The Lee County journal. (Leesburg, Ga.) 1904-19??, 1908-10-02

did you see what 1t was?"
Not loikely, at that distance!
Thought as they were a'feedin' the
fishes, that's all, with some sand
wiches they 'adn't used up in the
train. Then, as / said afore, cop
per came up an moved me on, an I
lost sight O. the gents. Thank you,
sir, you're a real gentleman 'Opes
you'll catch EN- If you wants 'em. SIR
/ passed thoughtfully out of the sta
tons. Events had taken strange and
unexpected turn. Clearly the jewels
had been thrown into the river. Cast
your bread upon the waters, and
no. the proverb could not apply.
1t was very mystifying. Did War
rington Stout belong to the tribe of
fanatics? had heard of a man who,
turned teetotaler, caused all the con-
tents of his valuable wine cellar 10
be. poured down the drains. Had
Stout suddenly perceived the extreme
sinfulness of his wife's wearing Jew
els and taken this summary method
Of putting them, out of temptations
reach for everybody?
But that would have been a mad
mans act, and Stout was sane enough.
Then the jewels must be false.
stopped dead on the pavement, and
a man who was following Immediately
behind me cursed audibly. For | had
suddenly caught sight of a poster on
an advertisement boarding. In big
capitals 1t started thus: There are
thousands of professional burglars
known to the police. Insure against
burglary with lne Lion Insurance
Company"
My problem was solved. And the
solution was so ridiculously simple
| felt ashamed of myself for not hav-
ing discovered it long ago.
/ managed to restrain my impatience
until 10 o'clock. AT that hour / enter
ed the Office Of the Lion Insurance
Company, in COrnhill, and asked for
my friend, Percival Austin, the man
ager. He had not arrived yet, the
clerk informed me, but was expected
within very few minutes. Oh, these
city nlagnates, who pretend they are
so heavily oyerworked waited. 4
He strolled in at quarter past 10,
and considerably gave me precedence
over the contents of the mail. fol-
lowed him into his private room!
well. phillips, you're an early
bird"
I'm sorry can't return the compli-
ment"
''Beastly public dinLSa last night
Had to go though / hate them like
poison. Got some news for us. /
hopper" 4a
"News? 2"
eyes, about this Melvill. Court bur-
glary. Warrington Stout wired that
he was not content with the efforts OF
the Grantham police to find the thief,
but had put the matter in the hands
of your firm at well. Very good of
him, | thought it, taking all that
trouble, at his own expense when he
was so we'll insured"
l looked into my hat, for MY express
sion was a tell tale one. So mine were
not the only eyes in which Warrington
Stout had contrived to throw dust!
"Ah!" said, off-handedly. Il real
ly forgot to ask him whether he was
insured or not. Not covered entirely
with you, suppose%
mo, the amount was too large for us
to take the entire risk. We share it
with another company and with
Lloyds."
"Then 1t will be rather big loss
altogether"
Eyes, unless you manage to recover
any Of the stolen things for us. BY
the way, what did you come about, If
not about this burglary"
''Oh, I'll tell you in a moment. You
are going TO meet the claim, l sup
poser"
"Of course! It's all sound and
square. The Stouts have been most
obliging in giving our representative
every possible assistance"
"Ah!"
what is it, Phillips? Your manner
is most mysterious"
Il came here for information. I'm
consciously, you've supplied me with
all want to know. Now, I'll give
you a piece of advice, Austin. Don't
pay Warrington Stout's claim-not one
penny of it,"
why not?" he gasped.
Because, firstly, the diamonds were
paste, the jewels worthless, with no
insurable value whatever. Because,
secondly, Warrington Stout himself
organized the theft of that sham jew
elry and threw it with his own hands
into the mud of the Thames, where it
now lies embedded. Listen!"