The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-28

one moment suppose that she had taken the
diamonds with any intention of keeping
them He did not care even to suspect her Of
a vulgar practical joke. However. he soon
treasured himself. His sister had no key
to the safe. and the parcel. when he took it
out, was apparently in the same state and
with the seals In the same position as when
Mrs Denison had placed it III his hands
CHAPTER Ill.
The police came and went and discovered
nothing. The house was searched by de-
tectives. every room Of it from top to bot
TOM The servants did not Leave. There
was no particular scandal. But the dia-
moncs were not found. AT the same time
the detectives were pretty certain of the
precise moment when the diamonds had
been stolen. One of them, a genial anG
pleasant man. took Vishnager carefully
over the events Of the day when he had
visited Arbrow and brought the diamonds
back to Rockport Vishnager reached the
point where the tramp had made a snatch
at the watch chain and the parcel had been
dropped.
Yes" said the detective, that was when
they went"
But" said vishnager, II picked up the
parcel again"
NO" said the detective, you did not
pick up the parcel: you picked up "a par
cell"
But" said Vishnager, 'the cases were in
1t, and L recognized them, and Mrs. Deni-
son recognized them as the cases which she
handed to me- The only thing is that they
We're empty"
"NoSing Is easier" said the detective,
than for two jewel cases to be made ex-
actly like two others. i have no doubt that
a particularly smart gang has had it's eve
on these diamonds for some time past, and
the first thing it would do would be to pre-
pare cases exactly similar to those IN which
the diamonds were kept"
1T was in the drawing room they were
packed up
1.-The drawing room Is on the ground floor.
1t was lighted and the curtains were not
all drawn. One of the gang in the garden
could easily have watched AMI seen the
original cases being packed up in brown
paper. What is simpler than for the thief
Immediately to pack up his cases in brown
paper and wait his chance? You leave the
house with the parcel. and he follows. He
pretends TO make a grab at your watch
chain and you drop your parcel. He picks
1t up and leaves the dummy. You pick up
the dummy and carefully hide it in your
safe. And unfortunately some days elapse,
during which the thief has every chance
of getting clear away with his spoil. BY this
time every stone has probably been taken
out and reset In different forms so that it
would be impossible to trace them or rec
ognize them. OF course, what we've got to
do now is to look for the supposed tramp.
He has got a long start and / am afraid
there is very little chance But still we
shall do our best"
"And now" said Vishnager, Il will re-
mind you of one little thing which seems
to me to knock your theory on the head.
The parcel was sealed with the Harston
arms. The parcel which / handed to Mrs.
Denison at my own luncheon table was, as
you have yourself seen, secured with exact
ly the same SEAL"
YES" the detective said. that looks like
a difficulty on the face of it, but 1 am afraid
1t is only on the face Of ii. Lady Harston's
house had been carefully watched for some
days In all probability. Her ladyship her
self tells me that men had been found sneak
Ing about only a week before, pretending to
be in search of work and so on Mrs. Denison
is one of the many women who are fond
Of using sealing wax. She sealed, / am told,
most of her letters, even quite unimportant
letters, and she used the Harston seal. You
may be sure that a smart gang would nave
noticed that. Simply as a precaution-a
thing which might be useful-they would
have got a fac-simile of that seal on the
writing table. There are scores Of ways
which they could have done that"
The explanation satisfied the detective
very much better than 1t satisfied Vishna-
ger. At last he took his courage between
his teeth, went to his sister, and said:
II am going to ask you a plain question,
Ellen. Are you, by way of a practical joke,
hiding these diamonds until after the
dancer"
His sister said that he was a brute, went
to her room and cried for sixteen consecu-
tive minutes. Then she washed her face
ard came back plying. The loss of the dia-
monds, she explained, had probably I'M
hinged his mind. But since he supposed she
could do a stupid, vulgar thing like that,
perhaps ii was better to give her assurance
that she could not do it, and had not done
It. Vishnager said that he had not sup
posed 1t, he had only asked. She replied
that he would not have asked If he had not
supposed. Vishnager went out into the gar
den, swore a good deal 10 himself, and
wished there were no women in the world
and no diamonds. Then he came back TO
the police theory again. He did not see
how the scheme could have been carried
out without some confederate in the house.
On further reflection he decided that the
confederate would not be a servant. He
would be somebody who heard the talk in
the drawing room, who had opportunities
that q servant would not have. And then
there suddenly dashed across his mind a
recollection of that brilliant gentleman with
the sash necktie, who hung about the house
end did not go out shooting with the other
men. Nobody knew much about Richard
Wilkins except that he had written some
clever books, and he had always given
Vishnager the impression of being rather an
outsider. Also, Richard wilkins had left
Lady Harston's on Nov. Is.
Vishnager's next step was to find out
where wilkins went to. This was very
easy. He had gone to London. Vishnager
remembered tina there is a place in London
known as Hatton Garden. and his suspi-
cions d~eepened.
Vishnager Intended TO give the police a
day or two more. Then he was going UP to
London to see Messrs. Streeter about re-
placing the stolen diamonds. And when he
went he made up his mind to call on Mr..
Richard wilkins at his fat in South Ken
siDgton.
81 D--.--- ~-A 49, -. .-f-t .w4-1a.