The Meridian times. (Meridian, Idaho) 1909-1938, 1920-01-09
CHAPTER xi.--contlnued.

for me / knew / was saved. But /
have never yet attempted to count up
the lies those diamonds cost mel
1t was now little after ten and
there was nothing for me to do but
walt and SILVER I began to think CO.
herently--to appreciate what monsieur
himself would be getting into by cali
Ing the police or the customs authori-
Ties to help him steal Mrs. Delario's
diamonds.
And yet saw perfectly he could do
1t Where ne had her was that she'd
smuggled the stones. He knew It'll
knew itClaire knew 1t. And if he
we're bold enough to steal them from
her In just that way wasn't sure but
she was timid enough to let him do 1t.
suddenly remembered what George
had told me about his renting the fiat.
why, the man was here before we
werem exclaimed. "He took faster
steamer-he was all ready to carry
through the job when we landed r.
And with that suddenly remembered
another thing that had entirely slipped
my mind while our baggage was being
exnmined--or rather not examined
ana 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 flowing white beard and fash
Ing, black, beady eyes-a man on
crutches-had stood opposite us,
watching. As / looked at him | 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 Il
turquolse-beaded, slipper - hers or
mine, didn't know which--that had
fallen down between our suitcases.
The old gentleman had his eye on il.
also. | 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
gave him a double-barreled glare. /
hadn't finished the glare when my
cousin came hurrying to tell me to be
quick, our baggage was through.
] had, as say, forgotten the whole
incident, but-THE MAN IN DIS
GUISE WAS MONSIEUR DE RAVE
MOL.
! knew 1t then~he confessed II
later; he had expected to get those
diamonds into his clutches while they
We're actually going through the GUS
tons inspectionl bounced out of my
chair with one glad whoop-"Eure-
ka I'll have found it and pranced
to my bedroom. / had the key to the
whole puzzle-"one of those slippers ~
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 q. one
of those slippers we got In Paris /.
is lost" The tones of her voice-the
significant pauses-had been ignored
by me then. But add sin" and drop
us lost" and she answered my ques-
tion-she told me as plain as plain
could be that she had struggled the
diamonds through the customs house
Gin one of the slippers"
Easy enough! snatched them from
beside my bed. Easy enough-with
those high insteps. So that was how
she did 1t
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 dia-
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 mother
met her, unless to create the confu-
sion for Mrs. Delarlo and me that
would make II possible for him 10 turn
the trick? Why had he come over by
faster steamer except to be ready
for it2
It's precisely what he did. / learned
Il all later. He came over ahead of
us, passed himself off in disguise, and
forged credentials as an Italian gov
eminent secret service agent tracing
an old master that had been recently
stolen frotu one of the Italian museums
and that was known TO be coming to
America - struggled, of course = in
charge of a certain womaa, whom he
knew ley 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 hts
hasd and he could lave walked Off
With her diamonds in his pocket. shed
MS disguise and lei her whistle for
them. Instead Of tint he got a glare
from me lone twist of my hand and
! had zone of those slippers
ddn't know which and he didn't dare
. speak for fear I'd recognize hint
And thus his whole plot fell to the
ground-also all my interesting occult