The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1905-03-05
CHAPTER VIII.
The Green Eye

III nj ARVEY CROOK returned to Lon
III don by the early morning train,
III U busy with many thoughts. From
what he had learned at South
ampton it seemed probable-indeed, it
grew clear-that beyond himself there
was only one party of searchers after
the great green diamond, and that
Mehta Singh and Hahn were acting in
alliance. Before the night when it had
been planned that the wretched Grim
inal Pritchard should be murdered for
the sake of the jewel he carried, Hahn
had been careful to travel to a place
eighty miles distant from the scene of
the tragedy, to remain there over the
fatal night at hotel where he was
known, and to bring himself to the no
tice of anybody who could identify him.
The obJect-to make ready for an alibi,
should it be necessary-was apparent.
Then, on the following day, on receipt
of telegram, he had returned to Lon
don by the next available train. He
had been waiting for that telegram, it
seemed, from the first thing in the
morning, and had inquired for it sew
eral times. So much Crook learned by
boldly inquiring for-him at the hotel,
@nd then, on being told that he had
gone to London, asking if he had re-
ceived a telegram. Now, what could
nave been the purport of that telegram,
and from whom could it have come?
From whom but Mehta Singh, advising
him of the successful accomplishment
of the crime? Everything pointed in
the same direction. Hahn had called
at the auctioneer's office with inquiries
as to the bottles of wine, in one of
which the jewel had formerly been con-
cealed; but, as Symons, the clerk had
said it was plainly more with the OBJ
ject of making his presence in South
ampton known than in any eagerness
after the Tokay, about which, in fact,
he seemed strangely Indifferent by con-
trast with his earlier anxiety. So that,
on the whole, the thing was plain
enough. The murder was Mehta Singh's,
with the aid of the docile Jatterji, and,
once it was well over, and his own alb
sence from the scene established In
case of future trouble, Hahn had has
ened off to share in it's profits.
The police must know this, Crook re-
Elected, as soon as he could convey the
information to Inspector Wickes. And
with that reflection came another
that he must give up the notion of
himself recovering and restoring the
Green Eye to it's lawful owner, the
rajah For, if the criminals escaped,
the diamond would go with them; and,
If they were taken, the police would
seize the jewel And clearly Crooks
energies, If they were to be exerted in
the matter, must be exerted on the side
of the law. On the whole, Crook was not
altogether disappointed; for, if he re-
covered the stone himself, and opened
negotiations from England for its re-
turn, he would be in the not wholly
worthy position of an unlawful pos
SCISSOR demanding something like black
mail; and, if he carried it to India, he
would at best be dependent on the
rajah's whim for his profit, and proba-
bly, for his life, if he ventured into the
snug little native state of Goona with
that stone in his possession and no par
ticular proof-what proof could there
be?-that he had not himself been i'm
plicated in the original theft.
Now it is just possible that the risk
of this adventure might have attracted
Crook six months ago. But something
had occurred meantime which had
caused Harvey Crook to look on many
things with changed eyes. Possibly
the reader may not have noticed it,
Shall blame be his if he has not. Even
Mr.. Merrick had not noticed it, in fact;
but-and this was all that really mat
tered = Mr.. Merricks' daughter had
More, her own view had undergone just
so much modification that, whatever
view she took of anything, Mr. Harvey
Crook occupied the central and most
important space in that view. So that,
while for Harvey Crook journey East,
of doubtful profit, every mile of which
would carry him farther from Daisy
Merrlck, presented a singularly unat-