The Washington herald., 1915-01-24

perintendent "a regular encyclopedia
| you are, Cleek. and no mistake"
| well go on, don't tell me anything
has happened to the Emperor or its
fur-dealing owner"
I That's just it-he's disappeared-he
and the ring, too" bleated Mr.. Narkom,
in a very ecstasy of professional interest
| Cleek smoked a moment in silence.
! then he turned abruptly TO the super
| intendent
When did you come into this" he
queried sharply.
Yesterday morning.
AN ordinary burglary
No, indeed-an extraordinary series
of burglaries. You see, Mr.. Paravetch
| is furrer by trade. and an art col
/ lector by hobby. and Clock Manor holds
some of the most wonderful art treas
urcs outside of museum. Among them
| is an embalmed body of Hanuman. the
monkey god. said to be of fabulous value.
as it was brought straight from its
temple
/ Has Mr.. Paravetch been to India
:
/ ly at his cigarette.
''Ycs-arI over the world. I should say.
Well. during the last six weeks, Mr..
, Paravetch has missed one or two small
( jewels-quite valuable enough to make
their loss worth mentioning. only, as
! far as I can sec, he was afraid OF being
held up to ridicule in the daily press
"Ridicule-as how. my friend? Why
should burglary be a source of amuse-
ment?"
Yes. hut YOU see. deer old chap. he
will have it that the monkey god has
| taken them"
'Oh, rubbish, Tell that to the marines
! if that's his idea-a stuffed monkey
! getting up in the night to steal things
/ of no earthly use to him il he were alive
I don't wonder the good gentleman is
! afraid of being laughed at"
The superintendent nodded Eravey.
Exactly az I thought: only the thing,
whatever it is, has been heard walking
about at night. and now two nights ago
it was seen by one of the maids"
"Oh. ho"' cried Cleek, in two different
tones, that's a horse of different color
This sounds interesting-what happened
them"
"Oh, she tainted. and ny the time the
other servants had rushed up and sue
/ ceeded in reviving her. when they did
! bethink themselves OF looking to see
whether the blessed monkey was still
on its perch. so to speak. of course
there was nothing to see"
Nothing been stolen, either, 1 sup
pose?''
''No-aPparentIy the burglar-for I
! take it to be A burglar-was surprised
by the girls entry. but how or where
beats me. The girl herself will have 1t
that it was the monkey god himself. tail
and bristles and all. and that the ped
estal-which is solid marble, by the way
was empty"
Marble, eh!'' said C1eek a curious one
sided smile twitching up his mouth.
What color?-but perhaps you don't
know
AS it happens. I dot is black. or to
be precise. black with streaks of green
in it-I went right down yesterday and
/ looked over the ground myself-but
what's that got To do with it,
Just an idle thought Of mine" said
| CIeek serenely. We'll, if that's three
nights ago since anything happened
where does the Emperor diamond come
in?"
Mr. Narkom threw up his hands in a
very real dispair. 1T doesn't come in
| it's gone out. and 50 has Mr.. Para
vetCh,' said he. sorrowfulIy. "As I said
I II .
When young Nikolai Paravetch came to
me this morning"
Hello, Hello, Who's this?" asked
CIeek. sitting up very straight in his
seat. Mr.. Paravetch got a son or
what?''
"Yes-absolutely devoted 10 him, as
you will see for yourself" said the sI-
perintendent. 1T seems that after the
maids adventure Tuesday night. young
Nikolai watched and caught only re-
markably bad cold. Wednesday night
II was Mr.. Paravetchs turn. and after
he and the young man had searched
the gallery. to be perfectly sure there
was no one concealed in the ROOM Niko-
lai retired to his own bed. Old Para
vetch locked himself in. and we presume
made himself as comfortable as possible
for the night"
What about the windows-they were
covered. | suppose"
well there's only one. and that has
fiat roller blind. but only part OF it will
open, that is, the other part is just fiat
glass in the roOf-the gallery is built for
studio. Hello, what's the NATTER"
for Cleek had switched round in his seat
and was staring fxedly at him.
"Nothing-but that alters things con-
siderably to my mind-bUt go on-gO on
what happcned%'
God knows" was the emphatic re-
ply. 'All NikoIai could tell me was that
" hen $ o'clock me, and Mr.. ParavetCh
had made no sign. the young man went
up to the gallery and knocked and knock
ed. and at last. getting no reply, called
the man servant and the chauffeur, and
together they battered down the door.
Judge of their colossal surprise, when
they found the room empty as regards
Mr.. FaravetCh, The key was still i'm
the lock Of tho door. Not a sign of
struggle or disturbance was there TO he
seen hrt clean haul made Of every
jew value in the place, besides the
'Emp'rOr itself. Lord only knows what
the extent of the loss is yet. Nikolai-'
to give him his due-is more concerned
over the loss Of his father and trying
to comfort his mother.
'Oh. no, so there's Mrs ParaYetch.
is there" commented Cleek. fitting the
tingertips Of one hand to the fingertips
of the other.
Il should think there ,yas-ani as
clever a woman herself as you would
meet in a DAYS walk
Cleek smiled.
Him" he said casually: sometimes
clever people overreach themselves"