Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1908-01-30
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6he Lenton Croft
Robberies.
BY.
ARTHUR MORRISON.
Published by Arrangement With
Harper a Brothers.
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non Lloyd" he said affably, looking
again at the slip. "You'n excuse my
care to start even with my visitors-I
must, you know. You come from Sir
James Norris, l see"
eyes; I am his secretary. I have only
to ask you to go straight to Lenton
Croft at once, if you can, on very i'm
portant business. Eleven thirty is the
first available train from Paddington."
"Quite possibly. Do you know any
thing of the business?" /.
"It is a case of a robbery in the
house, or, rather, l fancy, of several
robberies. Jewelry has been stolen
from rooms occupied by visitors to the
Croft. The first case occurred some
months ago-nearly a year ago, in fact.
Last night there was another, but I
think you had better get the details on
the spot. Sir James has told me to
telegraph if you are coming, so that he
may meet you himself at the station,
and 1 must hurry, as his drive to the
station will be rather a long one. Then
l take it you will go, MI. Hewitt?
Twyford is the station"
eyes, 1 shall come and by the II 80.
Are you going by that train yourself?''
"No; 1 have several things to attend
to nov I am in town. Good morning.
[ shall wire at once"
Martin Hewitt locked the drawer of
his table and sent his clerk for a cab.
At Twyford station Sir James Norris
was waiting with a dogcart. Sir
James was a tall, florid man of fifty Oh
thereabouts, known away from home
MS something of a county historian and
nearer bis VI parts as a great sup
porter Of the hunt and a gentleman
much troubled with poachers.
IL have sent for you, as Lloyd proba-
bly, told you, because of a robbery at
my place last evening. 1t appears, as
far as l al guess, to be one of three
- tie ".la hand or by the same gang.
Late yesterday afternoon
Pardon me, Sir James," Hewitt in
terrupted, "but I think 1 must ask you
to begin at the first robbery"
every well. Eleven months ago OF
~thereabouts 1 had rather a large party of
visitors and among them Colonel Heath
and Mrs. Heath-the lady being a rela-
tive of my own late wife. Colonel
Heath has not been long retired, you
know-used to be a political resident in
an Indian native state. Mrs. Heath
had rather Il good stock of jewelry of
! one sort and another, about the most
valuable piece being a bracelet SET
with a particularly fine pearl.
sit was Il very noticeable bracelet
h gold setting being a mere feather.
weight piece of native filigree work, al
most too fragile to trust on the wrist,
and the pearl being, as l have said, of
a size and quality not often seen. Well
Heath and his wife arrived late one
evening, and after lunch the following
day, most of the men being off by
themselves = shooting, / think - my
daughter, my sister, who is very often
down here, and Mrs. Heath took il
into their heads to go walking-fern
hunting. and so on. My sister was
rather long dressing, and while they
waited my daughter went into Mrs
Heath's room, where Mrs. Heath turn
ed over all her treasures to show her
as women do, you know. When my sis
ter was at last ready, they came
straight away, leaving the things lit
tering about the room rather than
stay longer to pack them up. The
bracelet, with other things, was on the
dressing table them
"One moment. AS to the door?"
tGThnv 1pr1yn1 ~ Ac fhox, n q {, NV
my daughter suggested turning the key
as we had one or two new servants
about"
"And the Window"
"That they left open, as 1 was going
to tell you. We'll, they went on theil
walk and came back with Lloyd, whom
they had met somewhere, carrying
their ferns for them. 1t was dusk ant
almost dinner time. Mrs. Heath wen
straight to her room and-the bracelet
was gone"
"Was the room disturbed?"
"Not a bit. Everything was precise
ly where it had been left except the
bracelet"
"You called the police, of course"
LES, duu udu Il NAN IRON SCOIldul
Yard down in the morning. He seem
ed a pretty smart fellow, and the frs
thing he noticed IN the dressing table
within an inch or two Of where The
bracelet had been, was a match which
had been lit and thrown down. Now
nobody about the house had had occa
sion to use a match in that room tina
day and if they had certainly wouldn'
have thrown it on the cover of thu
dressing table. So that, presumint
the thief to have used that match, thu
robbery must have been committed
when the room was getting dark, i'm
mediately before Mrs. Heath returned
in fact. The thief had evidently strucl
the match, passed it hurriedly over thu
various trinkets lying about and take1
the most valuable"
Nothing else was even moved?"
Nothing at all. Then the THE
must have escaped by the window, al
though it was not quite clear how
The walking party approached th'
house with a full view Of the window
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