Her Ladyship's Jewellery

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 207, 2 September 1938, Page 15

Her Ladyship's Jewellery

The club ,t 6e If was an excellent inn L f ™ 11 ~,,u,^a r ', C ° mmantH "S t'<e military fxcel'lentTv ytl ! aUSi waltz most to his k'i-pi, k*" al,taln Smith, known to his hench colleague as le Smeet t an impatient finger between his a stiff collar, rubbed vigor- • * wole i» three languages and •-L'voiiil dialects. e He luu! had to '"doll up- f or the cerev and hated it. I!< .' was a " light-built. very ~uickr.,rir n u .i th imir ° f n ° iwUuu- . ' r tha M a |,air ° f "'«*>- blue COUfl ? rmv very clear and an Moved *'"* interested or V 'rnl A 0 had - C °" , ° t0 SelVe in tlle ■' in ' h Arm - V ln Northern Africa was ? W " seclet - but the general commanding swore that le S„Teet was the Intelligence officer who had ever r-rrved under him. and this particular general knew hi* business. Inside the main hall of the club the seen* wao a welcome clianw from, khaki ami sand ai:d th. dirty burnous of Arabs. Herberci and Vor.-Kvuw Tiny coloured electrk- lights iilumina tea the li«»ht blue, scarlet, purple and white, the gold and silver of the officers full dress uniforms and the evening gowns of the ladies a* tliev circled to the. Viennese waltz that the band was playing softly. The white tunics and red tarboiwh of Senegalese infantry orderlies pressed into service as waiters and the gorgeous robes of Arab chieftains who held commissions in French native irregular corjw all added to the colour of the scene. Smith smiled to himself, a little cynical smile. "Like a Drury Lane panto.'' he said rather unfairly* but he disliked pomp and ceremony. He had seen much of it before he eame to Africa, and had put aside all desire for euch frivolities. The general commanding, the Marquis de C'antrave. better knswn to his troops as '"Good Lad."' because of his habitual use of this phrase in praising anyone for good service, had a party of foreign visitors with him, English. American and Italian, with a few political dignitaries from Paris. Prominent, far too prominent among these, was that lady known in London society , as "Lady Purseproud." and Smith smiled again and sighed. He had known Lady Purseproud in the days of his dead youth and he disliked her intensely. He slid into an inconspicuous corner and exchanged greetings with another of hia own kidney who had just returned from a sojourn among the hostile tribes of the Atlas, and, regardless of "manners," persuaded the black steward at the cocktail bar to supply them -with large quantities of intoxicating liquor; after all, a man needs it when he swallows so much desert sand every day. Now Smith had a perfectly marvellous nose for trouble, and as he was ingurgitating his sixth whisky, he felt, back of him, that "something had happened." 1 " ' Nor was he wrong. The band had just finished playing and the dancers were, most of them, going out into the court in order to enjoy what breeze might blow in from the desert, when Lady Purseproud, who was talking to the general commanding, gave a low moan and turned deadly white beneath all her make-up. . ' • She had lost her pearl necklace! A banal affair enough, but not so banal out on the confines of the desert. The general whispered an order to his A.D.C., and immediately all exits were barred by gendarmes (military police), who appeared from nowhere in particular, or by Spa his (native cavalry) with bared sabres. The general was comforting the stricken woman as best he could: "I am desolated, madam, that you should suffer such a loss in our club. It is possible that the clasp, broke, but in any case we have here the best detective in Northern Africa. If your necklace has i been stolen, he will recover it for you," j

Short Story ....

and he turned to an inquisitive-lookin-subaltern and ordered him to find and pioduce 'le Capitane Smeet." That officer appeared on the scene be- , !oro the subaltern found him. "Anything the matter, mon general " > es. S"i«;t. come with this ] a dv and me to the library and I will tell vou." • v Purseproud stared at the unemotional Smith and said: "I beliw* I kuou you. our face is very familiar." but said nothing, and the general not being a fool, did not introduce them or mention the fact that le • nrert was an Englishman, or that he e\en spoke English. 1, ,-yrr hi:< ;- t , he inv »tation cards handed in by the guests were being checked in order to find out if there were any "gatecrashers," and a sternmeed lieutenant of gendarmerie appeared m the library, pushing before urn a frightened-looking girl whose fear altered her exceeding good . ." n,IS lady has not a ticket of invita"or li "' s,u> " iv <' the name of -.e officer who invited her," rapped out the lieutenant. "That woman has the room next to ">y suit, , ' growled Lady Purseproud. • lie Ms on the same train as I was 'am to Marseilles and on the same ship She has been watching me. I! /i , or her accomplices should steal my jewellcrv." "What is your name, mademoiselle asked the general politely enough. , jladys (.'tilth. I did not . . ." but <e . meet did an astounding thing for lun: It Is n ,y fajllt? Miss Gimh j IS T, e t0d ,' ml . iUKI ? iven the ". , ( '- v n 'i guest, mon general,' lie announced. She was a very beautiful vounc thing, tall but not thin, Monde but not golden, sott eyes and large, a smUl tender mouth. ' •iboiTt w i host i job H Was to know crook o i' ' , K ' W that she " as no look oi else such a clever one that she had passed the stringent scrutiny of FtnT 1118 ° f the Arab B '"W the French semi-military, eemi-political secret service. y f e n\ e i ul h ° t h . im a dazzlin g look and he left like purring. He then turned to Lady Purseproud and said in French, "I expect to have I on® Jewellery returned to vou bv noon to-morrow or possibly a day* after hat, with which he turned on his heels and walked out. taking the "irl who called herself Gladys Garth bv "the arm. He * eharacter, that Smeet," °bser\ ed the general. He looks a very curious sort of character to me." observed Ladv Purseproud. who could not rid hereeif of the conviction that she had known this fellow somewhere and. that some unpleasant incident had arisen, but how could that be. she asked herself? What could a French staff officer of the Colonial forces have to do with her planning and plotting to enter certain social circles in London ? Smith laid a finger on hia lips as he escorted Mies Garth away from the club. It was when they were nearing her hotel, the very fashionable France Palace, that she said, '*1 owe you an explanation ..." j ''You do nothing of the kind. You are the most pleasant looking female I have seen since I have been on the job. They re giving a dance in this dump of youri to-morrow night and I shall be there. Don't forjret," and he strode away down the winding road to the old native town, a town celebrated in the stormy history of Morocco. She looked after him with a look in which were mingled several emotion*. "For such a nice man, he has terrible manners," she said aloud, for she had, after all, to keep up the strict code of her rather snobbish London suburb, even if she had 'done a spot of gate-crash-ing.' Am a matter of fact, it was bv a sheer oversight that she had not been invited at the same time as all the other foreign guest* at the principal hotels, for the French Government wanted to make Al-Karish attractive to the tourist.

By DONALD CAMPBELL

I • .11 Wa# - she fou »d a vounj officer I in the hotel who spoke to'lerable EngJisn and who apologised to her for not ia\ing brought her an invitation sooner. , ,u * " e had been called away euddenlv and had arrived back later than lie I expected. He had been detailed to escort Mademoiselle Garth to the dance. r But T have been. ' she explained with , a twinkle in her eye, "I went without an invitation, if you want to know, yory ini]>ertinent. don't you think? but Captain Smeet came to the re-cue."' The young officer who had grinned when she told of the "gate-crashing." turned quite serious when she mentioned ' Smeet. "Tell me more, please." he urged. and she told him more or less what had occurred. * You are the first lady I have ever known le capitaine Smeet to worry himself over. He is alway.s just polite enough to be politely rude, if you see what 1 mean. He i~ a great man. Of !•< urse. being Briti-h. be cannot rise to a higher rank than <:>pta : n. T?e is what we i-all "a foreign ofii:-er.' (This i< the <n-e in the French Army. To rise higher than captain you have to take Frem-h j nationality, though you can be appointed to the General Staff. 1 "But he can go among the most hostile natives without being recognised, and lie knows more about native habits, customs and superstitions than the natives themselves. He was the man who found the Hidden City, but I daresay von read about that." She had. The young officer, finding she would not return to the club with liini. told her that lie would l>e at the hotel dance on the following evening and hoped that she would give him some dan: - es. He was a young man. but with the manners of an older and more courteous generation than ours. At 11.30 next morning. Monsieur le Capitaine Smeet dressed in white ducks appeared at the France-Palace aeeom- j panied by a tall Arab who was i-inmi- I larlv good looking and whose clothes were clean. Smith asked for Lady Furseroud and i a worried companion came to see him. j He shook his head. "Sorry, my dear. : but I must see Lady Purseproud myself. Tell her I have found the missing property.'' My lady kept him waiting nearly an hour. When she finally entered* the lounge she said. "Well, what do you want, young man?"' "The equivalent of about £•> English.'' he drawled, looking at her as if she were something the cat had brought home. "Here is your property. Kindly check it." He handed her a parcel and made her verify its contents. It was her jewellery all right, but she was furious at recovering it and extraordinarily reluctant to pay out £•">. "I advise you to." said Smeet in an icy drawl. "The hotel servants get to know, of things like this, and you will get very poor service if. you don't pay up." After much grumbling she gave the nionev to the handsome Arab, and asked him if he would show her the sights the next day, but he shook his head and regretted that he could not oblige the lady. She caught sight of the grin on Smeet's face and reddened with anger. The Arab departed, vanished in fact, into thin air. "Who is that very goodlooking fellow?" she asked Smeet. "He is the boss thief of the area. The thieves here are formed into guilds, you know. He is very useful to me, but he had to have something for his trouble. It was his cousin, who is a waiter at the Officers' Circle, who stole your necklace." He paused, smiled slightly at her and will now be safe from all robbitfy and pilfering, so the £5 is a good investment even if the pearls were not worth it." She turned purple. "How dare you . . . !" He smiled once ajrain. "It is part of my job to know things about people who visit here," he informed her, "and our Customs people told me that your jewellery was excellent stage stuff." "Your impertinent ..." "Never impertinent to you, Lady Purseproud. I know too much about '

you. My name is . . . and he gave his real name in a low tone and she shrank away from him and nearly flew back to her room.

Later she had to smile as graciously as she could when she informed an A.D.C. of the general commanding that she had recovered her necklace in almost record time, thanks to Captain Smeet.

That evening, everybody who knew le Smeet was astounded to see him frisking about like a two-year-old with that very pretty English girl who had arrived at the hotel a day or two back. They were enjoying themselves, and the young officer who had waited for Miss (iarth did not get a look in. It was long after midnight that <Jladys Garth told le Smeet that she I worked in a city office in London, and having come into a small legacy, determined to see a bit of life, so had taken a tourist rover's ticket for French Northern Africa. "And you are not going back for some time," Smith told her. She gasped but he took no notice. He never did take notice of interruptions anyhow. "1 was dead broke when I came out here." he told her, "but an old uncle came to the rescue and I don't have to live on my pay. but I like the life out here. Interesting and all that. The old general has actually procured me promotion a titre exceptionclle. and I have a nice little house abutting on the old native quarter, so we will get married as soon as you can get certain papers from Blighty."' "But. . . ." "Now be a good ,girl and do not raise obstacles in your own way. You want to marry me. perhaps not as much as I want to marry you. but nevertheless you are not going to make any difficulties now. else I'll have you locked up and detained here until you see reason. Oh, yes, I have the power to do that." "I believe you would do it." "Of course I would. I should like to throw that old virago. Purseproud. in*o what the Americans somewhat inelegantly term 'the can' for a day or two. It would do her good. In the meantime, let's go and have another dance. You'll have to teach me. I've grown rusty and old-fashioned. At dawn, we'll go and have a look at the house. I've a good native cook and a top-hole houseboy. one of the . best thieves in Morocco, but he does not steal from me."

There was a large crowd at the little chapel on the confines of the desert when Monsieur lc Capita ine Smeet, officer of the Legion of Honour and many other decorations, married Miss (Jladys flartli, whom the old General pave away. Lady Purseproud had gone home, but the boss thief of the area was there with several of his satellites and grinned fraternally at the Intelli gence officer while an assistant thief slipped something in that officer's tunic pocket in spite of the watching crowd. Those '"desert rats" could take your shoe laces away from you while you were walking without your noticing it. It was a little package, as. Smith found later, with an ancient gold coin that delighted his heart; for he was an ardent collector of antiquities of this strange land. Also there was a little note, "From the sl'.aik of thieves to his brother. May the peace of Allah rest with him and may he never get caught." Smeet roared with laughter; "It is the customary blessing of the guild of thieves," he explained to the wedding guests, and he told the general and madame la generale the true story of the pearl necklace and the £o note. "She has been all over Europe losing 'pearl' necklaces," he explained, "but this time she was caught out. Once, many years ago, she accused me of stealing one. ..." , Then the general understood a little more about le Smeet, and Gladys squeezed his. arm in sympathy. "Let's forget all that, Major Smith." she half whispered and continued, "Yes, the general has just told me he has received special permission from the Ministry of War to give you promotion," and he kissed her slowly, totally regardless of the wedding guests, but he was like that, was le Smeet. as the desert marauders will tell vou.