, 1902-08-22

tereSt him. l was looking at n1m close
ty all the time we were talking. There
was only one thing that distinguished
him from any other guest. This was
that half of one of his front teeth was
missing; 1t had been broken of In al
most exactly the middle.
l did not connect Mr.. Dane with the
robbery; In fact, l had up to this tim
not the slightest suspicion OF q clue.
1t was early the next morning that l
was put on the scent. l had visited the
lawn under the window of the room
from which the diamond had been
stolen, and was looking to see II I could
dnd any trace of footprints on b
beds or the lawn. l did not find any
trace of footprints, but l noticed the
half of an apple directly under the win
dow. l picked 1t up and examined 1t
carefully. AS l was turning 1t over and
over l was thinking and wondering
how 1t came there. 1t must have been
thrown there recently, otherwise 1t
would have been swept up. Then 1t
struck me that apples had been eaten
on the night that the diamond had been
stolen. and I understood that no n
had gone out on that night. or course,
| thought some n might have thrown
1t there since that night. Then l no
ticed a popularity of the marks Of the
teeth on the apple. About half of 1t
had been eaten, and at every place
where the apple had been bitten a
small portion of the apple remained, n
small ridge about an eighth of an inch
In widAhzwasnnextendin the entire
lengM zt
who had been@ @sEas
the man with the broRenA tooth, Mr..
Dane, and the ridge was left where the
missing tooth must have bitten. Now 1t
occurred to me that it was just possible
that after Mr.. Middleton had given the
diamond to his wife (Which vas just
after the apples had been brought I'M
Mr.. Dane had followed her and taken
his partly finished apple with him.
After she had left the room, leaving
the diamond In the casket,' he had gone
in, and, when opening the box, had put
the apple down, and not knowing ex-
actly what to do with 1t had opened
the window, which opened after the
fashion of a door, and had thrown 1t
down on the grass below. Another
thought struck me. Why did MI. Dane
have his shoes cleaned on his feet, In
stead of having them cleaned as the
other guests did? There must be some
reason for this unless 1t was a fad. l
asked my confidential servant which
was Mr.. Danes bedroom, and in the
evening when Mr.. Dane was in the
drawing-room with his pumps on. l
went to his room, and, as | expected.
! could not find the shoes. l could,
however, give a guess that they were
in a large box which stood in the corner
Of the room. Further evidence: Why
did he keep his shoes locked up in his
box? l pulled a bunch of keys out of
my pocket and tried to unlock the pad
lock, but not one key in my possession
would fit the lock. The next morning
by six o'clock / was being driven to
locksmith with the purpose of obtain
ing fresh keys.
~ II TIC SfChihS v thuL ouJ L WdLCucd
for the appearance of Mr.. Dane with a
certain amount of excitement. l felt
IS though | was going to find the dla-
mond that night. Presently he appear
I'd as usual in his pumps and challeng-
ed me to a game of billiards. l would
cather not have played, but accepted
his challenge and we had a game.
1t seemed a terrible long game, but
At last it was finished, and he made his
way to the smoking-room, while l made
my way to his bedroom. l closed and
locked the door and then started to try
the various keys. Almost the first key
lifted and l opened the box and got out
he shoes. They were of common make
and there appeared to be nothing out
If the way about them. l noticed, how
ever, a little cut In the heel of the right
shoe and I put my finger in this cut and
gave 1t a pull, but it remained firm.
l examined 1t very carefully and dis
covered the head Of a nail driven into
the heel from the side, and as this could
serve n purpose there, and, moreover,
az it was blackened over so that 1t
could hardly be seen without very close
inspection, l naturally thought II
might have some purpose, SC l got my
knife from pocket, and, putting it I'M
der the head. leversd 1t. 1t came out