THE GREAT PEARL MYSTERY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 72, 18 December 1928, Page 45 (Supplement)

THE GREAT PEARL MYSTERY

By

HENRY LUCY

“Curious,” remarked Mr. John Smith, of Hatton Garden, "what fascinations pearls have for some people... In my own way of business I have known ladies who would almost give their life to possess a speckless black pearl with the bloom on it. The passion for pearls sometimes goes beyond the love of man for woman or even of woman for man.” Mr. Smith was talking about the purloining in course of transit through the post of the pearl necklace valued at £150,000, whose disappearance last July absorbed the attention of London and Paris. By chance of neighbourship I came to be acquainted with the dramatis personae in a drama moving round a couple of pearls which profoundly stirred a past generation. In the southeast of Kent there is a garden-circled residence known as The Hillock, which serves as a landmark over a range of > twenty miles. It was at the time of

which I write the country home of ‘Admiral Sir Henry Hartopp and his wife. The Admiral’s grandfather had been master of the hounds for thirty years. Growing too old to follow them he built up close by his house a lofty mound on which was set a summerhouse. Riding up by a winding pathway it was his custom to sit there by the hour watching hunters and hounds at work. I was made free of the place, and seated there in company of the Admiral became acquainted with the opening chapters of a_ .tragedy which presently the English-speaking race. Lady Hartopp had a cousin, oue Mabel Spencer, whose grandfather made to her and her brother allowance sufficient to live in good style at the West End of London. It occurred to Lady Hartopp that it would be pleasant for Cousin Mabel to escape from London, dwelling for a while in the sunshine and soft air of Kent. An invitation was sent and promptly accepted. The two old friends and kinswomen had much to talk about, for Mabel was engaged to be married and the happy day was near at hand. Lady Hartopp had been bequeathed by her grandmother valuable jewellery, estimated to be worth some £5OOO. It included a couple of pearls which, when produced in court in a subsequent chapter of the story, the learned judge admiringly declared to be “the size of a bird’s egg.” For greater safety, and so that nothing might be lacking to the dramatic unity oT the romance unconsciously begun when Mabel took up her residence at The Hillock, a cunning cabinetmaker was commissioned to construct in an escritoire a secret drawer in which the precious jewels might safely repose. This was done, and the cabinet stood in Lady Hartopp’s bedroom to all appearances innocent of its stupendous charge. So careful was the owner to avoid risk, that at the time of Miss Spencer’s arrival on the scene only three people were aware of the existence of the secret drawer. One was the cunning cabinetmaker, another the Admiral, the third Lady Hartopp herself.

Before many days passed a fourth person was admitted to share the secret. Jewels were naturally an object of interest to a young lady about to be married, who would probably become the recipient of presents taking that pleasing form. One afternoon, gushing with confidence, Lady Hartopp took her cousin into her bedroom and proposed to show her the pearls. There happened to be an old servant in the room. Lady Hartopp, not the kind of person to commit an indiscretion, where her treasures were concerned, • carefully saw the old nurse out of the room and the door shut before she proceeded to unveil the mystery. The piece of furniture was perfect in its place in the story. Wilkie .Collins with all his trained invention and experience could not have devised anything better. You unlocked and drew open a drawer in which were various articles, naturally enough locked up out of reach of servants. But no jewels worth £5OOO, no pearls large as a bird's egg. Then Lady Hartopp, having enjoyed her pretty cousin’s puzzled look, took a common pin, inserted it in an almost iinper(ceptible hole in the lower part of the framework whence she had pulled out the drawer, and behold! at the touch a lid slid forth and there nestled the pearls. That is a charming homely little scene with which the first volume may appropriately close. The visitor, after lingering on for a few days, sets forth on her return journey to London, accompanied by her hostess to the station, and there the twain tearfully parted. Lady Hartopp was, of course, to be present at the wedding, but there was some temporary linancial difficulty about a suitable dress. The generous Mabel was herself at the time so “hard up,” as she expressed it, that she borrowed 30s. from her hostess to tip the servants on her departure. But she had money in stocks, had given instructions to her solicitor to sell out some' honest Great Westerns, and insisted upon her cousin accepting from her as soon as the transaction was completed a present of £lO, which would go some way toward buying the wedding garment and so remove all difficulty. More kissing and tears at the carriage window, and Mabel Spencer was borne away to London, leaving her hostess disconsolate, save for this gleam

of goodness shining through the dear child’s thoughtfulness about the dress. Immediately on her arrival Mabel wrote to The Hillock announcing her safe home-coming and expressing her abiding sense of the pleasure the visit had given her. Lady Hartopp replied in the same affectionate tone. Then a brief pause ensued. Mabel was busy with preparations for her wedding, never on any day omitting to write to her affianced husband, telling him all her thoughts and how she passed her time. Suddenly the calm was broken by a despairing cry from The Hillock. Lady Hartopp wrote announcing the disappearance of the two pearls, stolen out of the secret drawer. Miss Spencer, quick to sympathise in these new and painful circumstances, mingled her tears afresh with her cousin's. Still, she was hopeful, and would not have Lady Hartopp utterly give way. “They’re sure to be found,” she wrote. “Have you searched all over the

house!” But the pearls were not found, and' the plot began to thicken. The police called in, turned their earliest attention upon the Admiral, who at the time of the discovery chanced to be at Homburg. Even his wife wrote to ask him whether “by mistake or otherwise” he had taken the jewels. This he indignantly denied. Writing to the Chief of the Police, he said, “I think (this is in strict confidence) that the young lady who was staying with my wife lately may know something.” This young lady was Miss Mabel Spencer, and the suspicions of the police were centred in that apparently guileless quarter. Meanwhile the pearls had been found, though not at The Hillock., They turned up with with a dealer in the City of London, who had paid £550 for them to a lady who offered them for sale, and signed a declaration that they were her private property. Miss Price was her name, she said, and she gave a town address, also the name of her country residence, Radcliffe Hall, Bradford. The dealer's book showed the transaction took place on the 23rd day of April. A day or two later Miss Price presented the cheque for payment at the bank, but it being crossed, she was informed it couid not be paid over the counter. Thereupon she went back to the dealer, had the cheque made payable to bearer, and cashed it in gold. That was the last for a long time seen or heard of Miss Price. No one of her name lived at the town address given, and there was no Radcliffe Hall at Bradford, though, oddly enough, there was a well-known doctor named Radcliffe Hall who • ! | ved near The Hillock and had lunched there one day during Mabel’s stay. Miss Spencer being now openly accused of the theft, demanded to be confronted with the dealer who had bought the pearls and with the bank clerk who had cashed the cheque. They both thought they recognised her, but the identification was not very confident. On the other hand, Mabel was able to account for pretty much the whole of her time on the fateful day when the transaction took place. None of it had been occupied in business, either with the jeweller or the bank clerk. Indeed, as she prettily protested, she had never in her life been further East than Temple Bar. The Admiral brought an action against the dealer in precious stones and recovered the pearls. Mabel Spencer had now become Mrs. Fitzniaurice, having married her gallant Captain, who, proudly scouting the infamous suspicions, insisted upon joining his life and fate with hers. It was clear the charge could not hang indefinitely over the new bridal home. Issue was accordingly raised upon an action for slander brought by Captain and Mrs. Fitzmarice against the Admiral and Lady Hartopp. I had accepted an invitation to dine and sleep at The Hillock on the night preceding the third day of a trial watched with breathless interestby the public. After dinner the Admiral and I strolled up the mound to smoke our cigars in the summerhouse. It was a glorious night, into which a June day strayed far. Across the Channel the white cliffs of France tookk on a roseate glow from the radiant clouds brooding over the sun just set. The Admiral was in no mood to enjoy the scene. Before he looked upon it again the lingering anxiety of the trial would be terminated. “There is no doubt about the verdict,” he said gloomily. “She’s got the jury on her side, that’s plain to sec. I’m bound to say we’ve not been able to break down her story.” This was obviously true. Mrs. Fitzmauriee, charmingly dressed, with

7 an occasional appealing look towards the jury-box for protection from men who doubtless had wives and daughters, unflinchingly faced the ordeal of the witness-box. Examined, cross- , examined .re-examined, she came forth unscathed. Every penny she had ’ spent immediately following her visit ; to The Hillock was accounted for. . Each movement on the day the pearls were sold in the city, was frankly described. The Admiral, in the ruthless hands of the famous advocate who represented her, did not come off nearly so well. There was no mistaking the popular impression that he held the clue of the mystery, and that it was not without reason his wife had asked “whether by mistake or otherwise” he had taken the jewels. The inquiry was nearing the end. By sitting late it was thought it might close without further adjournment. What the result would be few people doubted. Youth and innocence, not to mention good looks, would be vindicated. A cloud would be lifted from the Fitzmauriee home, and even if nothing worse befell him the Admiral would be cast in heavy damages. Whilst matters were drifting in this direction, a note -was handed to the Judge on the Bench. He opened it, read it, re-read it, and passed it on to counsel. The Solicitor-General, who led for the defendants, and the great lawyer who championed the plaintiff, were equally struck with the contents of the mysterious communication. After grave conversation between Bench and Bar, it was arranged that the case should stand over till Tuesday morning. Then came the last chapter of the moving story, worthy in its dramatic intensity of what had gone before. The letter handed to the Judge was written by a firm of ladies’ tailors who remembered how on a day in the last week of April a lady whom they did not know called upon them, and asked them to change into notes a sum of £550 in gold which she carried in a bag . They had not so much in the till, but they directed her to their bankers close by, who met her request. Among the notes were seven each of £5O value. Through the agency of the Bank of England one of these was traced as having been paid early in May to a well-known furnishing firm, and on the back was written the name. Mabel Spencer. At this stroke the imposing structure of. defence this slight woman’s figure had through three terrible days bravely upheld crumbled to pieces. Counsel for t the plaintiff and his colleague withdrew from the case. The jury returned a verdict for the defendants in the slander case, and poor gallant Captain Fitzmauriee. too faithful to suspect where he loved, left the Court alone. His fair young wife, but yesterday a bride, was straightway arrested and detained in custody on a charge of robbing her bosom friend of her secretly treasured pearls.