The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1902-08-07

l WIS dDle TO interest MIN. | WIS
looking at him closely 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; it had been broken off
l. ~ Utmost exactly the middle.
did not connect Mr.. Dane with |
the robbery; in fact, | had up TO |
this time not the slightest suspicion
of clew. II was early the next |
morning that | was put ON the scent.
! had visited the lawn under the
window of the room from which the |
diamond had been stolen, and was |
looking tn see If | could find any |
trace of footprints on the beds or /
the lawn. ! did not find any trace
of footprints, but ! noticed the half |
of an apple directly under the win
dow. ] picked it up and examined
it carefully. As was turning il
over and over I was thinking and
wondering how it came there. 1t
must have been thrown there re
Gently, otherwise il would have been
swept up. Then it struck me that
apples had been eaten on the night |
that the diamond had been stolen,
and | understood that no one had
gone out on that night. OF course,
] thought some one might have
thrown it there since that night
Then | noticed peculiarity of the
marks of the teeth on the apple
About half of it had been eaten.
and Mt every place where the apple
had been bitten a small portion of
the apple remained, small ridge
about an eighth of an inch in width
and extending the entire length of
the bite. ! saw in a moment who
had been eating the apple. 1t was
the man with the broken tooth, Mr..
Dane, and the ridge was left where
the missing tooth must have bitten.
Now it occurred to me that il was
just possible that after Mr.. Middle
ton had given the diamond to his
wife (Which was just after the ap-
pies had been brought in) Mr.. Dane
had followed her and taken his part
ly finished apple with him.
After she had left the room, leav-
ing the diamond in the casket, he
had gone in, and, when opening the
box, had put the apple down, and. not
knowing exactly what to do with it,
had opened the window. which opened
after the fashion of a door, and had
thrown it down on the grass below
Another thought struck me. Why did
Mr. Dane have his shoes cleaned on
his feet, instead Of having them cleaned
as the other guests did? There must
be some reason for this, unless ii was
fad. | asked my confidential serv-
ant which was Mr.. Danes bedroom, and
in the evening when Mr.. Dane was
in the drawing-room with his pumps
on, | went to his room and as ! eX-
pected, | could not find the shoes. |
could, however, give 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? | pulled a bunch of keys
| out of my pocket and tried to unlock
| the paddock, but not one key in my
| possession would fit the lock. The
next morning by six o'clock | was be-
| ing driven to a locksmith with the pur-
pose of obtaining fresh keys.
On the evening of that day, Watched
| for the appearance of Mr.. Dane with
a certain amount of excitement. felt
as though | was going to find the dia-
mond that night. Presently he APP
| peared as usual in his pumps and chal-
| lenged me to a game of billiards. I
would rather 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 smokingroom, while I
made my way to his bedroom. closed
and locked the door and then started
to try the various keys. Almost the
first key fitted, and | opened the box
and got out the shoes. They were of
common make, and there appeared to
be nothing out of the way about them
| noticed, however, n little cut in the
heel of the right shoe, and | put my
finger in this cut and gave it a pull
but it remained firm.
examined it very carefully, and
discovered the head of small nail
driven lntO Ine neel from Ine Slue,
and, as this conld serve no purpose
there and, moreover, as it was black
ned over so that it could hardly be
seen without very close inspection, !
naturally thought it might have some
purpose, so | got my knife from my
pocket, and, putting it under the head,
levered it up. 1t came out easily
enough, and then | pulled the top of
the heel right osi and there, snugly
resting in a bed of cotton wool, lay
the missing diamond
took it out and looked at il by the
light of the candle 1t was mag
nifcent stone, and | could see of inn
mense value
At this moment some one tried the
door, and | fancied | heard an ex-
clamation of rage and then hurrying
of feet downstairs. | rushed toward
the door and was just in time to see
Mr.. Dane disappearing out of door
which led into the grounds. Ishouted
| ont tO the GENT l,,men that the ma n