San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1890-09-16


''Send her away" came whisper from
the bed.
This was easier said than done. But
it was done after sufficiently long
parley and Lady Mary retired under the
impression that Ralph was sitting alone
with his father, who thought he might
get little sleep.
"Now," whispered Sir George. motion
ing to Ralph.
1.-The fact is" said Ralph, 1.-THE Jewels
are gone. They have been stolen in the
night"
He bolted out with this one sentence
and then was silent. Marston and l.
stared at him aghast.
lis there no mistaken" said Marston
at last.
None" replied Ralph. 81 put them
in drawer in the great inlaid writing
table in the library last night, before
everybody. went for them this morn
ing, half an hour ago, at fathers re-
quest. The lock was broken, and they
We're gone"
There was another long silence.
II was fool, of course, to put them
there" resumed Ralph. "Charles told
me so, but l thought they We're as safe
there as anywhere, if no one knew-and
no one did, except the house party"
"Were any of the servants aboutw
asked Marston.
Not one. They had all gone to bed
except one of the footmen who was put
ting out the lamps in the supper room
miles away"
Another silence.
THAT is the dreadful part of it, burst
out Ralph. They must have been taken
by someone staying in the house-some-
one who saw me put them there. The
first thing did was to send for the house
maids, and they assured me that they
had found every shutter shut and every
door locked this morning as usual. Any
one with time and wits might have got
in through one of the library windows
by taking out pane and forcing the
shutter. | suppose practiced hand
might have done such thing, but
went outside and there was not foot
step in the snow anywhere near the
library windows, or, for that matter,
anywhere near the house at all, except
1t the side and front doors, which are
tmpraoticable for anyone to force IN e.
trance by"
when did it leave off snowing?" asked
Marston.
About o'clock" replied Ralph. 1t
must have showed heavily till then, for
there was not trace of all the carriage
wheels on the drive when we went out
last night, but our foot prints down to
the lodge are clear in the snow now.
There has been no snow since o'clock
this morning"
1T all points to the same thing" said
Charles, quietly, speaking for the first
time. 1.-THE jewels were taken by some
one staying in the house"
Zone of the servants began Mar
ston.
NO." said Charles, cutting him short,
mot one of the servants"
ut is impossible it should have been
one of them" said Ralph after some
thought First of all, none of them saw
the Jewels put into that drawer, and,
secondly. how could they suspect me of
hiding them in place where | had never
thought of putting them myself till that
moment? Besides, that one drawer only
was broken open-the center drawer in
the left hand set of drawers. All the
others were untouched, though they
were all locked. No one who had not
seen the jewels put in would have found
them so easily. That is the frightfu
part of it"
For few minutes no one spoke. AT
last Marston raised his head from his
hands.
There is no way out of it," he said
very gravely. The robbery was COM
mitted by one of the visitors staying in
the house"
"Yes!" said Charles.
"Yes!' echoed a whisper from the bed.
Charles looked up slowly and deliber-
ately, and the eyes of father and son met
again.
1--WE do not often agree, father" he
said in a measured voice. 81 mark this
exception to the rule with pleasure"
when had made out as much as
this" continued Ralph, 'father told me
to call both of you and Charles to con-
slider what ought to be done before we
make any move"
"Have you an inventory of the jewels?"
asked Marston at length.
None" said Sir George, "unless Mid
dleton had one from Sir John"
l thereupon recapitulated in full all
the circumstances of the baoueSt finally