Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-06-22

thing was turned over from the but ler's to the new kitchen maids. I be l lieve the Scotland Yard man got as far as suspecting me before he gave it up altogether, but give 1t up he did in the end. I think that's all know about the first robbery. Is 1t clear?"
 "Oh, yes; I shall probably want tc ask a few questions when have seen the place, but they can wait What next?'
 Well" Sir James pursued, 'the next was a very trumpery affair that should have forgotten all about proba ply if 1t hadn't been for one circum stance. Even now I hardly think il could have been the work of the same hand. Four months or thereabouts aft CT Mrs. Heaths disaster-in February l of this year, in fact-Mrs. Armitage, a young widow, who had been a school fellow of my daughters, stayed with us for week or so. Mrs. Armitage is a very active young lady and was scarcely in the house half an hour be- | fore she arranged a drive in pony cart with Eva, my daughter. They were late for dinner Mrs Armitage had a small plain gold brooch-not at all valuable, you know: f2 or f3, I suppose-which she used to pin up a cloak or anything of that sort. Before she went out she stuck this in the pin cushion on her dressing table and left a ring-rather good one, I believe lying close by."
 This" asked Hewitt, twas not in the room that Mrs. Heath had occu- pied, take ity'
 "No; this was in another part of the building. We'll, the brooch went-tak- en evidently by some one iI deuce of hurry, for when Mrs. Armitage got back to her room there was the pincushion with little tear in it where the brooch had been simply snatched of. But the curious thing was that the ring, worth a dozen of the brooch, was left where 1t had been put. Mrs. Armitage didn't remember whether or not she had locked the door herself, although she found it locked when she returned, but my niece, who was in doors all the time, went and tried it once, because she remembered that a gasfitter was at work on the landing near by, and found it safely locked The gasftter, whom we didn't know at the time, but who since seems to be quite an honest fellow, was ready to swear that nobody but my niece had been to the door while he was in sight of it, which was almost all the time AS to the window, the sash line had broken that very morning, and Mrs. Armitage had propped open the bot tom half about eight or ten inches with brush, and when she returned that brush. sash and all were exactly as she had left them. Now, I scarcely need tell you what an awkward job it must have been for anybody to get noise- lessly in at that unsupported window and how unlikely he would have been to replace 1t, with the brush, exactly as he found It."
 "Then, as to getting in at the win dow, would it have been easy%
 .'Well, yes" Sir James replied; ives, perhaps 1t would. It is a first floor window, and it looks over the roof and skylight of the billiard room. It would be easy enough to get at. the window from the billiard room roof But, then," he added, that couldn't have been the way. Somebody or other was in the billiard room the whole time."
 "weii, was anything done%
 'Strict inquiry was made among the servants, of course, but nothing came of it. It was such a small matter that Mrs. Armitage wouldn't hear of my call ing In the police or anything of that sort although felt pretty certain that there must be a dishonest servant about somewhere. A servant might take a plain brooch. you know, who would feel afraid of valuable ring, the loss of which would be made greater matter of."
 'Well, yes, perhaps so. What made you connect these two robberies to- gether?
 Nothing whatever for some months. They seemed quite of a different sort. But scarcely more than a month ago I met Mrs. Armitage at Brighton, and we talked, among other things, of the previous robbery-that of Mrs. Heath's bracelet. described the circumstances pretty minutely, and when I mention ed the match found on the table she said: How strange! Why, my thief left a match on the dressing table when he took my poor little broochr
 'The coincidence appealed to me so far that 1t struck me 1t might be worth while to describe the brooch to the po- lice in order that they could trace 1t if 1t had been pawned. They had tried that, of course, over the bracelet without any result, but I fancied the shot might be worth making and might possibly lead us on the track of the more serious robbery"
 Quite so. It was the right thing to do. wellY'
 well, they found it. A woman had pawned 1t in London at shop fin Chel- sea. But that was some time before. and the pawnbroker had clean forgot ten all about the woman's appearance. The name and address she gave were false. So that was the end of that business"
 Had any of your servants left you between the time the brooch was lost and the date of the pawn ticketY