now. Only gratitude's short-lived." - -"I believe you've got the stinking brooch, Vic," said her cousin (by -marriage) surlily. - -"You said that before--and I said, search me! I wish to Christ I had," -said Vic. "I'd hand it on through Baba to the van Burens next time -Archie went to Amsterdam. They'd know what to do with it! I should get -it back in four pieces. They'd keep the fifth--but I'd net a bellyful!" - -The young man got up from his lounge and stood surlily with his hands in -his pockets. - -"It's got to be found!" he said. - -"It'll be found all right," assured Vic deliberately. "And who'll be -relieved then, my boy?" And she dug a lean elbow with maidenly modesty -under his fifth rib. - -"Go to hell!" shouted the goaded Tommy. He intended to convey, after his -fashion, that the conversation was closed. - -He sauntered out of the room and Victoria Mosel, who always liked a warm -chair in winter, sank back into the seat he had abandoned. She lit her -third cigarette, the fifteenth of that morning, and shut her eyes to -think over the matter fully. She had been up late the night before and -Sunday morning is a good time for repose. She fell into a lounging -little self-sufficient sleep, and snored in a gentle fashion, not -unmusical ... dear Victoria! - -And that was the end of the judgment passed by one select--and -small--section of the governing classes upon a problem so closely -concerning them all. - - * * * * * * * - -But the moment of revelation had come. Mr. Collop dared not stay, lest -sure steps should obliterate the unwilling traces of Attaboy across the -snow. - -"None of 'em going to church, I hopes?" said he to his host after -breakfast. - -"Surely! Surely some one," was all the Victorian could say. - -"Well," brutally, "none of 'em can. They've all got to be here together. -We want every witness, sir; every one.... _I've found the emerald_!" - -"What? Eh! What!" staggered Humphrey de Bohun. - -"_I've found the emerald_!" repeated the policeman enormously. "... -Leastways, I've found where it is." - -"What am I to do?" begged the statesman, all of a flutter. "What are -your plans? It's urgent! Innocent men must be cleared!" - -"Orl in good time!" pronounced the majestic Collop. "Orl in good time! -First tell 'em there's no church this morning. Go and tell 'em that. -Soak into 'em all. I've got to 'ave my witnesses--and you'll be glad, -too, when it's over." - -In his heart the Victorian relic, bleeding though he was from such a -manner, felt that he would.... Anything to get it over! - -"I've got a word to say to you, Sir Humphrey"--it was no longer "My -lord"--"afore we summons 'em, and then you shall see what you shall see. -Meanwhile, you go and tell 'em to stand by. I'll bide 'ere." - -And he bided, while the far wealthier and therefore greater man trotted -round on his errand. - -"I'm sorry," he said to each couple, as he ferreted it out, "but I must -ask you not to go out. _The emerald's found_; at least ... you'll see. -Only wait where you are just a moment. I'll send for you all." - -He repeated that phrase three times and fixed them to their stations; -then he ran back to the deliverer. - -He found the deliverer at the door of the West Room. - -"Come in here, Mr. Dee Boe Hun," he said. "Look round, Sir -Humphrey--what do you perceive?" - -"Nothing," said the Home Secretary. Then he found the manhood to add, -"Hurry up!" - -"Ar! 'Urry up, is it?" said the masterful policeman deliberately. "Now -there's a little point to be settled first." He compressed his lips, as -though for a reprimand to an inferior. "The first thing that's got to be -proved--and that's simple--is, was there a winder left open here the -night o' the great disaster?" - -"You mean on Friday night? The day before yesterday? The night the jewel -was dropped?" - -"Yep!" answered Mr. Collop. "I do." - -"A window?" repeated the statesman, remembering the shutters, the -curtains, the fire, all the scene. - -"A winder was left open," insisted bovinely Mr. Collop. "I'll lay to -that. And if you'll settle that p'int you'll see 'ow the rest'll follow. -I tell you I 'ave me clue; it's more than a clue; it's a find. Ye'll -see!" - -The mechanism of a great house (delightful thought!) involves a -hierarchy. The Home Secretary rang, and asked for the butler. An -underling sought Mr. George Whaley, and Mr. George Whaley arrived. There -was that in his eye which might have alarmed or warned the Head of the -de Bohuns; but the Head of the de Bohuns was passing weary in the head -just now, and he noted nothing. - -"Oh!" he said, "I wanted you, Whaley ... to ask you--er--whether ... -yes, to ask you who it is who does the room here in the early morning? -Who, for instance, would be in the room here, say, well, before anybody -else?" - -George Whaley coughed discreetly. - -"By rights, sir," he said, "it ought to be Annie. But it is possible, of -course, that the Boy----" - -"Ah! yes," said the Home Secretary. "The Boy. Of course!" He had vaguely -heard that the Boy was the servant of the servants of the gods. "Well -then, you think it would be the Boy? Send me the Boy!" - -"Very good, sir," said George Whaley. But as there had been that in his -eyes, so there was now that in his more manly gesture, as he turned -round to pass majestically through the door, which might have warned -once more, his master that he, George Whaley, had acquired new powers. -There was a sense of approaching equality with the Great in George -Whaley's waddle as he went through the door. From the mere dependent he -was attaining the higher and political rank of blackmailer. But all -these indications fell without effect upon the jaded de Bohun. - -The Boy appeared. He stood at attention, after a fashion he had seen at -the pictures. He stared with gooseberry eyes at his employer. The head -of the de Bohuns was kind to him. - -"Look here, boy," he said. "Look here. I've got to ask you something. -Did you open a window in this room, or leave it open, or find it open, -yesterday, Saturday morning--eh? Were you here before anybody else--eh? -You understand what I mean. Did you open a window, or any window, or -find one open--eh?" - -The boy Ethelbert, standing as stiff as a poker and on the verge of -tears, gave tongue. - -"I ain't done nuthin'!" he said. "Don't yer say I took that em'ral'! I -never did! I never set eyes on it. Don't you say that. It ain't true. I -knows no more about it than the child unborn, what's in the Good Book." - -The Head of the House was annoyed. - -"Who's saying you did, you little fool? All I want to know is, whether -the window was open?" - -"I never touched it!" complained the youth more loudly still, and -stiffer than ever, but with tears already gathering in his eyes. "I -never did! So 'elp me Gawd! I couldn't tell it from a chunk o' cheese. I -don't know what it looks like. I wish I may die. I wish I may drop down -dead 'ere an' now!" - -Collop, the policeman, took charge. - -"Look 'ere, me lad," he said in the fine bullying voice of his noble -trade, "none o' that! Did yer leave the window open, or 'ave yer seen it -open?" - -"Oo're you?" perked Ethelbert, stunned to boldness by terror, though -still at attention. "Mr. de Bones 'e's my master; not you!" Then turning -to that master, he continued, "I tell you, sir, straight honest from the -shoulder, I'm a British lad, I am, so help me Gawd as made me own sweet -self and little apples, I swear I never seen the thing." - -"Look here, child," said Mr. de Bohun in a final sort of fashion, "was -there a window open or was there not?" - -"No, sir, there was nawt." - -"Why the hell couldn't you say that before?" muttered the politician. -"You're sure there was not?" he added. "Was there a catch undone?" - -"Never mind about the catch," broke in Collop. "Time'll show that -doesn't matter." - -"There wasn't a window open, sir, at all, till I opened one, sir," said -the Boy, "to let in Gawd's fresh air--which is orders." - -"Oh, you _did_ open one then?" said his master. - -"Yes, sir!" said Ethelbert, still at attention. - -"Ah! _Now_ we're getting on!" said Collop. "That's what I always said. A -winder was opened! Eh? A winder was opened! Now you mark me," he went -on, turning to his host and tapping the palm of his round left hand with -the stubby forefinger of his right. "That's another clue. A winder was -open." - -"Don't you dare say I touched it!" from the distraught Ethelbert. - -"You shut yer mouth, boy," answered Collop without courtesy. "Tell him -to shut his mouth, sir--tell him plain. He's distracting me." - -"But there's some on us," went on Ethelbert desperately, refusing to -shut that mouth, "as might speak if we knew...." - -"Ah, now," said de Bohun eagerly. "Do you hear that, Mr. Collop? Do you -hear that? The Boy may reveal ..." - -Collop stepped in between. "Pay no attention, Mr. Dee Boe Hun. I got my -clue, and we mustn't 'ave no cross scents. You take me?" - -"Well," said his host, legitimately nettled, "I don't see any harm in -getting whatever evidence we can." - -"Ah, and you're right there," said young Ethelbert, still at attention. -"And what's that sime hevidence, eh? That's what I say, sir. -Hevidence--as clear as daylight, from them as knows. There's some as -could speak if they would, and some as knows what others doesn't know. -It isn't always them as needs things most as pinches 'em. And maybe, -times, it's them as needs 'em least as pinches 'em!" He lowered his -voice and mysteriously added, "The 'ighest!" - -"Look here, Boy," said de Bohun, fatigued with such recitals: "if you've -got anything to say, say it. Mr. Collop and I are pressed." - -"What I've got to say," answered Ethelbert, with a solemnity beyond his -years, "is plain enough, I tike it. 'Oo's to blame? Mum's the word. But -there's some in this house that's 'igher than others. And 'oo's the -'ighest? A lord, I tike it?" - -"Do you mean Lord Galton, child?" said the peer's cousin, sharply. "Are -you saying Lord Galton took the Emerald?" - -"I've named no names," said Ethelbert, trembling between fear and -importance. "But this I do say, and it is ..." - -"Have you any evidence against Lord Galton?" - -"Now, Mr. Dee Boe Hun," urged Mr. Collop with decisive hands. "Now, -please don't let's 'ave a cross scent." - -The Home Secretary waved him aside. The family was concerned. - -"What have you got against--or about--Lord Galton? Say what you have to -say, and let's have it over." - -"What I've got to say," said the Boy, "is what is but my plain duty to -say. I names no names. I asks no questions and I don't get told no -lies!" - -"Upon my word!" cried his master angrily, almost moved to action. The -boy Ethelbert at the end of so long a tension gave a loud cry of terror -and suddenly whipped round and fled through the open door. - -They were disconcerted. - -"Well, Mr. Collop," said Mr. de Bohun on the child's vanishing, "that's -another complication. It's Lord Galton now!" and he sank into a chair. -Things were becoming too much for him. - -"Don't you believe 'im," said Mr. Collop firmly. "What I say is, no -cross scents. What do 'ounds do when they find a cross scent?" - -Mr. de Bohun would have been only too happy to tell him, but he had -never hunted. - -"Why, they miss the right one. That's wot they do. And do they catch the -fox? No. A thousand times, no! Now," said he, again tapping that palm of -his with that forefinger of his. "You mark! Forget all about Lord -Galton. It's servant's romancing. I told you I already 'ad one clue. And -'ere I've gone and got _another_ clue! An' they both fit in.... And -now," he added peculiarly, gazing out of the window as though he would -admire the wintry morning with its clear scintillating skies, "I'd have -you note another clue. Look there," he said--and with the gesture of -Hannibal pointing out the plains of Italy, Mr. Collop extended his left -arm and directed his somewhat too thick forefinger towards the avenue -and the sheets of snow on either side of the great gravel walk. "What -have we there?" he said. - -De Bohun, weary after his sleepless night, had to get up again from his -chair and look where he was bidden. "I ... I don't see anything, Mr. -Collop," he said. - -"No," said Mr. Collop indulgently. "You wouldn't. It wants a trained -eye. Now, you'll excuse me, sir, but if you 'ad been in the Yard as I -'ave, and as long as I 'ave, you'd see something. It's only a fine -indication, like, but your mind would leap to it. At least mine 'as. Do -you notice any marks on that snow?" - -Mr. de Bohun honestly said he could not--nor could any man have seen any -from where he stood. - -"I certainly see no footprints," he said. - -"Footprints o' wot?" answered Mr. Collop. "Footprints o' 'uman beings? -Man and woman? Leastways boots? Nah!" and he shook his head. "You -want ... you want your eyes better skinned than that in our trade, if -you'll excuse me saying it. Shall I _tell_ you what's there? I can see -it." - -His host was justly irritated. "Well, I can't," he exploded. "What _is_ -there?" - -Mr. Collop leant over, made a shell of his hand and whispered in a voice -to wake the dead: - -"Footprints of a fowl! Leastways," he added hurriedly, "not a domestic -fowl, I mean. But a bird. A bird's been there!" he added, nodding -solemnly. - -"Well, what of it?" said the last of the de Bohuns, still more -irritated. - -"Ah! You'll see!" said Mr. Collop, in a tone of great equality. - -He stepped back, pulled his waistcoat down over his paunch, passed his -hand cavalierly over his abominable moustache, and gave an order--as -though he were master--for he now felt himself securely in the saddle. - -"Summon 'em here," he said, with a large wave of his right hand, "summon -'em all. It's accomplished!" - -"Summon who?" - -"Me feller guests," said Mr. Collop. "They shall witness the -_daynoumong_ and their souls shall be eased." - -"Mr. Collop," said the harassed Home Secretary, "what need is there for -this?" - -"Witnesses! Mr. Dee Boe Hun!" royally. "Record! You'll be astonished." - -"Very well, Mr. Collop, if you require them." - -He made a gesture as though again to ring; then thought better of it and -went out himself, looking at his watch as he moved to the door. He had -seen no one go out. It was not yet half past ten o'clock: no one would -yet have started for church. He remembered with pleasure that for once -in her life Victoria Mosel had come to breakfast. He ferreted them all -out, McTaggart cowering as usual--and very sad--in the old smoking-room; -Galton and Vic, whom he surprised in the very act of repeating the word -"putrid," he found in the library, already stale with smoke; Aunt Amelia -he dragged out, almost by force, from the corner of the little -morning-room where she was sitting, half somnolent, like the good mutton -she was, her knitting laid aside on the Holy Day and wondering by the -clock whether it was time for her to put on her bonnet (help!) for -church. The Professor he had the good luck to catch at the very last -moment as he was making for the glass doors of the hall, all ready -muffled up for a walk. As for Marjorie, he had to go and find her in her -room where she was desperately locked in, miserable. - -"Mr. Collop has got something to tell us, my dear. Won't you come down?" - -"Blast him!" came in tearful, broken tones from within. - -"No, my dear, but please do come down. He really wants us all." - -"I don't believe it's any use--no use at all, the rotter!" broke out -that tearful voice. - -"Marjorie, dear, please come." - -"Very well"--with a grunt from within--"but it's no use!" - -So the shepherd got his flock together. He was in a strange mood that -the occasion was ceremonial, and he felt a fool. He almost counted heads -as he roped in his little herd. They were all there. They filtered into -the West Room, expecting little, and annoyed in their various ways; -Marjorie hideous with recent tears, Aunt Amelia almost baa-a-ing, the -Professor inept, McTaggart desperately out of place, the puller of -horses more sullen than ever, and ah! the triumphant Victoria Mosel, -cool as the woodland goddess of old songs--but smoking. - - -[Illustration: _Birds of the Empire. -II.--The Parrot Attaboy, out of action._] - - -They stood huddled in the West Room under that Sunday morning light, -looking on the ravaged furniture, the staring pink circle where the now -demolished glass had saved the paper from fading, the Parrot's cage--but -gazing above all on the immortal Collop and awaiting his great news. - -In that solemn and expectant silence--the chimes for church were -ringing--the parrot sneezed three times, with a grievance, and very -hoarsely muttered "Attaboy!" and shivered. It had a cold in the head. - -Nor did Lord Galton wince--though that parrot had suddenly revealed to -him a world of things about his cousin's conversations when his back was -turned. - - - - -CHAPTER FIFTEEN - - -Mr. Collop was standing dramatically in the midst of that large -apartment, a squat tower of triumphant modesty and unassailable success. - -"I asked His Honour, Mr. Dee Boe Hun, to bring you all in," he said, as -though they were a school, "so's ye might see how things like this are -_done_. It's the end of what's been troubling you all; what's been -biting you! Oh! I know your distress," he added kindly, fixing Galton -with his eye first, then the Professor. "But first and to start with, I -'ave a confession to make, I 'ave. Ye thought me His Majesty's -representative in Bogotar, just returned." He smiled genially. "Ar! ye -thought that, and nat'rally enough. Well, now, I'm free to tell ye the -truth. An' in _my_ trade," he went on, crossing his arms boldly, "that's -not too often, Gawd helping us! Now 'oo am I? I'm from the Yard. In -plain English, I'm what they call a detective. Now don't start!" he -added, releasing his left hand and holding it up. Nor had any of them -started, least of all Aunt Amelia, who had not clearly heard the last -words. "There's no 'arm done, there's none o' you to blame. There's none -o' you suspect. You'll none o' you have the darbies on," he added, with -kindly jocularity. "Oo's done it?" - -"I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure ..." began the Professor with ready -tongue. - -"You'll excuse _me_, Professor," said Mr. Collop with dignity, "but I -must continue. Ah! 'oo's done it, I arsk? The question we 'ave all on us -been asking. And now"--with mysterious dignity--"ye shall see. If any -of ye is for wrapping up before ye go out of doors say so. It's only a -little turn." - -No one was for wrapping up before going out of doors. They were getting -intrigued. - -"Foller me," said Mr. Collop after the fashion of the great leaders of -mankind. He threw open the window towards the avenue and heavily -straddled himself out. The Professor's long legs followed; young Lord -Galton, a good deal bored, with his hands in his pockets, took it at a -stride; Marjorie's short skirts negotiated it; McTaggart tried to jump -it, hit his head on the sash, rubbed it, and then more sensibly walked -across. As for Vic, she put a bony hand upon the sill and vaulted -lightly over. Poor Aunt Amelia stood looking after them in vain, like -the women of Ithaca when first the king sailed away to the gathering of -the chiefs and of whom it is written: - - - "This is the hall where all the women spinning - Sang of the Kings who sailed away to Troy." - - -She could not vault; she could not even stride. Lastly, the Home -Secretary himself hooked a lean shank over and stood with the shivering -group. Outside they all came on to the swept gravel of the avenue, with -its row of bare trees and its border of broad snow on either side. Mr. -Collop with a gesture still more majestic than any he had yet assumed, -pointed with iron hand and arm at the light snow which covered the grass -upon the right. There, sure enough, was the mark of a bird's claw. And -side by side with it, the other triple mark of the bird's other claw. - -"A bird 'ops," pontificated Mr. Collop, significantly. "'E don't -run--'cept ostriches and such like. 'E 'ops. Foller me!" - -His left hand slightly clenched, with his right he pointed down -continuously to the border of the snow, whence, at short intervals, -those two triple marks appeared and reappeared. - -"Mark you," said Mr. Collop, facing the group--the now half-frozen -group. "I said, a bird 'ops. What 'opped 'ere? A bird!" - -They approached the fatal tree. - -"And 'ere," said Mr. Collop in the tone of a guide conducting a party of -tourists, "our marks are lost. And for why? 'E takes the air! Whither -will 'e take the air? Put ye'self in his place. Whither would a bird -take the air from hence, seeing what fatal burden 'e bore in 'is beak?" -He half waved, half pointed, with his left hand at the hollow-branched -stump just higher than their heads and some ten feet away. "Foller me," -he said again. - -They followed him--but not to the point of going on the snow, which Mr. -Collop did with great courage and resolution. He stood on tiptoe by the -trunk and stretched his clenched left hand upward, groped with it hidden -to the wrist in the hollow of the rotten branch, lifted it out again -high between them and the frosty January sky. There held between the -thumb and forefinger, unmistakable, recovered, was the Emerald. - -"What did I tell yer?" he waved triumphantly in that keen air, "Brains, -gentlemen ... ladies _and_ gentlemen, I mean.... Brains! Induction." And -he calmly slipped the gem into his pocket. - -Had they been in a warm room they would have applauded: it was so -exactly like the best tricks. But they were cold. They huddled back. It -was only twenty or thirty yards; they would be in the warmth again in a -moment. - -I know very well that there ought to have been a shock of surprise. A -cheer. Excitement. What you will. But, Lord! it was so cold! - -One by one they clambered, straddled, strode, vaulted, crawled and -shambled over the low window ledge and back into the room. Mr. Collop -came last, and slammed the window down behind him: and Aunt Amelia -welcomed them as might the old nurse of Ulysses when he returned at last -from so much wandering. As the warm air revived them they began to feel -him, very rightly, a hero. - -"Now," said he, "shall I show ye all 'ow these things are done? Step by -step, unbeknownst to others? Ah! It's worth knowing! Look 'ere," and he -began, their interest rising as their blood began to move again: "You -mayn't see it, but I see it, here on this parky floor." He stooped down -and tapped it with his finger. "Little marks. Little marks." - -There were no little marks--but no matter. He had done his best to -suggest them. The Professor greatly helped them by his folly. - -"Yes! I see! Oh! Yes! Most interesting! I see them now!" - -"And where does they lead? Why, to the winder. Then what did I say to -myself? I ses, 'A bird! A daw!' And mark you, gentlemen--ladies and -gentlemen, I mean--I didn't come to that blindly, either. For you'll -pardon me, but I know what you'd all said." - -The guests looked--or at least, most of them did--at their host. But he -was modestly regarding the carpet. - -"I know as 'ow you 'ad, all or most of you, felt suspected like and -might well enough think you could each o' ye be certain which o' ye it -was. And ye were wrong," he continued, wagging his head solemnly. "Orl -wrong! It was but an innocent bird. Or a thievish bird. Any'ow--a bird. -That's what it was--a bird. When I 'eard of your confusion from our good -host here"--and again Mr. de Bohun looked anyhow--"I says to meself, -'They're innocent, they are!' That was my first clue. Orl innocent," he -emphasized cheerily, nodding in a nice heartening way to McTaggart, the -Professor and young Galton, the last of whom said, almost audibly, to -Vic, "The stinker!" and to whom Vic whispered back, "Well, he found it, -anyhow!" - -"Orl innocent," went on Mr. Collop. "Orl as white as the driven snow. -And 'oo set things right and proved you so? Why, yours truly.... First, -arter I'd thought 'ard orl night, I looks by the first white o' morning -at the parky--and sure enough I sees them faint prints on the wax, like: -an' them near the winder. What are the birds as thieves? Why, daws! Now, -ladies and gentlemen, daws 'as claws; talons, ye may call 'em, of a -'ighly partic'lar kind. It's our business in my trade to know orl we -can--and I can tell a daw's claws from any other claws, or paws ... any -other in the wide world. - -"So wot does I do? In this same early morning, afore any one of ye were -up--at any rate, afore any of yer had showed themselves, I was out -trailing. Sure enough, there I found where the bird had gone, for I -marked his prints on the snow. When I found where the bird 'ad 'opped -to, I follered to where he'd sat on the air. When I found where he'd -taken the air, what does I do? Did I say to myself, ''E 'as flown far, -far away; give up the search, William Collop? You are proven right, but -the hem'rald will not be seen again by mortal eye.' Did I despair thus? -No, not I! I thinks to myself, knowing the habits of birds better than -most--we 'ave to know such things in our trade--he 'as put it near by, -so's to be able to come and gloat on it. They love to go and gloat on -what they 'ave taken, do daws. Then I noted that rotten stump o' branch -just convenient to the bird where he took the air, and I says -'Yureeker,' which is, being interpreted, 'Found.' But I didn't touch -that bole; no, I trusted to my induction. I was as sure it was there as -though I'd seen it, and I wanted to lead up to it step by step so's ye -might be witness to the discovery. Weren't I right? - -"That's why I asked you all to be brought 'ere. That's why I took you -all out and made the thing clear to you before your own eyes; William -Collop said he'd find the hem'rald where his induction told him it would -be. And there he found it!" - -His face was irradiated with no common glory. - -"An' now," he said, at the end of this harangue, and plunging his hand -into his coat pocket to fish out the gem, "now I restore it--'Ullo!" he -frowned; the groping of his hand in his pocket looked like some small -animal fighting in a bag. "'Ullo!" he repeated and still he groped. -"'Ullo--'ullo! Wot's this!" His face grew black. He eyed successively -with some disfavour the Professor, McTaggart and Galton. "You were all -close together," he said suspiciously, "as we came through that winder!" -Then suddenly, "Ah! 'ere it is! Smother me if it 'adn't gone through a -hole in the lining. That's my missus, that is. She's that careless." And -turning the receptacle inside out he gingerly picked the jewel from the -tear between the sateen, with threads still attached to its setting. - -"There now! Wot was I saying? I restore it to its rightful owner!" And -with a bow, unlike that of Lord Chesterfield's dancing master, he handed -it to Marjorie. - -"Oh, thank you, Mr. Collop, thank you!" said Marjorie. "Thank you a -thousand times. I don't know how to thank you!" - -"It's really very remarkable, Mr. Collop, very remarkable indeed. Very -remarkable," said the Home Secretary. He went so far as to wring his -subordinate by the hand. "We are infinitely obliged to you." - -The guilty three were less enthusiastic; but they murmured as though -they would be polite--though Galton's murmur, overheard by Vic, was, "I -believe he pinched it himself!" And Vic answered in a second whisper, -"Fat-head!"--a chosen epithet delivered with such real contempt in the -slit of a dark eye as made the poor horse-puller wince. - -Then Aunt Amelia bleated: - -"I don't quite understand. _Who_ does Mr. Collop say stole the emerald?" - -"Amelia! Amelia!" protested her brother severely. - -"But I want to know," began poor Aunt Amelia pathetically. "I didn't -hear properly. I want to know who it is has been found to have stolen -the ..." - -Her brother interrupted desperately. - -"I'm so sorry," he cried, turning to the others, but directing his -remarks particularly and courteously to McTaggart, as the stranger. "You -must excuse my sister. She does not always hear." - -"I must thank you myself, personally and warmly, Mr. Collop," said -Marjorie, the ancient courtesy of the Bohuns strong in her veins. "We'd -all got lousy with worry, and you've hit the cocoanut." - -"Thank you, Miss, I'm sure," said Mr. Collop, bowing again in the manner -aforesaid. - -And they all drew apart to various rooms, but Victoria Mosel, lingering -for a moment, whispered in Mr. Collop's ear, "I saw it in your hand -_before_ the tree!" The detective started. "For Gawd's sake!" he pleaded -under his breath. - -"All right, I don't give people away." She nodded reassuringly and -slipped away.... Hence for so many years the devoted service of Mr. -Collop whenever Victoria cared to summon him. - -The Home Secretary had detained McTaggart, catching his arm as he turned -to go, and had said, "Wait a moment, Mr. McTaggart, wait a moment. Mr. -Collop, I think it is only just to say in your presence that I had -repeated to this young gentleman--not my suspicions--they were not my -suspicions--but what I had been told were the suspicions of others." - -Mr. Collop bowed again in the aforesaid manner. - -"Mr. McTaggart," the Home Secretary continued, "I'm going to ask Mr. -Collop to let us have a few words together alone. Mr. Collop, where may -I see you in five minutes?" - -"Where you will," said Mr. Collop with chivalry. "I'll be looking at the -old paintings in the 'all. The ancestors, I've seen them in the ball -room already," he added, nor was there any irony in his innocent soul. - -When he had shut the door behind him, the poor old Home Secretary put an -almost fatherly hand on McTaggart's shoulder. - -"My dear young sir," he said, "what can I do? How can I apologise? It is -not enough to ask you to forgive me. May I ask to communicate with you -when we reach town?" - -The mind of McTaggart was not alert, but even he foresaw the -possibilities. Politicians have not very great power nowadays save in -patronage; that they still do retain; of public money there are some odd -millions every year at the disposal of the politicians. It is only fair -to say that most of them are content with moderate pickings for -themselves and their connections. - -Therefore did McTaggart answer with a natural prescience of coming -advantage. "It is very good of you, sir. May I call at the Home Office?" - -"Yes, yes. Shall we say Thursday at noon?" De Bohun marked it in a -little pocket book and then joined Collop in the hall, as McTaggart -walked off. - -"Mr. Collop," he said, "won't you come back and talk to me a moment in -private?" - -They returned together. And exactly the same scene was rehearsed, except -that he dared not put a hand on the shoulder of such a being as Collop. - -"Mr. Collop," he said, "you know that the Department of which I am the -head is proud of you." - -"Thank you, sir," said Mr. Collop sedately. "Thank you very much." He -then added: "I have only done my duty...." But I am glad to say that he -did not add "as a man is bound to do," for if he had done that de Bohun, -whose nerves were already on edge, might have had a fit. However, he -meant something of that kind. So let it be credited to him. - -"Mr. Collop," went on the Home Secretary, "when I go to the office -to-morrow, Monday, I hope you will allow me to make a particular point -of seeing you. Men of your kind must not be wasted." - -"Thank you, sir," said Collop again, in a tone which showed a full sense -of his worth. "I shall always be at your orders." - -And so, you will say, the great thing ended. - -Wrong again. - -De Bohun had sunk back into his chair, now at last at rest. There were -still inexplicable things drifting through his mind. He had vague -memories of Galton accusing his cousin the Professor, and the Professor -accusing McTaggart, and McTaggart spotting Collop; of himself accusing -McTaggart; of the boy Ethelbert accusing Galton. He even had confused -recollections of their actually swearing to things they had seen which -they could not have seen. But he sighed with deep content at the -solution of it all, and he thought of his daughter's relief. He decided -to worry himself with contradictions no more. The emerald had been -found; a bird had taken it, and no one was to blame. That man Collop had -genius.... Marjorie would be in a better temper now. He shut his tired -eyes. He was on the point of falling into a short sleep after so much -strain when there was a knock at the door, and he saw as he opened his -eyes again, not too pleased at being wakened, the august, the discreet, -the considerable figure of George Whaley. - - - - -CHAPTER SIXTEEN - - -"I beg your pardon, sir! May I have the honour of a moment's confidential -word with you?" - -The refined, the courteous phrase, was followed by a discreet cough. The -cough was a trifle mechanical, the words a little too rapidly spoken, as -is (alas!) the common fate of words learned by heart for a set piece, -whether by front benchers or perjuring policemen. What followed was -marred by the same slight defect, but it was at least clear. It rattled -out--to quote a noble simile from the _Wallet of Kai Lung_--"like a -stream of pearls dropped into a bowl of jade." - -"There has come to my knowledge sir which would grieve my 'eart to -distraction and breaking were it not overcome by the more powerful -emotion of gratitude for so many happy years passed under this 'ere roof -at Paulings I mean this roof at Paulings and formerly when we had a town -house if I may make so bold in one hundred and twelve Curzon Street -Mayfair moved by this my 'eart would not let me keep silent. Oh! sir. I -know the dread secret and if I come to speak of it it is from loyal -affection and no other cause and here and now I put at your service as -in duty bound all that has come" ... here Mr. Whaley suddenly clasped a -fat right hand against his chest: He ought to have done it at the word -"heart," but the brakes had slipped and he had run past the station ... -"all that has come to the knowledge of these poor humble ears of mine -which would rather have been closed in death than have suffered the -agony of them fatal news but told it shall not be to other human soul -nor yet only to you for the respect I bear to that 'igh name of Deeboon -which saving your honour sir ..." - -Humphrey de Bohun put his lean hands on his lean knees, sat up, and -stared at this high-geared human gramophone on speed. - -"What on earth ..." he began. "Look here, Whaley, have you been -drinking? ... Now, mark me, Whaley!" Humphrey de Bohun could speak with -astonishing decision when he felt quite secure that the person spoken to -was unable to answer back. "I've always made one absolute rule in this -house. Any servant of mine who is found the worse for liquor--I don't -care _where_," and he swept his feeble head down to the southwest, "I -don't care _how_"--he swept it again--"I don't ... damn it, I don't even -care on _what_! leaves me there and then!" He leaned back again, -somewhat exhausted. - -"You wound me, sir," said George Whaley with dignity. "Ah, sir! you -wound me! Indeed you do!" - -"Wound your what?" said the Home Secretary, without sufficient -consideration. - -"My honour, sir," said George Whaley. "And a loyal heart." - -This time he remembered the connection of the word "heart" with the -appropriate gesture, and he planked his hand on his merrythought with -the noise of a distant 9.2. - -The Home Secretary remembered the lessons of his youth, the high -traditions of the de Bohuns. - -"I owe you an apology, Whaley," he said, in the appropriate -faded-earnest manner. "But the truth is, I can't pretend to follow what -you were saying. I don't suggest that you spoke too quickly.... I was in -a reverie when you came in. The fault is mine. Proceed." - -And in his turn George Whaley proceeded--but the chain was broken; he -was thrown back upon impromptu too; and a native terseness, not to say -inhibition of speech, returned to him. - -"Well, sir," and he coughed, "I'm afraid it's rather a delicate matter," -and he looked at the nails of his fingers. "Perhaps I ought to plunge -_in medias res_." He sighed. "I've 'eard it's usually the wiser plan in -cases like these." - -He stood for some fifteen seconds, his bold head with its fringe of grey -hair slightly on one side, and gazing at the exalted culprit with -infinite compassion. Then did George Whaley begin to shake that head, -and there escaped him words unusual to his daily life, but native to his -reading of fiction and to his experience on the stage. - -"Ah me! Ah me!" he said. - -"Look here, Whaley," said his master smartly. "What's the matter? Are -you ill? Are you mad? Have you"--in a softer voice--"have you perhaps -suffered some sudden bereavement?" - -"Only the bereavement of a loyal heart deceived, bewildered," moaned -George Whaley, quoting textually from _The Waifs of the Whirlwind_. He -linked his hands before his ample waistcoat and hung his saddened head. - - -[Illustration: _The Home Secretary's Butler taking the -liberty to observe: "Thou art -the man."_] - - -"Upon my word!" cried Humphrey de Bohun, moved to unexpected energy by -an intolerable boredom, "this kind of thing's got to stop. Speak out, -man, and don't make a fool of yourself!" He pulled out his watch. "I've -not got all the time there is! Hurry up, now! Surely you can speak -plainly!" - -"I can," said George Whaley, in tones of gloom, and moved by a mighty -resolution. He was standing upright now; he fixed his employer with a -steady glance, and each hand was half clenched at his side. "The -emerald, sir!" - -And he waited for his effect. - -"Oh, damn the emerald!" shouted Humphrey de Bohun. "If you think this is -the time, after all these two days ..." - -"It is the time," said George Whaley firmly, with a reminiscence of the -worthy mother who had brought him up in the Countess of Huntingdon's -connection and under all the discipline of the Jacobean Scriptures. -"Yea, now is the acceptable time." - -"By God!" shouted the now inflamed minister, "this has got to stop! I'll -have you certified! I'll ... I'll ..." - -But he got the thing full in the face. In a key nearly an octave lower -than that he had been using for the purposes of the great interview, -George Whaley stretched out a rigid solemn arm towards his master and -spoke the words of doom. - -"I know all... Thou art the man! It is you, sir, that have on you the -lost emerald!" - -Let me not do Humphrey de Bohun injustice. He had never yet in his life -taken an initiative. He had never tackled any one of the human species. -But there is a god latent in us all, and his name is Pan. - -"The emerald!" he shrieked. "Blackmail, eh, you damned lousy son of -a ----!" He sprang at the astonished servitor, seized him round the -neck--a dangerous gambit between elderly men, for it leads to strokes on -both sides--shook him madly from side to side, then dug his right hand -into his collar behind, swerved him round, and gave him one of those -enormous kicks which form epochs in the history of Britain. Savagely did -the unrestrained elder statesman, all the repressed manhood of half a -century bursting forth, plant his foot upon what should properly be -called the person of his unfortunate dependant and with a second gesture -sent him sprawling through the open door into the hall. - -"The emerald!" he kept on shouting, as George Whaley, groaning, pulled -himself up miserably, like a wounded sea lion. "When the hell am I to -hear the last of the emerald ... you and your emerald! ... all of you -and your emeralds! ... I wish to God! ..." A blasphemy was almost on his -lips; he had almost said that he wished the emerald had been strangled -at birth, and by such a phrase would he have forfeited the luck of the -Boneses. - -"Get out!" he continued, in a somewhat milder because exhausted tone, as -the ill-treated Good Samaritan hobbled towards the door which led to the -offices, rubbing the affected portions of his frame. "Out! Out! Out! -Never let me see your face again!" - -And they parted to meet no more. The conclusion of their mutual -relations was concluded by correspondence. - - * * * * * * * - -It is not with impunity that men between fifty and sixty, especially if -they have lived under constant self-repression--which doesn't apply to -colonels--let their angry passions rise. The Home Secretary was badly -blown. He felt groggy. His exertion was already beginning to make him a -little stiff. He halted towards the dining-room and groped for a pint of -champagne which he knew to stand by. He pulled the cork with his last -strength. He took a mighty draught. He felt better. He took another. -Then he saw the world sanely, and he saw it whole--such is the power of -the god. There was hardly a drain left. He glanced over his shoulder, -found himself alone, put the neck of the bottle to his lips and sucked -it down. - -"Ah!" said the arbiter of Wormwood Scrubbs and Lord of Pentonville. -"That's better." - -He felt almost genial--normal, anyhow, at last. Even a trifle -super-normal. With sprightlier step he regained that comfortable chair -wherein he had been relaxing his overstrained mind when George Whaley -had so imprudently intruded. - -It was not once in a blue moon that Humphrey de Bohun thought tobacco a -boon, but the occasion called for it. For the matter of that, it was not -once in a blue moon that he drank more than half a glass of wine at a -sitting--let alone of a Sunday morning during church time--and bubbling -wine in plenty leads to smoking: hence the fortunes made by Greeks and -Egyptians in their sales of hay cigarettes to the young bloods. Humphrey -de Bohun groped in his daughter's open box for a cigarette, tapped it, -with a surprisingly modern gesture, on his thumbnail, and as he lit it -sank back into the chair he had left and wondered whether indeed he had -reached repose. - -Was there anyone left, he thought drowsily, who could come with yet -another story of the blasted gem? He was already half asleep, but there -passed before his drooping eyes what seemed a regiment: Galton had been -sure of it--he had seen it, seen it on Bill; Bill had been sure of -it--he had tested it, tested it on McTaggart; McTaggart had been sure of -it--he had got it by second sight, and was absolutely certain of Collop; -and Collop--oh well! God bless Collop! For after all he had _produced_ -it--snatched from the talons of a fowl. The elderly gentleman's head -drooped and nodded; the cigarette fell from his lax fingers; it set fire -to the Aubusson carpet, which smouldered in faint wreaths, but did no -harm, and soon went out. Thus did the adventure of the Emerald of -Catherine the Great end, as all things end, in smoke. - - * * * * * * * - -Far, far, in the less pretentious but roomy apartments of the East Wing, -George Whaley, suffering untold things, sought for and found the Boy, -the culprit, Ethelbert. - -They met in the passage that leads from the servants' hall to the Yard; -but when I say met, I rather mean that their visages encountered the one -the other at the turn of a corner separated by a space of some five -yards. - -The countenance of George Whaley at that moment was not one to inspire -confidence in the young. There was blood on his cheek-bone. His collar -was torn, and all adrift upon the starboard side; his tie was under his -ear; there was a gaping tear in his coat. - -"Ow! You young dose of poison!" bawled the injured man, as he lunged -forward upon his prey, and with a loud cry Ethelbert fled. He fled -through the open door into the coal yard, George Whaley limping after. -There stood against the wall of the yard, leaning to its summit, a crazy -old ladder. The light boy Ethelbert nipped up it, and at its foot stood -the unhappy and ponderous victim of his misleading confidences, shaking -an impotent fist. - - -[Illustration: _Dialogue between the Boy Ethelbert and his -fallen superior._] - - -Security lent courage to the youth. - -"You look hot," he said kindly. - -"You come down!" hissed Whaley, clenching his teeth, "and I'll flay you -alive--slowly--inch by inch!" - -"Sounds good," grinned Ethelbert; with thoughtful prevision he kicked -the ladder down. Its rotten wood smashed into a dozen pieces as it fell, -and the youth was delighted to note that a flying fragment had caught -his superior a fine smack on the side of the jaw. - -For to him that hath, more shall be added. - -Ethelbert feared not the future; his judgment told him, not insecurely, -that the butler's powers were at an end. - -"Been havin' a scrap?" continued Ethelbert, by way of making -conversation. "'Ow's the other man?" - -George Whaley's cup was full. "Come down," he groaned stupidly. "Come -down!" - -"Me come down?" answered his former subaltern with an air. "Why, what -can you be thinking of? It's only just over church time yet. You can -hear the sweet bells ringing--'ark!" and he lifted an ecstatic -forefinger with heavenward-lifted eyes. - -The butler put his hand upon the old red brick wall. His adventures were -beginning to tell upon him. He felt sick. - -"It's all along o' you!" he said thickly, spat, to see whether his lungs -were injured, was pleased to find they were not; then, still suffering, -repeated, "It's all along o' you! What," he added in a higher key of -tragic indignation, "what the burning hell did yer mean by telling me -the boss had pinched the emerald?" - -"_I_ tell you the boss had pinched the emerald?" sneered Ethelbert from -his high place. "Oh, chase me, Ananias!" - -"Yes, yer did!" came again from the uplifted purple face. "Yer told me -with yer own lips that you knew yerself it was in the 'ands of the -'ighest." - -"I never! You dare say I did!" cried the indignant whelp. "Liar! What I -may have _thought_ was that his lordship ..." - -"His lordship?" groaned the suffering man, a light breaking in upon him. - -"Yes, mubbe! Don't you dare go to say as I said so. Otherwise I'll have -the lor on yer! So mind your fat feet! I'll be treading on 'em. I never -said nuffing. I didn't. 'Sides which, it's all one now. The emerald's -been found." - -"Found?" gasped Whaley with a stare. - -"Yes, found," nodded Ethelbert, from his dominion of vantage loftily. - -"Then ..." groaned his unfortunate elder, "I'm done!" - -"That's true, anyways! Congrats!" - -Whaley had already picked up half a brick, but his tormenter had seen -the gesture, and had dropped on the far side of the wall to the high -bank below, and was off to rejoin his quarters. He knew that the mighty -had fallen and would trouble him no more. - -So ends the saga. - - - - -TALE-PIECE - - -It was the custom of our grandfathers and grandmothers--when they had -any of them been fool enough to write a novel--to wind it up with a -description of what the various characters in the beastly thing were -doing at the moment when the book appeared--that is, supposedly, in a -future some little while after the closing of the tale. - -Those of you who still read the novels of my own youth--and I for one -read no others--will remember that they are invariably concerned with a -well-to-do young woman of exquisite beauty who marries a manly young -fellow of her own status, after various ups and downs. Then the book -goes on to tell you that they have twenty-six boys and girls with long -curly hair, all gold. And then the band plays. - -It is not easy for me to give you an appendix of this kind, because I -have always thought it prudent to throw my own novels into the future, -lest I should be sent to gaol for insulting the rich. Moreover, even if -I did describe the final fate of my characters, I cannot make it a very -pleasant one without treason to the realities of human life and the -flattering of fools: and rather than flatter fools let me be torn to -pieces by wild horses after the fashion of the Merovingian queens. - -However, I propose to give you some idea of how the various people you -have come across in these pages continued their not too significant -lives. - -When Marjorie had divorced Galton--having got married to him by way of -preliminary--she was herself divorced by Pemberton--who had no further -use for Lady Meinz--and then married--only last year--an extraordinarily -fleshy man called (at the moment) Henry Munster. They are still -happy--at least, she is. The child of the first union--if I may so -describe it--is a girl; so that's the end of the Galton peerage. - -Aunt Amelia is dead: and high time. - -Her brother, the former Home Secretary, has in the interval developed -astonishing talents which have fitted him for the Colonial Office, the -India Office, and the Treasury, in rapid succession--and would doubtless -have fitted him for the Foreign Office but for the determined opposition -of the permanent officials. During the four years in which it had been -arranged to let the other batch of professional politicians have a suck -at the salaries, he acted as President (at £2,500) of the Commission -for the Second Reduction of Wages, wrote a book of reminiscences -(£3,000 Gubbins & Gubbins 42_s._). He was badly stoned during the -progress of the fifth General Strike--some call it the seventh, but I -follow the usual numeration. He had been taken by the mob for Henry -Gaston, a man nearly forty years younger and twenty times as able--which -only shows how important it is to educate the poor, and also, by the -way, how important it is not to print in the papers pictures of people -taken hundreds of years before the date of their appearance. - - -[Illustration: _Last portrait of Professor de Bohun, a sketch -reproduced in the "Figures Modernes" -of Berne (Switzerland)._] - - -William de Bohun is still Professor of Crystallography in the -University, where he has still further attained a European reputation. -He is now mentioned not only in Swiss papers, but occasionally in German -ones. He is not more than seventy-nine, and there is every chance of his -retaining the position for a few more years. He has not made it up with -the reader in Crystallogy, Mr. Bertran Leader. - -I am sorry to say that these two distinguished men actually had a fight -in the main street of their academic town, their weapons being -umbrellas. Nor would the victory of the younger champion, Mr. B. Leader, -have been for a moment doubtful had it not been that the umbrella of the -elder, Professor de Bohun, was suddenly blown open by a gust of wind, -affording him a sure and certain shield against the frenzied blows of -his opponent. - -McTaggart has gone under for good. It seems shameful, considering the -excellent position on the British Intelligence into which he had been -put on a weekly contract at fifteen pounds by the influence of the Home -Secretary, who thought some reparation due to him, and still more by the -influence of Victoria Mosel, who had squeezed Lord Bernstein's hand. On -the other hand it hurts nobody but himself. He is still unmarried. - -George Whaley, with his accumulated savings, purchased immediately upon -his leaving the service of Humphrey de Bohun, the good will of the Bohun -Arms, which I need hardly tell you does not belong to the family, but to -a limited company. The pub stands at the gate of the park. Therein he -regales the countryside with comic stories of his former employers; the -rich middle-class motorists with scandal of the Great; the upper classes -who deign to halt there on their way north in their superb cars with -obsequience and silence, at a profit of about 30_s._ the bunch. He has -done very well indeed, because it is a convenient lunching place for -people motoring out from London to the north. His son is in this year's -Oxford eight, but his daughter, I very much regret to say, has -published, a book of verse--in Chelsea! - -Ethelbert, a bright lad of nineteen, ordered by his master into the -special constabulary during the third General Strike--I use the -conventional numeration--was so unfortunate as to crack smartly upon the -head a high dignitary of the Church of England, and was thereupon put in -prison at the instance of Lady Sophia--the eminent cleric's wife--who -would take no denial. Upon release, the General Strike being still in -progress--it was the first of the really _long_ General Strikes, as you -will remember, he joined the regular police force, which is ever ready -to welcome men of varied experience and initiative. But he never -developed the intelligence required for the _agent provocateur_, in -which capacity such members of the service as have had personal -experience of the cells are commonly employed. He is now past thirty and -doing clerical work in the Lost Property Department. - -What else remains? The horse, Attaboy, is dead, worn out in faithful -labours at the stud. He was the sire of Get-On out of Get-Out. Get-Out, -I need hardly tell you, was the sire of Success by Morning Star. Success -was the sire of Repetition by Raseuse; and that is how Tabouche won the -Oaks. I always did say the little filly would do well, for I have -followed the strain--as, long ago, the form--of Attaboy, who now sleeps -with his fathers--I means, sires, let alone dams. - - -[Illustration: _Controversy conducted with umbrellas between a -Professor (of Crystallography) and a Reader -(in Crystallogy) to the University._] - - -As for the parrot, whom I may call the second Attaboy, he is still the -cherished, the beloved, of that constant heart, Marjorie; Mrs. Munster, -_née_ de Bohun, sometime Lady Galton, as also Mrs. Pemberton--yes, -Pemberton. So far as I can remember, she is nothing else--so far. Such a -charming woman! Touching upon the lovely confines of middle age with -large bulges under rather weary eyes. But her father provides -handsomely. - -As for that father, the head of the family, Humphrey de -Bohun--pronounced Deboon--he looks no older. It would be odd if he -could. He feels no older--that would be impossible. But he is inclined -to colds in the head. He now tells the same story over and over again, -the story of the Emerald. And it always ends, "Now guess who it was?" -They do not murder him, they give it up; and he dodders out, "Why! It -was a jackdaw!" - -Victoria Mosel has, since the date of the great discovery of the -Emerald, spent week-ends at Basingthorpe, Prawley, Hammerton, Gainger, -Bifford, then again at Hammerton, then again at Gainger, after that at -Little Wackham. Then at Bifford again, then at Gainger, and, of course, -at Prawley. She also stayed at the Breitzes' place in Silesia for three -months, where she shot the bailiff's dog--by accident. May I tell you -that she has spent six weeks in every year on the Riviera? Can I deny -that, at this very moment of writing, she is stopping at Hammerton, -having passed the last week-end at Gainger and purposing to go on to -Bifford? - -The years leave no mark upon her temporal frame, for the skin was ever -tight upon her bones. But she knows that she is getting on--and not in -the City sense of that term either. She already envisages the tomb. I am -fond of her. I think she will save her soul. - -One great asset which endears her to the rich of her circle. Sir William -Collop is always ready and even eager to come at her bidding to any -country house, and there she puts him through his paces, to the enormous -joy of the assembled hosts and guests. But she is a good girl--I use the -word of a woman now nearing sixty--and she does him no harm. Only, she -_does_ make him dance. And why _not_? - -After dinner, in the palaces of the rich, Sir William Collop is -compelled to tell quaint stories of the other rich over whom his -position in Scotland Yard gives him insight. Nor is he unwilling. They -all call him a good fellow, by which they mean that his accent is as -thick as cheese. He will be Collop till he dies. His original name is -drowned ten fathoms deep; he is just coming into his pension, and he is -an O. B. E. of the third crop. - -And the emerald? Ah, my friends! My brothers! I will tell you what -happened to the emerald! - -When Mrs. Pemberton, formerly Lady Galton, then Mrs. Munster[1] _née_ -de Bohun, was making the straddle between the Pemberton and the Munster -connections--what we call joining the slats--she needed five hundred -pounds. It sounds ridiculous. But she did. One often does. She had -outrun the constable. She did not want to bother her father, and for the -very good reason that he had just got damnably knocked in the Hungarian -Phosphates on the erroneous advice of that silly man Mowlem. Well, she -had taken the emerald to the man who, Vic had told her, was the best -expert in London--Mr. Marlovitch, Junior--and (behold!) he had proved to -her by infallible tests that it was _paste_. What is more, he had given -her proof out of learned books that no emerald of such size ever had -existed, or could exist. - -The Bohuns had patriotism in their blood. Marjorie gave the famous -trinket to the State--let me say to England!--under very easy conditions -which earned her, I am glad to say, the entry of her daughter into -Parliament. These conditions were modest: the emerald was to be -permanently exhibited, in a very large case all by itself, in the -British Museum, with a tablet engraved at the expense of England--I mean -the State--describing it as the largest Emerald in the world--which it -would have been if it had been an emerald--and assuring the honest -public that it had been given by Catherine the Great to that member of -the ancient family of de Bohuns who had served the interests of the -State--or rather, let me say, of England--at the Court of All the -Russias, in those days when the Semiramis of the North was the -admiration of Europe. - -"What!" you'll exclaim (it's just like you!), "would that regal woman, -that generous if somewhat demanding lady, that broad German strong in -her nobility, that Monarch of the Snows, Empress of all the Russias, -have fallen to deceiving handsome Bill Bones with a piece of paste?" - -Not a bit of it. You little understood the nature of those who serve -power. She had given her emerald--and an emerald it was--to a man in -whom she had the fullest confidence; she had given it him with the order -to bestow it at once upon the English captain. But her messenger had -preferred his own interest and had substituted that larger and false one -round which all this dance has been led. - -And, as the Prime Minister said of his colleague on the front bench who -got into trouble over the insurance shares, who shall blame him? - -Not I. - - -[Footnote 1: Oh! Yes! I know all about it. She would have gone on -calling herself Lady Galton from husband (save the mark!) to husband. -No, child! It's already getting doubtful. In the future time of which I -write it was unknown.] - - - - -THE END - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMERALD OF CATHERINE THE -GREAT *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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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> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The emerald of Catherine the Great</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Hilaire Belloc</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Illustrator: Gilbert Keith Chesterton</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: August 11, 2022 [eBook #68727]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Laura Natal Rodrigues (Images generously made available by Hathi Trust Digital Library.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMERALD OF CATHERINE THE GREAT ***</div> - - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/emerald_cover.jpg" width="500" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> -<img src="images/inner_cover.jpg" width="500" alt="" /> -</div> - - -<h1><i>THE<br /> -EMERALD<br /> -CATHERINE THE GREAT</i></h1> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<h2><i>By Hilaire Belloc</i></h2> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<h3><i>With Illustrations by<br /> -G. K. Chesterton</i></h3> - -<p><br /><br /></p> - -<h5>1926</h5> - -<h5>Publishers</h5> - -<h5>New York and London</h5> - -<h4>Harper & Brothers</h4> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure01"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure01.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Mr. Collop describes the Finesse Diplomatique<br /> -of Bogotar.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4>TO MAURICE BARING</h4> - -<p> -MY DEAR MAURICE: -</p> -<p> -This is the fourth book I have dedicated to you, and you will see why if -you read it—which no one need do. -</p> -<p> -First, emeralds are green; and, on principle, like the Green Overcoat, -it owes to you of the Green Elephant, a dedication. Next, there is -Catherine the Great. She plays no long part, but she founded the -fortunes of them all; and we are in communion in the matter of that -large and generous but regal soul; we agree that it is a pity she died -before we were born. Also, you who know all about Russia, and I who know -nothing, have, in the matter of Russia, this Monarch of all the Russias -for a link. -</p> -<p> -Lastly, you have often urged me to write a detective story, because (you -assured me) they have gigantic sales. I promised you I would, on -condition there was nothing to find out. -</p> -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Here it is. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -KING'S LAND, -</p> -<p> -<i>Whitsun</i>, 1926. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4>CONTENTS</h4> -<p class="nind"> -<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER ONE</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER TWO</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER THREE</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER FOUR</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER FIVE</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER SIX</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER SEVEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER EIGHT</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER NINE</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER TEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER ELEVEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER TWELVE</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER THIRTEEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER FOURTEEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER FIFTEEN</a><br /> -<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER SIXTEEN</a><br /> -<a href="#TALE_PIECE">TALE-PIECE</a></p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4>THE EMERALD OF<br /> -CATHERINE THE GREAT</h4> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER ONE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-w.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -William Bones was a stalwart man, some thirty-five years of age, the -master of a Brig which sailed from the port of Boston in Lincolnshire -and was half his own property. He was a native of that town, his father -having been therein a pork butcher in a fair way of business, his mother -the daughter of a small farmer in the Wring Land. He traded with the -Baltic when George the Third was King—indeed, when George the Third -was still young and long before George the Third first went mad. -</p> -<p> -Among other ports, he had found profit more than once in visiting that -of the River Neva, and was acquainted with the Russian trade. The great -city of St. Petersburg, still new but already splendid, became familiar -to him; and he himself, in his humble visits to the local factors, -became a familiar figure to the Secret Police of that capital. Even his -most domestic and private actions during his dealings in this port were -registered; and, it must be added, his strong English frame and handsome -English face admired, but also duly noted and their description passed -on to the proper authorities. -</p> -<p> -On his third voyage to Russia he was honoured by the invitation of a -merchant somewhat wealthier than the common of his acquaintance and at -that table met some official of the Court, of what exact situation his -ignorance of Russian and of French forbade him to inquire. Before -returning to his native Lincolnshire, his happy spouse and his young -family, he enjoyed the singular privilege of a further unexpected -invitation from this same Court official whom he had thus chanced to -meet, and so found himself at supper in one of the smaller and more -discreet rooms of the Palace, upon its mezzanine floor, in a choice -company of both sexes. -</p> -<p> -It is characteristic of the Empress herself—a great woman!—that -a large humanity and a laudable curiosity combined rendered her -indifferent to the conventions of rank. No sooner had she heard of the -British merchant captain's cheerful and manly habit than she desired a -more exact description, upon her receiving which he was permitted an -entrance to the Presence. -</p> -<p> -He enjoyed, partly by means of an elderly female who interpreted for him -until he had improved his few words of German—the Empress's mother -tongue and most familiar idiom—no little conversation with the august -sovereign, who, when he arrived at this stage, deigned to keep him by -her alone for some while. The interview was repeated upon more than one -occasion and her Imperial Majesty was so good, upon his reluctant -leave-taking some two or three weeks after his first arrival, as to -press him with an invitation to return. -</p> -<p> -Next season, the moment the Baltic ice was melted, he did so, disposing -of a mixed cargo; and, while leisurely awaiting his return charge, was -almost daily conveyed to the Palace from his humble lodging. For four -successive seasons running this strange adventure persisted. -</p> -<p> -Meanwhile his Boston neighbours could not but remark that his home in -the British haven of which he was a native and mariner, showed a -considerable advance in prosperity. His wife was better dressed, his -growing family could boast an increasing and superior acquaintance among -children of a rank with whom they would not earlier have mixed. It was -even whispered that Bill Bones had made formidable investments in the -City of London, which he certainly had visited more than half a dozen -times during his last winter stay in England; and though his friends -very charitably agreed that the profits of the Baltic trade might be -large, and that Bill Bones might have had exceptional opportunities, -they none the less talked among themselves upon the various possible -sources of a fortune which that trade could hardly account for. -</p> -<p> -With the fifth season there came an end to what had certainly been a -remarkable series. Whatever advantages communion with a throne might -have had for William Bones, the future would no doubt show; but the -fifth season was the end. There had been farewells, and yet no loss of -the high regard in which, for some extraordinary reason, he had been -held by the Semiramis of the North. He had acquired a certain assurance -of bearing which marked his new fortunes, and indeed, in this final -scene of his presence upon the quays of St. Petersburg, he seemed by his -gait to be some one of consequence. And no wonder, for he had left the -Palace for the last time bearing secreted in the bosom of his ample coat -a jewel worthy to be a memorial of the greatest passages in any life. -</p> -<p> -It was an emerald, exceptionally large—the largest, he had been -assured, in the world—square in shape, of the purest water and set -in a delicate little gold mounting after a fashion which recalled the -ornaments of the French Court. -</p> -<p> -It speaks well for Captain Bones that on his return to Boston he handed -this jewel to his wife, who thenceforward had it fixed with a pin, to -serve the office of a brooch, and wore it upon great occasions; notably -at a dance given by the mayor of the town, to which she brought her -eldest daughter, though barely of an age for such ceremonials. -</p> -<p> -The next year William Bones let his house in Boston and abruptly -transported himself and his family to the metropolis. His neighbours -were interested to discover that before abandoning them he had purchased -not a little property in the town and had even appointed a substantial -agent to deal with his rentals. He was clearly an advancing man and -their respect for him grew profound when they learnt what figure he now -cut in a world above their own. In London he was found entertaining -largely and standing upon an equal footing with merchants of repute, -though not perhaps as yet of the first fortune. Meanwhile he had -preferred the name of Bone, in the singular, to that of his earlier -life, conceiving it to be more consonant with his present position and -his residence in Cornhill and his interests in the banking world. -</p> -<p> -His only son George, when of an age for such occupations, which was some -five years after the family had come up to London, was taken in as a -partner by Mr. Worsle the India merchant, partly, no doubt, as a -testimony of friendship to his father, but partly also because William -Bone, who would now indifferently sign himself Bone or Bohun—the -original form of the name—had put at the young fellow's disposal a -very considerable capital. -</p> -<p> -William Bohun himself died somewhat prematurely in the eighth year after -his transmigration, and his wife, who, though much desiring to cut a -proper figure in her new world, had never properly succeeded in doing -so, followed him within three months to the grave. Her younger daughters -had received an excellent education; her eldest, born in her -father's earlier days, had perhaps less refinement of accent and -deportment—but on the other hand, her solid worth and quite -exceptional dowry had procured her alliance with the heir to Sir Philip -Goole, a landed gentleman in the West of England possessed of a fine -town house in Cavendish Square, but indifferent to politics. -</p> -<p> -George de Bohun—he had at first rejected but later began to use the -prefix "de" which a friend in the Heralds' College had suggested to -him—prospered, I am glad to say, exceedingly, as the son of such a -worthy father should, and acquired the playful nickname of "The Nabob," -which spread from the city to the more exalted circles into which he was -welcomed, west of Temple Bar. It is a sufficient indication of the -respect in which he was held when I say that he was elected to Brooks's -Club, and there, by his generous behaviour at the card table, failed not -to become a favourite with the most exalted of his contemporaries in -Whig circles. -</p> -<p> -It may or may not interest the reader to know that upon his father's -death it was discovered that the Emerald of Catherine the Great had been -made an heirloom and was devised by an explanatory letter—since -the law could not enforce such a succession—for the eldest son, -or, failing sons, the eldest daughter of the reigning de Bohun on -arriving at his twenty-first, or her eighteenth birthday, his or her -parents or trustees being its successive custodians until that date. -Failing such a personage, the jewel was to be passed to any cadet -branch, the eldest in succession. If the great line of de Bohun should -fail—which Heaven forfend!—the sacred object was to be -buried with the last of that illustrious lineage. -</p> -<p> -The legal complications to which such a disposition would give rise need -not concern us, for in fact they never arose. George de Bohun had but -one son, Richard, born in the same year that saw the death of General -Bonaparte, the famous Corsican adventurer. To this son in his old age he -conveyed the jewel with the instructions concerning it, but he had -previously got rid of its unfashionable Louis XVI mounting and had it -set again, now as a pendant, after the fashion prevalent in the first -years of Queen Victoria. -</p> -<p> -Mr. George de Bohun had acquired—perhaps from his father—an -unusual reverence for the gem which he believed, with a mystical -devotion curious in a business man, to be in some way the tutelary -genius of his House. He would frequently tell young Richard, his heir, -during the boyhood of that philanthropist, the story of how Catherine -the Great herself had given it to his own father, the grandfather of the -lad, when that powerful genius was engaged upon a secret diplomatic -mission to the Russian Court. Hence had the emerald come to be known by -the title of "The Emerald of Catherine the Great" in the private circle -of the de Bohuns—pronounced "Deboons." That it should be preserved -in the family, certainly never sold and—please God!—never -lost, was a religion with George, which grew more fanatical as he -approached the tomb. He came, perhaps from an idea inherited from his -father, to regard it as a necessary condition of their prosperity, and -he imbued his son Richard with I know not what vague fears of disaster -should its possession be abandoned or should the stone itself be -mislaid. -</p> -<p> -This second in the great line, George de Bohun—pronounced -Deboon—the son of its founder, though born as long ago as 1780, -lived to see the inauguration of the Hyde Park Exhibition by Queen -Victoria in 1851, and, having refused a peerage, closed his eyes in the -fine country house known as Paulings. -</p> -<p> -This mansion was—and is—situated in Herts, at no more than -twenty-five miles from Westminster. The successful Russian merchant -purchased it upon advantageous terms from the bankrupt and disreputable -Parrall family, whose last and seventeenth representative not only -proved incapable of preserving the patrimony of his ancestors, but had -joined the Romish Church and perished miserably at Boulogne. -</p> -<p> -Richard de Bohun was of course the "Dirty Dick" of mid-Victorian -politics, and an intimate friend of Lord Palmerston. There is little to -record of him except that after doing good and lucrative work in two -administrations he also refused a peerage; in which he was wise, for -though the family fortunes had not diminished, the general increase of -wealth around him made his position less conspicuous than that of his -father had been in the City of London. Indeed, the family was now no -longer connected with trade. -</p> -<p> -He died—as he had been born—at Paulings, a country house of -such absorbing interest that I shall later be compelled to describe it in -accurate if tedious terms. -</p> -<p> -The now reigning de Bohun, called Humphrey—after an illustrious -ancestor, the Humphrey de Bohun who fought at Bannockburn under -Edward II and undoubtedly held land, through his wife, in the -neighbourhood of Boston—the son of this statesman, is the Mr. de -Bohun—pronounced Deboon—of our own day: the highly respected -Home Secretary who has already passed with such distinction -through what he himself will call the <i>Cursus honorum</i>, having been -Parliamentary Secretary to Harry Gates during all of the great Paramooka -Scandal—when he was the Baby of the House—then successively -rejected by Middleham West after the Seychelles Scandal—when Gates -went to the Lords—elected after a second attempt by Middleham -East, Under-Secretary during the period of the Second General Strike and -at last, after the usual vicissitudes of public life, occupying the -exalted position which he still adorns. -</p> -<p> -His figure is familiar to the public, I fear, rather by early -photographs than by recent portraits. He is a man tall and carefully -clothed, with a rather weary expression, set on a long face, with -insufficient grey hair neatly brushed. He is of a courteous demeanour. -He is much attached to his country life at Paulings, so happily -convenient to London, and sheltered from the large growth of suburban -villas about it by a dense fringe of more or less ancient trees. He is a -widower, possessed of three motor cars, but with only a flat in town. He -has refused a baronetcy, for he has (alas!) no son, but one daughter, -now just entering her nineteenth year. The name of the charming child is -Marjorie, and it was but recently, upon her eighteenth birthday, the -15th of January, that her father somewhat solemnly presented her with -the famous heirloom. -</p> -<p> -He had used no little ceremonial, speaking a little pompously of her -dead mother—a Ginningham—of the immemorial traditions of -their house, and with curious insistence upon the supposed influence of -the jewel upon their fortunes. He smiled somewhat lugubriously as he -touched that point, but Marjorie, though not extravagantly intelligent, -had brains enough to believe in omens, mascots, talismans, and was -proud, as a girl should be at her age, to enter upon the possession of -the Sacred Gem of the de Bohuns. -</p> -<p> -Her father had discarded, for so great an occasion, the Victorian gold -setting which, he was assured by Mr. Marolovitch and other experts, was -in deplorable taste. The jewel was now set once more—by Mr. -Marolovitch—as a brooch, since a woman was to wear it. The new -setting was in platinum, designed in the finest taste of Berlin, with -writhing curves and dead square divisions of the most entrancing -variety. Large as the Emerald was, and its new Prussian setting -adequately broad, yet the whole lay easily on the palm. -</p> -<p> -If it be not blasphemy to suggest any inefficiency in our Teutonic -cousins, I should suggest that the pin was a thought too long and -capable, on careless handling, of biting the hand that fed it. But for -any such trifling defect the grey colour of the new and more expensive -mounting, resembling that of a leaded grate, and the awful severity of -its odd rectangles and unexpected heavings of its re-entrant curves, -made ample atonement. Such was the aspect of the Emerald of Catherine -the Great in the winter when it entered upon its liveliest activities. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER TWO</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-a.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -About a fortnight had passed since Mr. de Bohun had given his daughter -Marjorie the family mascot. It was Friday, the 30th of January, 1930: -the weather unpleasantly cold, overcast, with a threat of snow, and the -dark already set in. -</p> -<p> -After the heavy strain of an English working week, especially in -Parliament, complete relaxation is necessary from Friday after lunch to -the Monday's return to town by the afternoon. Nor was any mansion more -fitted to recuperate the exhausted energies of statesman or politician -than Paulings. -</p> -<p> -It had been built in the classical manner some twenty years before the -decline of the Parrall fortunes, which got their worst blow after the -year 1745. It was classical and highly symmetric; its fine great doors -had been designed to stand slightly above the level of the drive and -looked upon a shallow sweep of stone stairway. Upon either side of them, -windows in the Palladian fashion, with a pediment above each, announced -the wealth within; a hanging wreath of flowers and fruit in stone went -the length of the great wall, and against the sky was a balustrade. -</p> -<p> -That was all very well for the eighteenth century; but the nineteenth -and the new wealth of the de Bohuns put on useful excrescences. There -was a bulb to the east, and yet another bulb at the end of that, where -new stables, now a garage, were added to new offices, and on the west -there had been built, a little after the Crimean War, something like -half as much again of house room, in a manner pleasingly different from -all the rest. Here a new and more convenient door gave into a large -hall, not without suits of armour purchased at considerable expense, and -giving by various doors into the larger, older, and grander rooms of the -house, into a panelled dining-room, a large drawing-room, too often -changing in style, and on the extreme west a room very rarely used save -for the reception of whatever was not wanted about the living parts of -the house, or—in theory at least—for the complete seclusion of -its master, when—in theory—his heavy responsibilities demanded -heavy concentration. -</p> -<p> -This room we must know, for it was here that blind Fate, an all-seeing -Providence, or—more probably—a lively and mischievous sprite -had laid the scene of the loss of the Emerald. -</p> -<p> -The room was not large; it was in good proportions, for it dated from a -time when we were still civilized. It was strangely apparelled. There -was a large, rather shabby desk, at which the Home Secretary was -supposed to write and where he did at least leave accumulated a few old -letters and kept them down with a paper-weight of Chinese crystal, -carefully chiselled into the form of a little god who smiled. -</p> -<p> -There were five deep chairs of the sort called lounge, upholstered in a -leather almost black. There were as many more comfortable common chairs. -There was a really good fireplace brought over from one of the old -houses in Dublin, of marble with a Bacchic frieze. There was in front of -that really good fireplace a rug made of the skin of a polar bear, -singularly fierce in its open red mouth of ferocious grin, its gleaming -teeth and staring eyes—the room was so deserted that no one had -knocked that head to pieces with his feet. It seemed almost new, fresh -from the Arctic. -</p> -<p> -There were six windows looking to the west, south, and north, and coming -down close to the floor with deep sills forming seats after the fashion -of our fathers. For the room projected out into the park upon three -sides and the western one faced a long grass path between an avenue of -trees. There were one or two tables which did nothing, after the fashion -of most tables—outside dining-rooms, and even there they do no work -which I can recommend. There was above the mantelpiece one of those -looking-glasses of the First French Empire, round, lens-like, and -diminishing the picture of all the room. It had a round, broad, gilded -rim and upon its summit an eagle of the sort that flew from the Pyramids -to Cadiz, from Cadiz to Paris, from Paris to Moscow, and from Moscow -back again. -</p> -<p> -The floor was of the sort called, I believe, in the trade, antique -Austrian parquet. That is, it consisted of some half dozen slabs of -cheap pine firmly bolted together, on the top of it a veneer of -herring-bone Baltic oak, chemically treated to simulate the age and -dignity of Schönbrunn. The thing was designed for rapid laying down and -lifting and fitted together simply upon joists with what are—again -technically—called invisible screws, but at the corners of the room -the contraption was held by certain clamps which wanted a hell of a lot of -hammering down when it was fixed. On the surface of this dignified -flooring lay, carelessly chucked about, a few Oriental rugs from -Brighton and one charming little Chinese mat from London, damnably out -of place and swearing with the rest of the room like a cat run up a tree -from a dog. -</p> -<p> -What else was there in the room? Ah, yes, there was a parrot cage, and -if you are wise, unfortunate reader, you will pay particular attention -to that parrot cage, for later on it has a speaking part. -</p> -<p> -It hung by a chain from the ceiling against the west window looking out -on the long avenue, and within it lived—not melancholy, for he was -too stupid, but in a mixture of stolid age, indifference, and -nothingness—the parrot Attaboy. Nor must I omit either the appearance -of the parrot Attaboy, but only later can I tell you how the parrot -Attaboy came by his name. -</p> -<p> -Of his lineage I know nothing, nor even of his age. He might well have -been one hundred. Certainly there was nothing young about his eyes or -gestures, and I have always heard that parrots, like family servants and -others whom the gods hate, live to a great age. -</p> -<p> -Aunt Amelia had made a pompous present of him three years before to her -beloved niece Marjorie after her beloved Marjorie had reached her -fifteenth birthday; she bestowed not only the parrot but the cage, and -simultaneously a kiss upon her niece's forehead. At first the recipient -of the fowl did not appreciate the gift. But love will grow. The -thing—by which I mean the cage and the parrot and all—was hung -by a hook—at Aunt Amelia's expense—to the roof of this room -simply because it was so little used. -</p> -<p> -It happened precisely at the opening of the flat racing season, three -years before the opening of the story which you now have the ecstatic -pleasure of reading, that young Lord Galton, Marjorie's -cousin—recently acceded to the title by the sudden and unexpected -death of his father from I know not what forms of excess—had -pulled a horse. -</p> -<p> -He was one of our modern youths, loving the risks of life and living -dangerously. Therefore had he pulled a horse and the horse he had -pulled—his very own—he had named Attaboy. -</p> -<p> -It was never brought home to him, as the phrase goes; that is, everybody -knew that it was true. Attaboy was famous at Paulings—a sort of -family crime to be proud of—a word used as often as any other for -the moment at Paulings; and the poor old parrot—we have no -initiative in age—picked it up and refused to learn anything else. -</p> -<p> -In a way it was awkward. Tommy Galton would come to his uncle's house -from time to time, and when he came it was rather important to keep him -out of the West Room during daylight. For the parrot had a way of -croaking quite suddenly, in the strong colonial accent of his tribe, -"Attaboy!" at the most unexpected moments. However, the parrot Attaboy -possessed a cover of black felt carefully put over his cage at night, -and whenever it found itself in darkness it was habitually silent after -the honourable fashion of parrots—and, after all, the room was not -commonly used. There was little risk of Lord Galton's being in it save -after the black cover was over the detestable bird. -</p> -<p> -Of Attaboy the parrot—Attaboy the horse had already gone to -stud—Marjorie grew fond. For one thing, she was not unattracted by -her cousin Tom, and Attaboy made a sort of bond between them. For another, -she was at the age when women can be fond of anything, even Tommy -Galton, let alone a parrot. -</p> -<p> -So much for Attaboy and the deserted room. -</p> -<p> -It has been remarked—without payment—by more than one -philosopher that the great events of this world arrive through the -action of agents who did not intend them. And this you will find to be -true of Attaboy, of the Polar Bear, and the deserted West Room. -</p> -<p> -I think it only fair to add, since I am writing a detective story, that -when Aunt Amelia visited her brother the Home Secretary, which was, all -totted up, for something like a third of the year, she was given the -principal guest room, known in the family as Bannockburn, which lay -immediately above. -</p> -<p> -So much for Paulings and its now famous, then deserted, West Room; its -Parrot, its Polar Bear. -</p> -<p> -I return to that winter week-end, that cold January Friday and the few -gathered in the great drawing-room of Paulings round its tea table. -</p> -<p> -It was not a party: it was a family meeting of a very few people. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure02"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure02.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Dear Aunt, so good, so kind, and a little deaf.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Old Lady Bolter, a much elder sister of the Home Secretary, known among -the Great as "Aunt Amelia," we have seen was half a permanency. She had -already given them three weeks of herself a month before; and she had -now settled down to another bout. They suffered her in this fashion -often enough; but as for her, she knitted. I have read in one of those -books which are published anonymously upon the people of that world, -that she had been famous in King Edward's day for her wit. Maybe. She -would hardly be famous for it now. However, she was not nearly so blind -nor so deaf as she pretended to be. She had met most people up to the -Great War and resembled a sheep. -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel was there, Marjorie's friend of another generation, still -sinuously moving round and round from house to house forever. There were -two men, close relatives, cousins: an elder and a younger. -</p> -<p> -The first was the hippo-phile, the expert in things of the Turf whom you -have just heard of, young Lord Galton, the son of the Home Secretary's -first cousin, Cecily, who had brought to Algernon, first—and very -nearly last—Lord Galton, a sufficient dowry, drawn from the then -ample funds of the de Bohuns, for her father had been the younger -brother of the Home Secretary. But this first—and very nearly -last—Lord Galton indeed was dead, and so was Lady Galton his wife, -and the young man, now his own father, found his inheritance less than -he might have desired. The Galtons, wisely taking their title from their -name, had not done well since they had left Liverpool; they had left -that town too early. So here he was, a tall, dark young man, a little -too solid and certain of himself, and—unhappily—attached to -racing, a pastime for which his fortune might have been sufficient fifty -years ago, but was not at all sufficient to-day. -</p> -<p> -It was not every house in England in which Lord Galton would have been -welcomed; but family counts, and he was here, with his rather sullen -face, strong chin and fixed mouth, and sub-challenging eyes. They were -sub-challenging because of Attaboy the horse. He had not suffered as he -might have done; he went a good deal less to one or two of his better -clubs than he had done before the rumour spread, but he was still a -constant member of the Posts and gambled there assiduously and with some -success. Yet was he always embarrassed, and his embarrassment did not -help his reputation. -</p> -<p> -He sat at the tea table that afternoon, fighting the boredom of Aunt -Amelia with what was toleration if it was not courtesy, and looking at -Marjorie without admiration but perhaps with intention. Now and then he -cast a furtive sharp look, when he thought it was safe, at Victoria -Mosel. She always knew too much, and as she stood there in front of the -fire, with a sham vacant look on her shrewd face, and the eternal -cigarette hanging from her lip, he wished her farther. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure03"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure03.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Mr. B. Leader, Reader in Crystallogy to the<br /> -University, reading in Crystallogy to the<br /> -University.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -The second guest at that table, next to the Home Secretary himself, was -yet another cousin, but a whole first cousin this time—the only son -of the youngest uncle of all, who had married very young and very -imprudently. Wherefore was the said cousin, William by name, unable to -go into the City, and, compelled to become a Don, had become by -profession a professor. For a first cousin he was rather absurdly older -than the head of the family. The Home Secretary, who had himself married -late, was not more than fifty-five; but the Don, William de Bohun, -Fellow of Burford and holding the Chair of Crystallography, was quite -ten years older—perhaps a little more. He had a simple pride in the -excellence of his birth, a distracted manner due to his immense -learning—not indeed in the general field of the Humanities or the -Arts, but upon the particular point of dodekahedral crystals—and even -of octohedrals he had a smattering. Such was his fame that he had been -mentioned more than once in the proceedings of learned societies abroad -and had been elected Corresponding Member to the Crystallographic -Society of Berne. -</p> -<p> -Unmarried, with a small private income, the poor nest egg of his -improvident father, amply endowed, with no pupils to speak of, and the -dodekahedral hobby, he would have been as happy as it is possible for an -atheist approaching death to be, had it not been for the existence of -that infamous charlatan, Bertram Leader, not even a Fellow of St. -Filbert's, and mere Reader to the University in Amorphic Crystallogy. -</p> -<p> -I need not insist on the gulf that separates crystallography, a true -science, from crystallogy, its base mercantile application. To the one, -as was but right, a chair was attached; a chair founded by Z. Leizler -the philanthropist, before his flight, and now occupied by the aged -figure of the de Bohun. The other was thought hardly worth a Readership -at £600 a year, and only under secret threats had that wealthy college, -St. Filbert's, been persuaded by certain City men whom B. Leader in his -turn had threatened, to cough up. It took its revenge by admitting B. -Leader to its high table, and refusing to elect him a Fellow. -</p> -<p> -He it was who, waging secret war upon university caste, dug his -revengeful fangs into the Professor's naked soul. He it was who spotted -with relentless eye all the misprints in the Professor's papers, and -denounced them as enormities of ignorance in the <i>British -Crystallographic Review</i>, with which is combined the <i>Crystal -Gazetteer</i> and <i>Bulletin</i>. He it was who exploded de Bohun's -ancient German doctrines with the recent research of horrid Dagoes, and -exposed it to derision whenever he lectured to a class of more than a -dozen; for his department being mixed up with commerce, there was money -in it, and a few undergraduates on the scent of the same; not so the -Professor's department. Now two, now one student, sought the well of -learning, and sometimes none. -</p> -<p> -On the other hand, Professor de Bohun could—and did—nourish -a burning happiness in his heart to remember that the infamous B. Leader -was of no lineage and had no private income at all. Nay, worse; an -accent—almost a twang. -</p> -<p> -But alas! for the alloyed happiness of risen man, in whom the highest -have something in them of the ape, (Poggles <i>General View</i>, Vol. II, -Ch. XXII, p. 222). B. Leader himself nourished a secret burning joy in his -heart; for he had found out—what the great thought was peculiar to -their own circle—the dreadful story of William de Bohun and the -Mullingar Diamond. -</p> -<p> -Because he loved crystals—not because he loved wealth: because the -Mullingar Diamond was the largest of its yellow kind in the world, and -had a flaw which was confidently reported to be -due—incredible!—to a bubble, William de Bohun had, eight -years before, while stopping at the Abbey as an honoured guest, pinched -the Mullingar Diamond—not for a permanency, but to make a close -examination of the incredible bubble. He had returned it, but already -his action had got known, and some people were cold to him. The less -instructed among the great whispered that he had been a famous thief in -youth; the more instructed believed that his profound science had -produced a momentary lapse. The Family knew, but had long forgiven him; -indeed, there was nothing to forgive—they said. -</p> -<p> -Let it be added that Professor de Bohun had acquired, from so much -concentrated study upon dodekahedral crystals—with fatiguing -excursions among the octohedrals—a pleasing habit of repeating a -word, never less than three times, and sometimes six or eight. -</p> -<p> -In dress the old gentleman was careless, and, though perpetually -washing, never apparently clean. However, he did shave—save for the -whiskers which were the badge of his attainments in the learned world. -</p> -<p> -There was expected a third man, as young as, or younger than, Lord -Galton, and of a very different and meaner kind, a certain Hamish -McTaggart, who had become suddenly famous within the narrow circle of -the people in the know, because the Prime Minister, upon reading an -article of his upon Protection had said—in the full hearing of the -very narrow circle—"This is the only man on Protection whom I really -understand." The article had appeared by the order of McTaggart's master -in <i>The Howl</i>, whence it may be rightly assumed that McTaggart knew no -more of economics than would a warthog of Botticelli. Hence the lucid -style which the Prime Minister had saluted with such discovering joy. -</p> -<p> -His argument had been very simple. If you prevent things coming in to -the sacred Island, Albion, the Albionese will have to make these things -for themselves, and that means more employment, doesn't it? The truth -had struck the Prime Minister with far more effect thus set down in -clean print, than when he had heard it, as he had heard it a thousand -times, from the proprietor of <i>The Howl</i>, whom he had himself so -rightly ennobled. -</p> -<p> -Therefore was Hamish McTaggart now glowing with a vivid, though, alas! -restricted fame. -</p> -<p> -He himself was getting heartily tired of it. It had halved his -income—that is, it had brought it down below five hundred pounds a -year. No one would print him except upon the subject of Protection, and -he had to write in the way that was really understood. And he was -allowed to write only in those papers peculiar to the little inner -circle with the little inner circulation corresponding—and there's no -money in that! When he wanted to write about tigers, and get his -expenses paid free to the East and a lump sum—a job he would have got -for the asking two years before, when he wrote by the thousand words, to -order, just after leaving the University—he was asked what on earth -he knew about it? Tigers! And was bundled back to Protection. -</p> -<p> -Therefore was his future black; but in the little circle he was a sort -of lion. Victoria Mosel was always talking of him; Marjorie was eager to -see him once and then to discard his company for ever; Lady Bolter, full -of the intellectual Victorian time, wanted to be able to say that she -had been in the same room with a man of whom the Prime Minister himself -had said that he was the only man whose writing he really understood. -The Home Secretary had met him once or twice in other people's houses; -Marjorie herself and her aunt were the only two for whom he was still -quite a stranger. -</p> -<p> -"What train is he coming by?" said Tommy Galton, sunk into a deep chair. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary looked at his watch, then at the clock, noted they -did not correspond, frowned, and said he'd be here any time. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure04"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure04.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Victoria Mosel lays odds on Mr. McTaggart's<br /> -saying "Dee-Boe-Hunn."</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"I'll give you evens," said Victoria Mosel, "that he calls you Dee Boe -Hunn." -</p> -<p> -"Done!" said Tommy Galton, putting up a finger. -</p> -<p> -"Bradburys?" said Vic, sucking a pencil. "Gimme a bit o' paper." -</p> -<p> -Tommy Galton wrote on his cuff. "That'll do," he said. -</p> -<p> -"I often wish," bleated Aunt Amelia, "that you young people could have -met John Bright. I was only in the schoolroom, of course, but my dear -father had no scruples in——" -</p> -<p> -She was not allowed to go on. -</p> -<p> -"We can't all sit here kicking our heels till he's kind enough to -parade," said Marjorie, with girlish simplicity. -</p> -<p> -"No one wants you to," said Vic, delicately tearing off the last -cigarette like a plaster, and sticking in another one. "I'm clamped -down. Me for Hamish!" -</p> -<p> -The Professor suddenly gave tongue. His exceedingly pale old eyes were -wide open, and his foolish mouth almost as wide. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, I think it'll be exceedingly interesting—exceedingly -interesting," he quavered. "Exceedingly interesting to meet one of the -new generation of ... shall we say, ah! journalists? Yes, -journalists.... Journalists." -</p> -<p> -"Yes, Bill," replied young Galton. "We'll say journalists." Marjorie -yawned and stretched. -</p> -<p> -"Well, I'm not going to wait any longer," she said, when the buzz of a -motor was heard on the gravel outside, the approach of middle-class -feet, the door solemnly thrown open as for a dancing bear, and the -unfortunate McTaggart appeared, his name preceding him. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary, who had preserved some of the traditions, unfolded -himself painfully from his chair and stood up, greeting McTaggart with -the wan smile of the public man. -</p> -<p> -"Good evening, Mr. de Bohun." And behold! he pronounced it Deboon. With -the business-like rapidity that became her so well, Victoria Mosel -handed a crushed ball of three one-pound notes undemonstratively to Tom -Galton, who stretched forward to take it and elaborately crossed out the -note on his cuff. -</p> -<p> -Young McTaggart stood there a moment, not daring to sit down, suffering -great torture. Nor did any of the company relieve it, though Aunt -Amelia, to do her justice, did tell him how glad they all were to see -him, much as a spokesman for the Divinities might welcome any clod. -</p> -<p> -The poor devil was out of place. He did not know why he had come; he had -come because he was pressed, because he had nothing else to do, because -he was lonely, because he had heard of Paulings and wanted to see it, -because he thought such a visit to such a house might improve his -prospects; and now that he was here, he wished it had never been built. -</p> -<p> -He was never at his ease with his social superiors. His father and -grandfather had been mere soldiers; his great-grandfather one of -Nelson's captains; <i>his</i> father again a very small laird in -Ayrshire—but one had to go back as far as that to get to gentility. -He dressed awkwardly, and he knew it. He never seemed to know quite where -to put the hands and feet at the extremities of his uncouth frame. He -also had a rather irritating trick of never looking anybody in the face. -It was nervousness, and came of writing too much. He was, I regret to -say, terrified of women, but especially of Ladies; and he had already -spent the first hours of his exile in wondering why on earth he had -allowed himself to be over-persuaded and had come. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -So much for the tea table and those that sat round it. The Home -Secretary, damnably full of courtesy but rather silent, sat helpless; -Victoria Mosel still stood by the fire surveying them all—and -particularly McTaggart—not unsaturnine for the others, but with a -singular touch of kindness in her slits of eyes for the embarrassed boy. -Then she recovered the firm pressure of her lips, emphasised by the -drooping cigarette, and the others looked on inanely or surlily, -according as God had made them. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -If you think I am going to describe to you in any detail how they passed -their time between tea and dinner, you are mistaken. Some books are -written like that, and there is an art of making them readable. I have -it not. -</p> -<p> -To action, therefore—to the Emerald! -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER THREE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -It was that same Friday night, and about 9.55 by the clock. The men had -just come in from the dining-room. They had been warned that the -housekeeper, Mrs. Bankes (fear nothing—you will never meet her again) -had commandeered the drawing-room. They were not allowed to go back -there, for even now the belated serfs were spreading, under Mrs. Bankes' -eye, large dingy cloths over the chairs and tables against the early -sweep of the morrow. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary had no choice but to shepherd them into the somewhat -forlorn, hardly used West Room. A good fire had been ordered. He trusted -humbly in God that the parrot Attaboy, securely covered in its black -cage cloth, could utter no unseemly Attaboy cry. If it did—well, if -it did, Tommy must laugh. After all, it was his fault if he had pulled a -horse. -</p> -<p> -The men crawled in. McTaggart, being by far the meanest, was -compelled—in an agony—to go first. Next the Professor slid; -after him with sullen assurance Tom Galton. And the great statesman -filed in last, as host and chief, and shut the door with all the -discretion of the Front Bench and fourteen years of Westminster. -</p> -<p> -Marjorie was standing on the polar-bear skin rug by the fire, near that -fierce grinning head, those ironical teeth, holding the emerald—the -brooch—in her open hand; showing it to Victoria, who peered at it -cynically enough. She had already heard the story of it—for the third -time in two weeks, and for the three hundred and fifty-first in her -life—she knew it to be false, and she dreaded to hear again the myth -of the diplomat, the old Bohunian lie. But a good heart thumped behind that -bony breast and Victoria Mosel spared the child. -</p> -<p> -With this coming in of a new audience, Marjorie summoned them at once, -and they crowded round in obedience to that summons; and once more to -the listening earth she told—in her innocence!—the largesse of -Catherine the Great to her ancestor the diplomat, in whom she firmly -believed. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton looked at the jewel with a sort of animosity, as much as to -say, "Put on no suspicious airs with me!" McTaggart tittered at it with -a nervous smile, as though he liked it well enough, but was rather -frightened of it; the Professor glared it down with an expert's pose. -The three men stood thus, bunched round their young hostess, touching -shoulders, while Marjorie continued her story of the de Bohun mission to -the great Empress, adding sundry other details which in her judgment -gave a heightened historical value to the gem. -</p> -<p> -Then the gods struck. -</p> -<p> -What she did, or how she did it, she never remembered. She felt a sharp -shoot in her finger: she should have known it was due to the -ill-calculated length of the pin. She said to herself—but in her -heart she did not believe it—that some one had jogged her elbow. -Anyhow, the Emerald of Catherine the Great jerked out suddenly and fell -from her palm, making no noise. It must have fallen upon the bearskin at -her feet, where a standard electric light upon a little table near at -hand happened to cast a shadow. She gave a startled cry, and at once the -three men were on their knees—yes, even the old -Professor—groping in the fur. -</p> -<p> -They were longer at their groping than one might have thought. The -object was small, but not so small as all that. It was flat, heavy, -metallic: it could not have rolled. It must be within a few inches, or a -foot at the most, of the place on which its proprietress had stood. -</p> -<p> -Unfortunately she moved, and in that movement no one could remember, to -half a foot or so, exactly where it should have lain. While the three -men still groped, and the impatient Marjorie tapped with her foot in the -suspense of it, the unfortunate McTaggart cried excitedly, "I've got -it!" -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton at once jumped up, relieved; the Professor also extended -upwards—less smartly; but when they had risen McTaggart was still on -his knees. Then with his face peering into the fur of the bearskin, he -added, "No! It's a splinter of coal,"—and he threw that fragment into -the fire and continued to rummage. -</p> -<p> -The Professor and Lord Galton looked at each other. They hesitated -whether to go down again; they thought it better to leave it to -McTaggart. Poor McTaggart thus remained in the abject attitude to which -he had now been subjected for two minutes or more, becoming increasingly -convinced that something terrible had happened.... He could not conceive -why he should not put his hand upon the thing.... But it was not -there.... At last, flushed, more disordered than ever, he pressed the -fingers of his left hand upon the floor and stood upright. He was a -little blown. -</p> -<p> -"I can't find it!" he said. -</p> -<p> -"You must find it!" said Marjorie sharply. Then, remembering herself, -she looked at the two who were her equals and cousins and she said: -</p> -<p> -"<i>One</i> of you must find it! It can't be lost! Nonsense.... Look here, -stand back!" She pushed her poor old aunt, who was peering about in a -futile fashion. She enlarged the circle, and then said again: -</p> -<p> -"Now then, you must find it! Look here, I'll find it." They went down -again reluctantly, and she herself sank suddenly to her knees and helped -the group. -</p> -<p> -But they looked in vain. They separated the hair of the rug carefully, -they lifted it up pettily, edge by edge, and looked beneath. They -pressed upon it with their palms to see whether they could not find a -lump. Then they took the poor beast up and shook him savagely. But he -yielded no emerald. It was gone. -</p> -<p> -When at last they all rose again—appalled, for the moment -silent—Marjorie was as white as the skin upon which she trod. -</p> -<p> -"It can't be lost," she said again, bitterly. "I say, it <i>can't</i> be -lost." -</p> -<p> -But lost it was. -</p> -<p> -"Father," she said angrily. "Do come and look!" -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary reluctantly hoisted himself from his chair with a -secret groan, shuffled up to the place, and looked down at the rug in a -refined manner. -</p> -<p> -"Look for it, father! Do look for it! Come, it can't be lost!" -</p> -<p> -Painfully but obediently the Home Secretary went down on his knees in -his turn and groped about, with far less chance than any other man would -have had, of laying his hand upon the stone. He drew blank, as the -others had, and rose with more difficulty, McTaggart helping him; he -shuffled back, and sank again into his chair. -</p> -<p> -"Well, well, well!" he said. "Well! Well!" -</p> -<p> -There were tears in Marjorie's eyes—which was a weakness in one so -born and in such a place, but she could hardly keep them back. They were -tears as much of anger as of anything else. Upon Victoria Mosel's -face—somewhat apart, and smiling awfully at the bunch of -them—there was a look you could not see through. But upon the face -of each of the three men who had been first down upon their -knees—not upon the face of the Home Secretary—was now drawn -an indefinable veil, as of instinctive protection against a censorious -world. -</p> -<p> -It had dawned upon each of them, in varying degrees of rapidity, that -<i>he</i> was possibly suspect. -</p> -<p> -It had flashed first upon the lordlet. He lived and breathed in an air -of challenge. It would not have surprised him if he had seen some day on -a glaring sky sign flaming up large over Piccadilly Circus and winking -in and out to compel the eye: "Attaboy? Who pulled Attaboy? Tommy -Galton!" -</p> -<p> -The Professor got the message to his brain about a quarter of a minute -later. He very nearly spoke—but he caught the words in time. The -Mullingar Diamond oppressed him: all the world pointed a finger at him, -and the air was full of demoniac whispers: "Mullingar! Mullingar!" -</p> -<p> -And as for the miserable McTaggart, he was already such a worm in his -own eyes among these exalted folk that he thought his poverty might -alone have him arrested that very night. It struck him with a pang that, -in his innocence, he had remained there on his knees long after the -others had risen. Then a new shaft stabbed him. Ingenuous, he had dug -his own grave! They would interpret that cry, "I've found it!" as the -sudden shock of a real discovery: for him there sounded dully all -around, "Ar-r-rest that mon!"—and he was nearly sick. -</p> -<p> -So there they stood—three men, none of whom had any idea what had -happened, and each well convinced that he was the suspect who must fight -it out sooner or later: each at the same time firmly believing that one -of the other two was the culprit. In Marjorie's pure mind there spread a -growing certitude that they were all of them guilty, all of them, and -that each of them had the emerald in his pocket—yet were there not -three emeralds but one emerald. At least, that was how it felt. But -within the soul of the Home Secretary—if I might so call -it—there was a strong sense of botheration and of wishing the -beastly thing had never happened. -</p> -<p> -Under the keen inward light of Victoria Mosel's intelligence, standing -apart, a fascinating problem was being discussed. She was delighted. It -would occupy her for days. It was just what she liked. -</p> -<p> -In all that circle of heads, showing in different degrees—Victoria's -least of all—the mood of the mind through some transfiguration of the -face, each silent for the moment, only one head stood frankly stamped -with a fierce joy. It was the head of the polar bear. -</p> -<p> -If he could have spoken he might—or he might not—have told -them. It might have amused him more to keep them in suspense. His great -red grinning open mouth and shining teeth were full of joy. His fierce -glass eyes glared upon them mischievously. It was almost worth while -being shot and skinned for such a revenge as this! <i>He knew where the -emerald was</i>.... It was in his right ear. -</p> -<p> -They had taken him and shaken him with great indignity, but they had -foolishly taken him up by the hind legs. One should never take a polar -bear up in that way, especially when it is a bear who has been a prince -in his own country of keen wind, low shining sun, and little dancing -seas against the ice. They had shaken him, but they had shaken—oh, -shame!—upside down, and the more they had shaken him, the more firmly -had they wedged the emerald in his right ear, where it so snugly lay. -</p> -<p> -He could have told them, and I have hastened to tell you. Then where, -you ask me, does the detective fun come in? -</p> -<p> -You shall see! -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">Far in the Eastern Wing where, mured in stone</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Arrived at by a passage cold that ran</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Along the North o' the House, and barred with iron</span><br /> -<span class="i2">As to its windows: also by a door</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Which leads from the considerable room</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Wherein are great receptions held at Paulings</span><br /> -<span class="i2">[An Antrum gaunt, abandoned, having only</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Upon its walls the Oils of dead de Bohuns</span><br /> -<span class="i2">(Pronounced Deboons) and sundry dusty sofas:</span><br /> -<span class="i2">The Room grandiloquently named the Ballroom],</span><br /> -<span class="i2">There stand the Servants' Quarters. It is there,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">That, ruled by their dread Queen, the Housekeeper,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">And by her Coadjutor King, the Butler,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">The serfs Boonesque repose. The Cook, the Chauffeur,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">The Kitchen Maids, the Footmen, and the Boy:</span><br /> -<span class="i2">And Lord! how many others! These that night—</span><br /> -<span class="i2">That winter night of doom—held high discourse,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Upon the EMERALD. Samuel had heard</span><br /> -<span class="i2">(While bearing in the tray of drinks, himself</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Arrayed in livery) how its disappearance</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Had flummoxed all the Toffs. "You bet your breeches!"</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Said he, to either sex, indifferent</span><br /> -<span class="i2">And indiscriminate. "You bet your breeches!</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Whoever's pinched it's got to cough it up!</span><br /> -<span class="i2">The Boss, he ain't Home Secretary, not</span><br /> -<span class="i2">For nothing!" and with that his tongue was still.</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Then spake young Gwendoline, the Tweeny Maid,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">"I pity Him or 'Er as 'as it!" Words</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Which, when she had them spoken, froze their souls—</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Nor none more starkly than the Second Housemaid's,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Unless it were the Boy's—and so to Bed.</span> -</div></div> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER FOUR</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -The majestic poise of the Nordic blood is nowhere seen in greater -perfection than in that crown of our civilization, a modest English -Country House. Here is there no class consciousness, here is there no -class war. Each is in his or her own place, and there is peace through -order. -</p> -<p> -To consider only the servile portion of the establishment: the Butler has -his own dignity, and the various other males—upon whose titles I am -a little shaky—have theirs. So the Females of the species: the Cook -cooks; the Kitchen Attendants attend the kitchen; the Nurse nurses. So -with the external squad: the Groom grooms; the Gardener and all his -Assistants garden. With regularity and zeal the Footmen footle. The mere -Maids go maidenly about their tasks. Below these specialised -functionaries, for which Our Race is famous, comes one who may be -regarded indifferently as the foundation of the fabric or the last rung -of the ladder, and who is known as the Boy. On him the petty, -unorganised, lesser work devolves, for which his Superiors are indeed -responsible, but the mere brute labour of which is his alone. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure05"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure05.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>The Boy Ethelbert in Captivity.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Thus it is the Boy who blacks the boots, fills all the coal scuttles and -carries them about, lays the fires and lights them, polishes the knives, -the silver plate—the silver itself, when there is any—and -the antique pewter; washes up the dishes of the supper below stairs, -cleans the door knobs and bell handles; pulls up the blinds; pulls back -the curtains of the ground floor. Notably it is he also who conveys to -the Upper Servants—who then shall have risen from -slumber—the numbers of the bells that have sounded. It is he who -opens the windows when they should be shut, and shuts them when they -should be open—so far at least as the early hours are concerned, -for when the Great are about this function is performed by a young man -in uniform. It is the Boy who lays out the morning post, sets the -newspapers in order—therein discovering the odds—lets out -the little dog—or dogs—and after some few other trifling -tasks accomplished, brushes and carefully folds the clothes of the male -guests and lays them out where stronger and older men shall carry them -up, each parcel to its room, and for that service receive an ultimate -reward. It is the Boy who carries up the boots themselves—for -these are defiling to the fingers!—and it is the Boy—mark -you: this is essential to the tale, you must not miss it—<i>it is -the Boy who picks up the rugs and shakes them</i>, room after room, a -ritual preparatory to the settling of great clouds of dust, which, -shortly after, not the Boy but a Maid brings down to the rugs again with -feathery instruments and devastating cloths. -</p> -<p> -Hence it was that the Boy—Ethelbert by his full baptismal name, -but in the daily, Bert—before yet the wintry dawn was more than -grey on that Saturday in January, whistling gaily at his task, was -holding the polar bear up by its <i>forepaws</i> and shaking it, as in -duty bound. -</p> -<p> -His heart was gay, for he was redeemed. -</p> -<p> -Not so long since, this same Ethelbert had (alas!) in company with -youths of his own age and a little more, not yet free from the trammels -of elementary education, purloined from a shop certain fruits: two -bananas. -</p> -<p> -The Deed might have appeared upon his record at Scotland Yard and dogged -him through life, for he was already eight years of age and knew full -well the wickedness of his act. He had been spared by the noble -elasticity of the English Common Law. His sobbing widowed mother had -seen, indeed, the shadow of the police across her threshold, -and Ethelbert had stood in the Felons' Dock before the dud -parliamentary lawyer who had got the local stipendiary job. But our -Magistracy—especially that of the Stipendiary Sort—is famous -throughout the whole world for its merciful wisdom. Young Bert had -escaped imprisonment, as having been led away by his senior Charlie -Gasket, who was nearly ten. -</p> -<p> -He had, I say, been saved; but the memory of the peril had burnt into -his soul. And now, though he was nearly fifteen years of age, the -incident still stood out the sharpest of his memories. It was known to -his lord the Butler—perhaps to his Master—but to no others. He -had been taken into the Great House in spite of it all, because his father -had worked upon the estate. Therefore, I say, did Ethelbert feel himself -redeemed. But he trembled still at the apparatus of National Justice. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure06"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure06.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>The Boy Ethelbert untouched by<br /> -Civilisation.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -In the innocence of youth he whistled gently to himself. His other work -was done; this performed, he had but now to settle the last rug, the -Polar Bear, and then to rouse his superiors in the hierarchy below -stairs, to lay their breakfast out and to attend thereon as minister. So -shook he perfunctorily the Arctic Ursine Fleece, the Hyperborean -Candour, when he heard something fall sharply at his feet. He even -caught a flash of it as it fell. He saw it issuing from that ear of -Thule which would hear no more; he saw it sliding down the whiteness of -the hair and gleaming dully in the candlelight upon the polished wood of -the flooring. -</p> -<p> -There was no mistake. It was <i>IT</i>. It was that pledge of respect and -esteem which the ever-memorable Catherine, Empress of All the Russias, -had bestowed three lives ago upon the stalwart Bones. It was the -heirloom of that noble House of de Bohun which Ethelbert served. It was -the Stone on which he had heard all the domestics of the house inflamed -in the last hours of the previous evening. -</p> -<p> -There is an instinct planted in man by Mr. Darwin, which impels him to -pick up a thing, anything dropped. That instinct Ethelbert obeyed. The -act was half unconscious, immediate; he had slipped the Emerald into his -pocket and was already off with a candle in one hand and the other in a -side pocket, fondling the stone. He was off down the long stone corridor -which led along the north of the house towards the offices; and as he -went his mind was full of some vague intention to hand over the -treasure-trove to those in authority—in good time. -</p> -<p> -But even as he thus went up by the dim candlelight in the cold dawn, -along that prison-like perspective of iron-barred windows and whitewash, -with stone flags ringing to his feet, a vision of judgment arose within -him. His teeth chattered at the memory of the police. -</p> -<p> -Ethelbert, that product of no more than an elementary education, had -received some general outline of the world from cinemas and from police -reports, which that same education enabled him to read in the more -widely circulated Sunday papers. -</p> -<p> -He could not have told you that society was organized to the advantage -of circles to which he did not belong, and to the disadvantage of his -own; but he did know that this piece of green glass in its -leaden-coloured setting of hideous lines would sell for a sum that would -free him from servitude for ever. He also knew that to be found -possessed of it would involve a far worse servitude; a servitude not to -the Gentry but to the Force, and lasting, one way or another, the whole -of his life. He knew that such servitude was torture. The people of his -world knew all those things. Therefore did not the emerald represent to -Ethelbert immediate wealth so much as a vision of confinement alone in -a small mechanical cell; upon release, a life-long chain binding him as -an informer and spy over whom further imprisonment should hang at will; -a crushing and overwhelming tyranny; and perhaps at last a secret and -abominable death. Of all these things had young Bert's mind been full -from very early years, for all these things still haunt the distorted -fancy of the poor. -</p> -<p> -He saw himself presenting with trembling hand this Thing of Power, this -Emerald, to his Emperor the Butler; he imagined a first awful and -immediate trial at the hands of that Justiciar, and later an -overwhelming sentence from the Master himself. He heard the key turning -in the door of his room; he saw himself a gibbering prisoner therein; he -heard the voices of the Inspector and his accompanying Sergeant; he felt -the gyves upon his wrist. -</p> -<p> -All this in the few seconds between the West Room of Paulings and the -offices built out of the extreme east. -</p> -<p> -So was Ethelbert's mind made up. For his good angel, failing to -penetrate the first thick skin of stupidity and to suggest the simple -delivery of the gem to his superiors, at any rate got through the second -skin and suggested a second best. -</p> -<p> -He had the brushing of the clothes. He would put it into the pocket of -some one of the guests, and then he could breathe freely. -</p> -<p> -Which guest should it be? No one was yet astir; he was free to choose. -There was a minute or two before the clock would strike the half hour -and bid him summon the earliest riser—after himself—the -kitchen-maid. Her name, Kathleen Parkinson, I take the liberty of giving -you, although she will appear no more in these pages. -</p> -<p> -There lay the three little piles of clothes, to be carefully brushed and -folded up by himself, within the next half hour, and among them how -could a youth of romantic genius hesitate? Did not every novelette, -every Sunday paper, every cinema, point with unerring finger to the -lord? Are not lords and jewels made one for the other, like love and -laughter, or politics and stocks and shares? The lord could not but be -the recipient of the emerald, and when he should have received it, who -fitter than he to deal with such trifles? Bert could see him in his -mind's eye, and hear him in his mind's ear, strolling up to the Master -of the House and saying, in that airy accent which had always so -astonished him in the wealthy: -</p> -<p> -"Oh, I say, Humph, I found the bloody thing this morning and picked it -up—what?" -</p> -<p> -Now into which pocket of Lord Galton's quiet blue suit should it go? -Into the right-hand trousers pocket; for therein, as Bert knew by -fruitful search, his lordship carried loose change. From the waistcoat -it might fall out. In the coat pockets it might lurk for long without -being found; in Lord Galton's right-hand trousers pocket, therefore, did -the emerald go, to the full depth thereof. The garment was folded again -very neatly. And all was well. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -In the fulness of time, the sun being already risen—yes, for an -hour or more—one of those older young domestics of whom I have -spoken bore up a parcel of clothes and a can of hot water to Lord -Galton's door. All the ritual of these palaces was gone through. The -socks were turned inside out, the shirt laid out like a corpse in its -shroud, the pile of brushed and folded clothes set upon a chair, the -fire lit—as though the room were not already stifling with a -hot-air machine; the window opened wider, as though the piercing air had -not already started a draught which had fought with the hot air all -night long. The under-upper servant glided away, and Lord Galton got out -of bed and shaved and washed and dressed; considering in his mind what -all others woke to consider in that same house on that same morning, but -especially the Fated Three: the Emerald. -</p> -<p> -He looked at his watch; it was a quarter past nine. He stood gazing out -of the window at the frosty mist on the damp gaunt trees of the park, -and tried to estimate how he really stood in the minds of those about -him. -</p> -<p> -Who would believe that he knew nothing of the stone? Which of them had -heard—several of them, he knew—which of them <i>believed</i> -that story about Attaboy? Certainly his host, almost certainly -Vic—she knew everything. He was not quite certain that she had not -meant to rag him about it in something she had said during the day -before. She would not misunderstand, but she knew about it. -</p> -<p> -Did that damned greasy fellow the journalist know? He doubted it; they -never did know the things that counted. And as for the Don, he might as -well have suspected the first imbecile in the County Asylum. -</p> -<p> -Marjorie did not know; he was pretty sure of that by her way to him. But -still ... it was known enough; it was known to two.... After all, what -was pulling a horse, and what had it to do with pinching emeralds, -anyhow? ... Yet ... yet ... he could not leave Paulings till it was -cleared up.... If the damned thing turned up in town in some receiver's -shop they might connect it with him.... He was glad he hadn't brought a -man.... No, he must stay till it was cleared up. It was a damned -nuisance. They were getting up a party on Sunday night at the Posts. -There was to be a rich young fool from Ireland whom they would all play -with. Those occasions were not so common nowadays. But he must sacrifice -it. He must stay on. -</p> -<p> -He made his decision; he slowly picked up the small change off his -dressing table and shuffled it into his trousers pocket. Then he -mechanically followed it with his hand, and found something that was not -a coin.... -</p> -<p> -At first he had the grotesque idea that he was handling a pebble, though -how it could have got there he could not conceive. Then a matchbox, for -it was smooth and cold.... When he pulled it out and saw what it was, -his whole mind went through a violent shock of revulsion. -</p> -<p> -He was so sickened, strong as he was, that he had to sit down and -recover himself. And as he so sat, he fixed the dreadful thing with his -eye, holding it there between the fingers of his right hand, unmoving. -</p> -<p> -Now indeed was a resolution to be taken! -</p> -<p> -At first his mind would not work. A man possessed of a thing, no matter -what he does with it, carries his communications about with him, leaves -traces about of his possession. If he threw it out of the window, it -would be found within the radius of such a throw. There was nowhere in -the room where he would dare to hide it. If he dropped it as he went -downstairs, a servant might pass and find it within a minute, connecting -him with what was so found. -</p> -<p> -Give it back himself he dared not. That would mean, "Poor Tommy! He gave -way, but he did the honest thing in the end." He would be branded for -life. Attaboy was enough, without that. -</p> -<p> -At first the easiest course lured him; to say nothing; to keep it upon -his person until everything had blown over; then to take it up with him -to town.... Then? ... He could not help remembering how Alfred had told -him about his uncle and the cutting establishment in Amsterdam. It was -all mixed up with the committee for inquiring into the Meldon -business when there was that trouble in Parliament a few years -before.... It seemed that one could have a stone cut and get it back -unrecognisable.... Then he thrust the thought out of his mind and -shuddered a little at the danger. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure07"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure07.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Lord Galton discovers the Emerald.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -But if he kept it, where should he put it? Where could he put it so as -to be certain during the night—to be <i>absolutely</i> -certain—that no one could find it with him or near him? What if he -should fall faint or ill? What if ... No, there was only one thing to be -done. He must pass it on. No matter what tale he told—even if he -told the truth—to appear with it in his possession and to make an -explanation was to damn himself finally, and that just at the moment his -half-damnation on the turf was beginning to be forgotten.... He must -pass it on.... He must pass it on. -</p> -<p> -There was one obvious repository; an aged fool of that profession whose -incompetence is stamped upon them; a native dupe. It should go into the -pocket of his distinguished cousin, the Professor; it should pass into -the unwitting possession of the expert on dodekahedral crystals. His -mind thus decided, he was half at peace. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton went down to breakfast. He found his host already at the -table. The others came in gradually, and no one talked of the stone; nor -upon anything else to speak of—for of the stone everyone was -thinking. -</p> -<p> -It was, naturally, the learned cousin, the Professor, who first put in -the word that should not have been spoken. He did it somewhere about the -jam, and when the Home Secretary was already feeling the need for a -pipe. Perhaps food had strengthened him. He piped up in his quavering -voice: -</p> -<p> -"Ah! Any news about the emerald, Humphrey? Any news this morning about -the emerald? About the emerald? ... the emerald? ... the emerald?" -</p> -<p> -There is a natural sequence in fools, as in all others of God's -creatures. Aunt Amelia came in a good second. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, yes, Humphrey," she bleated, in that woolly-mutton voice which -fitted her as does sodden mist a marshy formless hill. "Is there any -news about the emerald?" -</p> -<p> -"There is hardly likely to be, Amelia," said her brother, as tartly as -he could be got to say anything, for long years of suave politician's -make-believe had untartled his tongue. -</p> -<p> -"I thought," said Aunt Amelia in self-defense, "that some servant might -have found it and told you." -</p> -<p> -"Well, they have not," said her brother, shortly; and there was silence. -</p> -<p> -The journalist opened his mouth—which he should not have -done—and began rather too loudly, and in too high a pitch: -</p> -<p> -"What I think, you know ..." and then stopped suddenly—which put him -in no better case. -</p> -<p> -What Victoria Mosel would have said nobody knew, for she took her -breakfast in bed—always. But Marjorie had come down in the midst of -this, and spoke sharply. She had slept little and her temper was on -edge. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, that's enough about the emerald!" she said. "What's the good of -talking of it <i>now</i>?" Then she gave one sweeping look around, like a -searchlight trying to spot a boat, and betook herself to the jam. -</p> -<p> -The one who said nothing was the young racing man with the emerald in -his trousers pocket. He was not sure of it—he touched its pin point -two or three times furtively to make certain the gem had not dropped out; -and then he began, by way of clearing the air, to talk to the learned -Professor about indifferent things. -</p> -<p> -But these indifferent things had a purport in them. For first he talked -of the University, then of that degraded College, St. Filbert's, and so -worked things round to the infamous B. Leader, and that fairly started -his companion off—as Lord Galton had intended he should be started. -</p> -<p> -The old Don was still at it when they got up from the breakfast table. -He was shepherded—though he did not know that he was being -shepherded—by the younger man, out into the hall, helped into his -rusty overcoat, led out through the glass doors into the park, and there -did Lord Galton patiently listen to his academic victim for something over -a quarter of an hour, as they walked side by side up the swept gravel to -the very far end of the avenue, and then turned back again towards the -house. -</p> -<p> -Long before they thus faced about, the learned cousin's mind was a -thousand miles away from reality. The harangue which poured forth -against the infamous B. Leader needed but little sympathetic -jogging—a word here and there—from his companion. His soul -was not in his body. You might have stuck a pin into him, and he would -not have felt it; and Lord Galton, who knew men nearly as well as he -knew horses—at least on the side of their weaknesses—felt -secure that the moment had come. And as he leaned forward, -sympathetically close to the left side of his companion, he gently -dropped into the loose, wrinkled side pocket of the rusty overcoat that -perilous gem, and felt as though he had cast off a garment of lead. -</p> -<p> -The expert in dodekahedral crystals still poured out unceasingly and -shrilly his grievance, with many a "Would you believe it?" and "If you -please!" and "Then he actually wrote to the Society at Berne," and so -on; and Lord Galton, almost grateful in the new lightness of his heart, -applauded heartily and loudly marvelled that the Society at Berne did -not drum Leader out of their ranks with every mark of infamy. -</p> -<p> -"So," he thought, as they came into the house again—the quavering -voice of the Crystallographer still more emphatic within four -walls—"salvation comes with a little intelligence, a little decision, -and a little opportunity." -</p> -<p> -He helped the old fool out of his overcoat; hung it up for him on a peg, -and saw its owner go shambling off to his books. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton was pleased with himself; he saw his way fairly straight -before him, but he would do nothing hastily ... which might flurry the -head of the house.... It would be a wise and a small risk, to bide his -time. He would bide it till the noon post had come in, until his host -had looked at his letters. Then only would he take the next step in his -programme. He sauntered out again into the Park, where he would feel the -strain of waiting less, with a walk to occupy him. He looked back over -his shoulder when he had got round towards the lodge, and saw for one -moment through the window of the library his aged relative pottering -among the shelves. He was safe till lunch. And Lord Galton, though all -alone, smiled. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -The young man walked briskly for a couple of miles, thinking clearly and -concisely. He came back to Paulings through the mill gate, up by the -stables, walking strongly and well. He knew exactly what he had to do. -</p> -<p> -He met one of the servants, and asked where Mr. de Bohun might be, and -was told he was in the garage; sought him there, and found him giving -orders about a repair, and trying—unsuccessfully—to understand -whether the proud chauffeur were lying or no. -</p> -<p> -He went straight up to his cousin, who turned round at hearing his step, -and said in a very low voice, and quickly: -</p> -<p> -"Let me see you in your study alone for a moment. It is urgent!" -</p> -<p> -And the Home Secretary, glancing up hurriedly with a half-frightened -look, said, "Yes? Certainly! Come." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER FIVE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-l.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Lord Galton stood by the Home Secretary in his study, looked round -suddenly, and said, "May I lock the door?" locked it without leave and -then came back and began talking. -</p> -<p> -The young fellow talked as impressively as ever he had talked when he -was giving instructions to a jockey, or rather, to the go-between who -took the risk. He knew how to talk, as do most men who are successful in -giving instructions to jockeys. His sentences came, weighty, short, -decisive, and each had its effect. Men said he would have done well in -the House of Commons, but the men who have said that do not know the -House of Commons. Yes, he would have done well in the House of Commons: -not by oratory, but by what I may call the Attaboy side of his -character. He began: -</p> -<p> -"Humphrey, I'm going to tell you about the emerald. I think I know where -it is." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary looked up, startled; but he did not interrupt. -</p> -<p> -"I want to begin by saying that I know I am myself under suspicion." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, my dear Tommy," began his unfortunate host. But the younger man put -up a hand like a slab of stone. -</p> -<p> -"No," he said. "There's no time to be wasted, and we must have things -absolutely clear. One of us three must have got that brooch. No doubt we -are all under suspicion—but I know why I am under suspicion. People -say I pulled a horse." Again the Home Secretary would have interrupted, but -the heavy hand made an impatient gesture, and again he checked himself. -"Marjorie mayn't believe it, and of course that old fool of a Cousin -Bill hasn't heard of it; and as for that journalist fellow McTibbert, or -whatever his name is, he may or may not have; I don't care. But anyhow, -you know it. <i>You've</i> heard all about it!" -</p> -<p> -"But, my dear Tommy," broke in the Home Secretary, lying eagerly and -almost with affection, "I don't believe it. Believe me, I don't believe -it. Do you suppose," he added with beautiful tact, "that if I believed -it I'd have you here at Paulings?" -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton just showed at the muscles of the mouth what a fool he -thought the man. He went on undisturbed. -</p> -<p> -"It's nothing to do with the value of the lie—they haven't turned me -out of the Posts, for that matter; nor warned me off. But the point is, -the story has gone the rounds. A man that would cheat would steal. Also -you know I'm on the rocks, and therefore I'm under suspicion. Now we're -all three under suspicion, as I say. That old ass, Cousin Bill, got -mixed up with the Mullingar Diamond years ago—too much of a fool to -pinch it for selling; wanted to look at it through one of his -contraptions. Anyhow, he can't keep his hands off crystals. And an -emerald's a crystal." -</p> -<p> -"Is it?" asked the Head of the Family with great interest. -</p> -<p> -"I think so—I don't know," said Galton impatiently. "Anyhow, it's a -jewel, a precious stone—what?" -</p> -<p> -"Oh, yes! It's a jewel, yes, a precious stone. Oh, yes," admitted -Humphrey de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"Well then, so's a diamond. A man who'll take diamonds'll take -emeralds—what? ... Then there's that journalist fellow—he's -under suspicion because he's a journalist; they're all on their uppers, and -you told me yourself about the one who stole the spoons when you were at -the Board of Works." -</p> -<p> -A faint smile appeared for a moment on the face of his host. It was his -favourite funny story—all about a journalist who once stole some -government spoons. He had told it on every occasion. He told it to -journalists. But then he was never really featured by the Press. -</p> -<p> -"Now of those three," went on Lord Galton, rather more slowly, and -separating his words, "the man who has got it is our miserable old -family goat, Cousin Bill...." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary started. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure08"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure08.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Lord Galton explains to the Home Secretary his<br /> -theory—or rather, certitude—upon the<br /> -whereabouts of the Great Emerald.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Yes, I know what you'll say ... he got the fright of his life over the -Mullingar Diamond. You'd say he'd never dream of doing it in the house -of the head of the family." (A dignified look passed over the features -of the Chieftain of the de Bohuns.) "Then he's such a clumsy old ass -that you can't imagine him doing it so quickly. After all, it took him -half an hour to fish the Mullingar Diamond out of an open drawer, and -even then he left things topsy-turvy. You'll say all that, and if I were -just guessing I'd half agree with you. But I'm not guessing. And I tell -you <i>he's got it</i>. I don't pretend to do any of this private -detective work, and I've never read one of their rotten mystery stories -in my life. That's how I've kept my common sense clear—men who are -blown upon need their wits about them. I know Bill's got it for a very -simple reason—<i>I've seen it in his hand with my own eyes</i>. -Some one told the old goat that the place to hide anything was where it -would be most obvious and simple. He's got it in the left-hand pocket of -that damned smelly overcoat he wears; but he's such a nervous old balmy -that he can't help fingering it the whole time; and when he thinks no -one's looking he pulls it half out and looks at it furtively out of the -corner of his eye. Dons are always as mad as hatters. He did it three -separate times while we were out walking just now. He couldn't help -himself. He's too much shut up inside his own addled head to notice -other people. And I'll tell you something else, which is also common -sense. He won't take it out of that pocket till he's left the house. An -overcoat's the only thing they don't brush or fold up, in this house; -you're old-fashioned, with these things on pegs and not on marble -tables. He knows that. It'll hang there on the peg till he goes away. -That's the whole point of leaving it in such a place.... <i>And it's -there now</i>. You look for it there, and you'll find it." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary put on his expression of gravity in the third -degree—the expression with which he would meet a deputation for -saving an innocent man from the gallows and gratify them with a majestic -refusal. -</p> -<p> -"What you say, Tommy," he began, slowly, "is very serious. Very serious -indeed. In my judgment ..." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, look here," said Lord Galton impatiently, "cut out all that! He's -not in the hall. He went off to the library, and when he gets there he -strikes root. There'll be no one about—they're laying the table. Come -with me, and I'll prove it." -</p> -<p> -"I hesitate ..." began the Home Secretary. His powerful young relative, -by way of reply, hooked him by the arm, unlocked the door, and marched -him straight out into the hall. The ghost of what might well have been -an ancestor—for we all have such things—must have mourned, -if, as such things do, it had taken up its kennel in a suit of armour -standing by the side of the fireplace in the hall: it would have mourned -to see the head of the de Bohuns stand by while the deed was done. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton went smartly up to the bunch of coats, plunged his hand into -the left-hand pocket of that one wretched old garment, and turned it -sharply inside out, so that the damning evidence should fall before his -cousin's eyes. There fell out no small amount of gathered dirt, some -paper torn into minute fragments, and a stub of pencil; also a rather -repulsive handkerchief—nothing more. Nothing rang upon the hall -floor. There was no Emerald. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton for once did a weak thing—or a superstitious one. As -though not trusting his senses, he picked the repulsive handkerchief up and -shook it. But there was no emerald. Indeed, one could see and hear by -the way it had fallen that there was no emerald within its large but -unattractive folds. He knew that well enough before he touched the -rag—but it was a forlorn hope. -</p> -<p> -It was the older man who hastily picked up these evidences, not of the -Professor's dishonour, but his own, and rapidly put them back where they -belonged; darting a glance over his left shoulder and sighing with -relief to find that there was still no one about, not the sound of a -distant footfall, not the glide of a serf. His companion's face was -darker and flushed. -</p> -<p> -"I could have sworn ..." he opened. Then he added, murmuring, "He must -have taken it away." -</p> -<p> -"I wish we hadn't ..." began the Home Secretary, and then switched off -to, "You're quite sure you saw it with your own eyes, Tommy?" -</p> -<p> -"Absolutely certain," said the young man, with a fearless steady gaze, -and proud to be telling one truth at least. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary held his chin in his hand, stood silent for a good -quarter of a minute, and then said something characteristic of his -profession as a statesman. He said, "Humm!" -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -What had happened? -</p> -<p> -Dear—or, if that is too familiar a term—charming reader, -this is not one of the detective stories of commerce. You shall know all -about it beforehand, as you have already known all about it, step by -step. You shall be subjected to no torture of suspense. We will leave -that to the people of our story. They were born for it. -</p> -<p> -What had happened was simple enough. The Professor had gone off to the -library. He wanted to make certain of the Society at Berne in the -<i>Almanac de Gotha</i>. With men such as he, an obsession having cropped -up has a horrid fascination for the mind and holds it. He was worrying -about the exact title: whether it was Crystallographique, or -Crystallographische, or de Crystallographic. He was determined to get it -right. -</p> -<p> -He kept on talking to himself, as was his learned habit, repeating with -a hideous smile the words, "Crystals ... ah! yes ... crystals.... -Crystals, eh? Crystals ... yes.... Crystallograph ... something, eh? Now -then, it'll be among the books of reference, eh? Crystals.... Oh, what a -dirty trick that was of Leader to play!" His left hand was fumbling in -the left-hand pocket, where he always kept those indispensable -instruments of research, his large tortoise-shell spectacles. His hand -groped. He muttered the word "Berne" three times in less and less -confident tones. Then the message so tardily conveyed reached his -erudite brain. "Oh! ... I've lost my spectacles!" -</p> -<p> -He never got used to the shock of losing his spectacles, though he -suffered from it a dozen times a day. Each time he lost them it was all -up with him; each time he went through a crisis. Here he was in the -depths of the country and without eyes! There was a touch of agony in -his muttering now, as came louder the words, "My spectacles, oh, ah! my -spectacles ... now where could I ..." He bent his powerful will to the -control of his, if possible, less powerful memory; he traced events back -one after the other for a good three minutes, and then he remembered -that he had gone out in his overcoat and had left it hanging in the -hall. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure09"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure09.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>The Professor gave an odd little scream like a shot<br /> -rabbit.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -He shambled out and groped in the recesses of the left-hand pocket, and -there, side by side with his familiar handkerchief, the faithful -companion of many days, was the feel of the rough spectacle case; it was -all right, but also, what annoyed him a little, a pebble. It was natural -that pebbles should get into one's pockets when one was out walking in -the country; at least, he thought it was. He thought it went with those -terrible animals called cows, and all that sort of thing. But he pulled -it out mechanically, felt the prick of a pin and then gave an odd little -scream, like a shot rabbit. Next (excuse him!) he rapped out a frightful -oath. "My God!" cried the aged blasphemer. No less. But the violence of -his emotion must have shaken his standards. -</p> -<p> -He stood there, with the emerald in the palm of his right hand, staring -at it, distraught. And once more in his bewilderment he fell to -repeating the name of his Creator—upon whose existence indeed, he had -more than once learnedly discoursed, concluding upon the whole against -it. -</p> -<p> -It is said that under the strain of very severe emotion men do things -unnatural, out of themselves. And behold! Professor William de Bohun -behaved for the next half hour like a whole group of characters, any one -of whom you would have said he could not have thrown himself into for -the world. Terror inspired him, and the tragic sense of impending doom. -</p> -<p> -It must be got rid of! -</p> -<p> -He had a mad impulse to swallow it. Luckily he restrained it in time: it -was too big, its metal fastenings too angular for health; and then, -there was the pin. -</p> -<p> -After he had given up the swallowing baulk, another, far more feasible, -arose and formed itself more clearly. There appeared before his mind's -eye a young, round naïve face, fresh to the world, an awkward figure, -the whole standing out against the background of known poverty. It was -the figure of McTaggart, the journalist. -</p> -<p> -A wicked glint illumined the Professor's eye. -</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">"Oh! Baleful, hellish light, thus to suffuse</span><br /> -<span class="i2">The inactive optic, wontedly so dulled,</span><br /> -<span class="i2">But now with evil purpose all inflamed!"</span> -</div></div> - -<p> -as Milton has it in the matter of the fish-god, Dagon. -</p> -<p> -He made no excuses for himself. He recked nothing of the young man's -ruin. He plunged heartily and heavily into sin. As his colleague the -Professor of Pastoral Theology had once finely quoted in his Luther -Commemoration Lecture, "<i>Si peccas pecca fortiter</i>." -</p> -<p> -It is generally held by the more liberal school among theologians that -man acting of his own free will is not mastered by an external evil -impulse, but may well submit to it. -</p> -<p> -So it was with Cousin William on this never-to-be-forgotten occasion of -his chief downfall. -</p> -<p> -A Minor Devil happened at that moment to be wandering rather emptily -through Paulings, seeking what he might devour. He was hungry, poor -spirit; he had eaten nothing since he had left his own place at midnight -and he had got lost in the fog all morning. He had almost caught a small -housemaid, but she had slipped away through the efforts of her patron -saint, sweet Millicent, and left him perfectly ravenous. It was almost -noon and devils are not built for fasting. Judge then his joy at coming, -by pure chance, upon this evil old man. He almost jumped out of his -black fiendish skin for joy to perceive the flashing violet light which -surrounds, in the eyes of supernatural beings, the head of a wicked man. -He spotted it first from a corner of the hall where he had just come out -of a corridor. He rubbed his hands together and even flapped his clawed -wings in his excitement. He flew up to the Professor and began pouring -all sorts of excellent suggestions into his ear—his left ear. -</p> -<p> -Young McTaggart could play billiards ... the Professor had heard them -say that ... young McTaggart was probably proud of his billiards ... he -could be got to go round the table exhibiting his billiards. He would -take off his coat before exhibiting his billiards. And when the coat was -once off, and its owner's eye was concentrated on the billiard table ... -oh, then!... -</p> -<p> -The Devil, who can see through walls, gently shepherded his pupil into -the little room next the library where the overflow of books was kept. -That door, with horrid smile, the old conspirator opened; and there, -indeed, he found the youth, looking miserably enough out of the window -with his hands in his trousers pockets. He had slunk into that -inhospitable fireless den in order to be free for a while from the -terrors of high society. -</p> -<p> -"Ah, Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart!" carolled the -scientist—and as he said it he opened his arms wide in a most genial -gesture. "I've been looking for you everywhere!" There slyly wagging a -knotted forefinger, "And I wonder if you can guess why? Eh? Why? Guess -why!" Which words said, and smiling still broader, he repeated them once -more three times, as was his wont, and then added: "I wonder whether you -can guess why, Mr. McTaggart, whether you can guess why ... whether you -can guess why?" -</p> -<p> -The Devil was now so happy that he could hardly refrain from manifesting -himself, which would have been fatal. He whisked all round the room, -jeering at McTaggart. -</p> -<p> -Poor young Mr. McTaggart! He had been all night and all that morning a -most unhappy man. He exaggerated in his own mind the suspicions under -which he lay. He was too innocent to believe that he shared it with such -exalted beings as the lord and the Professor, of whom—though he had -never heard his name—he was assured the fame to be European, and who, -anyhow, was connected by blood with a cabinet minister. -</p> -<p> -The lad imagined himself watched by a thousand eyes. He dared not take -his leave, and yet he was in hell during those hours he passed at -Paulings. He would have been unhappy anyhow, for it was not his world; -but to be within all that set and at the same time a marked -criminal—for that is what he felt himself to be—was almost -intolerable. How he had sprung up when the learned Ancient approached -him, with those seeming kindly eyes! Ah! had McTaggart enjoyed a few -more years of human experience he would have seen in those eyes such a -mixture of cunning and evil joy as might have put him on his guard. But -no; he thought that in his loneliness he had found a friend. Who -knew?—perhaps a supporter. -</p> -<p> -The Professor's plan was simple, but McTaggart was simpler still. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure10"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure10.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Sudden interest in the game of Billiards upon the<br /> -part of the Professor of Crystallography<br /> -to the University.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Mr. McTaggart," said the Ancient, with horrible geniality, "I hear that -you are astonishing at billiards.... Billiards, billiards, yes, -billiards.... Billiards. The Home Secretary was telling me, Humphrey, I -mean, my cousin, my cousin Humphrey ... the Home Secretary, yes ... the -Home Secretary was telling me that you were astonishing at billiards. -Now you know"—and here he went so far as to make a step sideways and -seize the young man by the arm—"it is the one thing I can watch for -hours ... billiards ... good billiards.... I have gone into the -mechanics of the thing"—he was lying freely, and gambling, rightly, -on the idea that his companion could not distinguish between -Crystallography and any other science—"and it fascinates me ... -fascinates me ... oh! fascinates me. I wonder whether—" and in a -fashion which would have been crude to any other man, but to the lonely -McTaggart was heavenly kindness, he urged with linked arm and long -sidling crablike step towards the billiard-room. -</p> -<p> -It was in the Professor's conception of things that when one is -deceiving a fellow being one must talk the whole time. He is not the -only one to suffer from that delusion. -</p> -<p> -He talked all the way to the billiard-room; he talked while McTaggart -was pulling off the cloth; he talked while McTaggart was putting on the -lights to see clearly on that dim January day; he talked while McTaggart -was chalking his cue and thoughtfully placing the three balls in -position. -</p> -<p> -The torrent of rapid words—all dealing with excellency at -billiards, all squeaky—was interrupted only at one moment. It was -the moment when McTaggart did what he had been expected to do—the -moment when he took off his coat and threw it on the leather cushions by -the side of his newly-made and slightly eccentric friend. -</p> -<p> -The sight of that coat so thrown immediately by his side, and subject to -his hand, almost choked the senile conspirator with joy. But he -recovered himself, and still poured out a torrent of repeated words as -the young fellow walked slowly round the table, getting absorbed in a -continuous break. The Professor interrupted that verbal spate only now -and then to gaze with a murderous keenness at a projected stroke and to -mutter "Marvellous!" two or three times; but all the while his heart was -failing him. It was not the only mean thing he had done in his life by a -long chalk. He had spent the whole of his life doing nothing but mean -things; but it was the first actively and perhaps dangerously wrong -thing the old booby had ever dared to do: for he did not count the -Mullingar Diamond—that was in the cause of Science, and in the cause -of Science you can do anything. -</p> -<p> -But the Devil chose his moment for him; it was a moment of silence when -young McTaggart was waiting long and breathlessly to be certain of a -stroke that would bring his break over the hundred. His back was turned -to the Professor; he was intent upon his play. -</p> -<p> -The old bony hand, with the gesture of one that takes rather than gives, -put the emerald into a side pocket of the coat, where lay he knew not -what—but in point of fact, a tobacco pouch, a pipe, a pencil, and -a piece of chocolate—of all things in the world!—no longer -clean. Nor had the Emerald ever been in such society before, from the -day when it had started life in the splendid court of Moscovy to these -last evil days of ours. -</p> -<p> -McTaggart had brought off his shot: his break was 102, and the spot and -the red lay perfect for a cannon and red in the pocket. -</p> -<p> -But you exaggerate the diplomatic value of the Professor if you think -that he had the wit to continue his stream of gabble after the deed was -done. -</p> -<p> -It was lucky for him that he was dealing with the candour of youth, or -that abrupt retreat of his from the scene of his crime would have -brought suspicion. For, his deed accomplished, he simply got up with a -jerk, dropped all attention to the play, looked at his watch, muttered -the time of day with an exclamation, and sidled out of the room, leaving -his companion marooned ... and with him, full of success, went the -Lesser Devil. -</p> -<p> -McTaggart could do without him; he went on playing for another ten -minutes or so, till the break ended, and had reached the pretty figure -of 151. Then he in turn looked at his watch in his waistcoat pocket, -found it would be time for luncheon in a few minutes, put up his cue, -and sadly resumed his coat. -</p> -<p> -Had he been of those who smoke all day he would have pulled out his -pipe, and ten to one would have found the thing lurking there next his -tobacco; but he thought of the meal coming on, and much more did he -think with dread that it would be breaking some mysterious etiquette of -country houses if he were to smoke a pipe. He would not dare to do it -till he saw some one of his betters at the same work. For the same -reason, after he had heard them going towards the dining-room and had -joined them, he was too nervous to put his hands in his pockets in a -gesture of repose. He kept them dangling in his extreme anxiety to -commit no solecism. He moved nervously about amid the sullen silence of -the rest and wondered a little why the burst of geniality upon the part -of the man of gems should have dried up so suddenly. For not a word more -did the Professor speak to him; and all through luncheon McTaggart sat -there in the same terror and the same misfortune of soul, never daring -to speak some artificial word during the rare moments when anyone broke -the silence. -</p> -<p> -They had not yet risen from table; he was still wondering what one did -at the end of luncheon in the houses of the great—at what point one -got up, whether immediately after one's host or simultaneously with one's -host; whether the women went out first, as he knew they did at dinner; -whether it was his duty to open the door for them—when Lord Galton -pulled out his pipe, filled it deliberately enough, and lit it. After -the easy manners of our happy times he slowly and with deliberation blew -a cloud of smoke across the board which wreathed itself, not -ungracefully, about the venerable head of Aunt Amelia. So natural an -action was followed by his host, who in turn thoughtfully pulled out his -own pipe and lit it, as he rose to fetch himself wine: he mixed tobacco -and wine, did Humphrey de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"Then," thought McTaggart to himself, in an agony of desire for tobacco, -"it seems this kind of thing <i>can</i> be done,"—and he felt for his -pipe, and pulled out his pouch. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure11"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure11.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Mr. McTaggart discovers the Emerald.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Now there happened to be in the room at that moment an Angel. He had -come to Paulings express to counteract the Devil who had been putting in -such strong work on the Professor, and the Angel saved the quill driver, -whom, for his poverty, he loved. For that innocent, finding something -that felt like his slab of chocolate in among his tobacco, and knowing -himself to be well capable of having put it there, was just about to -pull it out, and was already speculating on what sort of flavour -chocolate gave to Bondman—or Bondman to chocolate—when the -Angel seized his wrist and pinned it. He did not know the Angel was -doing this—we never know our luck—he could not have told you -what happened, except that he hesitated, and being of the opposite sex, -was not lost. But for the Angel, he would have pulled out the thing -before them all, and said, "Hallo, what's this?" and there would have -been an end of McTaggart. Instead of which the Angel, with angelic -swiftness, put a thought into his head. -</p> -<p> -"Don't pull out that lump of chocolate! It will make you look a fool. -The great don't eat chocolate, except out of large expensive wooden -boxes with Japanese pictures outside; elaborate boxes. The rich do not -carry half-broken slabs of chocolate in their pockets—still less in -their tobacco pouches!" -</p> -<p> -Therefore was it that McTaggart did not take out the lump, whatever it -was; he grasped a fingerful of tobacco and peered down with one eye into -the recesses of the pouch. When he saw what was there, his heart stopped -beating! For a moment he felt faint and giddy.... But the angel firmly -put the pouch back again, leaving the tobacco in his fingers, and with -shaking hand he filled his pipe, and with shaking hand he lit it! -</p> -<p> -What the devil? -</p> -<p> -How on earth ...? -</p> -<p> -The unfortunate boy actually examined his own mind to see whether he -could possibly have done such a thing, and then forgotten it—have -done it inadvertently. Then he thought it had fallen into his coat when -Marjorie had let it drop. Then he remembered that he had not been -wearing that coat, that he had been in evening dress. Then he thought -that the universe was made in some way that he did not understand. He -looked at his coat, and fingered it. It was all right. His mind would -not work properly again until he had satisfied himself beyond a doubt -not once, but many times. He allowed—through terror—too long -a time to pass lest he should seem in haste; strolled, looking as -careless as he could, towards the library, looked round to make sure -that no one had noticed him, leaped upstairs to his room, locked the -door, took out his pouch and that which was within. He gazed at it for -something like half a minute, putting it down on his dressing-table in -the strong light to make sure. -</p> -<p> -There was no doubt at all. Either he was mad, or that was the emerald. -He remembered some odiously vivid dreams that he had had as a child -during the air raids—but he was certain this was no dream. He was -McTaggart all right, a miserable young journalist against whom fate had -woven some hellish plot; and there was the Emerald. -</p> -<p> -Next he tortured himself as to what he should do; obviously he must keep -it upon him; he dared not secrete it anywhere. If one secretes things -one can be traced. Conscience for one moment bade him go and tell his -host, and risk all; but unfortunately the Angel had been called away at -that very moment to tackle the Devil again, who had settled in the -Vicarage; and in lack of such heavenly aid McTaggart fell, as any one of -us would have fallen. He put the emerald into the inner pocket of his -coat, pinned three pins round it carefully to make certain that it -should not escape; and then went down with leaden heart to mix with his -fellow beings and to trust to time. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER SIX</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -The boy Ethelbert was suffering; not from contrition—which, I need -hardly tell one of your learning, is the pure sorrow for sin—but from -attrition—which, I need hardly tell one of your learning, is the -sorrow for sin only in so far as one considers its unpleasant consequences -to oneself. -</p> -<p> -The boy Ethelbert clearly appreciated that in attempting to save himself -from one danger he had run himself into another far greater. He had put -a valuable jewel into a nobleman's pocket and that might be, in legal -terms, for all he knew, embezzlement, malversation or even a compound -and chronic felony of <i>malice prepense</i>; perhaps a -misdemeanour—with which word he was familiar through the fate of -an uncle of his called John. -</p> -<p> -He was in great agony, was the boy Ethelbert; in agony of that sort -which youth cannot endure until it has relieved itself by communion. But -how should he speak? His duty was to his natural lord, the Butler. The -glorious, the remote Mr. Whaley: God of the Underworld. Should he -confess to the Butler? It would be madness. Yet he must speak: he must -unburden his mind. -</p> -<p> -The innocent child was not long in finding a plan. He would go to his -true superior and, naming no names, mentioning no-one-like, he would -give a nod as good as a wink to a blind horse, and them as understood -could follow if they chose, and if they asked no questions they wouldn't -be told no lies. And mum's the word. Such, in rapid succession, were the -Napoleonic thoughts of Ethelbert. -</p> -<p> -It was shortly after luncheon that he sought the room in which the -dignified O.C. of the household of Paulings was wont to repose from his -labours: and never more thoroughly than after luncheon. -</p> -<p> -Midday sleep is unknown to the young, at least after they are very, very -young. Those of young Ethelbert's age have no use for it and cannot -understand what a boon it may be to others. Foolishly, therefore, did -young Ethelbert knock at the door of the holy of holies, thereby -suddenly awakening the sacred being within, who jerked into a startled -gasp. He pulled a handkerchief from his face, thought for a moment that -the house was on fire, expected to see an angry master perhaps; was on -his feet with labouring breath, purple, expectant; when there entered -the Boy. -</p> -<p> -A fine and hearty curse greeted the youth and almost blasted him from -the room, but what he had to say was of such moment that he just stood -his ground. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, sir!" he said, "I thought I'd come and tell you..." -</p> -<p> -"Come and tell me what? You young devil!" roared Mr. Whaley with a lack -of dignity which I should have thought impossible had I not myself once -spied upon him in his more relaxed moments, when he thought that none -could observe. "I've a mind to have you larroped! Damned if I don't -larrop you myself!" He made a vicious dash at the Boy, who was only -spurred by such terror to the arresting cry of. -</p> -<p> -"Ho, sir! The Hemerald....!" -</p> -<p> -"The Emerald ..." gulped Mr. Whaley in a very changed tone. And then, -almost meekly: "Well, what about the Emerald, young Bert? What about -it?" The fierceness had gone out of him altogether; he sat down. "Anyone -been saying who took it?" For conscience that makes cowards of us all -makes us most cowardly when we are innocent—especially in a trade -with perquisites. -</p> -<p> -Ethelbert recovered some little of his composure, and there came into -his eyes a look of simple cunning. -</p> -<p> -"There's some," he said, nodding mysteriously, "what might speak if they -chose." -</p> -<p> -"Oh! Is there?" said Mr. Whaley. "Well then, speak, you little rat!" -</p> -<p> -"I didn't say it was me as knew," answered Ethelbert a little -plaintively. "But don't you think, sir, that when the clothes are -brushed and all, him as brushes finds out what's in the pockets—yes" -(mysteriously) "even in them of the 'ighest?" -</p> -<p> -"'Oo'd be fool enough to leave such a thing in their pocket?" said Mr. -Whaley contemptuously. "And 'oo do you mean by the 'ighest?" -</p> -<p> -Ethelbert nodded with a superior air. -</p> -<p> -"Ah!" he answered doggedly, "all I said was, 'there's some could speak -if they chose.' And there's things that may be left in the pockets even -of the 'ighest." -</p> -<p> -"Look 'ere, young Bert," said Mr. Whaley, rising again ponderously, and -with a new threat in his face: "I'm not going to have any of <i>that</i>." -Then shaking a considerable sausage of a forefinger at the lad, he -added, "When you say 'the 'ighest' that's enough! Don't let me 'ear you -speak again: leastways not on jewels and such like. There's only one -name that it can mean you're driving at"—and there rose up within his -mind the majesty of the master, Humphrey de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"I'm driving at no one," said the Boy, struck suddenly again with -terror. He had not dreamed that the upper servants felt so strongly upon -the immunity of lords such as he in whose pocket the gem, to Ethelbert's -certain knowledge, reposed—for he had put it there. -</p> -<p> -"You've been a-brushing the clothes, young lad, have yer? Yes, of course -you have; that's your place; and setting 'em out as they should be set. -And you say you found something in the pocket of the 'ighest, did you?" -</p> -<p> -"I never ..." began Ethelbert, almost on the point of howling. -</p> -<p> -"You shut your dangerous young mouth," shouted Mr. Whaley. "It's talking -like that against your betters as 'as put many and many a lad in -prison." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, sir!" said the unfortunate Bert. -</p> -<p> -"Now look here, my Boy," went on Mr. Whaley, in his heaviest manner, -slowly transforming himself into the distant Superior and pronouncing -divine moral judgment and guidance, as it were, for the very young. "You -listen to me, and listen solemn. This may be a turning point in your -life, it may. Talk like this among the lower servants, let alone a -little bastard not yet sixteen, 'as been the ruin of some—aye, of -many. So I tell ye. The gaols are full of 'em. Now, you mark what I say, -young Ethelbert"—it was the first time he had ever used the entire -name, but the occasion demanded it—"one word from your lips, and -you're ruined. It's well you come to one like me, that might be your -father like, and that has a care for your future, my lad. Remember that! -One word from your lips, and you're ruined. It's not for you to be -piecing this and that together. Gentlemen 'ave got ways o' their own, -and, anyhow, I'm slow to believe you. There may be a game about all -this, and, anyhow, not a word from your lips. Mark, my lad!" he went on, -his voice booming, "ye're lost if ye speak. Have you taken that?" he -ended, almost shouting again. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, yes, sir!" said the miserable Ethelbert, trembling. "Oh, sir, I -meant no harm...." -</p> -<p> -"Well, then, you go and <i>do</i> no harm," concluded Mr. Whaley, and waved -the infant away. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -Mr. Whaley rose to his full height and girth and stretched. He looked in -a little square looking-glass, one of his necessaries of life, thought -his tie doubtful, carefully and gingerly put on a new one, worthy of the -occasion. His boots—he glanced down at them—yes, his boots -would do. His trousers were just what they should be. The fringe of hair -round the majestic dome of his head never needed attention less than now. -</p> -<p> -It was a solemn moment in history. He, George Whaley, a man of weight -and years, possessed, moreover, now of a sufficient competence, but not -undesirous of making it larger still, was in possession of the dread -secret. The head of the de Bohuns, one of His Majesty's principal -Secretaries of State, had fallen, fallen, fallen! Humphrey de Bohun had -pinched his own daughter's emerald. The Emerald of Catherine the Great. -The fortune of the de Bohuns lay concealed by his master's hand, -awaiting the receiver's gold. Oh, horror! In what embarrassment the -unfortunate man had committed the fatal act Mr. Whaley knew not: could -so good a man have been blackmailed by scoundrels? Why should he need -money—and money at such risk? Alas! who can plumb the depths of the -human heart? thought George Whaley—indeed, he almost spoke the words -aloud, so apposite did they seem, and so often had he read them in his -book of devotions. Yet was it so! And ever, in the least expected -places, thought George Whaley again, lies the solution of a mystery. He -shot his cuffs, drew himself up, coughed a little, and rehearsed the -scene. -</p> -<p> -"I beg your pardon, sir, may I have the honour of a moment's -confidential word with you?" And then another discreet cough. -</p> -<p> -Then how to put it? He thought long and deeply. He must put it with -sympathy—almost as a friend. He must not forget that he was talking -to a superior. It would need very skilful handling; but what are butlers -for if they cannot skilfully handle? It is the very core of buttling! -</p> -<p> -He had handled other situations in his other situations, had Mr. Whaley: -none quite so delicate as this, but still, some of 'em pretty delicate. -Yes; he must talk to Humphrey as a friend. Respectfully, but as a -friend: and above all firmly. It was clear that such a service would -merit some reward. -</p> -<p> -God knows, there would be no tone of menace! Oh, no! Whatever honorarium -might accrue to George Whaley as a reward for such revelation should be -the gift of a grateful heart alone: and, said Mr. George Whaley to his -own conscience, why not? He would be doing his master a very great -service. Indeed, he would be doing a double service—nay, a treble -one. For he would be rescuing the Home Secretary of England from his lower -self; that was a moral service. He would be preventing him from -inevitable discovery; that was a material service. He would be serving -him faithfully as an honest domestic should; and that was a service of -loyalty. -</p> -<p> -Was it to be wondered at (the whole scene rose vividly before his eyes -as it was to be—as it certainly would be), was it to be wondered at -that the grateful man should, on an impulse, seize the honest servitor's -hand, grasp it warmly, and then, with a catch in his voice, cry aloud, -"Whaley, you have served me well!" The rest would follow. Not less, he -took it, than five hundred pounds. -</p> -<p> -Should he go further? Should he offer his services for taking back the -gem discreetly and seeing that it should be laid, through means he could -command, upon the dressing-table of the culprit's daughter—no one -should know whence? -</p> -<p> -Time must show; the opportunity would develop; the details of the drama -would be filled in. But the main lines were clear. George Whaley would -save the head of the family of de Bohun; he would save the soul—and, -incidentally, the more earthly reputation—of the head of the family -of de Bohun. He would receive the little spontaneous, heartfelt reward due -to so honest a liegeman of the de Bohuns. Ah! Chivalry was not dead.... -</p> -<p> -But nothing must be done on impulse. He glanced at his watch. It was -only just past three. He must watch the poor tortured soul until there -had developed in it, as inevitably there would through the effect of -time, a false security—a false security brought by suspicions and -counter-suspicions among the guests, who could never dream the real -truth. Upon such a mood the revelation would fall with tenfold effect. -</p> -<p> -Then, and then only—he would watch his moment—would George -Whaley unburden himself of the curse of the de Bohuns and turn that -curse into a blessing; moral to his master, and to himself material. -</p> -<p> -Such was the plan of George Whaley. Once more he recited, but in an -undertone, a whisper, the words of which could not be heard by another, -the very phrases he was to use, the gestures proper to the great moment -when it should come. So discreetly did he rehearse that young Ethelbert -without, his ear glued to the keyhole, heard nothing but a murmur of -monologue within, and feared in one wild moment that the awful -revelation about Lord Galton had driven the butler mad. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER SEVEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Marjorie had insisted upon seeing her father alone, and she had worked -it easily enough. -</p> -<p> -The Professor in his relief from the accursed emerald had fallen into a -sprightly mood. He had compelled young Galton to take a <i>second</i> walk, -and therein had bored the turfist to agonies; which only shows that God -is just, and that we are punished in that by which we sinned; in -Galton's case, the avenue. During that walk the crystallographist -volubly explained his exciting experiences in the past as an amateur -detective. His large prattling mouth discoursed of marvellous -sleuth-deeds in the past. But he did not go too far. He said nothing of -emeralds. He kept the tit-bit, the great revelation, for his host—and -he knew at what time to deliver it. -</p> -<p> -As for McTaggart, there was no difficulty in getting rid of <i>him</i>. All -he desired was to be alone. He wandered off all solitary. Victoria -Mosel, left with no one but Aunt Amelia, fled; and Aunt Amelia, once in -her chair, was safe to remain there for the rest of the afternoon. -Therefore was Marjorie safe to tell her father what should be done. -</p> -<p> -Her temper was at breaking point; she was in that mood when women will -blame whatever is nearest at hand and most defenseless; and what more -admirable butt than a widowed parent? -</p> -<p> -"Papa," she said, "there's only one thing to be done. You must get a -detective! At once!" -</p> -<p> -"My dear child! My dear child!" said the shocked politician, all the -traditions of the de Bohuns rising in his blood, "a detective at -Paulings!" -</p> -<p> -"Oh, stuff and nonsense!" said the dutiful daughter. "I'm sick of all -that. Considering the kind of people you <i>do</i> have in -Paulings—gaol birds like Tommy, and that damned old fool Cousin -Bill, who steals diamonds ..." -</p> -<p> -"Hush! My dear, hush!" begged the appalled and terrified Home Secretary. -He had noticed an open door, and hurriedly shut it. "Besides which, -apart from being overheard, really, one must not say such things!" -</p> -<p> -"Say what?" retorted Marjorie sharply. "Oh, papa, for Heaven's sake -don't talk any more nonsense, but do get that detective!" -</p> -<p> -"I can hardly telephone on such a thing as that," hesitated the poor man -weakly. "Everything I say over the telephone is known at the exchange. -And we know what happened that time when they were paid by <i>The Howl</i>. -As for letting one of the servants do it ..." -</p> -<p> -"Oh! Good heavens, papa!" said Marjorie. "Isn't there a car? Go up in -the car! Tell Morden all about it." -</p> -<p> -"Morden can hold his tongue," mused de Bohun thoughtfully. -</p> -<p> -"Of course he can!" snapped Marjorie. -</p> -<p> -"But ..." hesitated her father, again, "I don't see how ... what with -the guests ... and I wouldn't have them suspect for worlds...." -</p> -<p> -And as he said this he saw out of the corner of his eye his two cousins -coming back towards the house, close at hand; the elder one was -gesticulating in fine fury in his new-found happiness, and the other -paced sombrely fierce at the end of his torture. Before they could open -the front door ... -</p> -<p> -"Oh, damn!" said Marjorie—and she nearly added "you." "I'll telephone -to you from my room. I'll give you an excuse to say the Home Office is -calling." And she flew upstairs. -</p> -<p> -She was safely at her telephone before the two cousins had passed the -front door. She gave them time to get into her father's presence, or for -her to guess, at any rate, that one of them would be in the library. -Then, with the promptitude of the young and the modern, she did the -trick. The basement had put her through, and the bell on the big desk -rang smartly. Galton and the Professor, sitting there in the room with -the Home Secretary, looked up as quickly as did their host. He was on -the receiver with a nervous rapidity; and the conversation was of a -simple sort which I almost blush to recall. -</p> -<p> -"Now, papa, just tell them you've got to go to town because there is a -hurried summons in London. Tell them you'll be back in a couple of -hours." -</p> -<p> -"Who's on?" said Lord Galton. -</p> -<p> -"Yes! Yes!" said de Bohun. "All right! Yes! The Home Office? Ah! Yes? -Tell me the details," knitting his brows a little; then turning to his -two cousins, "It seems they want me at Whitehall." -</p> -<p> -<i>The Telephone</i>: "Hurry up, papa; it's all got to be fitted in pretty -damn close, you know; they've got to get the man, and he's got to be got -here by this afternoon, and got somehow!" -</p> -<p> -<i>The Home Secretary</i>: "Ah? Yes!" Frowning, "Oh! that's -serious—well! You want me at once? All right! It's Saturday -afternoon you know! Is Morden there? Tell him I'll be up within the -hour." Then he turned to his guests. "Yes, they want me at once, it -seems. Most urgent. But they say it won't take long." He spoke into the -receiver in his turn: "Do you think I can get back here by five or a -little after in the car? ... Yes," turning round and nodding at his -guests thoughtfully, "they say I can get back by five—or a little -after, in the car. What a business it is! I have often wondered," he -added sententiously as he hung up the receiver on its hook and rang the -bell to order the car—"I have often wondered what makes men take -office. It's a tradition," he sighed, "Some one must serve the State! -But it's a weary business." All this for the benefit of his two cousins, -as though they had been a public meeting. "I'll get back at once; my man -can do it in forty minutes from here if he takes the cut by Muffler's -Lane, and there's not much traffic after the first two hours of a -Saturday afternoon." -</p> -<p> -The car was round promptly enough. It was stopped within five miles for -the great man to telephone back—from a local box—to Paulings -for something he had forgotten to leave word of. But he did not telephone -to Paulings. He telephoned to the Home Office, of which he was the chief. -To such abasement do modern contrivances drive us. He called up the -invaluable Morden and discovered to his enormous relief that the -invaluable Morden, though it was a Saturday and already a quarter to -four, was working away. -</p> -<p> -Within twenty minutes more the great statesman was in his official -palace of Whitehall. Morden was there all right, as the telephone had -told him. Morden was there! Oh invaluable Morden! have you not earned -those directorships and that sinecure in the Engrossing Department? By -God! you have. -</p> -<p> -"Morden," said the Home Secretary. -</p> -<p> -"Aye, aye," answered Mr. Morden wittily. -</p> -<p> -"You know Scotland Yard?" -</p> -<p> -Morden did not turn a hair. Did he know Scotland Yard? Did he? He, -Morden of the Home Office! The man who laid the traps for the -scapegoats ... the man who worked the parks. -</p> -<p> -So young—not forty—he had already seen pass before him a -long troop of politicians, and he was ready to take any folly from them, -short of physical violence. So when he was asked whether he, the junior -brain of the Home Office, knew the place and institution called Scotland -Yard, he said that he did; and he said it as naturally as though he had -been asked for some information on Thibet. -</p> -<p> -"Now who do you think," said the Home Secretary musingly, as he rose -from his chair and paced up and down the enormous room, his brows -tortured with deep thought—"who do you think there would -be—connected with Scotland Yard, mind you!—who would -undertake a private inquiry, and be rigidly secret?" -</p> -<p> -"They are all rigidly secret," said Morden simply. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary wagged his long head with a weary simulation of -cunning, and a would-be sly smile illuminated—or at least -undimmed—his eye. -</p> -<p> -"That's all right for the <i>public</i>, Morden," he said. "But you'll see -what I mean in a moment. Could they find some one even <i>more</i> rigidly -secret than the rest? Eh?" -</p> -<p> -"<i>I</i> could," said Morden. "I can tell you his name. A man called -Brailton, close over sixty, but very good indeed. He was the man we used -when there was that trouble about the death in Lady Matcham's house just -before her administration went out of office." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, was he?" cried the Home Secretary eagerly. "Was he?" Then with -great satisfaction in his voice: "In that case he is all right. It was -certainly astonishing, the way that was kept back....You see, Morden, -it's something of the same case here. <i>The trouble is in my own -house</i> ... <i>Paulings</i>." -</p> -<p> -For once Morden was genuinely taken aback. He was silent. "I see," he at -last murmured gravely. "<i>Your</i> house—and the safe side?—Of -course!" -</p> -<p> -"It's in my own house—and the safe side? Good God, yes!" The Home -Secretary spoke firmly. Then after a pause he added, "When they find out -who has done it ..." -</p> -<p> -"Done what?" said Morden. -</p> -<p> -"Never mind," answered his courteous chief. "You're bound to know all -about it in good time. Well, as I was saying, when they know who's done -it, it might turn out to be some one of whom not a soul in the Press must -know that he has done it. I mean, if he <i>has</i> done it, nobody must -know that it was he who did it, outside the few who know that he -<i>has</i>. Have I made myself quite, quite clear?" he asked anxiously. -</p> -<p> -"Perfectly," said Morden. -</p> -<p> -"Now this man Brailton. When could he get down to Paulings?" -</p> -<p> -"He could come at an hour's notice," said Morden. "He got back from -Yorkshire last night, and he's got nothing on for the moment." -</p> -<p> -"Ring him up," said the Home Secretary. -</p> -<p> -It was at six removes, and took just over ten minutes. The man in the -outer room rang up the department, which told the section, which sent -for the controller, who gave the order to the third floor, which got -hold of the group, and the group had the good fortune to find Brailton -at the end of a wire. Brailton would take whatever train he was told, -and was waiting. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary meditated. -</p> -<p> -"I am going down by car now," he said. He looked at his watch. "It takes -well under the hour by train—it's not seventeen miles. I shall be -home by half past five, and I'll tell Marjorie. The best train is the -six-thirty from St. Pancras. It gets down in forty minutes. I'll have -him met and brought straight to Paulings. He'd be in time for dinner.... -By the way," he added suddenly, as a thought struck him, "he'll be all -right, will he? Go down?" -</p> -<p> -"Perfectly," said Morden eagerly. "Perfectly." -</p> -<p> -"No one'll suspect anything?" persisted his chief anxiously. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, no, no, no!" assured Morden airily. "I know the man like an uncle. -Quiet, silver, rather too refined, silent, tall. Dresses—if -anything—a little too carefully. At Lady Matcham's he passed for a -Don working in Egypt who hadn't come to London for months. And in this last -Yorkshire case he passed as a <i>Times</i> correspondent just back in -England from the east after some years. All you have to do is to make up -good reasons for people not having seen him before. He passes perfectly." -</p> -<p> -"The accent?" said the Home Secretary, knitting his brows again. -"Is—well—you know what I mean?" -</p> -<p> -"Oh, perfectly. It's beautiful; it's remarkably smooth—yet not -conspicuous," said Morden. Then, "You knew old Dickie Hafton?" he added -suddenly. -</p> -<p> -"Of course I knew old Dickie Hafton!" answered the indignant Home -Secretary. "He was my mother-in-law's first cousin—went to the Lords -in 1895 and to the Lord in 1910. Fond o' women." And there rose before his -mental eye the image of that aged peer, thin, aquiline, too proud, too -careful of his dress, a man of exquisite voice a trifle thin in tone, -but how precise! with the old, not uncharming habit of a few French -words here and there. A public figure to the last, famous for his -activities in the evangelical world. -</p> -<p> -"Well," answered Morden, "old Brailton's the startling image of Dickie -Hafton. You'll like him. He goes down." -</p> -<p> -"All right," said the Home Secretary, hugely satisfied. "That's settled! -I'm off; I leave it to you to make arrangements. The six-thirty." -</p> -<p> -But to make his chief quite at ease, Morden whispered something in his -ear. -</p> -<p> -"Really?" said the Home Secretary, as he struggled into his coat—and -he said it very loudly, so that everyone could hear it in the next room, to -Morden's horror. "Not old Dickie's <i>son</i>? There wouldn't be time for -it!" -</p> -<p> -Morden nodded mysteriously, and whispered again: "Yes, there is! He was -only eighteen.... It was the housemaid at his grandmother's." And the -Home Secretary went out bemused and marvelling at the strange -revelations of this pur world. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER EIGHT</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Many of our most important modern inventions have been forestalled by -the Chinese, for whom we should have the greater regard in that they are -not Christians. Gunpowder, False Money, the art of Printing, Diplomacy, -Propaganda, Prison Fortunes, Taximeters and the Strike—all these are -of the extreme Orient. But what have I to do with all these? It is of the -Mariner's Compass that I sing—which also was first spotted by the -Chink. -</p> -<p> -Now of the various forms of Mariner's Compass there is one with which -some few of my readers may be acquainted. It is used in certain -scientific experiments which have nothing to do with pointing to the -North, but with the measurement of delicate electrical hints. The needle -swings on a jewelled pivot, very nicely balanced, encased in a small -round box about an inch across, covered in with glass so that no dust -can affect the very sensitive affair; and at the side there is a little -stud on a spring which you press with your finger when you want to fix -and register the pointing of the needle. So long as you press the stud -the needle stands firm. When you release the stud the needle trembles -again. -</p> -<p> -All very interesting. But what of it? -</p> -<p> -Wait a moment. Retain this clearly in your mind, and I will proceed to -the second point. -</p> -<p> -It has been remarked by the less stupid of psychologists—and that is -not saying much—that cunning and intelligence are not often combined. -Conversely, as Dr. Nancy Neerly shrewdly remarked, when her assistant at -the Hospital for Nervous Diseases, gonophed her microscope, extreme -incompetence is often accompanied by cunning. Nothing is more cunning -than your half-wit. -</p> -<p> -Getting that principle firmly into your head, you will appreciate that -when Professor de Bohun slunk out in the evening after his cousin's -departure for town, into the neighbouring suburban villas of Bakeham -(which, for one thing, fringed the Park—the de Bohuns had long ago -screened it by a dense row of quickly-growing timber—and for another, -provided the Home Secretary with a considerable part of his insufficient -income) his action was not unconnected with that upon which his mind had -been exercised for now nearly twenty-four hours. -</p> -<p> -He sought a policeman, and said with a sudden squeak which made that -high official jump: -</p> -<p> -"Oh! Can you tell me if anyone round here sells scientific instruments? -Optical instruments? Electrical instruments? ... Instruments?" -</p> -<p> -"Wot?" said the policeman. -</p> -<p> -"Let us say ... ah, for instance," went on the squeaky voice, -"clinometers.... Shall we say Clinometers? Clinometers? ... Yes! -Clinometers!" -</p> -<p> -"Pass along!" said the policeman. "Pass along!" And there was that in -his eye of a man who hesitates between a verdict of lunacy and arrest -for leg-pull. -</p> -<p> -"But, Constable ..." pleaded the unfortunate cadet of an ancient house. -</p> -<p> -"Pass on! Pass on!" boomed the tyrant, and as there was a difference of -at least three octaves between the two men's voices, the unfortunate -Professor obeyed the double bass, crossed the street at the risk of his -life, and wandered inanely past the shop windows. -</p> -<p> -But there is a Providence for such as he, as also for drunkards and -babes; and there, right before him, was an ancient bow window of -bottle-glass panes; the name of the shop in old Georgian script; the -information that it had been founded in 1805; and, behind the glass, two -telescopes, a microscope, a clock, several watches, and a sextant of -immense age. -</p> -<p> -The Professor went in. -</p> -<p> -"What I want ... ah!" he said. Then his eye fell upon the very thing he -desired. It lay there in a glass case, and the owner of the shop, no -younger than his customer, brought it out with a palsied hand. -</p> -<p> -"That's it," said the Professor, nodding genially. "That's it. That's -what I want. That's it." Slipping it into his pocket, he made for the -door, nodding good day. -</p> -<p> -"Hi! Mister! That'll be five guineas," said the ancient. Oh! vileness of -avaricious age! He had seen his client coming out by the garden gate by -the Great House, he had noted guilty haste, he had noted academic -idiocy, and he charged accordingly. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, yes! Of course ... ah! <i>What</i>! Five guineas? ... five -<i>guineas</i>! FIVE GUINEAS!" -</p> -<p> -It was a sickener. But the wages of Sin is Death. He must have it—or -something of the sort. And he must have it now, before Humphrey got -home. Sin will not wait. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure12"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure12.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Deplorable moral lapse of Professor de Bohun<br /> -(pronounced Boon).</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Believe me or not, but there was positively a flush upon the yellow -cheek of the hoary intriguer, a flush that contrasted charmingly with -his straggling white whiskers, as he parted with two half crowns and a -note. It was a severe struggle. To comfort himself he pressed the stud -again. Yes, it worked all right. He toddled back, and got in at the very -moment when his cousin's car was buzzing up the drive, back from London. -</p> -<p> -Professor de Bohun was determined to lose no time. He got rid of his -overcoat and his hat with surprising agility, and met the master of the -house at the door as though he had been in for hours. -</p> -<p> -But his was not a temperament to introduce a subject with finesse. He -went blindly at it. -</p> -<p> -"Humphrey," he said, ere ever the Home Secretary was across the step, "I -want to see you. I want to see you now ... yes, now ... rather -urgently.... I want to see you now." -</p> -<p> -The Man of Little Peace nodded wearily. -</p> -<p> -"Come along," he said. -</p> -<p> -His mind jumped back to the false scent of the morning. He suddenly -wondered whether, after all, Cousin Bill was going to confess? Galton's -statement had been clear enough. He had said in so many words that he -had <i>seen</i> an emerald in the Professor's hand. And the head of the -family would have believed anything, almost of the Professor in the way -of such follies since the great Mullingar affair. -</p> -<p> -"What is it, Bill?" he said, as he shut the door of his study. -</p> -<p> -"Ah!" said the Ancient, almost archly. "What do you think? The -E-M-E-R-A-L-D! Eh? Eh?" -</p> -<p> -He searched in his pocket. Humphrey de Bohun looked to see the jewel -appear. Not at all. What appeared was a little round brass box, glass -cased, and in it a trembling needle, that shook and shivered like a -gossamer in a breeze. -</p> -<p> -"Now, my dear Humphrey," said the Professor, "let us take two chairs; -yes ... two chairs ... two chairs. Ah! yes, two chairs." They took two -chairs. "And let me pull up this little table...." He had become almost -businesslike, not to say sprightly, in concentrating upon what he was -about to do. -</p> -<p> -"Now, then; here we are, we two on these two chairs as it were, are we -not? Yes! And here you see this little instrument, do you not? Yes! And -do you know what it does ... what it is? What it is ...? It's a -talcometer." -</p> -<p> -"A what?" said the Home Secretary. -</p> -<p> -"A talcometer," said Professor de Bohun, lying freely, and puffing -slightly after the effort. "Now, Humphrey, I want you to watch -something. To watch something, eh! Ah! yes. You have, I take -it—ah!—or Marjorie has, or some one has a jewel—sure -to have one. A diamond, say. Any stone—crystal. A stone, at any -rate...." -</p> -<p> -"I don't know," began Humphrey de Bohun, wondering what was to be. "Will -this do?" he asked, leaning over towards his writing table and pulling -off it the little crystal Chinese god which was used to weight down the -papers which he had abandoned there so many days. -</p> -<p> -Anything would do for the deceitful pedant. He nodded cheerfully. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure13"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure13.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Professor de Bohun explains to the head of the<br /> -family his theory—or rather, certitude—upon<br /> -the whereabouts of the Great Emerald.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Yes," he said, "so long as it's crystal. Anything crystal. Crystal." -Then he added, "Now, Humphrey, watch. Here," holding the little round -brass disk with its trembling needle, "I have our talcometer. Now here," -moving the Chinese god into line with the axis round which the tiny -filament of metal trembled, "here we have this talcometer, <i>and</i> the -crystal. Eh! <i>And</i> the crystal.... Now watch, Humphrey!" -</p> -<p> -Holding the little round brass case with his left finger and thumb, he -gradually with his right hand approached the heathenish idol, sliding -the False God slowly along the polished table-top towards the -instrument. It came closer and closer. It was at 9 inches, 6 inches, 3 -inches, ... but there was as yet no apparent effect, when, suddenly, -with the Pot-bellied Dwarf Deity at about 2 inches off, or a little -less, the needle behaved like a pointer: it stood immovable, held -rigidly by some strange force. The stud, dear friends, but how could -Humphrey de Bohun know that? -</p> -<p> -"There! You see that? See that? See that?" squeaked the Professor -triumphantly. "Now I want you to test it for yourself. Move the little -devil away! Move it yourself! Humphrey, move it yourself!" -</p> -<p> -Humphrey de Bohun very slowly pushed back the crystal, and almost -immediately the needle trembled again. -</p> -<p> -"There!" said the Professor in happy confidence, leaning back. "There! -What did I tell you?" -</p> -<p> -"Well, what of it, Bill?" said the harassed master. -</p> -<p> -"What of it?" answered his cousin. "The Emerald. Ah! the Emerald!" and -he rubbed his hands together. -</p> -<p> -"I don't understand a word you're saying," said poor Humphrey. -</p> -<p> -The Professor leaned forward and tapped his cousin twice upon the -shoulder with that knotted forefinger. -</p> -<p> -"That instrument," he said, as solemnly as such a voice can say -anything, "tells a crystal close at hand. According to the cube of the -distance. I have to use it perpetually. Very well known. German, you -know—wonderful people, the Germans. It was Meitz's idea," he went -on, adding verisimilitude by the effective use of detail. "But <i>he</i> -couldn't have done it without Speitzer. Often like that in research -work. Any doubt about a crystal's character. Even amorphous—put -that thing close enough, and it points at once. Now do you see? Eh! Now -do you see?" -</p> -<p> -"Not exactly," said Humphrey de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"Why, it's plain enough! I hadn't thought of it. It suddenly occurred to -me. It suddenly came to me while you were off to London. Here I had what -could solve all our troubles. I put it first here, then there. -Everywhere I could. Went on for an hour—all over the room! All over -the rug where it dropped. Then one of your guests came in. I didn't want to -be seen at it. I was putting it back into my pocket when my hand came -close by the side of his coat. Bless my heart! It pointed!" -</p> -<p> -He leant forward again and tapped his cousin more solemnly still, this -time on the chest. "Mark my words! That young man's got it!" -</p> -<p> -"Which young man?" said Humphrey, remembering what counter accusation -the Professor would naturally make, and thinking at once of Galton. -</p> -<p> -"That young writing fellow," said Cousin Bill. "That newspaper chap -McTaggart. McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart, McTaggart." -</p> -<p> -Humphrey de Bohun hesitated. "My dear Bill," he said, "you never know. -He might have had something else in his pocket—also crystal, -or—I don't know ... something." -</p> -<p> -The Professor wagged his head with all the dignity of a goat. -</p> -<p> -"Won't work, Humphrey!" he said. "Won't work! One can always tell the -size by the distance. It wasn't some ring or small thing of that kind. -Besides which, he wouldn't have such a small thing of his own in his -pocket. No, the Emerald's there all right. And I'll tell you something -that makes me surer still. I took occasion to brush up against -him—there was a hard slab in that pocket, Humphrey. In that pocket. A -small, hard slab! Slab! ... Hard slab! ..." -</p> -<p> -An awful task arose in the conscience of Humphrey de Bohun. He must play -the spy again. He must mistrust yet another guest. -</p> -<p> -But wait! Should he tell the great detective when he arrived? No. It -would be only fair to seek the young man first and warn him. But he -hesitated and he put it off. He would wait till dinner time, or nearly -dinner, when the poor fellow was changing. He would make it quite clear -that there would be no consequences—only, he must confess and -restore. Then he suddenly thought of what would happen if he drew blank, -as he had in the case of the strange being before him. But he was in -some agony. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER NINE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-t.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -The Home Secretary was in his study before a pleasing fire. The -Professor had left him. His daughter was with him. There was no one else -in the room. He had asked her to come down a little earlier that he -might explain things to her. There was yet a quarter of an hour before -they need dress for dinner, and the dread stranger from the Yard might -be with them at any moment. He had warned each of his guests that a -distinguished diplomat had asked to run down to see him at short notice. -The F.O. had sent him on to the Home Office. The matter concerned both -departments. The distinguished diplomat would dine. They must excuse his -retirement with that official, later in the evening, to discuss high -affairs of State. -</p> -<p> -Such was the fairy tale Humphrey de Bohun had pitched; he hoped it had -gone down. And now he was alone again to discuss the matter with his -only confidant, his daughter. -</p> -<p> -"Marjorie," he said, "that man Brailton was to come by the six-thirty. -It must be late. I have told them to show him in here at once. It is -exceedingly important you should know all about it, and that nobody else -should. We must hear from him, very briefly, some essential points: for -instance, his assumed name." -</p> -<p> -"He's all right, papa?" asked Marjorie anxiously. -</p> -<p> -"Perfectly, my dear, perfectly. Morden assures me ... in fact, Morden -told me that he is actually ..." and then checked himself. He was still -Victorian, was poor Humphrey de Bohun. He didn't like to talk to the -bastards of his own class, and to a daughter at that. "At any rate he's -all right. Elderly, distinguished—what they call cavalier, I'm told, -yes, cavalier.... I've already told Aunt Amelia and Tommy that he's a -diplomat—a fellow I've got to see after dinner.... It's all exact. -Which room did you say?" -</p> -<p> -"Senlac, papa. Crécy's being repapered." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary nodded solemnly. -</p> -<p> -"Senlac will do all right. But you must remember, my dear, that this -Mr.—ah!—<i>Brailton</i>, that is the name, <i>Brailton</i>, -is somewhat advanced in years—and ... and ... I needn't insist ... -but a refined man and on his <i>father's</i> side, of good blood! He -will be sensitive." -</p> -<p> -There was a silence—but not for long. The door was solemnly flung -open with a majesty worthy of the occasion, and the Master of the -Ceremonies—if I may so call him—George Whaley announced in a -controlled but oily voice: -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop!" -</p> -<p> -Collop? Collop? What was this? The disguise for Brailton? -</p> -<p> -The father rose to his feet, somewhat painfully, the daughter looked -round. And behold! a man sturdy, broad-shouldered, short, clad, not in -some soft clinging stuff, but in stout Scotch tweed, which—as to his -upper part—was a roomy coat with poachers' pockets, and—as to -his lower—plus-fours. His stockings were thick and ribbed, as fashion -in a certain world demanded at that moment; but his boots were of that -unmistakable sort provided by the Government of the King for his police. -The hair was short, coarse, and thick; the face broad and determined; -the eyes straightforward, grey and far too bold. What the mouth might -really be like only its Creator knew, for it was thatched by a moustache -so bristling, curt, aggressive and sprouting-out that the eye of the -onlooker was fascinated and could not note the ugly lips below. -</p> -<p> -"Evenin'!" said the Apparition in a powerful voice of low pitch; and as -he said it he bobbed the head and shoulders of him towards the man -who—for a year or two—controlled the peace—and -police—of England. -</p> -<p> -"Evenin', ma'am," added the Apparition with the same jerk of the head -and shoulders towards the Lady of the House. "Cold evenin'? Good fire, I -see!" he added with a charming familiarity. "Pleasant thing evenin's the -likes o' this, a good fire is." -</p> -<p> -And as he thus delivered himself with all the natural grace and charm of -long experience, his two staggered victims waited for their breaths. -</p> -<p> -There was but one reply, and the Home Secretary made it pompously and, I -am afraid, a little distantly. -</p> -<p> -"Good evening, Mr....?" -</p> -<p> -"Collop," said the stranger, decisively. -</p> -<p> -"Collop. Ah, yes, Collop. I should have remembered. Mr. Collop, my -dear," he said, bending his head towards his daughter, who stared -astonished and had not yet recovered herself. "Collop. Yes. Mr. -Collop.... Mr. Collop. I understand fully. We are to call you Mr. -Collop." -</p> -<p> -"Rather!" said that solid individual. "That's my name <i>here</i>," and he -winked. "What my name may be elsewhere we both know, eh?" and he winked -again. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure14"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure14.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Sudden Entry of Mr. Collop.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Ah, Mr. Collop—it is to be Mister, is it not?" -</p> -<p> -"Yes, Mister," answered the gentleman solemnly, "not Miss nor Master. -Who ye're kidding?" He did not say it insolently. He knew his place. He -knew he was talking to the Home Secretary. He said, "Who ye're kidding?" -by way of a respectful jest. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop.... Yes.... Mr. Collop...." stuttered the Home Secretary -like a man half stunned. "We expected ... ah! ... you will pardon -me? ... a Mr. <i>Brailton</i>; yes, a Mr. <i>Brailton</i>.... Eh? Shall -I ... ah! ... if by any accident there should be a mistake?" -</p> -<p> -"There's no mistake," said the genial Collop, "old Brailton 'twas to be! -You're right there, mister! But he was that sick he asked me to run -down. ''Tis only a suburb job,' says he. So here I am!" -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary whispered to his daughter in an agony: "Can't we stop -it? Shall we telephone?" -</p> -<p> -"Too late now—before dressing," said the despairing girl. "I'll tell -you when I hear." -</p> -<p> -Her father knew she was right. They must make the best of it. "Put -dinner on in twenty minutes," he whispered to her in an aside; then -aloud to his guest, "What ... ah ... what shall we ... to put it -plainly, Mr. Collop, what shall we say you are?" -</p> -<p> -"Ah, I've got that all fixed," said Mr. Collop, his voice bravely riding -the air. "Old Brailton told me what he was and I'm that. I'm a diplomat, -I am. Tokio the last four years." -</p> -<p> -The call on Marjorie's intelligence woke her to action. -</p> -<p> -"It won't do," she said sharply. -</p> -<p> -"Why not? Eh?" said Mr. Collop, with less ceremony than might have been -expected from so recent an acquaintance. -</p> -<p> -"Because," replied the young lady, a little acidly, "one of our guests, -Miss Victoria Mosel, has just come back from Japan. She was there in -September staying with our Ambassadress at Tokio." -</p> -<p> -"Ah!" said Mr. Collop. "That makes it awkward like." -</p> -<p> -"I think," began the Home Secretary timidly ... but the stronger will -prevailed. -</p> -<p> -"Make it Bogotar?" was Mr. Collop's suggestion. -</p> -<p> -Time, which destroys love itself, and brings mighty states to ruin, the -implacable master of ephemeral man, caught the unfortunate father and -daughter in his iron grip. There was not a moment to spare. And it was -as Mr. Collop, just back from his long but patriotic exile in "Bogotar," -that the welcome stranger was led out and ritually introduced to the -guests in the next room. There is no need to introduce a guest at such -an hour, but this guest! Oh, yes! -</p> -<p> -As the master of the house and his daughter were making that -introduction their cup of agony was full. -</p> -<p> -What made it worse was that McTaggart, being less of a man of the world, -as the saying goes, than the rest of the prisoners, was quite openly -startled, and instead of looking at Mr. Collop's determined face, his -eyes at once fell to the plus-fours, and he said to himself, as his eyes -fell lower still, "Thank God, he hasn't put on those brown boots with -funny little tabs to them! But really! For a detective...." Then he -looked up at the face—and he, of Fleet Street, knew his man. -</p> -<p> -Lord Galton stared at the Apparition. He could make neither head nor -tail of it. He was not of the Horse Pulling, privileged world. Then he -remembered that your professional politicians had to herd with all -manner of cattle and he shrugged his mental shoulders so violently that -his physical shoulders perceptibly heaved. He turned his back upon the -company and examined a picture until the nervous strain was over. -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel was vastly pleased. It was as good as the Zoo—and she -loved the Zoo. She promised herself an unholy feast and whispered to -Marjorie to put her next the Diplomat at dinner. She was not a woman of -gesture, or of external expression; but she very nearly clapped her -hands for joy. She had seen some funny things in the diplomatic service -in the time of her teeth, which were no longer short, but the like of -this she had never seen; and she thought, as many a contemporary has -thought since Queen Victoria's death, "We're getting on!" -</p> -<p> -Then she began to speculate within her own clear mind as to how this -monster had got into the diplomatic service at all. But she remembered -certain odd accidents during the war and other people than he who had -suddenly popped up in embassies at the F.O.—quite out of nature; and -just as she had all but clapped her hands, so she now all but whistled. -However, she in fact did neither. Only she looked upon Mr. Collop with a -happy, happy face, and felt that here, at last, was not a wasted day. -</p> -<p> -The Professor was vastly interested. He said "Bogotar" three times, -beamed, nodded, and then for a fourth time he said "Bogotar" -lingeringly, as though he loved it, and then whispered again, "Ah, yes, -of course. Bogotar." And put his head a little on one side and left it -there. -</p> -<p> -As for Aunt Amelia, her failing eyes did not distinguish the Apparition, -but her ears distinguished the accent, and the type of English; and she -marvelled feebly that things had changed so much since the days of the -Great Lord Salisbury and Peace with Honour. But of one thing she was -sure. That if the type of man used for delicate missions abroad might -have changed, the policy of Britain was still secure in the hands of -whomever the Secretary for Foreign Affairs might choose to entrust with -that mighty task; and Bogotar (she imagined) was the capital of Ormuzd -and of Ind; barbaric, splendid, and in fee to the British Crown. -</p> -<p> -"Ah! Shall I show you to your room—eh?" said the Home Secretary -courteously, putting an end to what could not be prolonged. "Ah, let me -show you to your room." -</p> -<p> -He went so far as to take the terrible thing by the elbow and actually -conduct it out; ... after an interval sufficient, but not too long, -McTaggart followed. He would again be alone. He could not bear to remain -with the rich longer than he was compelled, and now that there was a -detective in the house he would be discovered. Well, let it be so; let -the end come soon. -</p> -<p> -Now there stood, awaiting McTaggart in the hall, that Devil and that -Angel who had been off duty for a few hours, and were now back again, -fresh and keen, and bickering, as is the wont of such opposed beings of -the other world. -</p> -<p> -The Angel, seeing his human friend and ward, made him a suggestion at -once: -</p> -<p> -"You ass!" he blew into McTaggart's ear. "Put it in the Rozzer's -pocket." The Devil began to object violently. -</p> -<p> -"You shut up!" said the Angel, turning to him annoyed. "I'll come back -and talk to you about it later!" Then he turned again to McTaggart, and -pumped brilliant thoughts into his same ear with such violence that the -young man's soul was all irradiated and full and he suddenly thought -himself a genius. Such is the vanity of man! So little do we recognise -inspiration from on high! -</p> -<p> -"It's as easy," prompted the Angel, "as falling off a log. All you've -got to do is to say you've met him, and tell him who you are. He'll know -you're from the Press—you look like it—and he'll think he's met -you. <i>Then</i> slip it into his pocket, bully boy! Slip it into his -pocket!" -</p> -<p> -And all the time McTaggart was saying within his own soul: "That's a -brilliant idea! Now I don't suppose anyone else would have an idea like -that! But, there! I'm always getting good ideas at the right time!" -</p> -<p> -He stalked his host and Collop round the top of the stairs and down the -long passage above. -</p> -<p> -He saw the door open; he heard the Home Secretary say cheerfully, -"There's a bath through that door. Have you got everything you want? I -hope they've unpacked your things?" -</p> -<p> -He heard the cheerful voice of Collop reply: "Right-o! Everything in the -garden's lovely!" -</p> -<p> -He saw the Home Secretary go off with a very changed expression in the -gloom of the passage. He flattened himself in a deep doorway, a little -angry that he should be playing the spy—but necessity drove him. He -waited till he had heard his host go down the stairs; then he knocked at -the detective's bedroom door. Full of angelic inspiration—which human -pride mistook for genius—he entered in. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," he said without hesitation, "you know me? Hamish -McTaggart—the Daily Sun? ... You'll excuse me for not using your real -name?" And he smiled. -</p> -<p> -"Why, Mr. McTaggart, I've heard of you often enough. Where did we meet? -And as for the real name"—he winked—"less said the better! I'm -in the Foreign Office just now. I'm from Bogotar ... How come? When did we -meet?" -</p> -<p> -"In the Savoy bar," hushed the Angel hurriedly into McTaggart's ear. -</p> -<p> -"In the Savoy bar," said McTaggart, aloud. -</p> -<p> -"Not during the Bullingdon case?" said the delighted but indiscreet Mr. -so-called Collop, stretching out both his hands. -</p> -<p> -"Wink!" pumped the Angel; and Hamish McTaggart winked—for the first -time in his life. -</p> -<p> -It was a clumsy wink, rather like that of the hippopotamus when he comes -out of the water, in which element the huge pachyderm so serenely -sleeps. But it was good enough for the Secret Service. -</p> -<p> -"Ah! Mr. McTaggart, Mr. McTaggart!" said Collop, shaking both the -journalist's hands up and down like pump handles. "Well met! Now then, -you'll make a feature of this in the paper, won't you?" -</p> -<p> -"I'm not here for that," said McTaggart modestly. "I'm only a guest; but -of course I can see that <i>The Howl</i> ..." -</p> -<p> -"Ah! That's the style, laddie! You'll do!" said the Man of Mystery, -bringing down a palm like a Westphalian ham on the wincing shoulder of -the youth. "A few kind words on the discreet agent, eh? The Bosses'll -note 'em down!" He dived into a pocket. "I've got a flask here!" he -said, and winked in his turn. "What I call my good old prohibition! -We'll drink to it, eh? To think of meeting the likes of you in a 'ouse -like this!" -</p> -<p> -This last remark wounded McTaggart's pride; but the Angel stood by him, -and they that have angels at their side are firm. -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop's dress clothes lay beautifully aligned upon a couch, a shirt -by the side of them; but the owner's brow clouded as he said: -</p> -<p> -"Where the devil did I put that flask? Curse them slaveys! I do 'ate -'avin' things done for me on these toff jobs!" He buried his head in the -large kit-bag which he had been assured was the proper receptacle or -container to bring to the Palaces of the Rich. -</p> -<p> -And even as he therein delved and groped, with head hidden in the -kit-bag, the Angel brought it off! -</p> -<p> -"Attaboy!" urged the Angel to Hamish. "Slip it into the tail-coat -pocket! QUICK!" -</p> -<p> -And before you could have breathed a silent prayer the Emerald was in -the tail-coat pocket of Mr. Collop's evening tail coat, lying there on -the couch all innocent. -</p> -<p> -Up came Mr. Collop's head out of the kit-bag, very red and puffy. -</p> -<p> -"I thought as much, my 'earty," he said. "Dirty tykes! ... There it -was...." And he brought out a gigantic flask holding perhaps a quart of -the detestable beverage. The bottom of it was a silver cup fitted to the -glass, and inscribed, "In grateful memory of the Bullingdon Burglary, -August, 1928" and with the initials B.F. Mr. Collop solemnly half filled -the receptacle, smelt it with delicate <i>bonhomie</i>, and handed it to -his guest, who sipped it with the resolution in which a man must face -whatever torture has to be endured. -</p> -<p> -"Thank you," said Mr. McTaggart, gasping, from his flayed throat. -</p> -<p> -"Cheerio!" said the Collop man, and he tossed off all that -remained—enough, you would have thought, to have felled an elephant -in stupor!—down his own more acclimatized gullet. Then he brought -out a large tongue, licked his lips, and smacked them. -</p> -<p> -"Ah, that's something like!" he said. He put the flask and the silver -cup belonging to it down on his table with a happy grunt. -</p> -<p> -"Well, boy, I've got to dress," he said. "So long! We meet again in the -Khyber Pass, <i>i.e.</i>, at his Nobship's groaning board!" And he laughed -heartily at his own wit. -</p> -<p> -McTaggart remembered something essential. "I say, they mustn't know that -I know you!" -</p> -<p> -"No fear!" said the redoubtable Collop, winking again. "I don't give you -away, nor myself away, nor no one away." He had already taken off his -tweed coat and waistcoat. "You run off and dress, laddie ... You keep -mum. Same here!" And he dug a podgy finger into McTaggart's staggering -chest. And they parted. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -From her room, interrupting the induing of those three pieces which -formed all her raiment, shaking shorn hair, Marjorie telephoned in a -fever regardless. "The Home Office.... Yes, the Home Office ... No -reply? Oh! Nonsense! ... What, our line gone wrong? D'you mean to say we -can't get London? ... Oh! hell!" -</p> -<p> -She banged down the receiver ... There's a schlemozzle! Telephone broken -down! Saturday night—the Monster in the Home! And no redress, no aid. -</p> -<p> -Had she had tears she would have wept. What would come of all this? -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER TEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Mr. Collop came out, dressed, he was surprised to find his host waiting -for him, not to say waylaying him, in the passage outside. -</p> -<p> -"I thought ..." began the politician nervously—"I thought I ought to -have a word with you, Mr. Collop, before we ..." -</p> -<p> -"That's right!" roared Mr. Collop. "That's my style too. Always think of -everything!" -</p> -<p> -"Not so loud! Not so loud!" implored his agonized host. He took the -detective aside into yet another room with yet another fire. It looked -like some little nursery or schoolroom, and Mr. Collop, used as he was -to the houses of the great, marvelled at so many rooms, so many -fires ... an empty room all ready, and with so many pictures in it, -though on a bedroom floor. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," said the Home Secretary hurriedly when he had shut the -door, "I thought I ought to tell you privately, and alone, before we go -down to dinner what the circumstances are. The jewel was dropped by my -daughter—last night after dinner. My three guests went down on the -floor at once to look for it—it was upon the polar-bear rug which you -will see in the West Room later. We shall go there together after all have -retired. When they got up it had not been found ... they <i>said</i> it -had not been found ... they <i>all</i> said it had not been found.... There -is suspicion naturally, Mr. Collop.... You understand me?" -</p> -<p> -"There's always suspicion when vallybles are missing," said Mr. Collop, -after some thought. -</p> -<p> -"Yes, Mr. Collop, exactly! Precisely!" said the Home Secretary. "But of -course, you know, I must be told when you come to any clue.... I blame -no one. I suspect no one.... But the emerald is missing. And what's -more," he added with the firmness of a newly stuffed pillow, "I shall -not spare the culprit." -</p> -<p> -"No, of course not," said Mr. Collop sympathetically. "I'll get it for -you, never fear." -</p> -<p> -His manner, though hearty, was respectful enough in such privacy, for he -knew that though his promotion depended principally upon permanent -officials, a good word from one of the fleeting politicians was not -without its value at the Home Office. Therefore did he forbear to lay a -hand upon the Home Secretary's shoulder; and therefore—still -more—did he forbear to slap it as nature would have seemed to demand. -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, Mr. Collop," said the Home Secretary gratefully, as though -he had been given a considerable sum of money. "I trust you. I trust you -implicitly." -</p> -<p> -"You may trust me <i>im</i>plicitly and <i>ex</i>plicitly," declared Mr. -Collop in solemn religious tones. -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, oh! Ah! Thank you! Thank you again! Thank you most warmly!" -said his host more and more nervously. "Really you know, we must not be -seen together. Pray take your time, Mr. Collop; the ladies are always -late coming down." -</p> -<p> -"Ah, that's their sort, ain't it? Girls are the devil nowadays, aren't -they?" said Mr. Collop in his friendliest tones; and with that farewell -in his ears the master of the house slipped out. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary's next action was to go straight to McTaggart's room. -It was an act of decision and initiative that you would hardly have -expected in so well-bred a man. But suffering is a powerful tonic. He -knew what he was after. He had to speak. He would come boldly, directly -and simply. He would tell the young man of what he was accused, and ask -him straightforwardly and at once to clear himself—or at any rate to -say "yes" or "no." He knocked on the door; he went in; and he began -thus: -</p> -<p> -"Ah, Mr. McTaggart! Mr. McTaggart! I'm afraid I am interrupting you in -your dressing. It is really very rude of me! I wish ... But the fact -is ... It's rather important.... I want to put it to you as clearly as I -can, and you'll understand me when I say that time presses after a -fashion ... so to speak...." -</p> -<p> -McTaggart was at the last stage when the male brushes the hair before he -puts on the coat; all the rest of the detestable ritual was -accomplished, including the sacrosanct tie. He stood gaping with his -round face, a brush in either hand. Then he said: -</p> -<p> -"Yes, certainly, sir, if you please." He rapidly brushed his disordered -hair into a shape yet more disordered, struggled into his coat, and -then, with an odd reminiscence of manner elsewhere, said, "Won't you sit -down," feeling that he was a temporary host, as it were, a host within -his host's house; a nest of Chinese boxes. -</p> -<p> -"Thank you," said the Home Secretary. "Thank you. Thank you very much. -Thank you." And he sank his long, lean and therefore gentlemanly body -into the only armchair. He crossed his long, lean and therefore -gentlemanly legs, poised his two hands together like a steep Norwegian -roof, and said: -</p> -<p> -"Mr. McTaggart, you will think it very odd of me, this invasion of -your ... er, your, ah ... privacy? Yes, your privacy, er! If I may say so. -But there is something very important I must say to you before we go -down to dinner." -</p> -<p> -"Yes, sir," said McTaggart, still expectant, as he slowly filled his -pockets with the various things which journalists carry about with them, -even among the great, and which destroy the shape of their clothes. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. McTaggart ..." began the Home Secretary desperately, now leaning -forward with his elbow on his knee and his forehead in his hand. "What I -have to say is not very easy, but it is best to get these difficult -things over at once. Don't you think so?" -</p> -<p> -"Yes, certainly," said McTaggart. -</p> -<p> -"I mean," said the Home Secretary, "it would be a great pity to waste a -moment in beating about the bush. There's no sense in mere verbiage and -slow approach to the essentials. Moreover, my time is short: I mean our -time is short.... I mean there's not much time before dinner, and to -tell the truth, that's why I came in here, so apparently suddenly.... -What was I saying?" -</p> -<p> -Then, looking up and leaning back again in the chair: "But we need not -go into all that. As I say, the great thing is to come to the point at -once, isn't it?" -</p> -<p> -McTaggart was tired of standing up. He sat down in another chair, and -said "Yes," with a look of expectancy not quite unmixed with approaching -boredom. -</p> -<p> -"Well, Mr. McTaggart," went on the great statesman at last desperately, -like a man who has determined to take a plunge. "You will excuse my -being quite blunt and straightforward, won't you?" -</p> -<p> -"Of course," said McTaggart. -</p> -<p> -"I mean, we have already agreed that wasting time in preliminaries over -a matter of this kind ..." -</p> -<p> -"But a matter of <i>what</i> kind?" said McTaggart, now roused—though -his guilty soul told him well what was coming. -</p> -<p> -"Well, the fact is, Mr. McTaggart," said the Home Secretary, suddenly -uncoiling himself and straightening out the joints until he stood up -above the younger man—he felt it gave him a kind of moral advantage, -and he needed it—"the fact is, it's only fair to tell you ... only -the difficulty is how to put it. But one must be straightforward, mustn't -one?" -</p> -<p> -And once more Mr. McTaggart said "Yes." But certain ancient traditions -of the middle class were stirring in his blood and he very nearly added, -"You doddering old fool." -</p> -<p> -"Why then, Mr. McTaggart, to put it quite plainly, ... well, now, -perhaps I ought to say this first. You know my cousin William? The -Professor?" -</p> -<p> -"Yes," said Mr. McTaggart, for the sixth time and with a touch of -savagery in his voice, "I do. I have been in this house with him for -over twenty-four hours." -</p> -<p> -"He tells me, Mr. McTaggart," began the Home Secretary seriously and -half an octave lower—"mind you, I don't say I believe it!" -</p> -<p> -"No?" said McTaggart, "Well, go on." -</p> -<p> -"He tells me he has proof, scientific proof— Mind you, I don't say I -believe him! I'm only saying what he said." -</p> -<p> -"Yes," said McTaggart, for the seventh time, and with more patience. -</p> -<p> -"Scientific proof, I say—not personal, you understand. No personal -insinuation whatever—only <i>scientific</i> proof that the -emerald is or was—shall I say, has been, upon your—damn it -all!—<i>person</i>." -</p> -<p> -McTaggart started up. The issue was joined. He behaved very well. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. de Bohun," he said, in a slow but frank and straightforward way, -"you are not bound to believe me. But not only have I not the emerald, -but I will not even take the trouble to swear I have not got it. <i>I have -not got the Emerald</i>. Is that clear?" -</p> -<p> -"Yes," said his unfortunate host. With a world of apology in his voice -and stretching forth a deprecating hand! "Oh, yes, Mr. McTaggart! Yes, -quite clear!" -</p> -<p> -"Not only have I <i>not</i> got the emerald," McTaggart went on with -painfully clear diction, "but I know who has." -</p> -<p> -"Oh! Lord," thought the Home Secretary, "another of 'em!" Then he said -aloud: "Ah? Oh! most <i>interesting</i>! Who?" -</p> -<p> -The other phrases he had heard during the last twenty-four hours crowded -upon him, and he felt slightly faint. -</p> -<p> -"Yes," said McTaggart, continuing in a virile intonation, "I know who -has it. <i>Mr. Collop has it</i>!" -</p> -<p> -"What?" shouted the Home Secretary, startled into a lucid interval of -terseness. "Think what you are saying, young man! Collop! He wasn't in -the house when it was lost! He's only just come." -</p> -<p> -"That's true," hesitated the journalist, slowly turning over in his own -mind how he should get out of this mess. "But I tell you what, I tell -you he's got it.... It's only an instinct," he added with sudden -humility. "I have these odd feelings sometimes—and they are usually -right. My mother was a Highland woman, and I am the seventh son of a -seventh son. I don't pretend to any proof. All I say is"—more -firmly—"Mr. Collop has got the emerald." He gathered confidence. He -struck his left open palm with his right fist and said: "Mr. de Bohun, -Mr. Collop has got the emerald ... and as for me, you may go through my -pockets, here and now, you may have me searched, here and now if you -will, and all my clothes and all the drawers in the room and every -corner in the room, and anything else you will. And what's more," he -said, as he saw still further weakness in that weak old face, "I mean to -stay in this house till the emerald appears. I owe that to my honour." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, Mr. McTaggart," said the Home Secretary imploringly, and even as he -spoke, he heard steps on the stairs and knew that they must be going -down, "don't misunderstand me! I am not accusing you! I wouldn't accuse -you for a moment! I am only saying ... I am only repeating to you what -was told to me. Indeed, I should be treating you very ill had I not done -so. Don't you agree?" and he actually seized the young man's hand. -</p> -<p> -McTaggart accepted the gesture. -</p> -<p> -"I am grateful, sir," he said simply. "I quite understand that a man in -my position would be naturally suspected." -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure15"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure15.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Mr. McTaggart explains to the Great Statesman<br /> -his theory—or rather, certitude—upon the<br /> -whereabouts of the Great Emerald.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Don't say that, Mr. McTaggart"—all the gentleman in him arising to -patronize poverty—"don't say that!" -</p> -<p> -"I say I can understand that a man in my position should be suspected. -But you will see; mark my words, you will see after no long space of -time that I was right. I have an instinct in such things." -</p> -<p> -"But damn it all! Mr. McTaggart! Collop? Damn it all, think!" -</p> -<p> -"No," said Mr. McTaggart, moving towards the door, "I tell you I am -sure, for I had it in a dream." And he and his bewildered host went -downstairs. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary, as he moved by the young man's side towards the big -drawing-room where they were all to assemble, felt in his mind something -like a kaleidoscope or like the music in the drunken scene of "The -Master Singer," or like a Wiggle-Woggle or like the Witching Waves.... -Galton had seen Cousin William with the emerald. He had seen it with his -own eyes—or else he lied. Cousin William had worked an infallible -scientific test, and the Emerald had certainly been on McTaggart or else -<i>he</i> lied. And yet McTaggart had not got it—or else <i>he</i> -lied. The Home Secretary's powerful mind kept on returning to the -central point, "How the hell could they <i>all</i> have it, and least of -all how could Collop have it? That <i>must</i> be nonsense! ... Anyhow, -Collop was there, that was a relief. It was his business to find out." -Had Mr. de Bohun been in the habit of prayer he would have prayed -fervently that Collop would track down the real man. -</p> -<p> -But side by side with that relief rose an immense wave of apprehension, -for he remembered what manner of deep-sea beast Collop was, and he -sickened at the coming ordeal of the dinner. -</p> -<p> -Nor was he wrong. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -In the hall the Devil and the Angel were having a most furious row. -</p> -<p> -"What I want to bring home to you," said the Devil, pressing a red-hot -forefinger upon a smoking palm, "is that you've intruded. You've done -something I only had the right to do. It was my place to suggest -McTaggart passing the Emerald on!" -</p> -<p> -"It was nothing of the sort," said the Angel angrily. "You're like all -devils; you won't listen to reason." Then he began to count off on the -larger feathers of his wing. "Firstly, it's up to me to protect the -young man. <i>Secondly</i>, it does no sort of harm if the 'tec finds that -stone; why, it's all the better for him! It relieves a lot of honest and -dishonest men from suspicion. Thirdly"— Here he hesitated, as -theologians often do upon thirdly, thinking what he could scrape up. But -the Devil interrupted him. -</p> -<p> -"Never mind your 'thirdly.' It's a dirty trick, slipping jewels into -people's pockets! And dirty tricks are my stunts, not yours. Wasn't it -me," he added with a rising grievance in his voice, "that made the old -Don stick it into his pocket to begin with?" -</p> -<p> -Then the Angel played the trick which I am sorry to say is always being -played upon poor devils: he played the trick of the superior person. -</p> -<p> -"Well," he said, "you may be right. I can't bother about it. I've got -something else to do, and you can go back to hell." -</p> -<p> -The Devil, stung beyond endurance, grappled and closed. They wrestled -magnificently and it was fifty-fifty—as it always is with devils and -angels in this world—when the Angel began to get the worst of it. The -Devil, though shorter, was in far better training—humanity had seen -to that—and he was pressing the Angel down, when the Angel, without -scruple, began to increase his size and strength prodigiously, till he -towered above the poor Devil like a giant and half broke his back. -</p> -<p> -"You're cheating!" gasped the Devil. "You're working a miracle!" -</p> -<p> -"Anything's fair with devils!" said that most unjust Angel. -</p> -<p> -With which words he transferred himself into the sixth dimension, and -the Devil, snubbed, angered, disappointed, impotent to revenge himself, -burning to be eased by some ill deed, flew through the night to the -Duchess's—it was only four miles—and inspired her with the -odious thought that she should start yet another league for bothering the -poor. After such beastly solace he went back for the moment to his own -place. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER ELEVEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-d.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -During dinner Mr. Collop was not silent. In vain did the Home Secretary -indicate to his servant by a grimace that Mr. Collop's wine should be -spared. Mr. Collop had all the assurance of his breeding, and when he -wanted more wine he asked for it. It added, if that were possible, to -his remarkable courage. -</p> -<p> -That night was forever memorable to all those present for the -instructive lecture which he delivered upon the habits of the people of -Bogotar. They all inwardly suffered, or chuckled, as their temperaments -demanded. Vic ignored Marjorie's eyes and shamefully stayed on at table -as late as possible to carry the torture forward. -</p> -<p> -The men did not stop long over their wine—for by that name I deign to -call the beverage. The evening passed as on a rack for most, while Mr. -Collop roared busily of Bogotar, with many a droll tale and many a -gesture of large effect to underline it. Once more Vic stuck it out. She -was in heaven. She egged the Startler on. She asked question after -question on the famous oil-town of the Pearson Contracts. She even asked -about the women's love affairs and the British prospectors' -entanglements in that ill-known resort. -</p> -<p> -The Master of the House had to force the situation. -</p> -<p> -"I am going to ask you," said the Home Secretary, rather pompously, "to -excuse me for the rest of the evening. I have to talk of very important -matters with Mr. Collop. We shall be closeted together, I fear, till the -small hours of the morning; and I beg that you will not think me -discourteous." -</p> -<p> -The only one of the clot to whom this public speech could possibly be -addressed—all the rest were of the Family—was the lately -unfortunate, but now radiant, McTaggart. But it is a politician's habit to -be pompous whenever he gets the least excuse, and McTaggart was the excuse. -</p> -<p> -"On official business connected with the ... ah, with the ... well ... -it would not be to the public interest to say precisely." -</p> -<p> -McTaggart looked very carefully from under his eyelashes at his nearest -neighbour; Victoria Mosel darted a corner look at Galton, and Galton -grimly smiled at Marjorie. Aunt Amelia did not hear properly. Only the -Professor rose to the occasion, carolling: -</p> -<p> -"Certainly, Humphrey, certainly. By all means, Humphrey, by all means." -Then he squeezed his bony hands together, as though he had made a joke. -</p> -<p> -The women dropped out of the room. Marjorie waited above with her door -ajar till she should know the way was clear. Then she was to come down. -</p> -<p> -"Shall we go into my study?" said the Home Secretary to his latest -guest, when the women had gone. -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, I would not give ye that trouble, I wouldn't," said Mr. -Collop heartily. "I'd as soon talk 'ere. I think better like in large -rooms." And as he said that, the three men went out—perforce. But -Galton went not to bet but to the small smoking-room, and Victoria Mosel -did the same. Collop filled himself a whiskey and soda. And without -giving his employer time to open the ball, he entered on the plan -engendered by his mighty brain. -</p> -<p> -As he began to speak, Marjorie, following the sound of voices, slipped -in. Mr. Collop stared at her, said "'Ullo?" but returned to his -business. -</p> -<p> -"First of all," he said, with a good gulp at the spirits, "ye want a -plan made of this here West Room, as ye call it. Now mark me," he -insisted, as the Home Secretary half opened his never-quite-shut mouth, -"that plan'll 'ave to be in not less than five colours—and I'll tell -you for why. In a case of this kind, you 'ave got to distinguish between -materials. Remember what ye're looking for! Ye're looking for a object -that might be called transparent in a manner o' speaking." -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," broke in the Home Secretary desperately, "how long will it -take to make such a plan?" -</p> -<p> -"If there's a harchitect 'andy, it needn't take three days. I've 'ad -dozens. And next," said Mr. Collop, as loudly as before, "we 'ave to -'ave measurements. We don't need regular surveys and we don't need to -fill the garden wi' standards nor flags, but just measurements." -</p> -<p> -"And how long will these take?" asked the Home Secretary, a fabulous sum -mounting up before his eyes, and the impossibility of keeping his guests -forever. -</p> -<p> -"You will observe," said Mr. Collop, clearing his throat as for a -speech, and addressing the lady—"you will observe, Miss, that what -two men can do in one time, four men can do in arf the time, and eight -men—why, eight men in a quarter of the time. And sixteen men," he -continued, turning to her progenitor, "they'd take arf as much again. -While they're making the plan in one room, if you 'ave enough men with -chains in the grounds. Then there's the probing." -</p> -<p> -"The what?" asked de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"The probing," answered his guest briefly. "That's a longer job, -'specially as I noticed that there's stone floors about. Now 'ere's -another matter. Look at this carpet. That's Aubusson, that is. Ah, I -notice everything! Aubusson—that's what it is." -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," broke in Marjorie, in her suffering.... -</p> -<p> -"Now, Miss," said Mr. Collop with command, "don't you interrupt me. Let -me put the necessaries before you. When you get all this done, sir, what -are you to do, then? What are you to do next? Why, I'll tell you. You'll -have all the shutters shut: I noticed you 'ad shutters: and those -curtains pulled. Then you'll put what they call Marlin's New Irridiant -up. That's the light we work by. And I'll tell you for why. You 'ave -plain electrics in the room and they casts shadows. Don't they, Miss?" -he appealed to his hostess. But before she could agree, he went on, like -a mighty river in flood: -</p> -<p> -"Now, casting shadows, you might miss a small object. That's how objects -do get missed. You've got to think of these things. Artificial light -that is distributed high and in the corners...." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary could bear no more. "Yes, yes, yes," he said. "Where -does one get the stuff?" -</p> -<p> -"You'll see!" said Mr. Collop tartly, but with pardonable pride. "It's -expensive, mind you," he added honestly. "But you got to do this job -well or not at all." -</p> -<p> -"But, Mr. Collop," said poor Marjorie, who could hardly bear another -moment, "before all this expense couldn't we ..." -</p> -<p> -"No, Miss," said the redoubtable Collop, shaking his head firmly. "Not -to be thought on! I wouldn't undertake the responsibility, I wouldn't. -And mind you, this ain't the first job of the sort I've tackled; not by -thousands it ain't." (An exaggeration—due, I am afraid, to the -whiskey.) "I wouldn't undertake the responsibility! I'll put no man -under a cloud till I've made certain that it's not lost and hiding of -its own. If it's not found, why then it'll be time to begin." -</p> -<p> -It was Marjorie who found the decision to break off the battle. She got -up suddenly. -</p> -<p> -"Good night, Mr. Collop," she said. "I understand all about it now. We -leave it to you." -</p> -<p> -"Thanks, Miss," said Mr. Collop. "That's the right spirit! You leave it -to the perfessional man, and you'll never regret it! Is it good night to -you, sir?" he added in a voice as loud as ever, stretching out a firm -hand and seizing that of the Home Secretary. He crushed it in an iron -grip, so that the poor old gentleman winced with pain. -</p> -<p> -"No, Mr. Collop! ... No, pray ... I must see you again in a moment, -indeed I must ... but will you excuse me a moment?" He rose. "My -daughter and I must have a private word together I think...." -</p> -<p> -"It's my place to retire, my lord," said Mr. Collop all in the grand -manner, weak in the distinctions. "I'll be in the library, and when you -want me, why, come and cop me," and out he went. -</p> -<p> -Without a moment's warning, Marjorie threw herself upon a sofa, crossed -her arms upon the back of it, and began crying and sobbing in a storm. -Her father was enormously distressed. -</p> -<p> -"There, there, my dear," he said, "you are quite overwrought; you are -tired. Get to bed. It can't be helped. We must go through with it." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, papa," she sobbed, "it's intolerable. I can't help thinking! Just -think what they'll all think!" -</p> -<p> -"Yes, my dear; I was thinking that they would be thinking what you say -they will be thinking. I'm afraid some of them must have been thinking -already." -</p> -<p> -"Perhaps," moaned poor Marjorie, half consoled by the relief of tears, -"that b-b-b-loody b-b-beast will find the b-b-b-b-b-bloody thing after -all." -</p> -<p> -"Yes, my dear, yes. I hope he will. I'm sure he will. I am indeed!" -</p> -<p> -She dried her eyes, sighed wearily, kissed her father good night, and -went off to bed. It was nearly one o'clock. The poor man, as he heard -her step go slowly up the great stairs, retained his daughter's -despairing voice vividly in his ears. It reminded him of his -wife's—only the vocabulary had somewhat changed since the days when -Queen Victoria gave so admirable an example to the ladies of the land. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -He rose wearily, feeling fevered, and the worry on him increasingly -intolerable. He stepped out into the hall; it was still fully lit. He -rang, and when the servant came he asked him whether the offices were -shut up. He was told that all had gone to bed but the man who had come -at his summons. He bade him go in his turn, and put out all the lights. -Then he himself switched out the bulbs in the hall and stared at the -great window beside the door. It was singularly light outside, and the -air was oppressive within. Cold as was the weather, he needed to feel -the open. He thrust up the sash and drank in the rush of freezing air. -</p> -<p> -The moon must have just risen, but a slight mist was ascending. Half an -hour's light fall of snow had again marked off the lawn, but evidently -hours before, since the paths were swept round the house and along up -the avenue to the left. He shut down the sash again, a little refreshed, -but still most ill at ease. -</p> -<p> -With a sigh he turned towards the door of the library, within which -room, alone, crouched the nightmare policeman. He forced himself in, and -found the fellow there. -</p> -<p> -"We must go into the West Room, Mr. Collop," he said. "My daughter has -gone to bed; the house is all shut up, and we can discuss matters -undisturbed. It is in the West Room that the thing happened. Come." -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER TWELVE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -In the West Room the Home Secretary opened fire on his guest. -</p> -<p> -"All these schemes of yours, Mr. Collop," he said firmly, "you must -discard. Time is essential. I ask you for some immediate action. This -very night. Mr. Collop, I beg you to proceed." -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop needed no further invitation. Proceeding was his passion—I -might almost say, his vice. -</p> -<p> -"Got to be done express?" he asked. "Right-o! Now I'll tell ye my way. I -divide it," he continued, roaring powerfully, "into three heads." Then, -much more loudly, "Head number one." -</p> -<p> -"Pray, pray, Mr. Collop," agonised the Home Secretary, with outstretched -hands. "A little lower, please! We must not be overheard!" -</p> -<p> -"I'll tell you my express method—since ye want it express," said -Mr. Collop, speaking now no louder than your ordinary street orator, -railways guard or the cabinet minister at election. "First, to establish -what I call negative evidence. This term," he added sententiously, "I -will make clear in a moment. Two"—he ticked them off on his podgy -fingers—"what I call the search, comparable to the experiment -conducted by men of science; with no hypothetic bless you, none at all! -Just random like. Now then, in the midst of that we shall find a clue. -What then? Then number three. The hypothetic is formed, modified, -readjusted, co-ordinated, and leads infallibly to the inevitable -conclusion." -</p> -<p> -He coughed and spat in the fire. It was perhaps the thirty-seventh time -in the last ten years that he had recited that piece. It had been -written out for him by his nephew, who, he was proud to say, attended -lectures at Manchester University, and he had it typewritten on a now -rather dirty sheet of paper which he carried about with him all over -England. -</p> -<p> -"So what do we do now?" he continued heartily. "Why, we begin by -establishing our negative evidence. Chrm! Chrm! And how do we do that? -Why, we make sure that it is not in this room." -</p> -<p> -"But how can one make sure of that?" said the Home Secretary, puzzled. -</p> -<p> -"Why, plain and straightforward, sir. I 'ave brought down my men and my -apparatus. We'll want the floor taken up. But that won't take long." -</p> -<p> -"What?" said the Home Secretary, in alarm. -</p> -<p> -"The floor, sir. The floor," said Mr. Collop magisterially. "And I say -again, it won't take long. My men will prise it up before you can say -'Sir Garnet'! And afore we do that another set of 'em will cut the -furniture open to see if it's not in the cracks. Then I have got two -with the new white light." -</p> -<p> -"What?" said the Home Secretary again. -</p> -<p> -"Why, this new dazzle I told you on," said Mr. Collop proudly. -</p> -<p> -"But my dear sir, my dear sir, when you say your men, what do you mean?" -</p> -<p> -"My men, Mr. Dee Boe Hun? Why, them men I ordered to come and 'elp me -with this job. They're at the Lion now, waiting." -</p> -<p> -And without asking his host's leave, he sat down squarely at the little -table by the telephone and rang up the Lion. When he had given his -message, he waited, head in air, hands clasped behind his back, a -monument of Induction and Deduction. -</p> -<p> -"Do I understand you to say," groaned Mr. de Bohun miserably, "that you -mean to pull up the floor to-night?" -</p> -<p> -"That's it," nodded Mr. Collop. "That's right. And open the furniture. -Only just enough to see it's not in any of the cracks. Then," he added, -looking critically at the fine Empire looking-glass upon the wall, "we -must have things down, of course. You never know what may lie concealed -lurking behind." -</p> -<p> -"Really, Mr. Collop, really," groaned the Home Secretary, clasping and -unclasping his hands, "I should think that ..." -</p> -<p> -"Job must be done thorough," frowned Mr. Collop, wagging his head. "I'd -never undertake the responsibility of searching individuals till I'd -made sure 'twasn't in the room where 'twas lost." -</p> -<p> -Even as he spoke there came an honest bang upon the outer door; shortly -after another, still more honest, upon the door of the room, and the -shuffling of many feet. Once more dispensing with the formality of -consulting his host, the great Collop unbolted the door, and with a -Napoleonic gesture introduced his merry men. -</p> -<p> -They were a sight, they were! Six of them seemed to have been chosen -rather for strength than for intellectual power. Two staggered under an -enormous iron tripod with heaven knows what contraption poised on its -summit, and a cylinder of gas. Three more bore with them sundry -instruments. And of all this little army Mr. Collop, with fine decision, -took immediate charge. -</p> -<p> -"Now, then, lads!" he said; "hearty! The job's got to be done quick. All -the rugs first, please. You two with the light, stand off! Stand on the -window-sill. Then you won't be in the way." So they did, the marks of -their heavy boots contrasting finely with the delicate woodwork of that -Jane Austen room. -</p> -<p> -"Rugs all rolled?" said Mr. Collop. "Yes! That's right! Shake 'em first, -yes! That's right! Pile 'em up on that other window. Now then, tables -out of it! Smart!" -</p> -<p> -He opened the door, and behold! half a dozen willing pairs of hands -pushed the small table, the middle table, the big desk, the little -table, and the what-not, one after the other, vigorously into the -hall—and the door was shut again. -</p> -<p> -"Now, me boys! up with the Austrians!" -</p> -<p> -His heart was in his work, and he inspired his command as all great -leaders can. The sundry instruments so useful in work of this kind did -their rapid work, lifting one large square after another, while the -owner of the same danced with astonishing agility from spot to spot, -remaining at last on one isolated island, which he was courteously -bidden to abandon; taking refuge then upon the remaining low -window-sill, while the five large lounge chairs in the room were laid -carefully on their backs across the joists as the work proceeded. -</p> -<p> -"That's the style!" said Mr. Collop, cheerfully. "Pile 'em up, lads! -Pile 'em up!" -</p> -<p> -And those sham-ancient polished parquet squares, their very base modern -pitch pine reverse pitifully exposed—but, as Mr. Collop proudly -pointed out, not one of them broken—were carefully laid against -the wall, nicely missing the Cox and the Morland, but threatening in -some degree, should they shift or slip, the large picture of Paulings in -the early eighteenth century, which was the place's pride—and so -it ought to be! Paulings belonged to gentlemen then. Two of them were to -be seen riding horses which had done nothing but eat for years and yet -walked on their hind legs. They were followed by four dogs.... -</p> -<p> -But to my tale.... -</p> -<p> -The two citizens with the tripod set it down between the old dusty -joists upon which the floor boards had rested, and of a sudden a most -abominable glare, like the white heat from molten iron, shot in a shaft -upon a corner in the uncovered lower flooring. It was brilliant beyond -the dreams of avarice. It revealed like remorse. Mr. Collop with an -agility surprising in a man of his build, leaped down that little -distance, and kept on shouting directions. -</p> -<p> -"That's right now! Sweep it along! Sweep it along! Sweep it along!" The -blinding shaft of light slowly traversed the edges of the shallow void -from end to end, from left to right. "Now back again!" said Mr. Collop. -"Now back again!" -</p> -<p> -The intense beam travelled back in another band, slightly nearer, from -right to left; and all the while the detective followed with keen eyes -every patch which it successively illuminated. -</p> -<p> -It was not a long process. Three or four minutes at the most. And while -it continued, the Home Secretary, perched in security on his -window-sill, was interested in spite of himself: new science is always a -toy.... And that was how they searched for the jewels in the flooring of -the West Room. -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop's hand went up, and the blinding shaft of light disappeared -as suddenly as it had come. -</p> -<p> -"That'll do, lads!" he said. "We know one thing now, any'ow. It didn't -get down through the flooring; that's certain. Now then, if you please, -we'll open the furniture." -</p> -<p> -Mr. de Bohun did not please. -</p> -<p> -"Surely, surely it can be spared," he begged. "It's Victorian." -</p> -<p> -"Now, sir," protested Collop firmly, "I'll be responsible for nothing -unless I'm pursuing my own method." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary sighed and surrendered. With deft fingers two of the -three extras began picking out the stitching of the chairs after every -loose cushion had been lifted, shaken, and put aside. -</p> -<p> -It was beautiful to see such expert work; at least, it was beautiful in -Mr. Collop's eyes; but the Home Secretary almost shed tears. Those -chairs were his father's! The Great Peal, the immortal Benjamin Israel, -had graced them. And again—who was going to pay for all this? All the -edges of the leather stood out; the secret places were revealed. There -was no emerald. -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop beamed with satisfaction. -</p> -<p> -"That, sir," he said triumphantly, "is the end of what we've called our -<i>Negative</i> process. Hey! Number One!" And he ticked off on his thumb, -as he had done before. -</p> -<p> -"We are now assured," he boomed, tucking his thumbs into the armholes of -his waistcoat, "that wherever the Em'rald may be, it's not in this room. -Stay a moment! I'd forgotten! The pictures down, please!" -</p> -<p> -Again the owner gave tongue. "Do you <i>really</i> think, Mr. Collop ..." -</p> -<p> -"Yes, I do," answered Mr. Collop with decision. "Come. Smartly, lads!" -</p> -<p> -No harm was done to the pictures; they knew their work. The Cox was -lifted down and now leaned at a secure angle. The Morland turned its -back canvas to the ceiling, pushed on a capsized armchair. I wish I -could say as much for the Napoleonic looking-glass. -</p> -<p> -It was just too high for one of the men's hands; he slipped, and down it -came: an omen of ill-fortune, smashed upon the floor—round gilded -frame, Eagle of the Legions, and all. -</p> -<p> -"Well, well!" said Mr. Collop cheerfully. "No battle without losses, ye -know—hey?" -</p> -<p> -"I really think...." urged the Home Secretary, with something as near -anger as his temperament allowed. -</p> -<p> -"Never you fuss, sir," thrust in Mr. Collop genially. "It's all right -now. We've proved our point. That's the 'sential. I say again, the -Negative part is accomplished," and he smiled upon his chief with all -the satisfaction of genius. "The em'rald's not in this room where it was -lost. That's a cert. What's the conclusion? Why, sir, the conclusion is -that it's <i>somewhere else</i>. And when I say somewhere else, what do I -mean?" -</p> -<p> -"You mean...." began the Home Secretary nervously, stepping down -gingerly from his perch and trying to make his way across the -joists—"you mean that you must now consider which, if any, of my -guests ..." -</p> -<p> -Again Mr. Collop's hand went up. -</p> -<p> -"Now, sir; pardon me! That's not the scientific spirit. I shall send -these men back to the Lion, with your leave"—it was the first time -he had asked it, and it was granted with enthusiasm—"and then I -shall ask you, sir, to give me details, and I shall make notes. After -that we'll sleep on it.... Before you go, men, get the Austrians down -again. Hammer the clamps down: hammer 'em down good and strong at the -corners; whang 'em in! You know how these Austrians buckle! We'll 'ave -everything right again in a jiffy"—to his host—"and then -we'll sleep sound on it. Like 'Ogs." -</p> -<p> -With clamouring echo which shook those ancient walls, square after -square of Austrian antique was thrown back into its place; with -Cyclopean noise the clamps were driven into their former holes, and the -shattering bangs of the heavy iron hammers sounded like thunder through -the silent night. Twenty yards away, in the small smoking-room, Victoria -Mosel and Tommy Galton had remained to exchange a few insults after the -others had gone off to bed. They started at the unusual din; she very -slightly, he with a jerk. -</p> -<p> -"What are they doing?" said he suspiciously. -</p> -<p> -"Making your scaffold," shot Vic decidedly: then, more doubtfully. "It's -a damned shame! For I don't suppose you did take it after all, Tommy? -Eh?" -</p> -<p> -"If I thought there was room on you for that bloody stone," began Tommy -viciously.... -</p> -<p> -"Oh, search me!" said Vic, without sincerity. -</p> -<p> -"No, but, Vic, what <i>are</i> they doing?" -</p> -<p> -"Shifting the scenery, Tommy. Summoning the dead. Christ knows!" She -yawned, to the peril of her agglutinative cigarette, but it held nobly. -"It can't go on forever. I'm going to bed. By the time they've stopped -I'll be asleep. So long! I'll come and look you up at Wormwood Scrubbs, -never fear!" And the Virgin departed. -</p> -<p> -"Not while you're still in Holloway," fired the puller of horses after -her as he got up in his turn, and went out to get his candle for bed. -</p> -<p> -A few moments later, when the Master of the House peeped out into the -hall, he found all dark and deserted. He was pleased to think that his -guests had suspected nothing. -</p> -<p> -When everything was accomplished, and the little army of Scotland Yard -men had fallen back upon its billets at the Lion (Humphrey de Bohun -himself let them out at the front door, on tiptoe and with agonised -whispers entreating caution. He himself had locked and bolted these -doors); when, I say, all this affair was over Mr. Collop, first making -quite sure that his seat was secure, took out a notebook, shot a blot of -ink on to the re-established polar bear, and gave tongue. -</p> -<p> -"Now, sir, fire away!" -</p> -<p> -"What do you want me to do?" said de Bohun doubtfully. -</p> -<p> -"Why, just give me details of what those coves 've been doing of," said -Mr. Collop, relapsing into the vernacular. -</p> -<p> -"You mean my guests?" said the Home Secretary rather stiffly. -</p> -<p> -"That's right," said Mr. Collop cheerfully, "the toffs." -</p> -<p> -"Well, really.... I haven't played the spy on my guests, Mr. Collop." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, I'm looking after that," said Mr. Collop with another of his -healthy winks. "Now, just you tell me all they did. I've got my first -notes here. These three men what I've just met at dinner—and one of -them's young McTaggart—I know 'im—they went down on their knees -and they looked for it in that rug. Well and good. Then they got up, and -they all swore they hadn't got it." -</p> -<p> -"McTaggart was the last," said de Bohun, defending the interests of the -family. -</p> -<p> -"Ar? ... I didn't know that!" mused the modern Napoleon deeply. And he -noted it down. "Well, what next?" -</p> -<p> -"Why, to tell you the truth—the full truth, and I beg you to keep it -private—my cousin, Lord Galton, has told me that he has seen the -emerald—seen it with his own eyes—in the Professor's hands." -</p> -<p> -"Ar!" said Mr. Collop again. "That's important, that is!" and down it -went. "Saw it with 'is own eyes: where and 'ow?" -</p> -<p> -"Wait a moment, Mr. Collop, wait a moment. Not long after, the Professor -told me he had infallible scientific proof that it was in McTaggart's -pocket. He showed me the very instrument wherewith he had been able to -discover its presence through the thickness of the coat." -</p> -<p> -"That's important too!" murmured Mr. Collop, intelligently noting it -down. "An' what does McTaggart say?" -</p> -<p> -"McTaggart ..." The Home Secretary was about to blurt out the truth and -tell him what McTaggart had singularly announced. But he checked -himself. To insult his last remaining prop would be fatal. "Oh, -McTaggart?" he evaded. "Why, McTaggart said he hadn't got it." -</p> -<p> -"Ar! just so. 'E did, did 'e? Now, that's <i>very</i> important," affirmed -Mr. Collop, and he noted that down also. -</p> -<p> -"Now here," he continued, slipping an elastic band over the notebook and -putting it back into his pocket—"here, Mr. Dee Boe Hun, we 'ave got -three 'ypothetics." He again began ticking them off on the thumb and -fingers of the left hand. "First 'ypothetic: Lord Galton stole the -em'rald. Second 'ypothetic: Old Giglamps stole the em'rald ... -Tortoise-shell specs, I mean: the schoolmaster," and he winked again. -"Third 'ypothetic: McTaggart stole the em'rald. Now these three -'ypothetics," he went on, "lead to three totally different conclusions. -Each of 'em has its conjunctions and conjugations. Mr. Dee Boe Hun," he -concluded, rising and assuming hieratic tones, "I shall not sleep -to-night." (There is many a true word spoken in lying.) "I shall bend -all the energies of me mind in the ensuing hours of darkness, and on the -morrow you shall 'ave my conclusions.... I'll trouble you, sir, to leave -me a syphon and a drop o' something. Helps me to concentrate." -</p> -<p> -"I'm afraid," said the Home Secretary, "the servants will have cleared -the drinks away from the library, and they have all gone to bed." Then, -terrified lest the lack of sustenance should imperil victory, he added -hurriedly: "Don't move! Pray don't move! I think I know where to find -it." -</p> -<p> -He was away some time, going on tiptoe in the offices. When he returned -it was with an unopened bottle of whiskey, a syphon and a glass. "I'm -afraid I have no corkscrew," he apologised. -</p> -<p> -"I 'ave," said the imperturbable Collop, who had sat royally in his -chair to receive this tribute. He pulled out the cork, smelt the brand, -approved of it, poured himself out a dope and a most miserable little -splash from the syphon. -</p> -<p> -"Here's luck!" he said. "Cheerio! Now you leave me <i>to</i> it!" -</p> -<p> -And de Bohun left him to it, ardently praying with what was left of his -childhood's faith to a God in whom he still vaguely believed, that never -again in the remaining years of his declining life should he be -compelled to harbour under the roof of Paulings any unit from the mighty -Secret Service which he commanded, and inwardly deciding that he would -relinquish that command for India, Paris, South Africa—nay, New -Zealand—anything rather than bear such a burden again. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER THIRTEEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -It is a fascinating occupation to watch a powerful human brain at work -upon some great problems—the face alive with mind, the tension of the -muscles, the frowning eyes; and to feel behind it all that driving, -compelling power of the intelligence wherein man is God-like. -</p> -<p> -But no one would have seen this sight in the case of Mr. Collop had he -remained. What he would have seen was a hand pouring out whiskey for -itself over and over again and adding smaller and smaller splashes of -soda; and at last an obese body attempting sleep in the lounge chair -which it filled. -</p> -<p> -He had comfortably made up his mind. He was going to stay in the West -Room and sleep as he could, leaving his bed untouched by way of giving -the impression of a long night's intellectual wrestling. Next morning he -would take every one of the three in turn, tell each separately that he -was from the Yard, tax them brutally with the theft, and terrify and -bully the culprit, whichever of the three it might turn out to be, into -confession. So decided, he chose a good chair among the mutilated -victims, wheeled it close to the electric switches by the fire, settled -himself down, turned off the light and shut his eyes for sleep. -</p> -<p> -Now it is paradoxically true of the substantial more than it is of the -insufficient, that they must shift and turn to find that posture in -which their persons can best repose, especially in chairs. Nor could Mr. -Collop at once and easily fall into the arms of Morpheus. He shifted and -turned, and wedged in and re-wedged in and out, and moved again and -replaced those various muscles and anatomical names of which escape -me—or rather I never knew them, though the things themselves I know -well enough—when all of a sudden he gave a loud and piercing cry and -leapt up broad awake. Something had stuck into him—something -abominably sharp. His reaction had been instantaneous. He struck a match. -He switched on the light. -</p> -<p> -He groped in the offending tail-coat pocket and—not the first to do -so!—stared at what he found in his hand—the emerald! Its brooch -setting was unclasped, the wicked steel pin of it was pointing at a -challenging angle in the air. He glared viciously at the offending point -which had wounded his innocent person; then his eyebrows relaxed into a -stupefied stare at the stone itself. -</p> -<p> -"Great God!" he said three times, "Great God! Great God!" -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure16"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure16.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Birds of the Empire.<br /> -I.—The Parrot Attaboy, in action.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -There is a current impression, taken I think from the great spate of -detective stories upon which we are all fed, that your professional -detective has no brains whatsoever and would be no match for the sloth -of the Andes, or the sluggish waddle-duck of Australian and Imperial -fame. It is an error. They are men as we are and their intelligences, -such as they are, work more or less under the spur of prospective -advantage. Within three minutes Mr. Collop had grasped the fact that -fame, security, promotion, a permanent, good, appreciated, livelihood -lay in his outstretched palm. Had he not found the emerald? <i>How</i> he -had found it, why it was there at all, he knew not. But he had quickly seen -how its possession might be used. -</p> -<p> -"There you are, you great blighter," he murmured, addressing the -charming gem. "Damn your green eyes! I'll make you work, I will! -William, my boy, here's something that's got to be thought out!" -</p> -<p> -For the first time for many months, Mr. Collop thought, really thought; -"concentrated" as he would have put it. -</p> -<p> -He would have done it better perhaps if he had not been so full of -whiskey. But shock is a powerful stimulus. And he was already -three-quarters sober and coming to conclusions. -</p> -<p> -For a long time the effect of this unusual exercise was a blank and a -confusion of mind; then there broke in upon the silence a sound which -startled him horribly. A voice, somewhat muffled, uncertain, had spoken -in that silence where none but him could be. He had heard it! Or was he -mad? -</p> -<p> -"Attaboy!" -</p> -<p> -Was it a divine command? Had some dear wraith of the dead—his sainted -mother perhaps, who could tell—come to comfort him in this dread hour -of his fate? All was dead still. His hand trembled a little as he pulled -out his watch. It was a quarter past two, and the silence was enormous. -</p> -<p> -Most awfully it came again. -</p> -<p> -"Attaboy!" -</p> -<p> -He hardly dared to look around. Look round he did and there he saw what -he had not before grasped—that the dome of black cloth, suspended, -covered a cage; thence it was that once again, but this time in a -failing, drowsy manner, came the unearthly summons: -</p> -<p> -"Attaboy!" -</p> -<p> -A revelation burst upon his mind. It was a revelation indeed! The whole -scheme blazed suddenly before him. -</p> -<p> -He walked boldly to the cage, took off the cover and saw what may very -properly be called the blinking bird, for the sudden light had dazzled -it. -</p> -<p> -"Attaboy!" croaked the parrot again in a rather peevish fashion. -</p> -<p> -"I'll Attaboy you!" hissed Mr. Collop through his teeth. -</p> -<p> -He made his preparations to capture that innocent accomplice; his scheme -was now fully developed. -</p> -<p> -He had heard that this kind of fowl was of a very fierce and dangerous -sort; but the plan must be pursued at all risks. He took his handkerchief -from his pocket—a large bandanna of the noblest—and with -a decision worthy of a better cause, whipped it round the gaudy coloured -neck after the fashion of a cravat. A muffled protest proceeded from -that insulted organ. -</p> -<p> -"You wait!" muttered Mr. Collop vindictively, as though the poor bird -were his enemy. He looked about him. There was a large square of black -cloth on his host's writing-table. With that he made a second deadener, -hoodlike, entirely covering the animal's head, and tied it securely on; -all that now penetrated from within was a faint, varying sound which one -had to be in the closest neighbourhood to hear. Next he cut off a piece -of tape from the coil neatly disposed by the side of the official -papers, and bound the fierce talons securely. Then with infinite -precaution he slipped off the chain from its ring, and held the exotic -biped firmly in both hands. -</p> -<p> -The clipped wings fluttered a little, but they were contained by strong -hands. Mr. Collop made for the window. He laid his living parcel down, -where it struggled in vain; opened the shutters with infinite -precautions for avoiding sound—above, Aunt Amelia, happily deaf, was -deep in slumber; pulled up the sash so slowly that it seemed an age; -went back on tiptoe, extinguished the light and—a stroke of -genius—went noisily upstairs, bearing the parrot, to give full -warning to anyone who might be still awake that he had gone to bed, after -all. He tumbled his bed about. He returned. -</p> -<p> -He came down gingerly in shoeless feet, and stepped out into the night. -</p> -<p> -The stillness was awful, but all propitious to his plan. The thin snow -lay even and spotless on the grass on either side of the avenue. The -nearer trees were clear in the half light. The gravel walk, though well -swept and clear of snow, leaving no trace of his passage, was bitterly -cold to his thinly clad feet—for his socks were of silk, I am glad to -say. -</p> -<p> -There was a wintry mist and beyond it the white suffused radiance of the -moon. -</p> -<p> -He looked up cautiously. There was not a chink of light in any window. -All slept, and the Holy One presided in the heavens above, beyond the -fog in her blurred aureole of light. It was the hour for great deeds. -And a great deed was done. -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop, with infinite precautions, lifted up his captive and planted -its two talons firmly upon the snow to the side of the swept alleyway -and pointing at a small, most aged and somewhat stunted oak about thirty -yards ahead of him on the edge of the swept path. He himself kept -crouching on the swept gravel and holding poor Attaboy to the side above -the snow. Then, still creeping noiselessly along, he planted the bird's -claws down again about six inches further. And so on, hop by hop. -</p> -<p> -It was merciful in Providence to have spared that tropical exile any too -sensitive nerves in its claws; but it protested. It thought the march an -indignity, and it was abominably cold. The parrot squirmed. The parrot -resisted. But the parrot was for it. -</p> -<p> -Six inches by six inches the double imprint of the claws appeared in a -lengthening chain upon the thin snow until they had come to within ten -feet of the oak. Then did Mr. Collop most cautiously rise from his stoop -and, taking the bird under his left arm and standing upon tiptoe, -stretch his right hand up to a small hollow in the stump of a branch -that had decayed long ago: he felt its concavity. It would do. He -carefully felt for the emerald in (now) his waistcoat pocket. It was -safe. He turned back swiftly towards the great dark house in the -moonlight. -</p> -<p> -The thing was accomplished. -</p> -<p> -As stealthily as he had come, but far more rapidly, thanking Heaven that -still no light showed through any cranny of the mansion, he loped back, -shut the window down again with infinite precautions and even then -dreaded a slight sound, put his dumb confederate back, released it of -its bandages, slipped on the cover of the cage, and crept up to bed. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -So true it is that once in every man's life comes an opportunity and -that in every man some talent, however unsuspected, lurks. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER FOURTEEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-s.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Sunday morning had dawned brilliant, had grown in splendour. The mist -had gone. A low but clear and even glorious sun flashed heaven athwart -the snowy levels and transfigured the winter sky. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary came down to breakfast late, and no wonder! Marjorie -came down to breakfast late, and no wonder! Tommy and Vic came down -late, and no wonder! The Professor and Aunt Amelia had met at the table -before anyone else was about. If she expected a flirtation, she was -disappointed. If he expected a quiet reading of the Sunday newspaper, he -was more bitterly disappointed still. The advent of the late comers was -a relief. -</p> -<p> -Last of all drifted in, heavy-eyed but big with mastery achieved, the -Collop. -</p> -<p> -At that breakfast very little was said. McTaggart was getting used to -the rich. He lit a pipe. But he stood mum. -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel and Tom Galton met in Marking Room. -</p> -<p> -"Vic," said Tommy Galton, "who do you think has got it?" He lounged back -in the absurdly low, fat chair, letting himself go all loose, as is the -habit of your hard-riding man—especially those who pull -horses—and looking down at her calves after the admirable breeding -of our day. -</p> -<p> -"You haven't, anyhow, Tommy!" lisped Victoria Mosel, in spite of the -hanging cigarette. "I've got that much!" -</p> -<p> -"Thank God for that! Spread it!" said Galton. -</p> -<p> -"Thank me, too," said Vic. -</p> -<p> -"All right. Thank <i>you</i>, too. Damn you! Who's got it?" -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel turned round, spat the fragment of the cigarette into the -fire, and lit another one. -</p> -<p> -"I'm thinking," she said. -</p> -<p> -"The natural thing," said Galton, shutting his eyes, "would be that -putrid fellah McTaggart: the journalist fellah!" -</p> -<p> -"<i>He</i> hasn't got it," said Vic decidedly. "And he's not so putrid, -either. Nothin' like as putrid as you are!" -</p> -<p> -"That's neither here nor there. He's putrid, all right. Shall I tell you -who's got it?" -</p> -<p> -"You don't know," said Vic. "Lie away." -</p> -<p> -"Old Footle's got it," said Tommy, with decision. "Cousin Bill. It may -be sewn into his sagging skin: but he's got it." -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel looked at him curiously through her half-closed -buttonhole eyes. -</p> -<p> -"Go on!" she said. -</p> -<p> -"I saw him take it," said Galton. "I saw him with my own eyes." -</p> -<p> -"And you told the chief, I suppose?" said Vic, with a sneer. -</p> -<p> -"Yes, I told him," answered Tommy determinedly. -</p> -<p> -"More fool you!" said Vic, sighing. "He hasn't. Old Bill hasn't got it, -Tommy.... I've been watching you all since Collop came under this -accursed roof. The Don's not oppressed. It's not with <i>him</i>. <i>He</i> -hasn't got it." -</p> -<p> -"Well, then, who <i>has</i>, Vic? Damn it, who <i>has</i>?" savagely. -</p> -<p> -Then did Victoria Mosel open her eyes wide, as wide as cigar-shaped eyes -can open, and look at the questioner; next she folded her lids into a -most natural slit of repose, and turned her gaze to the ceiling, saying: -</p> -<p> -"Look here, Tommy, I've told you already that <i>you</i> haven't got it, -and that ought to be enough for you. <i>You</i> ought to be grateful. In -fact, you <i>were</i> grateful just now. Only gratitude's short-lived." -</p> -<p> -"I believe you've got the stinking brooch, Vic," said her cousin (by -marriage) surlily. -</p> -<p> -"You said that before—and I said, search me! I wish to Christ I had," -said Vic. "I'd hand it on through Baba to the van Burens next time -Archie went to Amsterdam. They'd know what to do with it! I should get -it back in four pieces. They'd keep the fifth—but I'd net a -bellyful!" -</p> -<p> -The young man got up from his lounge and stood surlily with his hands in -his pockets. -</p> -<p> -"It's got to be found!" he said. -</p> -<p> -"It'll be found all right," assured Vic deliberately. "And who'll be -relieved then, my boy?" And she dug a lean elbow with maidenly modesty -under his fifth rib. -</p> -<p> -"Go to hell!" shouted the goaded Tommy. He intended to convey, after his -fashion, that the conversation was closed. -</p> -<p> -He sauntered out of the room and Victoria Mosel, who always liked a warm -chair in winter, sank back into the seat he had abandoned. She lit her -third cigarette, the fifteenth of that morning, and shut her eyes to -think over the matter fully. She had been up late the night before and -Sunday morning is a good time for repose. She fell into a lounging -little self-sufficient sleep, and snored in a gentle fashion, not -unmusical ... dear Victoria! -</p> -<p> -And that was the end of the judgment passed by one select—and -small—section of the governing classes upon a problem so closely -concerning them all. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -But the moment of revelation had come. Mr. Collop dared not stay, lest -sure steps should obliterate the unwilling traces of Attaboy across the -snow. -</p> -<p> -"None of 'em going to church, I hopes?" said he to his host after -breakfast. -</p> -<p> -"Surely! Surely some one," was all the Victorian could say. -</p> -<p> -"Well," brutally, "none of 'em can. They've all got to be here together. -We want every witness, sir; every one.... <i>I've found the emerald</i>!" -</p> -<p> -"What? Eh! What!" staggered Humphrey de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -"<i>I've found the emerald</i>!" repeated the policeman enormously. "... -Leastways, I've found where it is." -</p> -<p> -"What am I to do?" begged the statesman, all of a flutter. "What are -your plans? It's urgent! Innocent men must be cleared!" -</p> -<p> -"Orl in good time!" pronounced the majestic Collop. "Orl in good time! -First tell 'em there's no church this morning. Go and tell 'em that. -Soak into 'em all. I've got to 'ave my witnesses—and you'll be glad, -too, when it's over." -</p> -<p> -In his heart the Victorian relic, bleeding though he was from such a -manner, felt that he would.... Anything to get it over! -</p> -<p> -"I've got a word to say to you, Sir Humphrey"—it was no longer "My -lord"—"afore we summons 'em, and then you shall see what you shall -see. Meanwhile, you go and tell 'em to stand by. I'll bide 'ere." -</p> -<p> -And he bided, while the far wealthier and therefore greater man trotted -round on his errand. -</p> -<p> -"I'm sorry," he said to each couple, as he ferreted it out, "but I must -ask you not to go out. <i>The emerald's found</i>; at least ... you'll see. -Only wait where you are just a moment. I'll send for you all." -</p> -<p> -He repeated that phrase three times and fixed them to their stations; -then he ran back to the deliverer. -</p> -<p> -He found the deliverer at the door of the West Room. -</p> -<p> -"Come in here, Mr. Dee Boe Hun," he said. "Look round, Sir -Humphrey—what do you perceive?" -</p> -<p> -"Nothing," said the Home Secretary. Then he found the manhood to add, -"Hurry up!" -</p> -<p> -"Ar! 'Urry up, is it?" said the masterful policeman deliberately. "Now -there's a little point to be settled first." He compressed his lips, as -though for a reprimand to an inferior. "The first thing that's got to be -proved—and that's simple—is, was there a winder left open here -the night o' the great disaster?" -</p> -<p> -"You mean on Friday night? The day before yesterday? The night the jewel -was dropped?" -</p> -<p> -"Yep!" answered Mr. Collop. "I do." -</p> -<p> -"A window?" repeated the statesman, remembering the shutters, the -curtains, the fire, all the scene. -</p> -<p> -"A winder was left open," insisted bovinely Mr. Collop. "I'll lay to -that. And if you'll settle that p'int you'll see 'ow the rest'll follow. -I tell you I 'ave me clue; it's more than a clue; it's a find. Ye'll -see!" -</p> -<p> -The mechanism of a great house (delightful thought!) involves a -hierarchy. The Home Secretary rang, and asked for the butler. An -underling sought Mr. George Whaley, and Mr. George Whaley arrived. There -was that in his eye which might have alarmed or warned the Head of the -de Bohuns; but the Head of the de Bohuns was passing weary in the head -just now, and he noted nothing. -</p> -<p> -"Oh!" he said, "I wanted you, Whaley ... to ask -you—er—whether ... yes, to ask you who it is who does the -room here in the early morning? Who, for instance, would be in the room -here, say, well, before anybody else?" -</p> -<p> -George Whaley coughed discreetly. -</p> -<p> -"By rights, sir," he said, "it ought to be Annie. But it is possible, of -course, that the Boy——" -</p> -<p> -"Ah! yes," said the Home Secretary. "The Boy. Of course!" He had vaguely -heard that the Boy was the servant of the servants of the gods. "Well -then, you think it would be the Boy? Send me the Boy!" -</p> -<p> -"Very good, sir," said George Whaley. But as there had been that in his -eyes, so there was now that in his more manly gesture, as he turned -round to pass majestically through the door, which might have warned -once more, his master that he, George Whaley, had acquired new powers. -There was a sense of approaching equality with the Great in George -Whaley's waddle as he went through the door. From the mere dependent he -was attaining the higher and political rank of blackmailer. But all -these indications fell without effect upon the jaded de Bohun. -</p> -<p> -The Boy appeared. He stood at attention, after a fashion he had seen at -the pictures. He stared with gooseberry eyes at his employer. The head -of the de Bohuns was kind to him. -</p> -<p> -"Look here, boy," he said. "Look here. I've got to ask you something. -Did you open a window in this room, or leave it open, or find it open, -yesterday, Saturday morning—eh? Were you here before anybody -else—eh? You understand what I mean. Did you open a window, or any -window, or find one open—eh?" -</p> -<p> -The boy Ethelbert, standing as stiff as a poker and on the verge of -tears, gave tongue. -</p> -<p> -"I ain't done nuthin'!" he said. "Don't yer say I took that em'ral'! I -never did! I never set eyes on it. Don't you say that. It ain't true. I -knows no more about it than the child unborn, what's in the Good Book." -</p> -<p> -The Head of the House was annoyed. -</p> -<p> -"Who's saying you did, you little fool? All I want to know is, whether -the window was open?" -</p> -<p> -"I never touched it!" complained the youth more loudly still, and -stiffer than ever, but with tears already gathering in his eyes. "I -never did! So 'elp me Gawd! I couldn't tell it from a chunk o' cheese. I -don't know what it looks like. I wish I may die. I wish I may drop down -dead 'ere an' now!" -</p> -<p> -Collop, the policeman, took charge. -</p> -<p> -"Look 'ere, me lad," he said in the fine bullying voice of his noble -trade, "none o' that! Did yer leave the window open, or 'ave yer seen it -open?" -</p> -<p> -"Oo're you?" perked Ethelbert, stunned to boldness by terror, though -still at attention. "Mr. de Bones 'e's my master; not you!" Then turning -to that master, he continued, "I tell you, sir, straight honest from the -shoulder, I'm a British lad, I am, so help me Gawd as made me own sweet -self and little apples, I swear I never seen the thing." -</p> -<p> -"Look here, child," said Mr. de Bohun in a final sort of fashion, "was -there a window open or was there not?" -</p> -<p> -"No, sir, there was nawt." -</p> -<p> -"Why the hell couldn't you say that before?" muttered the politician. -"You're sure there was not?" he added. "Was there a catch undone?" -</p> -<p> -"Never mind about the catch," broke in Collop. "Time'll show that -doesn't matter." -</p> -<p> -"There wasn't a window open, sir, at all, till I opened one, sir," said -the Boy, "to let in Gawd's fresh air—which is orders." -</p> -<p> -"Oh, you <i>did</i> open one then?" said his master. -</p> -<p> -"Yes, sir!" said Ethelbert, still at attention. -</p> -<p> -"Ah! <i>Now</i> we're getting on!" said Collop. "That's what I always said. -A winder was opened! Eh? A winder was opened! Now you mark me," he went -on, turning to his host and tapping the palm of his round left hand with -the stubby forefinger of his right. "That's another clue. A winder was -open." -</p> -<p> -"Don't you dare say I touched it!" from the distraught Ethelbert. -</p> -<p> -"You shut yer mouth, boy," answered Collop without courtesy. "Tell him -to shut his mouth, sir—tell him plain. He's distracting me." -</p> -<p> -"But there's some on us," went on Ethelbert desperately, refusing to -shut that mouth, "as might speak if we knew...." -</p> -<p> -"Ah, now," said de Bohun eagerly. "Do you hear that, Mr. Collop? Do you -hear that? The Boy may reveal ..." -</p> -<p> -Collop stepped in between. "Pay no attention, Mr. Dee Boe Hun. I got my -clue, and we mustn't 'ave no cross scents. You take me?" -</p> -<p> -"Well," said his host, legitimately nettled, "I don't see any harm in -getting whatever evidence we can." -</p> -<p> -"Ah, and you're right there," said young Ethelbert, still at attention. -"And what's that sime hevidence, eh? That's what I say, sir. -Hevidence—as clear as daylight, from them as knows. There's some as -could speak if they would, and some as knows what others doesn't know. -It isn't always them as needs things most as pinches 'em. And maybe, -times, it's them as needs 'em least as pinches 'em!" He lowered his -voice and mysteriously added, "The 'ighest!" -</p> -<p> -"Look here, Boy," said de Bohun, fatigued with such recitals: "if you've -got anything to say, say it. Mr. Collop and I are pressed." -</p> -<p> -"What I've got to say," answered Ethelbert, with a solemnity beyond his -years, "is plain enough, I tike it. 'Oo's to blame? Mum's the word. But -there's some in this house that's 'igher than others. And 'oo's the -'ighest? A lord, I tike it?" -</p> -<p> -"Do you mean Lord Galton, child?" said the peer's cousin, sharply. "Are -you saying Lord Galton took the Emerald?" -</p> -<p> -"I've named no names," said Ethelbert, trembling between fear and -importance. "But this I do say, and it is ..." -</p> -<p> -"Have you any evidence against Lord Galton?" -</p> -<p> -"Now, Mr. Dee Boe Hun," urged Mr. Collop with decisive hands. "Now, -please don't let's 'ave a cross scent." -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary waved him aside. The family was concerned. -</p> -<p> -"What have you got against—or about—Lord Galton? Say what you -have to say, and let's have it over." -</p> -<p> -"What I've got to say," said the Boy, "is what is but my plain duty to -say. I names no names. I asks no questions and I don't get told no -lies!" -</p> -<p> -"Upon my word!" cried his master angrily, almost moved to action. The -boy Ethelbert at the end of so long a tension gave a loud cry of terror -and suddenly whipped round and fled through the open door. -</p> -<p> -They were disconcerted. -</p> -<p> -"Well, Mr. Collop," said Mr. de Bohun on the child's vanishing, "that's -another complication. It's Lord Galton now!" and he sank into a chair. -Things were becoming too much for him. -</p> -<p> -"Don't you believe 'im," said Mr. Collop firmly. "What I say is, no -cross scents. What do 'ounds do when they find a cross scent?" -</p> -<p> -Mr. de Bohun would have been only too happy to tell him, but he had -never hunted. -</p> -<p> -"Why, they miss the right one. That's wot they do. And do they catch the -fox? No. A thousand times, no! Now," said he, again tapping that palm of -his with that forefinger of his. "You mark! Forget all about Lord -Galton. It's servant's romancing. I told you I already 'ad one clue. And -'ere I've gone and got <i>another</i> clue! An' they both fit in.... And -now," he added peculiarly, gazing out of the window as though he would -admire the wintry morning with its clear scintillating skies, "I'd have -you note another clue. Look there," he said—and with the gesture of -Hannibal pointing out the plains of Italy, Mr. Collop extended his left -arm and directed his somewhat too thick forefinger towards the avenue -and the sheets of snow on either side of the great gravel walk. "What -have we there?" he said. -</p> -<p> -De Bohun, weary after his sleepless night, had to get up again from his -chair and look where he was bidden. "I ... I don't see anything, Mr. -Collop," he said. -</p> -<p> -"No," said Mr. Collop indulgently. "You wouldn't. It wants a trained -eye. Now, you'll excuse me, sir, but if you 'ad been in the Yard as I -'ave, and as long as I 'ave, you'd see something. It's only a fine -indication, like, but your mind would leap to it. At least mine 'as. Do -you notice any marks on that snow?" -</p> -<p> -Mr. de Bohun honestly said he could not—nor could any man have seen -any from where he stood. -</p> -<p> -"I certainly see no footprints," he said. -</p> -<p> -"Footprints o' wot?" answered Mr. Collop. "Footprints o' 'uman beings? -Man and woman? Leastways boots? Nah!" and he shook his head. "You -want ... you want your eyes better skinned than that in our trade, if -you'll excuse me saying it. Shall I <i>tell</i> you what's there? I can see -it." -</p> -<p> -His host was justly irritated. "Well, I can't," he exploded. "What -<i>is</i> there?" -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop leant over, made a shell of his hand and whispered in a voice -to wake the dead: -</p> -<p> -"Footprints of a fowl! Leastways," he added hurriedly, "not a domestic -fowl, I mean. But a bird. A bird's been there!" he added, nodding -solemnly. -</p> -<p> -"Well, what of it?" said the last of the de Bohuns, still more -irritated. -</p> -<p> -"Ah! You'll see!" said Mr. Collop, in a tone of great equality. -</p> -<p> -He stepped back, pulled his waistcoat down over his paunch, passed his -hand cavalierly over his abominable moustache, and gave an order—as -though he were master—for he now felt himself securely in the saddle. -</p> -<p> -"Summon 'em here," he said, with a large wave of his right hand, "summon -'em all. It's accomplished!" -</p> -<p> -"Summon who?" -</p> -<p> -"Me feller guests," said Mr. Collop. "They shall witness the -<i>daynoumong</i> and their souls shall be eased." -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," said the harassed Home Secretary, "what need is there for -this?" -</p> -<p> -"Witnesses! Mr. Dee Boe Hun!" royally. "Record! You'll be astonished." -</p> -<p> -"Very well, Mr. Collop, if you require them." -</p> -<p> -He made a gesture as though again to ring; then thought better of it and -went out himself, looking at his watch as he moved to the door. He had -seen no one go out. It was not yet half past ten o'clock: no one would -yet have started for church. He remembered with pleasure that for once -in her life Victoria Mosel had come to breakfast. He ferreted them all -out, McTaggart cowering as usual—and very sad—in the old -smoking-room; Galton and Vic, whom he surprised in the very act of -repeating the word "putrid," he found in the library, already stale with -smoke; Aunt Amelia he dragged out, almost by force, from the corner of -the little morning-room where she was sitting, half somnolent, like the -good mutton she was, her knitting laid aside on the Holy Day and -wondering by the clock whether it was time for her to put on her bonnet -(help!) for church. The Professor he had the good luck to catch at the -very last moment as he was making for the glass doors of the hall, all -ready muffled up for a walk. As for Marjorie, he had to go and find her -in her room where she was desperately locked in, miserable. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop has got something to tell us, my dear. Won't you come down?" -</p> -<p> -"Blast him!" came in tearful, broken tones from within. -</p> -<p> -"No, my dear, but please do come down. He really wants us all." -</p> -<p> -"I don't believe it's any use—no use at all, the rotter!" broke out -that tearful voice. -</p> -<p> -"Marjorie, dear, please come." -</p> -<p> -"Very well"—with a grunt from within—"but it's no use!" -</p> -<p> -So the shepherd got his flock together. He was in a strange mood that -the occasion was ceremonial, and he felt a fool. He almost counted heads -as he roped in his little herd. They were all there. They filtered into -the West Room, expecting little, and annoyed in their various ways; -Marjorie hideous with recent tears, Aunt Amelia almost baa-a-ing, the -Professor inept, McTaggart desperately out of place, the puller of -horses more sullen than ever, and ah! the triumphant Victoria Mosel, -cool as the woodland goddess of old songs—but smoking. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure17"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure17.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Birds of the Empire.<br /> -II.—The Parrot Attaboy, out of action.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -They stood huddled in the West Room under that Sunday morning light, -looking on the ravaged furniture, the staring pink circle where the now -demolished glass had saved the paper from fading, the Parrot's -cage—but gazing above all on the immortal Collop and awaiting his -great news. -</p> -<p> -In that solemn and expectant silence—the chimes for church were -ringing—the parrot sneezed three times, with a grievance, and very -hoarsely muttered "Attaboy!" and shivered. It had a cold in the head. -</p> -<p> -Nor did Lord Galton wince—though that parrot had suddenly revealed to -him a world of things about his cousin's conversations when his back was -turned. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER FIFTEEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-m.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -Mr. Collop was standing dramatically in the midst of that large -apartment, a squat tower of triumphant modesty and unassailable success. -</p> -<p> -"I asked His Honour, Mr. Dee Boe Hun, to bring you all in," he said, as -though they were a school, "so's ye might see how things like this are -<i>done</i>. It's the end of what's been troubling you all; what's been -biting you! Oh! I know your distress," he added kindly, fixing Galton -with his eye first, then the Professor. "But first and to start with, I -'ave a confession to make, I 'ave. Ye thought me His Majesty's -representative in Bogotar, just returned." He smiled genially. "Ar! ye -thought that, and nat'rally enough. Well, now, I'm free to tell ye the -truth. An' in <i>my</i> trade," he went on, crossing his arms boldly, -"that's not too often, Gawd helping us! Now 'oo am I? I'm from the Yard. In -plain English, I'm what they call a detective. Now don't start!" he -added, releasing his left hand and holding it up. Nor had any of them -started, least of all Aunt Amelia, who had not clearly heard the last -words. "There's no 'arm done, there's none o' you to blame. There's none -o' you suspect. You'll none o' you have the darbies on," he added, with -kindly jocularity. "Oo's done it?" -</p> -<p> -"I'm sure, I'm sure, I'm sure ..." began the Professor with ready -tongue. -</p> -<p> -"You'll excuse <i>me</i>, Professor," said Mr. Collop with dignity, "but I -must continue. Ah! 'oo's done it, I arsk? The question we 'ave all on us -been asking. And now"—with mysterious dignity—"ye shall see. If -any of ye is for wrapping up before ye go out of doors say so. It's only a -little turn." -</p> -<p> -No one was for wrapping up before going out of doors. They were getting -intrigued. -</p> -<p> -"Foller me," said Mr. Collop after the fashion of the great leaders of -mankind. He threw open the window towards the avenue and heavily -straddled himself out. The Professor's long legs followed; young Lord -Galton, a good deal bored, with his hands in his pockets, took it at a -stride; Marjorie's short skirts negotiated it; McTaggart tried to jump -it, hit his head on the sash, rubbed it, and then more sensibly walked -across. As for Vic, she put a bony hand upon the sill and vaulted -lightly over. Poor Aunt Amelia stood looking after them in vain, like -the women of Ithaca when first the king sailed away to the gathering of -the chiefs and of whom it is written: -</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i2">"This is the hall where all the women spinning</span><br /> -<span class="i2">Sang of the Kings who sailed away to Troy."</span> -</div></div> - -<p> -She could not vault; she could not even stride. Lastly, the Home -Secretary himself hooked a lean shank over and stood with the shivering -group. Outside they all came on to the swept gravel of the avenue, with -its row of bare trees and its border of broad snow on either side. Mr. -Collop with a gesture still more majestic than any he had yet assumed, -pointed with iron hand and arm at the light snow which covered the grass -upon the right. There, sure enough, was the mark of a bird's claw. And -side by side with it, the other triple mark of the bird's other claw. -</p> -<p> -"A bird 'ops," pontificated Mr. Collop, significantly. "'E don't -run—'cept ostriches and such like. 'E 'ops. Foller me!" -</p> -<p> -His left hand slightly clenched, with his right he pointed down -continuously to the border of the snow, whence, at short intervals, -those two triple marks appeared and reappeared. -</p> -<p> -"Mark you," said Mr. Collop, facing the group—the now half-frozen -group. "I said, a bird 'ops. What 'opped 'ere? A bird!" -</p> -<p> -They approached the fatal tree. -</p> -<p> -"And 'ere," said Mr. Collop in the tone of a guide conducting a party of -tourists, "our marks are lost. And for why? 'E takes the air! Whither -will 'e take the air? Put ye'self in his place. Whither would a bird -take the air from hence, seeing what fatal burden 'e bore in 'is beak?" -He half waved, half pointed, with his left hand at the hollow-branched -stump just higher than their heads and some ten feet away. "Foller me," -he said again. -</p> -<p> -They followed him—but not to the point of going on the snow, which -Mr. Collop did with great courage and resolution. He stood on tiptoe by the -trunk and stretched his clenched left hand upward, groped with it hidden -to the wrist in the hollow of the rotten branch, lifted it out again -high between them and the frosty January sky. There held between the -thumb and forefinger, unmistakable, recovered, was the Emerald. -</p> -<p> -"What did I tell yer?" he waved triumphantly in that keen air, "Brains, -gentlemen ... ladies <i>and</i> gentlemen, I mean.... Brains! Induction." -And he calmly slipped the gem into his pocket. -</p> -<p> -Had they been in a warm room they would have applauded: it was so -exactly like the best tricks. But they were cold. They huddled back. It -was only twenty or thirty yards; they would be in the warmth again in a -moment. -</p> -<p> -I know very well that there ought to have been a shock of surprise. A -cheer. Excitement. What you will. But, Lord! it was so cold! -</p> -<p> -One by one they clambered, straddled, strode, vaulted, crawled and -shambled over the low window ledge and back into the room. Mr. Collop -came last, and slammed the window down behind him: and Aunt Amelia -welcomed them as might the old nurse of Ulysses when he returned at last -from so much wandering. As the warm air revived them they began to feel -him, very rightly, a hero. -</p> -<p> -"Now," said he, "shall I show ye all 'ow these things are done? Step by -step, unbeknownst to others? Ah! It's worth knowing! Look 'ere," and he -began, their interest rising as their blood began to move again: "You -mayn't see it, but I see it, here on this parky floor." He stooped down -and tapped it with his finger. "Little marks. Little marks." -</p> -<p> -There were no little marks—but no matter. He had done his best to -suggest them. The Professor greatly helped them by his folly. -</p> -<p> -"Yes! I see! Oh! Yes! Most interesting! I see them now!" -</p> -<p> -"And where does they lead? Why, to the winder. Then what did I say to -myself? I ses, 'A bird! A daw!' And mark you, gentlemen—ladies and -gentlemen, I mean—I didn't come to that blindly, either. For you'll -pardon me, but I know what you'd all said." -</p> -<p> -The guests looked—or at least, most of them did—at their host. -But he was modestly regarding the carpet. -</p> -<p> -"I know as 'ow you 'ad, all or most of you, felt suspected like and -might well enough think you could each o' ye be certain which o' ye it -was. And ye were wrong," he continued, wagging his head solemnly. "Orl -wrong! It was but an innocent bird. Or a thievish bird. Any'ow—a -bird. That's what it was—a bird. When I 'eard of your confusion -from our good host here"—and again Mr. de Bohun looked -anyhow—"I says to meself, 'They're innocent, they are!' That was -my first clue. Orl innocent," he emphasized cheerily, nodding in a nice -heartening way to McTaggart, the Professor and young Galton, the last of -whom said, almost audibly, to Vic, "The stinker!" and to whom Vic -whispered back, "Well, he found it, anyhow!" -</p> -<p> -"Orl innocent," went on Mr. Collop. "Orl as white as the driven snow. -And 'oo set things right and proved you so? Why, yours truly.... First, -arter I'd thought 'ard orl night, I looks by the first white o' morning -at the parky—and sure enough I sees them faint prints on the wax, -like: an' them near the winder. What are the birds as thieves? Why, -daws! Now, ladies and gentlemen, daws 'as claws; talons, ye may call -'em, of a 'ighly partic'lar kind. It's our business in my trade to know -orl we can—and I can tell a daw's claws from any other claws, or -paws ... any other in the wide world. -</p> -<p> -"So wot does I do? In this same early morning, afore any one of ye were -up—at any rate, afore any of yer had showed themselves, I was out -trailing. Sure enough, there I found where the bird had gone, for I -marked his prints on the snow. When I found where the bird 'ad 'opped -to, I follered to where he'd sat on the air. When I found where he'd -taken the air, what does I do? Did I say to myself, ''E 'as flown far, -far away; give up the search, William Collop? You are proven right, but -the hem'rald will not be seen again by mortal eye.' Did I despair thus? -No, not I! I thinks to myself, knowing the habits of birds better than -most—we 'ave to know such things in our trade—he 'as put it -near by, so's to be able to come and gloat on it. They love to go and gloat -on what they 'ave taken, do daws. Then I noted that rotten stump o' branch -just convenient to the bird where he took the air, and I says -'Yureeker,' which is, being interpreted, 'Found.' But I didn't touch -that bole; no, I trusted to my induction. I was as sure it was there as -though I'd seen it, and I wanted to lead up to it step by step so's ye -might be witness to the discovery. Weren't I right? -</p> -<p> -"That's why I asked you all to be brought 'ere. That's why I took you -all out and made the thing clear to you before your own eyes; William -Collop said he'd find the hem'rald where his induction told him it would -be. And there he found it!" -</p> -<p> -His face was irradiated with no common glory. -</p> -<p> -"An' now," he said, at the end of this harangue, and plunging his hand -into his coat pocket to fish out the gem, "now I restore it—'Ullo!" -he frowned; the groping of his hand in his pocket looked like some small -animal fighting in a bag. "'Ullo!" he repeated and still he groped. -"'Ullo—'ullo! Wot's this!" His face grew black. He eyed successively -with some disfavour the Professor, McTaggart and Galton. "You were all -close together," he said suspiciously, "as we came through that winder!" -Then suddenly, "Ah! 'ere it is! Smother me if it 'adn't gone through a -hole in the lining. That's my missus, that is. She's that careless." And -turning the receptacle inside out he gingerly picked the jewel from the -tear between the sateen, with threads still attached to its setting. -</p> -<p> -"There now! Wot was I saying? I restore it to its rightful owner!" And -with a bow, unlike that of Lord Chesterfield's dancing master, he handed -it to Marjorie. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, thank you, Mr. Collop, thank you!" said Marjorie. "Thank you a -thousand times. I don't know how to thank you!" -</p> -<p> -"It's really very remarkable, Mr. Collop, very remarkable indeed. Very -remarkable," said the Home Secretary. He went so far as to wring his -subordinate by the hand. "We are infinitely obliged to you." -</p> -<p> -The guilty three were less enthusiastic; but they murmured as though -they would be polite—though Galton's murmur, overheard by Vic, was, -"I believe he pinched it himself!" And Vic answered in a second whisper, -"Fat-head!"—a chosen epithet delivered with such real contempt in the -slit of a dark eye as made the poor horse-puller wince. -</p> -<p> -Then Aunt Amelia bleated: -</p> -<p> -"I don't quite understand. <i>Who</i> does Mr. Collop say stole the -emerald?" -</p> -<p> -"Amelia! Amelia!" protested her brother severely. -</p> -<p> -"But I want to know," began poor Aunt Amelia pathetically. "I didn't -hear properly. I want to know who it is has been found to have stolen -the ..." -</p> -<p> -Her brother interrupted desperately. -</p> -<p> -"I'm so sorry," he cried, turning to the others, but directing his -remarks particularly and courteously to McTaggart, as the stranger. "You -must excuse my sister. She does not always hear." -</p> -<p> -"I must thank you myself, personally and warmly, Mr. Collop," said -Marjorie, the ancient courtesy of the Bohuns strong in her veins. "We'd -all got lousy with worry, and you've hit the cocoanut." -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, Miss, I'm sure," said Mr. Collop, bowing again in the manner -aforesaid. -</p> -<p> -And they all drew apart to various rooms, but Victoria Mosel, lingering -for a moment, whispered in Mr. Collop's ear, "I saw it in your hand -<i>before</i> the tree!" The detective started. "For Gawd's sake!" he -pleaded under his breath. -</p> -<p> -"All right, I don't give people away." She nodded reassuringly and -slipped away.... Hence for so many years the devoted service of Mr. -Collop whenever Victoria cared to summon him. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary had detained McTaggart, catching his arm as he turned -to go, and had said, "Wait a moment, Mr. McTaggart, wait a moment. Mr. -Collop, I think it is only just to say in your presence that I had -repeated to this young gentleman—not my suspicions—they were -not my suspicions—but what I had been told were the suspicions of -others." -</p> -<p> -Mr. Collop bowed again in the aforesaid manner. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. McTaggart," the Home Secretary continued, "I'm going to ask Mr. -Collop to let us have a few words together alone. Mr. Collop, where may -I see you in five minutes?" -</p> -<p> -"Where you will," said Mr. Collop with chivalry. "I'll be looking at the -old paintings in the 'all. The ancestors, I've seen them in the ball -room already," he added, nor was there any irony in his innocent soul. -</p> -<p> -When he had shut the door behind him, the poor old Home Secretary put an -almost fatherly hand on McTaggart's shoulder. -</p> -<p> -"My dear young sir," he said, "what can I do? How can I apologise? It is -not enough to ask you to forgive me. May I ask to communicate with you -when we reach town?" -</p> -<p> -The mind of McTaggart was not alert, but even he foresaw the -possibilities. Politicians have not very great power nowadays save in -patronage; that they still do retain; of public money there are some odd -millions every year at the disposal of the politicians. It is only fair -to say that most of them are content with moderate pickings for -themselves and their connections. -</p> -<p> -Therefore did McTaggart answer with a natural prescience of coming -advantage. "It is very good of you, sir. May I call at the Home Office?" -</p> -<p> -"Yes, yes. Shall we say Thursday at noon?" De Bohun marked it in a -little pocket book and then joined Collop in the hall, as McTaggart -walked off. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," he said, "won't you come back and talk to me a moment in -private?" -</p> -<p> -They returned together. And exactly the same scene was rehearsed, except -that he dared not put a hand on the shoulder of such a being as Collop. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," he said, "you know that the Department of which I am the -head is proud of you." -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, sir," said Mr. Collop sedately. "Thank you very much." He -then added: "I have only done my duty...." But I am glad to say that he -did not add "as a man is bound to do," for if he had done that de Bohun, -whose nerves were already on edge, might have had a fit. However, he -meant something of that kind. So let it be credited to him. -</p> -<p> -"Mr. Collop," went on the Home Secretary, "when I go to the office -to-morrow, Monday, I hope you will allow me to make a particular point -of seeing you. Men of your kind must not be wasted." -</p> -<p> -"Thank you, sir," said Collop again, in a tone which showed a full sense -of his worth. "I shall always be at your orders." -</p> -<p> -And so, you will say, the great thing ended. -</p> -<p> -Wrong again. -</p> -<p> -De Bohun had sunk back into his chair, now at last at rest. There were -still inexplicable things drifting through his mind. He had vague -memories of Galton accusing his cousin the Professor, and the Professor -accusing McTaggart, and McTaggart spotting Collop; of himself accusing -McTaggart; of the boy Ethelbert accusing Galton. He even had confused -recollections of their actually swearing to things they had seen which -they could not have seen. But he sighed with deep content at the -solution of it all, and he thought of his daughter's relief. He decided -to worry himself with contradictions no more. The emerald had been -found; a bird had taken it, and no one was to blame. That man Collop had -genius.... Marjorie would be in a better temper now. He shut his tired -eyes. He was on the point of falling into a short sleep after so much -strain when there was a knock at the door, and he saw as he opened his -eyes again, not too pleased at being wakened, the august, the discreet, -the considerable figure of George Whaley. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER SIXTEEN</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -"I beg your pardon, sir! May I have the honour of a moment's confidential -word with you?" -</p> -<p> -The refined, the courteous phrase, was followed by a discreet cough. The -cough was a trifle mechanical, the words a little too rapidly spoken, as -is (alas!) the common fate of words learned by heart for a set piece, -whether by front benchers or perjuring policemen. What followed was -marred by the same slight defect, but it was at least clear. It -rattled out—to quote a noble simile from the <i>Wallet of Kai -Lung</i>—"like a stream of pearls dropped into a bowl of jade." -</p> -<p> -"There has come to my knowledge sir which would grieve my 'eart to -distraction and breaking were it not overcome by the more powerful -emotion of gratitude for so many happy years passed under this 'ere roof -at Paulings I mean this roof at Paulings and formerly when we had a town -house if I may make so bold in one hundred and twelve Curzon Street -Mayfair moved by this my 'eart would not let me keep silent. Oh! sir. I -know the dread secret and if I come to speak of it it is from loyal -affection and no other cause and here and now I put at your service as -in duty bound all that has come" ... here Mr. Whaley suddenly clasped a -fat right hand against his chest: He ought to have done it at the word -"heart," but the brakes had slipped and he had run past the station ... -"all that has come to the knowledge of these poor humble ears of mine -which would rather have been closed in death than have suffered the -agony of them fatal news but told it shall not be to other human soul -nor yet only to you for the respect I bear to that 'igh name of Deeboon -which saving your honour sir ..." -</p> -<p> -Humphrey de Bohun put his lean hands on his lean knees, sat up, and -stared at this high-geared human gramophone on speed. -</p> -<p> -"What on earth ..." he began. "Look here, Whaley, have you been -drinking? ... Now, mark me, Whaley!" Humphrey de Bohun could speak with -astonishing decision when he felt quite secure that the person spoken to -was unable to answer back. "I've always made one absolute rule in this -house. Any servant of mine who is found the worse for liquor—I don't -care <i>where</i>," and he swept his feeble head down to the southwest, "I -don't care <i>how</i>"—he swept it again—"I don't ... damn it, -I don't even care on <i>what</i>! leaves me there and then!" He leaned -back again, somewhat exhausted. -</p> -<p> -"You wound me, sir," said George Whaley with dignity. "Ah, sir! you -wound me! Indeed you do!" -</p> -<p> -"Wound your what?" said the Home Secretary, without sufficient -consideration. -</p> -<p> -"My honour, sir," said George Whaley. "And a loyal heart." -</p> -<p> -This time he remembered the connection of the word "heart" with the -appropriate gesture, and he planked his hand on his merrythought with -the noise of a distant 9.2. -</p> -<p> -The Home Secretary remembered the lessons of his youth, the high -traditions of the de Bohuns. -</p> -<p> -"I owe you an apology, Whaley," he said, in the appropriate -faded-earnest manner. "But the truth is, I can't pretend to follow what -you were saying. I don't suggest that you spoke too quickly.... I was in -a reverie when you came in. The fault is mine. Proceed." -</p> -<p> -And in his turn George Whaley proceeded—but the chain was broken; he -was thrown back upon impromptu too; and a native terseness, not to say -inhibition of speech, returned to him. -</p> -<p> -"Well, sir," and he coughed, "I'm afraid it's rather a delicate matter," -and he looked at the nails of his fingers. "Perhaps I ought to plunge -<i>in medias res</i>." He sighed. "I've 'eard it's usually the wiser plan -in cases like these." -</p> -<p> -He stood for some fifteen seconds, his bold head with its fringe of grey -hair slightly on one side, and gazing at the exalted culprit with -infinite compassion. Then did George Whaley begin to shake that head, -and there escaped him words unusual to his daily life, but native to his -reading of fiction and to his experience on the stage. -</p> -<p> -"Ah me! Ah me!" he said. -</p> -<p> -"Look here, Whaley," said his master smartly. "What's the matter? Are -you ill? Are you mad? Have you"—in a softer voice—"have you -perhaps suffered some sudden bereavement?" -</p> -<p> -"Only the bereavement of a loyal heart deceived, bewildered," moaned -George Whaley, quoting textually from <i>The Waifs of the Whirlwind</i>. He -linked his hands before his ample waistcoat and hung his saddened head. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure18"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure18.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>The Home Secretary's Butler taking the<br /> -liberty to observe: "Thou art<br /> -the man."</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -"Upon my word!" cried Humphrey de Bohun, moved to unexpected energy by -an intolerable boredom, "this kind of thing's got to stop. Speak out, -man, and don't make a fool of yourself!" He pulled out his watch. "I've -not got all the time there is! Hurry up, now! Surely you can speak -plainly!" -</p> -<p> -"I can," said George Whaley, in tones of gloom, and moved by a mighty -resolution. He was standing upright now; he fixed his employer with a -steady glance, and each hand was half clenched at his side. "The -emerald, sir!" -</p> -<p> -And he waited for his effect. -</p> -<p> -"Oh, damn the emerald!" shouted Humphrey de Bohun. "If you think this is -the time, after all these two days ..." -</p> -<p> -"It is the time," said George Whaley firmly, with a reminiscence of the -worthy mother who had brought him up in the Countess of Huntingdon's -connection and under all the discipline of the Jacobean Scriptures. -"Yea, now is the acceptable time." -</p> -<p> -"By God!" shouted the now inflamed minister, "this has got to stop! I'll -have you certified! I'll ... I'll ..." -</p> -<p> -But he got the thing full in the face. In a key nearly an octave lower -than that he had been using for the purposes of the great interview, -George Whaley stretched out a rigid solemn arm towards his master and -spoke the words of doom. -</p> -<p> -"I know all... Thou art the man! It is you, sir, that have on you the -lost emerald!" -</p> -<p> -Let me not do Humphrey de Bohun injustice. He had never yet in his life -taken an initiative. He had never tackled any one of the human species. -But there is a god latent in us all, and his name is Pan. -</p> -<p> -"The emerald!" he shrieked. "Blackmail, eh, you damned lousy son of a -——!" He sprang at the astonished servitor, seized him round -the neck—a dangerous gambit between elderly men, for it leads to -strokes on both sides—shook him madly from side to side, then dug -his right hand into his collar behind, swerved him round, and gave him -one of those enormous kicks which form epochs in the history of Britain. -Savagely did the unrestrained elder statesman, all the repressed manhood -of half a century bursting forth, plant his foot upon what should -properly be called the person of his unfortunate dependant and with a -second gesture sent him sprawling through the open door into the hall. -</p> -<p> -"The emerald!" he kept on shouting, as George Whaley, groaning, pulled -himself up miserably, like a wounded sea lion. "When the hell am I to -hear the last of the emerald ... you and your emerald! ... all of you -and your emeralds! ... I wish to God! ..." A blasphemy was almost on his -lips; he had almost said that he wished the emerald had been strangled -at birth, and by such a phrase would he have forfeited the luck of the -Boneses. -</p> -<p> -"Get out!" he continued, in a somewhat milder because exhausted tone, as -the ill-treated Good Samaritan hobbled towards the door which led to the -offices, rubbing the affected portions of his frame. "Out! Out! Out! -Never let me see your face again!" -</p> -<p> -And they parted to meet no more. The conclusion of their mutual -relations was concluded by correspondence. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -It is not with impunity that men between fifty and sixty, especially if -they have lived under constant self-repression—which doesn't apply to -colonels—let their angry passions rise. The Home Secretary was badly -blown. He felt groggy. His exertion was already beginning to make him a -little stiff. He halted towards the dining-room and groped for a pint of -champagne which he knew to stand by. He pulled the cork with his last -strength. He took a mighty draught. He felt better. He took another. -Then he saw the world sanely, and he saw it whole—such is the power -of the god. There was hardly a drain left. He glanced over his shoulder, -found himself alone, put the neck of the bottle to his lips and sucked -it down. -</p> -<p> -"Ah!" said the arbiter of Wormwood Scrubbs and Lord of Pentonville. -"That's better." -</p> -<p> -He felt almost genial—normal, anyhow, at last. Even a trifle -super-normal. With sprightlier step he regained that comfortable chair -wherein he had been relaxing his overstrained mind when George Whaley -had so imprudently intruded. -</p> -<p> -It was not once in a blue moon that Humphrey de Bohun thought tobacco a -boon, but the occasion called for it. For the matter of that, it was not -once in a blue moon that he drank more than half a glass of wine at a -sitting—let alone of a Sunday morning during church time—and -bubbling wine in plenty leads to smoking: hence the fortunes made by -Greeks and Egyptians in their sales of hay cigarettes to the young -bloods. Humphrey de Bohun groped in his daughter's open box for a -cigarette, tapped it, with a surprisingly modern gesture, on his -thumbnail, and as he lit it sank back into the chair he had left and -wondered whether indeed he had reached repose. -</p> -<p> -Was there anyone left, he thought drowsily, who could come with yet -another story of the blasted gem? He was already half asleep, but there -passed before his drooping eyes what seemed a regiment: Galton had been -sure of it—he had seen it, seen it on Bill; Bill had been sure of -it—he had tested it, tested it on McTaggart; McTaggart had been -sure of it—he had got it by second sight, and was absolutely -certain of Collop; and Collop—oh well! God bless Collop! For after -all he had <i>produced</i> it—snatched from the talons of a fowl. -The elderly gentleman's head drooped and nodded; the cigarette fell from -his lax fingers; it set fire to the Aubusson carpet, which smouldered in -faint wreaths, but did no harm, and soon went out. Thus did the -adventure of the Emerald of Catherine the Great end, as all things end, -in smoke. -</p> - -<div class="tb">* * * * * * *</div> - -<p> -Far, far, in the less pretentious but roomy apartments of the East Wing, -George Whaley, suffering untold things, sought for and found the Boy, -the culprit, Ethelbert. -</p> -<p> -They met in the passage that leads from the servants' hall to the Yard; -but when I say met, I rather mean that their visages encountered the one -the other at the turn of a corner separated by a space of some five -yards. -</p> -<p> -The countenance of George Whaley at that moment was not one to inspire -confidence in the young. There was blood on his cheek-bone. His collar -was torn, and all adrift upon the starboard side; his tie was under his -ear; there was a gaping tear in his coat. -</p> -<p> -"Ow! You young dose of poison!" bawled the injured man, as he lunged -forward upon his prey, and with a loud cry Ethelbert fled. He fled -through the open door into the coal yard, George Whaley limping after. -There stood against the wall of the yard, leaning to its summit, a crazy -old ladder. The light boy Ethelbert nipped up it, and at its foot stood -the unhappy and ponderous victim of his misleading confidences, shaking -an impotent fist. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure19"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure19.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Dialogue between the Boy Ethelbert and his<br /> -fallen superior.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -Security lent courage to the youth. -</p> -<p> -"You look hot," he said kindly. -</p> -<p> -"You come down!" hissed Whaley, clenching his teeth, "and I'll flay you -alive—slowly—inch by inch!" -</p> -<p> -"Sounds good," grinned Ethelbert; with thoughtful prevision he kicked -the ladder down. Its rotten wood smashed into a dozen pieces as it fell, -and the youth was delighted to note that a flying fragment had caught -his superior a fine smack on the side of the jaw. -</p> -<p> -For to him that hath, more shall be added. -</p> -<p> -Ethelbert feared not the future; his judgment told him, not insecurely, -that the butler's powers were at an end. -</p> -<p> -"Been havin' a scrap?" continued Ethelbert, by way of making -conversation. "'Ow's the other man?" -</p> -<p> -George Whaley's cup was full. "Come down," he groaned stupidly. "Come -down!" -</p> -<p> -"Me come down?" answered his former subaltern with an air. "Why, what -can you be thinking of? It's only just over church time yet. You can -hear the sweet bells ringing—'ark!" and he lifted an ecstatic -forefinger with heavenward-lifted eyes. -</p> -<p> -The butler put his hand upon the old red brick wall. His adventures were -beginning to tell upon him. He felt sick. -</p> -<p> -"It's all along o' you!" he said thickly, spat, to see whether his lungs -were injured, was pleased to find they were not; then, still suffering, -repeated, "It's all along o' you! What," he added in a higher key of -tragic indignation, "what the burning hell did yer mean by telling me -the boss had pinched the emerald?" -</p> -<p> -"<i>I</i> tell you the boss had pinched the emerald?" sneered Ethelbert -from his high place. "Oh, chase me, Ananias!" -</p> -<p> -"Yes, yer did!" came again from the uplifted purple face. "Yer told me -with yer own lips that you knew yerself it was in the 'ands of the -'ighest." -</p> -<p> -"I never! You dare say I did!" cried the indignant whelp. "Liar! What I -may have <i>thought</i> was that his lordship ..." -</p> -<p> -"His lordship?" groaned the suffering man, a light breaking in upon him. -</p> -<p> -"Yes, mubbe! Don't you dare go to say as I said so. Otherwise I'll have -the lor on yer! So mind your fat feet! I'll be treading on 'em. I never -said nuffing. I didn't. 'Sides which, it's all one now. The emerald's -been found." -</p> -<p> -"Found?" gasped Whaley with a stare. -</p> -<p> -"Yes, found," nodded Ethelbert, from his dominion of vantage loftily. -</p> -<p> -"Then ..." groaned his unfortunate elder, "I'm done!" -</p> -<p> -"That's true, anyways! Congrats!" -</p> -<p> -Whaley had already picked up half a brick, but his tormenter had seen -the gesture, and had dropped on the far side of the wall to the high -bank below, and was off to rejoin his quarters. He knew that the mighty -had fallen and would trouble him no more. -</p> -<p> -So ends the saga. -</p> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4><a id="TALE_PIECE">TALE-PIECE</a></h4> - -<div> - <img class="drop-cap" src="images/dropcap-i.jpg" width="60" height="60" alt="" /> -</div> - -<p class="drop-cap nind"> -It was the custom of our grandfathers and grandmothers—when they had -any of them been fool enough to write a novel—to wind it up with a -description of what the various characters in the beastly thing were -doing at the moment when the book appeared—that is, supposedly, in a -future some little while after the closing of the tale. -</p> -<p> -Those of you who still read the novels of my own youth—and I for one -read no others—will remember that they are invariably concerned with -a well-to-do young woman of exquisite beauty who marries a manly young -fellow of her own status, after various ups and downs. Then the book -goes on to tell you that they have twenty-six boys and girls with long -curly hair, all gold. And then the band plays. -</p> -<p> -It is not easy for me to give you an appendix of this kind, because I -have always thought it prudent to throw my own novels into the future, -lest I should be sent to gaol for insulting the rich. Moreover, even if -I did describe the final fate of my characters, I cannot make it a very -pleasant one without treason to the realities of human life and the -flattering of fools: and rather than flatter fools let me be torn to -pieces by wild horses after the fashion of the Merovingian queens. -</p> -<p> -However, I propose to give you some idea of how the various people you -have come across in these pages continued their not too significant -lives. -</p> -<p> -When Marjorie had divorced Galton—having got married to him by way -of preliminary—she was herself divorced by Pemberton—who had -no further use for Lady Meinz—and then married—only last -year—an extraordinarily fleshy man called (at the moment) Henry -Munster. They are still happy—at least, she is. The child of the -first union—if I may so describe it—is a girl; so that's the -end of the Galton peerage. -</p> -<p> -Aunt Amelia is dead: and high time. -</p> -<p> -Her brother, the former Home Secretary, has in the interval developed -astonishing talents which have fitted him for the Colonial Office, the -India Office, and the Treasury, in rapid succession—and would -doubtless have fitted him for the Foreign Office but for the determined -opposition of the permanent officials. During the four years in which it -had been arranged to let the other batch of professional politicians -have a suck at the salaries, he acted as President (at £2,500) of the -Commission for the Second Reduction of Wages, wrote a book of -reminiscences (£3,000 Gubbins & Gubbins 42<i>s.</i>). He was badly -stoned during the progress of the fifth General Strike—some call -it the seventh, but I follow the usual numeration. He had been taken by -the mob for Henry Gaston, a man nearly forty years younger and twenty -times as able—which only shows how important it is to educate the -poor, and also, by the way, how important it is not to print in the -papers pictures of people taken hundreds of years before the date of -their appearance. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure20"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure20.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Last portrait of Professor de Bohun, a sketch<br /> -reproduced in the "Figures Modernes"<br /> -of Berne (Switzerland).</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -William de Bohun is still Professor of Crystallography in the -University, where he has still further attained a European reputation. -He is now mentioned not only in Swiss papers, but occasionally in German -ones. He is not more than seventy-nine, and there is every chance of his -retaining the position for a few more years. He has not made it up with -the reader in Crystallogy, Mr. Bertran Leader. -</p> -<p> -I am sorry to say that these two distinguished men actually had a fight -in the main street of their academic town, their weapons being -umbrellas. Nor would the victory of the younger champion, Mr. B. Leader, -have been for a moment doubtful had it not been that the umbrella of the -elder, Professor de Bohun, was suddenly blown open by a gust of wind, -affording him a sure and certain shield against the frenzied blows of -his opponent. -</p> -<p> -McTaggart has gone under for good. It seems shameful, considering the -excellent position on the British Intelligence into which he had been -put on a weekly contract at fifteen pounds by the influence of the Home -Secretary, who thought some reparation due to him, and still more by the -influence of Victoria Mosel, who had squeezed Lord Bernstein's hand. On -the other hand it hurts nobody but himself. He is still unmarried. -</p> -<p> -George Whaley, with his accumulated savings, purchased immediately upon -his leaving the service of Humphrey de Bohun, the good will of the Bohun -Arms, which I need hardly tell you does not belong to the family, but to -a limited company. The pub stands at the gate of the park. Therein he -regales the countryside with comic stories of his former employers; the -rich middle-class motorists with scandal of the Great; the upper classes -who deign to halt there on their way north in their superb cars with -obsequience and silence, at a profit of about 30<i>s.</i> the bunch. He has -done very well indeed, because it is a convenient lunching place for -people motoring out from London to the north. His son is in this year's -Oxford eight, but his daughter, I very much regret to say, has -published, a book of verse—in Chelsea! -</p> -<p> -Ethelbert, a bright lad of nineteen, ordered by his master into the -special constabulary during the third General Strike—I use the -conventional numeration—was so unfortunate as to crack smartly -upon the head a high dignitary of the Church of England, and was -thereupon put in prison at the instance of Lady Sophia—the eminent -cleric's wife—who would take no denial. Upon release, the General -Strike being still in progress—it was the first of the really -<i>long</i> General Strikes, as you will remember, he joined the regular -police force, which is ever ready to welcome men of varied experience -and initiative. But he never developed the intelligence required for the -<i>agent provocateur</i>, in which capacity such members of the service -as have had personal experience of the cells are commonly employed. He -is now past thirty and doing clerical work in the Lost Property -Department. -</p> -<p> -What else remains? The horse, Attaboy, is dead, worn out in faithful -labours at the stud. He was the sire of Get-On out of Get-Out. Get-Out, -I need hardly tell you, was the sire of Success by Morning Star. Success -was the sire of Repetition by Raseuse; and that is how Tabouche won the -Oaks. I always did say the little filly would do well, for I have -followed the strain—as, long ago, the form—of Attaboy, who now -sleeps with his fathers—I means, sires, let alone dams. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="figcenter" style="width: 300px;"> -<a id="figure21"></a> -<br /> -<img src="images/figure21.jpg" width="300" alt="" /> -<div class="caption"> -<p><i>Controversy conducted with umbrellas between a<br /> -Professor (of Crystallography) and a Reader<br /> -(in Crystallogy) to the University.</i></p> -</div></div> - -<p><br /></p> - -<p> -As for the parrot, whom I may call the second Attaboy, he is still the -cherished, the beloved, of that constant heart, Marjorie; Mrs. Munster, -<i>née</i> de Bohun, sometime Lady Galton, as also Mrs. Pemberton—yes, -Pemberton. So far as I can remember, she is nothing else—so far. Such -a charming woman! Touching upon the lovely confines of middle age with -large bulges under rather weary eyes. But her father provides -handsomely. -</p> -<p> -As for that father, the head of the family, Humphrey de -Bohun—pronounced Deboon—he looks no older. It would be odd -if he could. He feels no older—that would be impossible. But he is -inclined to colds in the head. He now tells the same story over and over -again, the story of the Emerald. And it always ends, "Now guess who it -was?" They do not murder him, they give it up; and he dodders out, "Why! -It was a jackdaw!" -</p> -<p> -Victoria Mosel has, since the date of the great discovery of the -Emerald, spent week-ends at Basingthorpe, Prawley, Hammerton, Gainger, -Bifford, then again at Hammerton, then again at Gainger, after that at -Little Wackham. Then at Bifford again, then at Gainger, and, of course, -at Prawley. She also stayed at the Breitzes' place in Silesia for three -months, where she shot the bailiff's dog—by accident. May I tell you -that she has spent six weeks in every year on the Riviera? Can I deny -that, at this very moment of writing, she is stopping at Hammerton, -having passed the last week-end at Gainger and purposing to go on to -Bifford? -</p> -<p> -The years leave no mark upon her temporal frame, for the skin was ever -tight upon her bones. But she knows that she is getting on—and not in -the City sense of that term either. She already envisages the tomb. I am -fond of her. I think she will save her soul. -</p> -<p> -One great asset which endears her to the rich of her circle. Sir William -Collop is always ready and even eager to come at her bidding to any -country house, and there she puts him through his paces, to the enormous -joy of the assembled hosts and guests. But she is a good girl—I use -the word of a woman now nearing sixty—and she does him no harm. Only, -she <i>does</i> make him dance. And why <i>not</i>? -</p> -<p> -After dinner, in the palaces of the rich, Sir William Collop is -compelled to tell quaint stories of the other rich over whom his -position in Scotland Yard gives him insight. Nor is he unwilling. They -all call him a good fellow, by which they mean that his accent is as -thick as cheese. He will be Collop till he dies. His original name is -drowned ten fathoms deep; he is just coming into his pension, and he is -an O. B. E. of the third crop. -</p> -<p> -And the emerald? Ah, my friends! My brothers! I will tell you what -happened to the emerald! -</p> -<p> -When Mrs. Pemberton, formerly Lady Galton, then Mrs. Munster<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> <i>née</i> -de Bohun, was making the straddle between the Pemberton and the Munster -connections—what we call joining the slats—she needed five -hundred pounds. It sounds ridiculous. But she did. One often does. She had -outrun the constable. She did not want to bother her father, and for the -very good reason that he had just got damnably knocked in the Hungarian -Phosphates on the erroneous advice of that silly man Mowlem. Well, she -had taken the emerald to the man who, Vic had told her, was the best expert -in London—Mr. Marlovitch, Junior—and (behold!) he had proved to -her by infallible tests that it was <i>paste</i>. What is more, he had -given her proof out of learned books that no emerald of such size ever had -existed, or could exist. -</p> -<p> -The Bohuns had patriotism in their blood. Marjorie gave the famous -trinket to the State—let me say to England!—under very easy -conditions which earned her, I am glad to say, the entry of her daughter -into Parliament. These conditions were modest: the emerald was to be -permanently exhibited, in a very large case all by itself, in the -British Museum, with a tablet engraved at the expense of England—I -mean the State—describing it as the largest Emerald in the -world—which it would have been if it had been an emerald—and -assuring the honest public that it had been given by Catherine the Great -to that member of the ancient family of de Bohuns who had served the -interests of the State—or rather, let me say, of England—at -the Court of All the Russias, in those days when the Semiramis of the -North was the admiration of Europe. -</p> -<p> -"What!" you'll exclaim (it's just like you!), "would that regal woman, -that generous if somewhat demanding lady, that broad German strong in -her nobility, that Monarch of the Snows, Empress of all the Russias, -have fallen to deceiving handsome Bill Bones with a piece of paste?" -</p> -<p> -Not a bit of it. You little understood the nature of those who serve -power. She had given her emerald—and an emerald it was—to a man -in whom she had the fullest confidence; she had given it him with the order -to bestow it at once upon the English captain. But her messenger had -preferred his own interest and had substituted that larger and false one -round which all this dance has been led. -</p> -<p> -And, as the Prime Minister said of his colleague on the front bench who -got into trouble over the insurance shares, who shall blame him? -</p> -<p> -Not I. -</p> - -<p><br /></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p class="nind"><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a>Oh! Yes! I know all about it. She would have gone on -calling herself Lady Galton from husband (save the mark!) to husband. -No, child! It's already getting doubtful. In the future time of which I -write it was unknown.</p></div> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<h4>THE END</h4> - -<p><br /><br /><br /></p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE EMERALD OF CATHERINE THE GREAT ***</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. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ -concept and trademark. 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