Semi-weekly herald., 1912-02-05

same tms I ala. or perhaps ( little
earlier. One Of them got into her
apartment by tbs IRE escape route
ard sneaked the jewels from under
her pillow. What's more. he content
ed himself with the diamonds them
selves, and didn't even take the casket
they were In. Tho jewel case was
still under her pillow when I got
there. and II wasn't until after the
lady. under the impression the gems
were in the case. gave herself away
more or less, that I found the little
on the nre escape. saw the handker-
chief the darkskinned cracksman had
dropped In his hurry. That sent us
hot-footed to the Swamfs house"
When Britx had sketched the his
tory Of the Missioner case, Manning
and Fitch looked at him aAmiringiy.
Both his hearers were thoughtful for
= minute or two Then the Chisf.
though he realized Britt had solved
the mystery. could not refrain from
picking flaws.
"You have not explained fully" he
said. how 0riswold contrtved to
smugEle the small diamond into Miss
Holcombs room"
Nor how the old curiosity dealer
had the visiting card of Bruxton
Sands" suggested the doctor hesi-
tantly, He disliked to seem over.
critical Of a man who had done 30
much for Elinor.
Neither have you worked out an
explanation of the fact that It was q
woman who gave the order to the
three French firms for the manufac-
ture OF the false diamonds. and that
she gave the name of Elinor HoI.
comb" Manning pursued You'll
have to make that clear to Mott, I'm
thinking
Il don't quite understand why the
Hindoos kidnapped you. lieutenant" I"
added Fitch tentatively.
Britz smiled.
Mere details" Britt replied First.
Griswold did not smuggle the dia-
mond Into Miss Holcomb's room.
That little trick was pulled off by
All He was the only one who could
have done #. and his reason for want.
Ing to throw suspicion on the young
woman is plain, He WAS in the house
to get the necklace and he also want
ed 10 make sure getaway. There
fore, he figured, If the Jewels should
be missed before he was able to got
them out Of the house, It would help
his chances of escape to have suspi-
cion thrown on the secretary. The
diamond that WAS found among her
things did not belong to the collarette.
But Its size and luster matched any
one OF dozen of the stones In that
magnificent setting. so that all OF us
took 1t for granted It was Mrs Mis-
sioners property"
VERY good" parried the chief.
How about the other points?"
IT needs no vivid imagittation,- -
said liritz. to picture Curtis Griswold
employing young woman to take tho
drawings to the French msnufactur.
ers and telling her to introduce her.
self rs Elinor Holcomb. or by any
other name he desired"
Manning nodded reluctantly. Fitch
approvingly,
"As for old Martins possession OF
Sands card" continued the lieuter,
ant Il see no explanation about that
except that Griswold handed 1t te
him. There seems to be q streak oi
malicious mischief in our club friend
As side exploit In pulling on big
crime. he would enjoy making troubls
for another-especislly for 4 man he
had reason to fear a. q rival, which
WAS the case with Sands. II may Be
he even hoped to cast suspicion per.
manently on the millionaire, though
that seems hardly possible. Even
when Sands acted so mysteriously In
regard to that letter he recovered
from the Hindoo burglar, he did not
make me suspect he had stolen the
diamonds. the strongest suspicion l
had was that he might be shielding
the thief. and that didn't last long. y
And your own little adventure r
asked the chief of detsctivss with q
trace OF malice.
oh. that WAS only 4 precaution on
their part, They took the chance I
might have recovered the Maharanee,
l suppose. Maybe they sxpsctsd to
md in my possession something that
would sive them . clue TO thA where
abouts Of ths stone. Then. sace they