Mrs Wingfield's Diamonds.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 10, 5 March 1892, Page 222

Mrs Wingfield's Diamonds.

PARALLEL TO THE GREAT PEARL CASE.

K.. I F -During the progress of the action for slander brought by retain (S on lifflfof his wife against the met many men about 'own who averred they had read similar story. In no case, however, could they state wncn ana where the; had come upon the commdent to Case.' The mystery is now cleared up. for The Hawk rcptodm es a short story which appeared in its rolutnsj m Maj W <aUi« •Mrs Wingfields Diamonds. This confe is in oery particular a facsimile of the Pearl Case, and one wonders if the author is one of these uncanny beings gifted with what is known i wight.

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EY, Kingdon '. J ust step in here a minute, 11 When his manager entered the little office where Mr Nathan, the well-known jeweller of Coldspur Street, City, was seated, that gentleman was examining a police notice with bent brows. , , ... ‘Say, Kingdon,’ he went on, does this recall anything to your mind?’ and hurrying over ‘ Stolen, from Lea Lodge, Reading, the

residence of Captain Wingfield, etc., etc.,’ he proceeded slowly, * “ A tiara of diamonds composed of eleven butterflies, the largest in the centre, and diminishing in size towards the ends. The stone forming the body of the largest butterfly has a slight Haw at the back. Any information, etc., etc. Plainly drawn up by a country policeman, but it is clear enough. What do you think ? „„„„ ‘ Oh, these are the stones we bought rrom that young lady—Miss Vance, I think—on Tuesday morning. •'No doubt of it, Kingdon, and now the question is, what are we to do ?’ . > < i *. After a moment’s silence, the manager said, Tis a lot to lose, £420, sir.’ . , . . *. i * Yes,’ his employer replied, jumping on his stool, only I haven’t lost it yet. Meanwhile 1 shall just run over to the Commissioner’s office. ’ . When Mr Nathan expressed a doubt as to his future course, he only meant that he wondered how the affair would turn out. He had no hesitation in deciding to communicate with the police—that was his duty as a lawabiding citizen ; but as he walked towards Old Jewry he resolved to cling to his purchase while he had a shred of legality on his side. . . The detective superintendent put the affair into the hands of a subordinate, and during the afternoon this man called on Mr Nathan and informed him that no such person as Miss Vance lived at Regent Mansions, which the lady who had sold the diamonds had given as her town address, and that her country residence, Ham Hall, Chippenham, had no ‘ Well,' said Mr Nathan, displaying what was to him a quite unusual confidence in human nature, * though there s clearlv something wrong, I don’t believe the girl I dealt with was a thief ; her face was too honest, and she displayed just the bashfulness that one would expect from a young lady whom a dunning dressmaker had put in a tight corner, and who saw no other way of getting out of the scrape. Look here, constable, if it wasn’t Mrs Wingfield herself, it was some friend who did the job for her. Now, see if I’m not right.’ The next day the detective returned with Captain Wingfield. That gentleman, when shown the tiara, at once recognised it, and, after some little conversation, he said, drawing a batch of photographs out of his pocket, ‘ My wife is satisfied, Mr Nathan, that none of the servants knew where these jewels were kept. I was under the impression until after this affair that only she and myself were acquainted with the secret drawer, but she now tells me that she showed it as a triumph of ingenuity to some young ladies who have been staying with us. Of course, we don’t like to suspect any of these, but nobody else could have got at it. Burglary is out of the question, as no damage was done, and the key itself —a peculiar one, by the way—must have been used.’ He laid four portraits, all of pretty girls, on the desk, and the jeweller, putting on his spectacles, glanced over them one by one. On taking up the last he at once said, ‘ That is she'. That is Miss Vance. Not a doubt of it.’

* For Heaven’s sake, take care,’ replied Captain Wingfield. * That is Miss Hila Johnstone, a particular friend of my wife’s, and belonging to an old and wealthy family living near us. Are you quite sure, Mr Nathan ?’ * Kingdon, come here a moment, please.’ When the manager entered the office Mr Nathan carefully closed the door behind him, and, handing him the photographs, asked, * Have you ever seen any of these ladies before?’ ‘ Yes,’ was the answer, given without a moment’s hesitation ; * this is Miss Vance, the lady who sold us the tiara.’ ‘ That’ll do, Kingdon, thank you. And now, sir, if you want further corroboration, I don’t mind walking with you to my bank, and it is quite possible that the clerk who paid the lady the money may recollect her.’ The same formality was gone through with the bank clerk, and with the same result. He remembered the circumstance, owing to the unusual request for gold for £420, and to the fact that the transaction occurred early in the day ; and he had no difficulty in identifying one of the photographs as that of the person who cashed the cheque. * Well, sir,’ remarked the detective, as all three left the bank, * it seems a clear case enough.’ ‘ 1 am afraid it does,’ the Captain replied, shaking his head. l lt will be a great shock to my wife, but it will also be some consolation to her to get back her diamonds. Of course, Mr Nathan, Miss Johnstone's father will pay you what you have lost.’ * Very well, I shall give them up when I get my money.' ‘Money or no money, Mr Nathan, I intend to have my wife's diamonds now. You are the receiver of stolen property, I suppose you know.’

• Buying in the City, sir, is buying in the open market, and I stick to my purchase until you have prosecuted the thief to conviction.’

‘ That’s so, sir,’ said the detective. ‘ And may I ask you. Captain, if your lady knew you were bringing up these photos ?’ the jeweller continued. ‘ No, she did not, for she did not believe that any of her friends were guilty, so to bring them up was an idea of my ° W,I WeII, sir, I’d recommend you to tell her what has occurred before you let the police do any more. It was Miss Johnstone called on me, but if I know anything of faces she is no thief.’ ... ~ , ‘ But what about the false name ? And how could she have got the diamonds out of a secret drawer without stealing ! Eh, Mr Nathan ?’ ‘ The false name is nothing, sir. We’re accustomed to that. And, as to the other, I have a notion of my own. Well, sir, good morning. Do as you like, but take my advice and leave the police alone until you’ve sifted the affair a little more.’ . . Captain Wingfield was surprised by the way in which his wife received the news. At first she was sceptical, then as he related the evidence he had obtained belief gained upon her, and before he had finished she seemed assured of her friend’s guilt. ‘ Now I remember,’ she said, ‘ how awfully curious that girl was about the drawer, and where I kept my keys, asking if I were quite sure none of the servants knew of my cache, and so on. What a minx I And what earthly object could Ella have, since she always has plenty of money ? Walter, we can rietrer prosecute.’ ‘ I suppose not, but I must tell Mr Johnstone, and let him get you back your diamonds.’ ‘ Oh, isn’t it shocking, Walter ! It will break her mother’s heart, and if Charlie Hare hears of it their marriage will never come off.’ ‘ Hare will know nothing of it, dear ; I shall have a quiet chat with the parents and Ella, and she will own up, I dare say, and the thing be finished with.’ ‘ Don’t,’ Mrs Wingfield begged. ‘ There will be a lot of unpleasantness. Buy back the things yourself, and we shall cut Ella in future. Perhaps the poor girl is a kleptomaniac, or had some very urgent need of money. Let us hush it up.’ ‘ Don’t be a fool, Lucy,’ her husband said rudely. ‘ Shall we lose £4OO in order to avoid wounding the susceptibilities of a person who has robbed us ? Nonsense I’ ‘lt is not nonsense,’ she replied, sharply. ‘ The diamonds were mine, and I should prefer to lose them rather than cause a lot of pain to the Johnstones, who have been so kind to us.’

Hot words followed, and at length the husband pretended to give way, while inwardly resolving to follow the matter up. The truth was that he was then shorter of money than he cared to let his wife think, and he hoped that the Johnstones would be more anxious than he to hush the story up ; and remembering, too, the air of conviction with which the jeweller had hinted at a mystery, he wanted to unravel it if it were there.

He was, however, disappointed in the attitude of the Johnstones. As soon as they had gathered the purport of their visitor’s story, the mother paled and then reddened, and was about to reply angrily, when she was interrupted by her husband with, ‘ My God, Wingfield, if it were anybody but you who said such a thing, I should kick him out of the house.’ Rushing to the bell-rope he rang a tremendous peal, and, while waiting for a servant, kept muttering, ‘ My Ella a common robber ! Someone will get a flogging for this. A thief ; a robber ! Send Miss Ella up at once—at once, do you hear !’ A tall, dark, handsome girl entered, and was walking towards Wingfield, with extended hand, when Mr Johnstone cried, ‘ Stop, Ella I That gentleman has come to tell us that you are a robber.’ She stopped as if shot, staggered, and only saved herself from falling by grasping the back of a chair and guiding herself to a seat. Then she stared, first at one and again at another, while her lips moved, but without uttering a sound.

Wingfield again hastily ran over the information he had obtained, laying stress on the identification of the photograph by three persons, and he requested Mr Johnstone before thinking him unjust to see the jeweller himself. ‘ I never did it father, never I’ was all that Ella could ejaculate, but her silent distress, nay, horror, was more eloquent than any flow of words, and it drove the father to fury. ‘ Leave my house, sir,’ he cried, ‘ while I can keep my hands off you, and if I have to go to the House of Lords for redress, I shall find some means of punishing your infamous libel.’ Mr Johnstone’s first impulse was to bring his daughter face to face with Mr Nathan, and while they were making preparations for the journey to London, Charlie Hare, Ella’s betrothed, called. Mr Johnstone told him the story in half-a-dozea wrathful sentences, and he was as indignant as the father, and easily acceded to a proposal that he should accompany them. It was a curious group that assembled that afternoon in the office in Goldspur-street. The father and lover stood towards the back of the little room, in the middle of which, under the gas-jet that flared constantly for about eleven months in every year, Ella stood with pale face and frightened eyes. Apparently undisturbed by the threatening tones in which the father had asked him if he had ever seen that young lady before, Nathan calmly wiped his spectacles, surveyed her, and then said with a smile : ‘ You sold me a diamond tiara the other morning ; you are Miss Vance.’

• You lie I’ Mr Johnstone said fiercely, ‘ she is Miss Johnstone.’ The jeweller raised his eyebrows. ‘ She told me her name was Vance, and her address 3, Regent Mansions, and Ham Hall, hear Chippenham. Here Kingdon I’ ‘ Kingdon, have you seen this young lady before ! Just so—Miss Vance, to whom we paid £420 for diamonds on Tuesday last. That’ll do, Kingdon, thank you. Now, sir, if you like I shall send for the bank-clerk.’ ‘ No. sir, you need not. There is some damned conspiracy of which you and that precious Wingfield are at the bottom, and my daughter is the victim.. I shall get my lawyer to ferret into it, a plain man has no chance among you. Come away, Ella : come, Charlie.’ Silently they filed out of the little office and through the shop into the cab which waited for them at the door, Nathan watching them thoughtfully. ‘ I wonder what the truth of the affair is ; I should like to hear the end of it. However I shan’t part with the stones until conviction, and I doubt if that’ll ever come.’ ‘ I say, Ella,’ her lover suddenly said, soon after the train had left Paddington, ‘ what’s become of that maid of Mrs Wingfield’s? You told me, I think that she was leaving, and you tried to persuade her to come to you.’ ‘ I think she has gone abroad, Charlie,’ the girl replied wearily. ‘ She talked of getting married, but I’m sure I don’t know.’ ‘ Where did she belong to ?’ ‘ Some part of Yorkshire, but when I last saw her she was in lodgings over at Summerford, preparing to get married. Why do you ask ?’ • I hardly know, Ella, only an idea occurred to me. Is she not a rather lady-like girl ?’ ‘ Yes, very. Mrs Wingfield has told me that Studdy was very respectably born.’ A rather warm correspondence passed between the Wingfields and Johnstones, and some reports reached the latter which showed that the affair was being talked about in the neighbourhood. Thereupon Mr Johnstone, on behalf of his daughter, entered an action for slander against Captain and Mrs Wingfield; and at the same time the latter served notice on Mr Nathan prohibiting him from parting with the diamonds. Ella remained at home, rarely going out of doors, overwhelmed naturally by the accusation against her character ; and her grief was not diminished by the fact that she had not seen or heard anything of Charlie Hare since the day of their visit to Mr Nathan. A week had passed when Ella, looking from her window, saw a horseman whom she recognized as one of Captain Wingfield’s servants ride hastily up to the house and deliver a letter. Guessing that the communication had some reference to her trouble, she was about to go downstairs, when her mother rushed into the room breathless, and throwing her arms about Ella burst into tears, saying amid her tears, ‘lt is all right; you are cleared, my child.’ The girl started, and almost thrusting her mother aside, snatched the open letter from her hand, and while the blood mounted to her forehead and her bosom heaved she read :—

Dear Mrs Johnstone.—Just a hurried line to say that we have this moment had an explanation of this wretched affair, and, though there was every excuse for our wrongful suspicions, we cannot tell you how grieved we feel at the pain caused to your family. My wife and I will call in an hour or so to tell you the rest. Believe me. dear Mrs Johnstone. Very truly yours, Walter Wingfield. Mrs Johnstone set off to find her husband, who was somewhere about the stables, while Ella sat as in a stupor, holding the letter in her hand. Presently Charlie Hare was announced, and when Ella saw him her eyes brightened, and she held out the letter with a smile, which, however, faded when she saw the cold hard expression of his face. ‘ I don’t understand that note,’ she faltered. ‘ I suppose not,’ he replied, ‘ but this may help you. I have brought it from Mrs Wingfield.’ He handed her a letter, which ran thus :—

Dear Madam,—l take the liberty of writing to you because I hear an innocent young lady is accused of something she never done. Dear Madam, the morning you were showing Miss Johnstone and the other young ladies your secret drawer, and telling the way to open it, I was in your dressing-room, and heard every word. Me and my young man were wanting to get married, but hadn’t the money, and then I thought of it, and couldn’t get it out of my head, though I tried. Well, the very next evening you went out with the master to dine, and left your keys in vour teagown, and before you came back I had the diamonds. That same evening me and my young man arranged to get married at once and cross the sea, as we shall be doing when you get this. The way I sold them was like this. One evening, just for fun, I dressed myself in a hat and costume of Miss Johnstone’s and I met Mr Purkis in the avenue, and he touched his hat to me, and my young man told me that with these clothes anybody would mistake me for Miss Johnstone. Next morning I started early, pretending I was going to Summerford, but I went to London, and I had on under my cloak the grey dress that Miss Johnstone is so fond of, and her favourite brooch with the big ruby in it. Nobody suspected I wasn't a lady, and I was back again and in my own clothes by two o'clock, with £420 in sovereigns in my bag. lam downright sorry, though, that Miss Johnstone should be suspected ; but only for the money I could never have got married, so please, dear Madam, forgive your humble servant Emily (late) Studdy.

When Ella had finished reading this curious epistle she looked up at her lover’s face but her eyes at once fell. In spite of an obvious effort to steady his voice it trembled as he said, holding out his hand.

‘ Good-bye, I am going on a shooting expedition to Africa, and shall not be back for two or three years. For no other soul—certainly not for myself—would I have bribed a servant into making a false confession. And, Ella, I may now claim to give you a word of advice. Don’t gamble any more at the Calypso, and if you do, don’t give 1.0. I .’s that you can’t meet. Circumstances may not always be so auspicious as in this case. ’ ‘ Better go up to your mistress,’ Hare said to a servant whom he met on the stairs ; ‘ I think she has fainted.’