Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1920-01-28
CHAPTER xI.-continued.

ana Wnen handed MIN my letter with
the dime and begged him to mail it
for me I knew I was saved. But l
have never yet attempted to count up
the lies those diamonds cost me!
1t was now a little after ten and
there was nothing for me to do but
wait and shiver. began to think CO.
herently-tO appreciate what monsieur
himself would be getting into by call
ing the police or the customs authori-
ties to help him steal Mrs. Delario's
diamonds.
And yet I saw perfectly ne could do
1t! Where he had her was that she'd
struggled the stones. He knew til
knew it-Claire knew it. And if he
were bold enough to steal them from
her in just that way wasn't sure but
she was timid enough to let him do it.
l suddenly remembered what George
had told me about his renting the fiat.
"Why, the man was here before we
were =" / exclaimed. "He took a faster
steamer-he was all ready to carry
through the job when we landed ~
And with that suddenly remembered
another thing that had entirely slipped
my mind: while our baggage was being
eXamined-or rather not examined
and Claire was weeping-and every
body was flying round and asking ev-
erybOdy if he'd seen her mother-an
elderly man in a big fur automobile
coat, the collar Up about his face and
his cap down over his brow-a man
with a flowing white beard and fash
ing black, beady eyes-a man on
crutches-had stood opposite US,
watching. AS I looked at him l had
the quick impression that there was
something wrong about him--that he
was there, perhaps, to steal from the
incoming baggage in the confusion.
The next moment my eye fell on a
turquOise-beaded slipper hers or
mine, didn't know which-that had
fallen down between our suitcases.
The old gentleman had his eye on it
also. l saw his hand come out of his
big pocket and reach, cautiously, slow
~. My own hand shot out and grabbed
the slipper from under his nose, and I
gave him a double-barreled glare. l
hadn't finished the glare when my
cousin came hurrying to tell me to be
quick, our baggage was through.
I had, as I say, forgotten the whole
incident, but-THE MAN IN DIS
GUISE WAS MONSIEUR DE RAVE
MOL.
I knew it then-he confessed 1t
later; he had expected to get those
diamonds into his clutches while they
were actually going through the GUS
toms inspection l bounced out of my
chair with one glad whoop--"Eure-
AL have found itw and pranced
to my bedroom. l had the key to the
whole puzzle-"one of those slippers y
When I asked Mrs. DelariO that aft
ernoOn over the telephone how she got
the diamonds through the customs
house she replied, zone of those slip
pers we got in Paris is lost" Those
were the words she said; what she
really communicated was 6. one
Of those slippers we got in Paris e.
is lost" The tones of her voice-the
significant pauses-had been ignored
by me then. But add sin" and drop
"is lost" and she answered my ques-
hon-she told me as plain as plain
could be that she had struggled the
diamonds through the customs house
sin one of the slippers"
Easy enough I snatched them from
beside my bed. Easy enough-Wltn
those high insteps. So that was how
she did it!
Claire had been shopping till she
found out where the diamonds were
that was what her father sent her over
for. But she was not to steal the dla-
monds herself-the risk of her being
caught with the goods was too great
that was her fathers job; she was to
give the signal-he was to get the
stones. And why hadn't her motner
met her, unless to create the confu-
sion for Mrs. Delario and me that
would make it possible for him to turn
the trick? Why had he come over by
a faster steamer except to be ready
for it?
It's precisely what he did. learned
1t all later. He came over ahead OF
us, passed himself off in disguise, ana
forged credentials as an Italian gov
eminent secret service agent tracing
an old master that had been recently
stolen from one of the Italian museums
and that was known TO be coming to
America struggled, of course = IN
charge of a certain woman, whom ne
knew by sight.
To carry out this pose he had al
ready met several incoming steamers
and he was prepared to step up to
Mrs. Delario, demand to search her
baggage and then-one turn of his
hand and he could have walked oil
with her diamonds in his pocket, shed
his disguise and let her whistle for
them. Instead of that he got a glare
from me !-one twist of my hand ana
l had zone of those slippers'-he
Sidn't know which and he didn't dare
to speak for fear I'd recognize him.