Connecticut western news., 1910-04-21
DIAMOND CUT DIAMOND By LEONARD MALLOY Copyright, 1910. by American Press
 Association.


 | Brown to the old customs inspector who bad exposed more smugglers than any other man in the department, ''and he told me to ask you the next time l saw you to tell me the romance of your marriage"
 "Oh, he did, did hep replied the in- spector, scowling. but in spite of him. self pickering up the corners of his mouth in a smile
 "Yes. He said there was quite a story connected with your courtship."
 "Courtship be hangedp'
 "Oh, go onp'
 Brown offered the inspector cigar, telling him to light up. The bribe was accepted and the story given.
 "You know that tradesmen abroad are interested in learning ways by which their customers may evade pay ing duties on goods, because if the | goods can be got in free of duty it's very much easier for the tradesmen to sell them. Some of these people know more ingenious tricks for evading du- | ties than the regular smugglers.
 Well one day the boss called me into his private office and, taking up letter a friend of his had received, read it to me. It was an offer of a jeweler in London to deliver goods in America free of duty.
 "'How do you suppose it's done% he asked me. ... ....-.. ..=..
 "T don't know replied | T tell you what you do. Go over there, get in with the jeveler and find out. I'll get you letter of introduce ton from his correspondent so that he'll feel obliged to show you some at- tention-perhaps invite you to his house You can't find out anything in his shop, but you may run across something at home that will give away the trick ~
 "The result was that took the next outgoing liner and within a week was in London. We had a good many trunks in storage held for some reason or other that had been all over Eu- rope and were covered with hotel la bels. had taken off dozen of these labels and pasted them on my own trunk. did this because intended to appear as having been travelling on the continent. I delivered my letter to the I jeweler, an elderly man named Hicks. He received me very kindly and, as it was stated in the letter that wished to bring home with me some jewels for my sister, offered to show me his stock at once To this replied that was in no hurry and I would like to see something of London before my re- turn. AS I expected, he offered to show me around.
 'He took me to theaters, the Tower, the abbey and all that, but didn't see the inside of his home Then I began to ask him about his family-we had got pretty thick by this time-and he asked me to dine with him and his family I met in this way his niece, who lived with him, and it wasn't long after that when I dispensed with the services of the jeweler for a guide and took the niece. I was getting to that age when a man feels f1attered by a young woman's attentions, and the I first thing that knew was dead set on taking her back with me to Amer lea. English girls, you know, have a very pleasant accent, and many of them can show the finest complexions in the world. Emily Robinson was one of that kind, and her kittenish ways were just the thing to catch an old bachelor like myself. She was glad enough to get husband who would make her independent, and before left London we were not only engaged, but married.
 "Of course I felt guilty at trying to find out how her uncle got goods free of duty into America, but anyway could only stop his doing it. I could not punish him, he being an English man and in London So I added matri- mony with his niece to a detective ruse with him. We were married a few days before the steamer sailed, and I bought about the same time $1O,Oo0 worth of diamonds, which my uncle-in-law agreed to deliver in New York free of duty.
 q took my wife with me to my ho- tel and the loneliness of the place was dispelled at once She was very prac- tical and insisted on packing my trunk I always hated that part of travelling and was glad enough to turn the mat ter over to her. We dined the day before sailing with her uncle and aunt and had a very jolly time. When we reached home my wife put my good clothes on the top of the other things already packed in my trunk and lock- ed it. Then she began to look at the labels and said how she wished we had met before my tour instead of after it, as she would like to visit those places herself. I kissed her and T promised her a trip just as soon as I could arrange to be again absent from business.
 "When we reached home I told the boss that some diamonds were to come to us and we would have no trouble tracing how they reached us. My wife said the day after we got home that she didn't feel well and must ask me to unpack my trunk. I did so and at the bottom found box I didn't recognize. I opened it and was astOnished to see the diamonds