Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-17

shall appear to have failed in my part of
the business"
'But the cases are different. Mr.. Hewitt.
Consider. You are not expected-it would
be impossible to succeed Invariably; and
there are only two or three who know you
have looked into the case. Then yoar other
conspicuous successes
We'll, well, we shall see. One thing
don't know. Observation-Disclosures you climbed
out of window to break open the trap
door, or whether you got up through the
trap-door itself and pulled the bolt with a
string through the jamb. so as to bolt 1T
after YOU"
There was no available window. / used
the string, as You say. My poor. little cum
ning must seem very transparent to you, 1
fear. / spent hours of thought over the
question OF the trap-door-how to break 1t
open so as to leave genuine appearance
ano especially how to bolt it inside after 1
nad reached the roof. 1 thought had sue
eeeoed beyond the possibility OF suspicion;
now you penetrated the device surpasses
my comprehension. How. to begin with
could you possibly know that the cameo
fore?" ~
Never. And If l had seen it I fear
o on1uu nor nave been able to express an
oplnion on 1t; I'm not a connoisseur AS a
matter OF fact. didn't know that the thing
was forgery in the first place; what I
me" IN the first place was that 1t was you
~ chSh iilO the mouse. 1t
from that that 1 arrived at the conclusion
after certain amount of thought. that the
cameo must have been forged CAR, wos
o oo',,9 "a .ile question. You. beyond all men
eooio never sell the Stairway cameo again
ana besides, you had paid back Lord Stan.
way 5 money. L knew enough of Your rem
utaloh 10 know that you would never incnr
Scahdai OF great theft for the sake of
setting the cameo for yourself wben yo,,
might have kept it in the hepinping
win no trouble and mystery. Conse.
quehtiy had to look for another ,notiva
imnossih HIst another motive seemed an
.ni,possioiiity Why should you wish TO
LIKE al this trouble to lose five thousand
pouhus: You had nothing to gain: per
maps you had something to saye-vour
professional reputation. for instance
1ooniHs at 1t so it was plain that you
were suppressfng the cameo-burking it
; since, once taken as you had taken it. ii
suuiu never come to light again. That
suggested the solution of the mystery at
once-you had discovered, after the sale.
tiiat the cameo was not genuine"
es. yes-i see; but you say you began
with the knowledge that broke into the
place myself. How did you know that 7
cannot imagine trace
MY GEAR sir, you left traces every
where. In the first place 1t struck me as
curious, before came here, that you had
sent of that check for five thousand
pounds to Lord Stairway an hour or so
after the robbery was discovered: 1t look
ed SO much as though you were sure of
IN hurry to avert suspicion or course
understood that, so far as then knew
the case, You We're the most unlikely per-
son In the world, and that your ca gerness
TO repay Lord Stairway might be the. most
creditable thing possible. But the point
was worth remembering, and I remem-
bered it.
when I came here 1 saw suspicious
indications in many directions but the
conclusive piece of evidence was that old
hat hanging below the trap door"
But L never touched it; I assure you
Mr. Hewitt, / never touched the hat !;
haven't touched it for months"
or course If you had touched it 1
might never have got the clue. But well
| deal with the hat presently; that wasn't
what struck me at first The trap door
| first took my attention. Consider now /:
Here was a trap door. most insecurity
hung on external hinges; the burglar had
screwdriver, for he took off the door
| lock- below with it.. Why, then didn't he
| take this trap off by the hinges, instead
| of making a noise and taking longer time
and trouble to burst the bolt from it's
fastenings? And why. if he were stran-
ger, was he able to plant his Jimmy from
the outside just exactly opposite the in
terror bolt? There was only one mark on
the frame, and that precisely in the
proper place.
after that saw the leather case. 1t
had not been thrown away or some cor
ner would have shown signs of the fall.
1t had been put down carefully where
u.
ever. were of small Importance compared
with the hat The hat, as you know. was
| exceedingly thick with dust-the accumu-
| lation of months. But, on the top SIDE,
presented toward the trapdoor. were
| score or so of raindrop marks. That was
all. They were new marks, for there was
no dust over them: they had merely had
| time to dry and cake the dust they had
| fallen on. Now. there had been no rain
since a sharp shower just after I o'clock
last night. At that time you by your own
statement, were in the place. You left
at s. and the rain was all over at ten min
| utes or a quarter past seven. The trap
door, you also told me, had not been opened
for months. The thing was plain You,
or somebody who was here when you were.
had opened that trapdoor during. or Just
before that shower. l said little then.
but went as soon as had left, to the po-
lice station. There | made perfectly GER
tain that there had been no rain during
| the night by questioning the policemen
| who were on duty outside all the time.
| There had been none. 1 knew everything.
1.-The only other evidence there was
pointed with all the rest. There were no
| rain marks on the leather case; it had been
| put on the roof as an after-thought when
| there was no rain. very poor after
| thought let me tell you, for no thief would
| throw away a useful case that concealed
| his booty and protected 1t from breakage.
and throw it away just to leave a
| clue as to what direction he had gone in
| also saw, In the lumber room. number
| two days back-which had been opened
| with an iron lever; and yet, when I made
! an excuse to ask for it. you said there was
| no such thing in the place. Inference you
didn't want me to compare it with the
| marks on the desks and doors That is
all. I think
Mr. CIaridge looked dolorously down at
the floor. I'm afraid" he said, that 1
took an unsuitable role when 1 undertook
to rely on my wits to deceive men like you.
l thought there wasn't a single vulnerable
spot in my defense. but you walk calmly
through it at the first attempt. Why did
I never think of those rain drops?
Come said Hewitt, with a smile. that
sounds unrepentant. I going now to
Lord Stanway's. If I were you. 1 think
/ should apologize to Mr.. Woollett in some
way
Lord Stairway, who, in the hour or two
of reflection left him after parting with
Hewitt, had come to the belief that he had
employed man whose mind was not al
ways in order. received Hewitts story with
natural establishment.
For some time he was in doubt as to
whether he would be doing right in
quiescing in anything but a straightfor-
ward public statement of the fact connect
ed with the disappearance of the cameo.
but in the end was persuaded to let the