Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1900-10-11
LITTLE MRS. HOPE
By NJ. Quad.
coprR1anr. 1909. ny c. n. LEWIS.

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OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
There were 90 of us making up the
party at an English country house for
the shooting season, and it 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. 1 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 q 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 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 scamp and
been so Ill used that a 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 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 filtration and as she looked
pretty without artificial means she was
forgiven for her handsome face and be-
came general favorite.
The man who leaves business for
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 poor showing compared to the
rest. This was corroboratiye evidence
that she was none too well fixed finan-
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 neryy thief, and The
colonel warned the ladies from the out
set to be careful of their jewelry. All
of them agreed to act upon the advice
and then, womanlike, carelessly left
every ornament lying about On the
fourth day of the party a lady named
White missed three valuable rings
which had been left lying on 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. 1t
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 in the house aside
from the guests. Mrs. Whites loss was
kept secret for several days from all
but host and hostess, but the coloners
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 at
least f3,00U, and as she and her hus
band were both excitable people the
loss could not be kept quiet. Between
the finish of dinner and bedtime we
were scattered about the house and
lawn, with the servants moving to and
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 be
plain enough that some servant had Sc
cured the jewelry, and one by one the
entire lot were summoned before the
colonels court of inquiry and interro-
gated. There wasn't one without a
good character. nor could suspicion
justly attach to any one. 1t was long
after midnight before we got through,
and next morning the sergeant from
the police station was called over. He
couldn't suspect one of the guests, and
he could find no grounds for suspecting
by looking wise and saying that Mrs.
Willmere had probably mlslaid her or
naments. Unfortunately for her she
was rather absentminded, and we pres
emily came to accept the theory, though
che searched her rooms over and over
again without discovery.
The losses did not break up the par
ty, as might have been the case. The
colonel and Mrs WiIlmere came to
some mutual understanding think
the detective advised them to call it n
"mislay" and thereby put the thief off
his guard. Colonel Saunders insisted
that every jewel of value be locked up
In the family safe, and when this had
been done every guest became Sher-
lock Holmes. There were 20 guests
and 20 theories. Everything from an
owl to the stable boy was under suspl-
cion. The detectives theory, as he
gave it to the colonel privately. was
that smart thief disguised as a lady's
maid or an upper servant had entered
the house and committed both robber-