THE DOVERFIELD DIAMONDS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XC, Issue 13298, 29 May 1907, Page 2

THE DOVERFIELD DIAMONDS.

I folded this .singular missive and placed it in my safest pocket before I spoke. Then

" \Miere are you stopping, Josephine, at Madam's house, 01 V' "No, indeed, sir; in a private hotel in Dover-street, Green's. Madam said she expected to be awful busy and didn't want to be bothered by callers, and. invitations, and she's going to take me with her,'she says; on some business matter. She thinks I'm so dumb and stupid that I'm quite sare." * .

k 'So "much the bitter. Monsieur and his man still quiet?'! "I- should think -so. We hardly see either one- any more, and never see both at once. The valet comes and goes like a spook. Monsieur eemed grumpy, so Madam said,' at our tom.n' up, and we hadn't seen the man all day. But he turned' up. and as polite as you please, to meet us at the railway station. ' Monsieur's orders,' he said. An' now I must go. How I wish I dared go to. see Miss Devereaux." ' •, I sent her back in a cab, and as soon as I had swallowed my breakfast, I hurried to th? residence of Dr. Bird, told him of the girl's visit, and showed him Madam Bartheline's letter. " She must be arrested,'" he fumed. "It's blackmail: This letter shows it. • Can't TOli "

" Listen," I broke in. " Yes, I have 'earned much within twenty ; four hours, and I begin to see my way in this jewel ease. But—you must stand in the breach a little longer;for I must- .give up the •rr'-rJi few days to Wraylands- and its .affairs. I am leaving London." " But—man!—what "

"Wait; I must be present, if possible, when thes etwo me a t. -If. Ido not misread Madam's letter—which Mrs'. Doverfield must not see- " Thank Heaven for that!"

"As I say, I think I comprehend it's meaning, and, if so, Mada'm B will be in a very bad temper when she appears before Mr*. Doverfield. You must write to her. Tell her that you patient has' consulted you, and that you hope in three of four days—to be able to admit her. to the sick room. And when you hear from me, let th? lady come. I shall probably meet her at the threshold. There are cliances of a failure, but—there'll be no more playing at the game, my dear doctor-. It's war to the hilt now."

What I now relate of the movements of Madam for the next two .days T learned later from Josephine and others. It seems that Madam had entrusted to her solicitors, Messrs Birdsall and Birdsall, certain documents,,.claims and deeds, to be acted upon according to her instruct ion*, and a letter from these gentlemen • had lately informed • her that; " in th> interest of her- business" is would bj well for her to appoint a meeting, and scon. . Ihe details of this interview I neither desired nor obtained, but Messrs Birdsall were a'little cooler than usual, and they wore a somewhat injured .air. as, placing before Madam a number of documents having eveiy appearance; of worth 'and legal value, they pointed out whereing lay ("hj -:r ." weakness " and, sad. to say, their

" worthlessness." ' " ' . " W cannot- in the least, understand it, Madam," declared the elder Birdsall,\ " but th> facts are there. These. documents se:m to convey to you, by party of the first pr.rt, tliese certain properties inJJa r aica." Here followed a reading of the paperer "The fact- is. there are no such properties. In each case-; the lots, blocks, sections bear numbers and- letters that do ..not exist, either upon the records or in fact. It's a bold imposition, and can only be set right by having ,the party 'of the first part brought before the courts of the island, and the imposition or • error — the latter seems .hardly possible——" But heie Madam, showing signs of faintness, interposed it. torrent of agitated and rather unbusinesslike questions, and, ' receiving scant satisfaction and no encouragement, murmured something about consulting a brother then away from London, and went away. It took until luncheon, as Josephine. reported, to recover her poise, and then she ence mora sallied forth, this time on foot and fully garbed, but closely veiled.

She visited that afternoon a retired dealer in rare jewels, who lived somewhat secluded, and was not widely known. And after him die called upon two 'Others, not e'ircd," but who bought privately articles of value-that were usually sold—elsewhere. lo each of these Madam exhibited a velvet cast-, containing half a dozen unset irr nes of fine size and lustre, and by each she was given the same amazing assurance. The jewels were fine imitations, but of small value.

Madam was sceptical and haughty, and Le<cc day she consultt-ed a list of pawnbroker.*-: and paid visits to two or' three of them.

Meanwhile she had received a very polite note from Dr. Bird, and on the evening of the third day she penned a really pathetic reply to this hard-hearted man of medicine. Then for a little time she waited. But she did not visit her house, and Josephine led a strenuous existence.

It was on Tuesday night that. Nancv had announced Madam's coming, and on Wednesday morning, that Josephine had pre-, senfced the letter, and on that same evening the last train out of London carried to Wraylands two passengers and one letter. The passengers were very unostentatious, and on ariivel lost no time in disappearing behind "Aunt JeiA's door" The letter addressed to Monsieur and displaying the captain's monogram announced that, " all being well," himself and the ladies would try to join itheir friend at Wraylands on Saturday eve, or Sunday at the latest. ■"

On the previous Sunday evening, as Aunt Jem was able' to inform us " that new gardener" came home awful late and horribly drunk. Green Jones was afraid he would keep it up once he had begun. He seemed that kind, Green thought, and Green must have been right, for on the night of Madam's depart '-re, Lane again forgot his duty; and N amy, being clothed with authority, dismissed him' " 611 the spot."

We also learned that Ton to had got into disgrace by being too vociferous at. night, and had been banished to the. rear of the stables.

Nancy was surely a wag in her grim way, for on Thursday morning die called over ilis telephone. " Jemiipa," she said, " if you've got any of that rheumatiz medicine of yourn, I wish you'd put a little in a bottle an' send it to me by that French vallay; he's here now, an' I'm goin' to holler down when he starts back an' ask him to bring it out when he brings Mounseer's letters. I've got a 'dose of rheumatiz . bad, an' can't hardly get up and down stairs, an' its lucky Mounseer' doesn't need waiting on." She detailed all her household troubles for "Aunt Jem's edification, not to mention that of the " vallay," whom she knew to be in hearing; and ended thus : " Seems if everything's upside down; what with that drunken gardener, an' me as good's a cripple; an' here comes word las' night that Green's uncle Silas is down with pumonia-, and they're afraid he may get very bad." When we were told all this Landis and I exchanged pleased glances. All things were in train, it seem id; and now we had only to await the final signal. It came next morning, and by another of Nancy's bits of cleverness. Prom our room in the lodge we could see Green Jones, dressed in his Sunday suit, and looking solemn, as he

knocked at. the door. ' _ " Jemima," we heard him say, '"I xnusfc go to my uncle 'Silas to-night; I've got to sit, up with him, an' ye know; how bad Nancy-is.",-"Yes." I could picture Aunt ' Jem's quid nod. '' She wants to know if ye couldn't come over an' stop wiLli her to-night. She feels a feit lonesome, only her and the maid, and that there invalid."

" Good gracious!" ejaculated Aunt Jem! "I'd be no good there, tell Nancy. But I'll run over. an' see her in the coursei of the d'ay, though I rather expect company."'

There was still one question that troubled me—a lilt'c. We knew from Kenyon that the valet was at the London house still; . and Monsieur was keeping "very clove," according t-o Nancy, at Wraylands. We alsoy knew, thanks to Josephine, how it was that the valet, who came and went almost invisibly, was "in reality Monsieur in his valet's disguise. That there could be but one of tliem at Wraylands we now felt assured, -and Hal . and I were discussing this. ,

; "Of course," I said, " you have seen enough of Wraylands to know how easily with no one occupying the front of the house, a man could slip out at the north door, dodge behind the row of shi'ubbeiy, and be' at once out of sight below the slope, where he has only to turn about, take to the highway, and appear presently coming, apparently, from London. . I've played that trick myself, in my youthful days.'"''- " Yes, that. is plain," replied Landis. " With the men always, or almost- always, in the stables or at the back of the house, and the women ) about their daily tasks, one needs only to know where these few people are, at any given' time,: to : come and go, seen or unseen, almost at will. The question is ~ which is the real Monsieur ? The man here, or—there?" nodding London,ward.

" That at present is the one knothole—in this case—that I can't seem to . see through. -Usually, since my eyes have been opened, I can determine which is the real _Monsieur by-his extreme reserve. But Kenyon reports the valet att' the cottage as almost invisible, find Nancy and Lane declare that Monsieur has maintained his usual out-of-s'ight policy by day, and has given up almost altogether his ' night prowling and hammock swinging; while his valet, so called, has flitted to and fro infrequently, and when likely to be seen, only at long range. If my calculations are not altogether at 1 fault, the psychological moment will have come to-nigiit, and iif Meyrick wishes to coriie to Wraylands, andha3 reasons still for desiring Tonto's death—that dog is alive to-day by a " I should sav so. "

"Then—all this, I believe -the man and his motive will appear within the next twenty-four hours ac the lorigeit." " The man . . .' Ah, then . . . Who is the man, Jasper?" "Meyrick!"

1 " Let me ■explain myself, old man, where Ralph Meyrick is concerned. . It will be for the first time to any When I followed. Monsieur's valet to the Hargis house that day—the d'ay the steamer '. you know- —I thought I x was- following Meyrick. Before I left him,'l knew I was wrong. And then, for'many days, I was at a loss. I had little reason, if any, to suspect Madam's brother, ,or even herself, at any time. Then later I recalled Craig's first uoubt-, which, however, he would hardly admit -then, because of Madam's resemblance to an adventuress he had. seen in Paris, and I asked myself if Monsieur and Meyrick could'by any possibility be identical? I set .Kenyon ,to. watch. This resulted in nothing; because,'as. we know now, the Monsieur who appeared' in public, who dined with Ma.dam'a friends, and at the hotel table sometimes, was the man who played the valet. Then I dined in the company of Madam's brother, and was sure it was not Meyrick, who played this role.": '"You say played?" ■ . > u "Yes, but wait. I have told you of the strange impression Kenyon at that time cofifided to me, as of a man with two personalities, and of the expert scientist whom I Sent to the-hotel. Biit I did not tell you that this man of keen eyes had a metnod, peculiar to himself, of judging accurately at a distance, not too great, of course—aided by a little mechanical machine used by the Bertillon people, and one of their newest discoveries. This mail's report puzzled me at first."'

"He had contrived to be at hand, when Monsieur went to and from his carriage; he drove with Madam, at first, but soon substituted the valet, 'for reasons best known to himself. The;report was, briefly shorn by technicalities, that Monsieur's, heightvaried by half an inch, from time to time; that the droop of his shoulders was not always quite the same;- and, stranger still, the measurements of Monsieur's valet, as well as- the variations from time to "time, were the same as thoise of Monsieur."

Hal's mouth shaped a whistle. Then he swore, softly and wonderingly. " But," \I hastened on, "my conceit got a fall, when, at the dinner given by Madam, JEnid Devereaux, who sat next him on the side where t-lie fullest light itruck his face, discovered that Monsieur was disguised. Of : course, * I made light of ' it, called it merely the vanity , of an invalid. But I redoubled my own watchfulness, and added t'o my watchers'. I put the girl Josephine—but that's another story;; a,nd concerns—almost entirely—another case." " M—'the Doverfield case-?" he said, as if to himself.

" Finally," I went on, ignoring his interpolation, "it all came down to this. The man, whether, he ,were called .Monsieur or yalet, who went about by day, as I have often before said, wasa Iways the man whom I had followed from the railway station to the Hargis house. The one who shunned •the light of day, and who was . only visible, as an invalid and shut in, se&n in 'a dim cathedral light,' and always as ithe stately invalid, in high heels and a top-hat, who was met by Madam Barthelme, and left the station in her carriage—well. I have compared the Bertillon measurements of my man of science, with these latter of Meyrick four year agd, when he was sentenced. . Well, when I tell you that Monsieur jn costume, wore, the higher heels, square shoulder pads,,and top-hats always, and that ,the valet', in character, wpre always very low heels, and assumed a rounded back and drooping 'shoulders, I think you have about all I'know—up to date." And then I ceased to talk about the puzzle.

It was a strange situation, and it was telling upon us both a bit. There was nothing now, but to wait for developments. The early evening wore on ; we. heard . about nine o'clock the sound of the train for Lon don thundering in the distance ; then • a half hour of si'enc.

■Suddenly the outer door was flung open, and some one ssemed to dash straight to our door. Wo heard Aunt Jem's voice raised in inquiry, and the door was flung inward, and Nancy Banks, her eyes~.blazing with excitement, sprang in. " I haven't time to explain, Jemima," she declared over her shoulder. "Mr Jasper, do you know what that is ?" She w:as holding isomething out before my face, and she let me pluck it from her hand. The thing was simply a man's scarf, soft, fine, and daintily made. I eyed it with wonder.... "A man's scarf, and a good one," was all I ventured.

" A man's scarf ; yes ! I knew it at first glance. It's a scarf that poor Daphne Meyrick made for that beast. An' I found it in the roan's room, not half an hour ago." " Explain, Nancy—-and please calm your-

self; time now may be of value." "A little before nine o'clock," she begaij, «Mr 'V,allay' came to my-door, all die-.sed to-.go out, an' lie says, ' Mrs. Banks, mon - eeer desires me to tell you that you must not trouble about him any more to-night. I left him quite comfortable, and he has gone to bed. lam going to London by thj nine fxpress. It's a commission from Monseer, an' I shall return by the ten tomorrow night, he says, an' then he [asks after my' rheumatiz. I told him I was pretty staff and lame, an' would be glad not to have to climb the stairs. He said he was goin' across the medder, and I listened till I heard him leave the house, an' then opened the chicken door an'—called , .the cat.", ' ' r ;.i , I looked at Landis and smiled. minute," she went on, " I seen somebody glidin' along behind the bushe-:, an' wont back an' waited till I heard the train. 3;hen I went upstairs. I said to myself, if \rfi.at you'd said was true', I was goin' to see the inside of that bedroom of Mounseer's on,ce, anyhow! I called—in ease there should', be any one 'there,- an' then I tried the door. Of course, it was and 'cordin'-io your directions, I had an extra key. ,Weir, sir, the man had high-heeled boots,J-ari' with no heels at all, an' coats padded in ihe shoulders, and some across the back. There was. a-couple of boxes in the -top drawer that I couldn't open. An' now see liow ; a man will build a big fence all round' himself, to hide behind, and then go off, and leave the gate open some tine day. There was a whole box of neckties and scarves on the" dressing-table—dozens of ties-' He always did keep a host of such things, an' 1 s'pose that's Jiow t'he feller came still to have this one tie, out of half a dozen she made him, live year ago. My soul, Air Jasper," her face blazing out wrath once inoi'e, *' d'you realise thai: man is Ralph Meyrick?" ' ■ ; " Yes, Nancy,. I have .suspected it for some time. But I had no such proof as this." And then the telephone 'bell broke in on Q.ur ispeach, and Nancy caught her breath.

• " I must go back," she said nervously. "Wait," 1 called, and took down the "receiver. As I had expected, the summons was ffom. Kenyon. He had not reported before that day, and what he had to say startled me a bit.

"Is that you, sir! Yes; quiet all day, but to-night Mr Yalet left town. He took tha half .past eight for Wraylands. I saw him go with a gladstone bag in a second class smoker. He's on the way; no mistake, sir . . . any orders?" "• Yes. He won't come back, I fancy—tomorrow. You may go and put yourself at the disposal of Mr Craig, until further' notice." I hung .up the receiver, and turned' to Nancy. "Are you sure the man. took the.train;, that he's really gone?" I asked her. ~ i

" My! I hadn't got to that. I'm that excited. Yes, i ran across and waited by tha stile till Lane came up. I knew he wouldn't wait no time, an' he ''said,.:' yes, he went, an' ha didn't lose no time neither.' " ...'

I looked at my watch. " Let's see, the train from London will be here at . .

" Eleven five," said Landis, who had caught up a time-table at first mention: of the trains. / '

Very good-! Tell the men, Nancy, that, our man will be down -by the first train;"'! "Which man?" j " Meyrick, I hope; we shall come a little before that time." - ' (To be continued.) Mrs Jessie Lomas, Gladstone, Q., writes I strongly advise, every, parent' to keep a bottle of Chamberlain's Coiigh Remedy in the house, and I always make a point of telling _my friends of the' recovery of my son. v For .11 years he had; suffered from acute bronchitis, and though. I had him try a lot, of things, nothing; seemed to give him permanent relief.' A medical man advised me to get Chamberlain's Cough Remedy, and I did so. A decided improvement was noticed /"before, the first bottle was usfed, and I am pleased to state that after he had taken four bottles, he wits completely cured, and is now enjoying the best of health. For sale everywhere....

Did you'ever stop to think that' Chamberlain's Pain Balm is an antiseptic- liniment-, and when applied, to cuts, bums, bruises, causes them to heal without maturation, and in about one-third of the time of any other treatment? Fer ssl« everywhere... •, •• . Mr A. Adams, Havelock, Marlborough, X.Z., says : —" I, consider that Chamberlain's tablets are an A.I. remedy, and the most efficient procurable for all disorders of the stomach, liver, and bowels. I have used them for some-time, deriving the, greatest benefit, and .have every confidence in recommending them to all in need of stich a medicine. For sale everywhere....