The Delawarean., 1900-09-08
LITTLE MRS. HOPE
By NJ. Quad.
COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY c. D. LEWIS.

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There were 20 of us making up the
Earty at an English country house for
the shooting season, and 1t SO happen
ed that while all were OF course well
known to host and hostess seven or
eight were strangers to each other un-
til introduced at the house. l do not
think there were over three or four
who even knew little Mrs. Hope by
name or could tell anything Of her
past. Nor did a great deal leak out
about her father after she had been
generally introduced and had come to
be favorite with both men and wom-
en-. She was petite and blond. She
had baby face and big blue eyes, and
your first impression of her was that
she was a child, and very innocent
child at that. In the billiard room it
was whispered that she was a distant
relative of Colonel Saunders, our host
and that she had married a scamp and
been so i'll used that divorce had been
sought for. 1t was generally agreed
that it must have all been the hus-
bands fault and that the man who
would i'll treat such a light hearted
baby faced wife deserved something
beyond contempt. She was by long
odds the best looking woman among
the eight or ten, but as She was not
given to Irritation and as she looked
pretty without artificial means she was
i Il.
came a general favorite
The man who leaves business for a
week or two for an outing seldom
takes along jewelry or money of any
account but nine women out Of ten
must carry their diamonds wherever
they go. There was brave display Of
gems at Rose Hill with all except little
Mrs. Hope. She had two or three fin
ger rings and a bracelet or two and
made a poor showing compared to the
rest. This was corrOborative evidence
that she was none too we'll fixed fnan-
cially, but she did not display the
slightest feeling of envy, and no hints
were thrown out to hurt her feelings.
= A country house full of wealthy guests
) is bonanza for a nervy thief, and the
colonel warned the ladies from the out
set to be careful of their jeweliy. All
of them agreed to act upon the advice
and then, womanlike, carclessly left
every ornament lying about. On the
fourth day Of the party Il lady named
White missed three valuable rings
which had been left lying on a table in
her room. They had been taken in
broad daylight while the ladies were
ON the lawn and while the maid was
temporarily absent from the room. II
was impossible that any outsider could
have got into the house, and it seemed
impossible to trace the theft to any
particular servant. Counting maids
Wallets and the house retinue, there
were about 20 people i'll the house aside
from the guests. Mrs. Whites loss was
kept a secret for several days from all
but host and hostess, but the colonel's
quiet detective work brought no re
ward.
The second loss was more serious. A
Mrs. Willmere left her jewelry lying
about after dinner and at bedtime dis
covered that she had been robbed OF
every single article. The value was Al
least G3,00U and as she and her hus
band were both eXcltable people the
loss could not be kept quiet. Between
the finish of dinner and bedtime VT
were scattered about the house ant
lawn, with the servants moving to ant
fro, and no stranger could have entered
the house without being seen. The
bedroom window was up. but no lad
der had been used. 1t seemed to b,
plain enough that some servant had Sc
cured the jewelry, and one by one til,
entire lot were summoned before th'
coloneps court of inquiry and interro
gated. There wasn't one without F.;
good character. nor could suspicion
justly attach to any one. 1t was lon:
after midnight before we got through
and next morning the sergeant from
the police station was called over. II,
couldn't suspect one of the guests, ant
he could ind no grounds for suspectin;
one Of the servants, and he got out of /
by looking wise and saying that Mrs
Willmere had probably mislaid her or
naments. Unfortunately for her sh
was rather absentminded and we pres
emily came TO accept the theory, thougl
she searched her rooms over and owe
again without discovery.
The losses did not break up the pal
ty, as might have been the case. Th
colonel and Mrs. Willmere came t
some mutual understanding. l thin
the detective advised them to call it
"mislay" and thereby put the thief OF
his guard. Colonel Saunders insiste
that every jewel of value be locked u
in the family safe, and when this ha
been done every guest became a Shei
lock Holmes. There were 20 guest
and 20 theories. Everything from a
owl to the stable boy was under susp
cion. The detectives theory, as b
gave 1t to the colonel privately, wa
that smart thief disguised as lady
maid or an upper servant had entere
/ the house and committed both robbel