Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-01-30

yard was found lying along the edge
Of the lawn. The gardener explained,
however,, that he had put the ladder
there after using it himself early in
the afternoon"
"Of course it might easily have
been used again after that and put
back"
Just what the Scotland Yard man
said. He was pretty sharp, too, on the
gardener, but very soon decided that
he knew nothing of it. No stranger
had been seen in the neighborhood, and
a stranger could scarcely have known
enough to go straight to the room
where a lady, only arrived the day be.
fore, had left a valuable jewel and
away again without being seen. So
all the people about the house were
suspected in turn. The servants of
fered in a body to have their boxes
searched, and this was done; every
thing was turned over from the but
ler's to the new kitchen maids. 1 be-
lieve the Scotland Yard man got as
far as suspecting me before he gave
it up altogether, but give it up he did
in the end. l think that's all l know
about the first robbery. Is it clear?"
ooh, yes; 1 shall probably want to
ask a few questions when l have seen
the place, but they can wait. What
next?"
well" Sir James pursued, 1.-The next
was a very trumpery affair that I
should have forgotten all about proba-
bly, if it hadn't been for one circum-
stance. Even now 1 hardly think it
could have been the work of the same
hand. -Four months or Whereabouts aft
err Mrs. Heath's disaster-in February
Of this year, in fact-Mrs. Armitage, a
young widow, who had been a school
fellow of my daughters, stayed with
us for a 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 a 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; e. or f3, 1
suppose-which she used to pin up a
cloak or anything of that sort. Before
she went out she stuck this il the pin
cushion on her dressing table and left
a ring-rather a good one, I believe
lying close by"
"This," asked Hewitt, was not in
the room that Mrs. Heath had occu-
pied, / take it,"
"No; this was in another part Of the
building. Well, the brooch went-tak-
en- evidently by some n III Il deuce
of a hurry, for when Mrs. Armitage
got back to her room there was the
pincushion with a little tear in it where
the brooch had been simply snatched
off. But the curious thing was that
the ring. worth a dozen of the brooch,
was left where it 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 gasfitter, 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
a brush, and when she returned that
brush, sash and all were exactly as she
had left them. Now, | 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 it, with the brush. exactly
as he found it,"
"Then, as to getting in at the win
dow, would it have been easyY"
"Well, yes" Sir James replied; Eyes,
perhaps it would. 1t is a first floor
window, and it looks over the roof and
skylight of the billiard room. 1t would
be easy enough to get at the window
from the billiard room roof. But,
LQGll, ue uuueu, ludl cOulul l nave
been the way. Somebody or other was
in the billiard room the whole time.'
"Well, was anything done?'
"Strict inquiry was made among the
servants, of course, but nothing came
of it. 1t was such a small matter thai
Mrs. Armitage wouldn't hear of my call
ing in the police or anything of that
sort, although l 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 a valuable ring
the loss Of which would be made q
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, an6
we talked, among other things, of the
previous robbery-that of Mrs. Heath's
bracelet. I described the circumstances
pretty infinitely, and when l mention
od tho match found IN tho tahlo CHI