The Washington herald., 1913-06-08

glass upside down on the cloth before
Armstrong, continuing. Now, Immersed
in the liquid that piece of ice might have
been diamond for all We could tell by
eye-sight, but draw of the liquid and
throw the ice on the cloth before you
and that removes all doubt Of what It
really is"
He tipped the glass over and there on
the white cloth lay the Great Diamond
Table, scintillating. flashing back IRE
from lighted candelabrum nearby.
jacques turned white. leaped forward
for the carving knife on the sideboard
at Poe, shrieking, Demon, Soerier"
| Christopher Poe kicked back his chair
and caught the rush with a straight arm
blow which toppled Jacques over back
ward, the knife hurting harmlessly out
Of reach.
Armstrong clutched Poe's arm and
glared fixedIy at him. He reached out
sure that 1t was real. then cried harshly:
Explain"
I'VE must attend to poor Jacques
first" smiled Poe. 1T was SO sudden
for the poor chap"
But Armstrong was impatient OF
delay. Damn Jacques" he cried, fore
ing Poe to tell the story in snatches
as he tried to revive the valet by
dashing cold water in his face and
| rubbing his limbs briskly.
1T was so simple said Poe. TT
rained all morning. You had crossed
muddy street corners. Americans al
ways turn up the bottoms of their
trousers, London fashion, when walk
ing in such weather. You are care
less. I figured you would forget to
turn the bottoms of your trousers
n TyIrr1 rhAr
Your call there was SO unexpected and
you were flushed. There was no other
place for the diamond to drop. You
had searched everywhere and I knew
Ninon was absolutely above suspicion.
1 tested my theory by reproducing the
scene When you reached for your
match box your ring caught on the
edge OF your pocket I could see that
a loose, top-heavy stose would be
jerked out in your surprised motion.
IL the stone were pulled out that way
1t would naturally slip straight down
your trouser leg and lodge in the
crevice formed where your trousers
were turned up. 1t was the logical
thing. Here. give me hand with this
fellow, he's coming to-"
Together they lifted Jacques to a
couch and Poe sat tanning him as he
continued: when 1 stepped into your
bedroom with Jacques half an hour
ago and asked him to show me the
trousers you wore this morning, saw
my mistake at once and smiled at my
carelessness- You still have that COL
lege chap fashion of wearing slightly
peg-top trousers with neat little turn
ups at the bottom. OF course. your
formal clothes don't have the turn
ups and you had taken of your
lounge suit when I saw you this aft
ernoon; that's why the thought of
cuffs on your trouser legs didn't oc-
cur to me sooner. OF course, that was
where the stone lodged; you didn't
have to turn up your trousers against
the rain, as they were pressed that
way already. and naturally you never
thought of looking in those crevices,
as you were accustomed to them.
Il realized that when the trousers were
hung up by the bottoms and brushed by
Jacques that the stone would slip out IL
it had lodged there. As many French
servants are tricky, and as you have told
me of catching Jacques In petty dis
honesties, 1 suspected him Immediately.
1t occurred to me at once that the dia-
mond might have dropped out of the
trousers when he was hanging them up
this afternoon. He would realize what a
big prize it was and know You would
offer a reward. That would make it easy
for him. Through a confederate he would
get the prize offered and rest perfectly
free and easy about being caught. OF
course. he would never think of trying to
dispose Of the stone itself Here, put
your arm under his back" Poe broke
off. "he II breathe better
Yes! go on" cried Armstrong, This
afternoon. here, what have you been do
ing? How did you get hold o; the dia-
mond?",
Il had you call up Jacques and tell
him to prepare dinner an hour earlier, so
he would have no time in which to leave
the rooms and pass the stone to some
crooked friend or confederate Then I
slipped in and surprised him\ standing
abstractedly by the kitchen sink.
"he was looking at the diamond.
guessed that in a minute, for though his
back was turned to me, 1 saw that he
was twisting the object in his hand
around and around, to catch the light
from the window on the IDS facets, of
course. Then I walked in loudly to make
my presence known and see what he
would do. In his surprise at being caught
red-handed he had presence of mind
enough to drop the stone into the cracked
ice before him, where it would be safely
hidden among the other sparkling crys-
tails. I saw him make a quick movement
as 1 stepped in, and easily guessed that
was it
He recovered from the shock of see
ing me rather nicely. and adroitly threw
scoop full of ice on top of the heap
already in the pan. I knew in an in
slant he did that to make sure of COW
ering the diamond, though / couldn't
have made II out in the ice, anyway.
That's all. Just to amuse him and keep
him away from the kitchen till you came
1 pretended I wanted him to search the
floor and the molding in here. He made
several breaks to get to the kitchen and
put the diamond in a more secure place,
fearing something would happen. but
stopped him each time. Then you came
in. I got to the ice first and kept
Jacques away by covering IT with my
body. 1 had judged the location of the
diamond in the heap of ice as well as
could and allowed for melting. so when
l took two scoopfuls out of the center
OF the heap I figured that diamond
would show UP in one glass or the other
1t happened to be in yours. which made
It more interesting and spectacular
Jacques was as greatly surprised as you.
and confess 1 wasn't quite sure Of the
thing myself until the last two minutes.
Your ice had mostly melted and saw
that the diamond had sunk to the bot
tom: then you drained of all but a
drop and left the diamond. naturally
installing il for ice-not being accus-
toned to diamonds in your drinks"
Il see, / see.' Armstrong nodded his