The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1923-02-15

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But before this happens it is not
necessary for me to reply to any ques-
tons about the AFFAIR.""
When the police, who are conducting
the inquiries into the matter, ask you,
you should certainly answer To refuse
to answer would be considered some
what strange, and might even lead to
unpleasantness for you"
Many thanks for your information"
answered Mr.. Howell he had got up
and was walking restlessly up and down
the room. 1T is not pleasant for man
to contribute to the ruin of some
wretched creature, but perhaps it is
impossible to avoid it."
From the words which had been ex-
changed between us, | felt sure the
young Englishman did not know of Eve
lina's arrest. As you remember, | had
requested old Prick and Sigrid not to
speak to him about the affair. I could
also see that my answers to the ques-
tons he put to me had not told him
anything which he did not know before;
he was not altogether so ignorant about
the matter He must have put these
questions to me as feint, for some
purpose or another. / was almost GER
tain that he knew something of import
ance to the discovery of the robbery.
decided at once to inform him of
Evelina's arrest, but not of her confes-
sion. 1t would, indeed, be strange if he
did not betray how far the knowledge
he had of the matter did not point in
the same direction.
Besides" continued, you need not
be afraid that your evidence will be of
such fatal significance. We have al
ready got the diamond back, and the
guilty party arrested 1t is Evelina,
Miss Tricks maid. Circumstantial evil
dence is SO strong that confession is
unnecessary"
well" said Mr.. Howell, quietly, Il
can just as well tell you now what l
know, as later on. 1t was on the after
noon when the diamond disappeared,
after the old crank, Jurgens, had dined
at Villa Ballarat Soon after we had
had some coffee in the museum / went
up to my room and loaded some cart
ridges, for was going to Osterdal for
some shooting, you know"
Eyes; l know what took place in the
house that afternoon. Please go on"
well, when | was ready with the
cartridges, / went down into the garden
to smoke cigar The other people had
gone to their rooms, suppose, for l
did not see any of them AS went by
the museum it seemed to me that the
door wasn't shut, and when touched it
i slid right up. You know it is large
iron door, but SO we'll balanced and
oiled that it moves quite noiselessly.
Well, | glanced into the museum, and
there | saw lady standing before the
cupboard on the opposite side of the
room, with her back toward me. With
one hand she held up the iron lid, and
in the other she had an article which
she seemed to have just taken from the
case, and which she was examining. 1t
did not occur to me to think it was any
body but Miss Frick; I thought l rec
ognized the light spring jacket with
dark braid"
looked up suddenly and met Mr..
Howell's gaze; his eyes did not impress
me pleasantly, and it appeared to me
that their expression was dark and cum
ming.
Continue" I said hurriedly, and,
believe, rather roughly.
We'll, you know, Mr. Monk, that /
am very fond Of photography, and that l
always go about with little snapshot
camera. You know it, of course,-we
have often had fun at Villa Ballarat
photographing people when they least
expected it~
| nodded
81 had the apparatus with me, and
so it struck me that | would photo
graph Miss Prick as she stood there,
without her knowing it / went hur
riedly and softly inside the door, took
the photograph, and went out again
without her seeing me. She stood quite
still, as if she was wondering what she
should do with what she had in her
hand"
The Englishman paused, as if to give
me an opportunity to speak. But as
did not even look up, but went on draw
ing figures on the paper before me, with
as careless an expression as possible, he
continued -
Later in the afternoon I took car
rage outside and drove to the station.
On the way took some negatives to
the photographer, amongst them the pic
ture of which | have just spoken, as
there were some of them that | wanted
to get developed by the time got back.
On my return from Osterdal heard
that the diamond had disappeared, and
then / remembered the photograph. !
naturally said nothing about it to Mr..
Frick or his niece, but called for the
prints. Would you like to see the one
from the museum"
This was the second time that Sigrid's
name had been mentioned in connection
with the disappearance of the diamond.
1t awoke the most unpleasant feelings in
me; but as | felt Mr.. Howelps search
4 a