Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-03-04

| well. Mr.. Lester" Grady said. $50
! you want to see this cabinet?"
Yes" ] answered. eft really be
longs 10 the Vantine estate. you know.
I'm going To put In a claim for it-that
fs. 81 you are not willing to surrender
IL without contest"
Did you inst happen to think OF this
in the middle of the niGht:" he inquir-
ed qulzzically.
NO" l said boldly. but l saw yoi
and Mr. Simmonds and this gentle
man" with bow tn NJ. Pigot. turn
IN here q moment ago. and il occurred
20 me that the cabinet might have
something TO do with your visit. OF
course we don't want the cabinet in
jured. IL is very valuable.
Don't worry" said Grady easily.
Were not going 10 inJure il. And |
think wei be ready 20 surrender it to
you at any time after tonight. Moos-
seer Piggott here wants to do Few
tricks with II first. ] suppose you
have certain right To he present. 50
II you like sleight Of hand sit down..
hastily sought chair. my heart
singing within me. Then ! attempted
to assume - mask Of Indifference. for
81. Pigot was obviously annoyed al
my presence. and I feared for a mo-
ment that his Gallo suavity would be
strained to breaking. But Grady. If
he noticed his guests annoyance. paid
no heed 10 It. and / began to suspect
that the Frenchman's courtesy aud
good breeding had ended by rubbing
Grady the wrong way. they We're in
such painful contrast 10 his own hob
nailed manners. Whatever the cause.
there was certain malice i'm the smile
he turned upon the Frenchman.
And now. MooSseer Piggott.' he
said. settling hack in his chair q little
farther. we're ready for the show"
What have TO tell you. sir began /
VI. PiCOt in a voice as hard rs steel
and cold as ice. has. understand well, /
20 be told in. confidence II must re-
main between ourselves until the Grim I
mai is secured
Understand. Mr.. LestcrT' Grady |
asked. looking at me. And ! nodded.
saw Picot's eyes flame and his face |
flush with anger. for Grady's tone was !
almost insulting. / looked AT him with !
interest. He was typically French !
smooth shaved. with a face scanned
with little wrinkles and very white. /
eyes Swallowed by enormously bushy !
iashes and close cropped hair as white I
as his face. He was about sixty years 4
Of age. guessed. and there was about |
him the air OF man who had passed |
through n hundred remarkable expe-
riences without once losing his aplomb !
Certainly he vas not going to lose IL
now.
THE story which / have 70 relate
he began "a his careful English. clip (
ping his words a little now and then.
has TO do with the theft OF the IA
nous MichaeIovitch diamonds. You
may perhaps remember the case"
remembered it, certainly. for the
robbery had been conceived and car
ried out with ouch briliancy and dar-
ing that fits details haze at once arrest
cd my attention-to say nothing OF the
fact that the diamonds. which formed
the celebrated collection belonging to
the Grand Duke Michael OF Russia,
sojourninz in Paris because unappre-
cisted in his native land and also Se-
cause Of the supreme attraction Of the
French capital TO one OF his tempers-
ment-were valued at something like
sOOo.oo0 francs
That theft continued NJ. Pfgot,
was accomplished in a manner At
once so bold ana so unique that we
were certain IL could he the work or
but single nnan-a rascal named Gro
chard. who calls himself also The In
rascal who has given us
very great trouble. but whom we have
never been able TO convict. IN this
case we had against him no direct evi-
dence: We subjected him to an inter
rogation and found that he had taken
care 20 provide a perfect abb: so we
were compelled to release him. We
kept Crochard under constant surveil-
lance. We searched his rooms not
once. but many times.
HE knew thoroughly what we were
doing. for what we were searching
He knew also that nowhere IN Europe
would he dnre to attempt 20 sell n sin
gle one OF those jewels. We suspected
that he void attempt TO bring them To
this country. and We warned your de-
partment OF customs For we knew
that here he could sell all bur the very ,
largest not only almost without dan ,
ger. but M a price far greater than he
could obtain for them in Europe We
closed every avenue 10 him. as we )
ihought-and then, al NJ once ne dis &,
appeared ;
For two weeks We heard nothing. :
hen came the story Of this man Drou- -
T. killed By stab on the hand. At r
NICE We recognized the wor: OF Gro 4