The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1920-01-09
Jane Bunker

FT1I
his uneasiness at the way I was taking
II. We Jewels belong to my wife-a
wedding gift from her fazer-if you
call 1t smuggling"
But they were not declared
know that, anyway. Well. then-since
they were not declared, they were to
all intents and purposes struggled. We
shall now act as though they had been
smuggled-we shall at once enlist the
services Of the government in your be-
half. After the jewels are discovered,
! you can present evidence that they
were not subject to duty. Or. Of course.
you can pay the duty. I suppose they
are worth that to you to get them
backT"
"What do you mean. madameY' he
exclaimed in a tone that to me sound
ed alarm. "You sink / ask your gov
eminent to seek for o lost jewels
Of my daughter? Diable-pardon-and
lose Gem so soon as l find zemr"
mot you. but IL viii ask the Gus.
toms house officials to take up the
case"
"YOu? You? . Madame,
Of what are you sinkingY"
"I-yes, certainly" I replied firmly,
following mp my advantage; for he
had given 1t away to me that he didn't
wish the customs house to know about
this little smuggling of Claire's. "Since
You have see fit to accuse me of q
robbery I know nothing about, I shall
J u must--dO all I can to help Claire
get her jewels back in order to prove
customs house and report the whole
matter tomorrow morning"
You will do Messing Of re sort :" He
fairly Kissed the words at me. You
will tell nobody Eat re jewels have
been stolen-nObOdy. And you will
give me your promise before you leave
zis room.'
He turned scarlet, and then deathiy
white, but he got control of himself
Immediately.
So that was the way the wind blew I
My shot had carried home-I felt I
had him. a good deal worse than he
had me. / gave him another dose Of
the same ammunitiOn-"T certainly
shall-there's nothing else to do. Now.
then. what were the jewels Claire was
smuggling in?"
He kept back q retort by biting his
lip and glared at me.
"What were the jewelsT" I repeated.
"YOu must at least tell me that-since
You accuse me Of taking them. What
were they7 I know absolutely nothing
about them. You may believe me or
not as you choose. but it's your own
loss If you don't"
My words seemed 70 shake his con-
victiOn for a mOment-but only for q
moment; what he said next left me no
doubt as to the gravity Of my situation
In the matter.
Sand now, madame. We lay all SUBJ
terfuges and evasiOns to re side. Zere
are but two persons who could have re
jewels of my daughter-yourself and
Madame Delario. / have already ques.
toned her, fully-to be quite frank-I
have search re house-wis her permis-
sion I have also search her person by
means of a woman detective-and she
has convinced me Eat she has not re
jewels of my daughter"
Neither have l." 1 snapped.
He went on as If / hadn't spoken.
my evidence Is positive, and wis
Madame Delario's denial of all knowl.
edge-her wish Eat I send for you and
give you re opportunity to explain"
where Is Mrs. Delario-let me see
her immediately" I broke In. "Do
you mean to say she ccuse me of
robbing your childr"
81 do not say she precisely Gus
but she has een you-and Claire
has seen yOu-wis re package contain
ing Il jewels in your hand"
1 burst out holly. That's q lie
every word Of it! never touched her
jewelry-Or the package containing
her jewelry. Never"
He flushed "a deep red at the insult,
but he was making every effort to con-
troll himself-seeing how enraged /
was, he probably thought I'd use my
hatpin O him next-and I whipped
him on, feeling that I had the upper
hand.
"Yes. monsieur shall make you
take this case to court" I went on
rapidly. "After that I shall sue you
for false arrest-and Imprisonment, II
I'm imprisoned. But meanwhile, !
shall Immediately set the customs
house officials on the hunt for your
daughters Jewels and find out wheth.
er they were actually brought into
America or not. IF the jewels are In
the least valuable-as you seem to be
trying to make out-thereT be quite
. neat little duty to pay, provided
they're not confiscated outright
which is more than likely. Monsieur, !
you have overlooked the fact that ]
asked Claire-and ! heard Mrs. De
lario ask her-if she had anything tot