THE BABYLONIAN DIAMOND

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 455, 19 January 1905, Page 2

THE BABYLONIAN DIAMOND

COPYRIGHT.

CHAPTER XXV. (Continued.) f Eaven immediately rose and went towards Douglass's room. Pushing open the door, he was greeted with the aroma of freshly-brewed tea, the scent of flowers, and the brightness of- unusual colours. Mrs and Miss Stanhope were sitting by Douglass's "office table, now transformed for domestic uses, and Douglass himself was bending over his fiancee, pointing some little joke which was apparently directed against Mrs Stanhope. It was one of those little pantomimes which are often improvised in family circles, harmless even to the point of feebleness, but full of interest to those concerned, as they are always an expression of joyous happiness. 'AhI I am glad you hare come, Mr Ferrett,* said Mrs Stanhope, extending her hand. 'Your presence may help me in keeping these two in order; they are trying their utmost to forget they are no longer children.' Raven shook hands with Mrs Stanhope", as he said, V ,*l shall do my .utmost to play the part of wet blanket.' • Ko, no,* interposed Maude, as she also greeted Raven; 'yon must not mind mamma. We have really not been playing about much, have we, Mr Douglass f ' And if we hed, I should hesitate to confess having set such a bad example in the bank.' The conversation, light and bodiless, was very enjoj able— enjoyable even to Raven, although these chance meetings with the girl he loved, and these exhibitions of joy which another was privileged to find in her company, always set thfi. old chords throbbing and aching in his heart once more. ' I have a hit of good news for all of you,' said Raven. «Oh I lam so glad to hear that,' said Maude, and it was obrious from her eager manner that she thought the news must be in connection with the missing jewel. Douglass, too, looked anxiously excited. 'I have heard on reliable authority that PeTlyss has joined an Antarctic expedition- The story of his blue diamond has therefore effectually removed him.' •I'm very glad to hear it,' said Mrs Stanhope, with indignant emphasis. ' Such men are a pest to Society," ' Well, he will now be as great a nuisance to himself as he has so long been to us,' said Raven, laughing. •It seems a curious thing to me,* said Mrs Stanhope,' 'that nothing has as yet come of the search for the

real diamond. One would have K, thought it should be easy to discover a unique gem of this description—unique in colour and form.' 'Bat then, you see, Mrs Stanhope,' said Raven, «the very fact that it is so unique, ard so easily recognisable, is against us. The thieves know this as well as we do, and we must assume that they are concealing it until they can have it cat.' * Rat do you think they can do that V asked Maude, eagerly. * Certainly it is to be done,' replied Raven; * but then Scotland Yard is --. -rH?r is supposed to be—watching all places to which it would bo sent Z&t this purpose. They have even the. expert diamond-cutters under personal observation; bssides which, they have their own agents in the trade, who would give information the first moment the gem was heard of.' * And if matters remained like this,' asked Douglass, * what would be the eventual result?' *Ob, it would be kept for several years,'said Baven; 'until the search for it slackened. Then we should hear of the pretended discovery of a \ wonderful new diamond—and thus, after a pretended discovery, and the pretended cutting by "engaged con-

PUBLISHED BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT.

federates—the stone would be restored to the world's notice.'

A tap on the door now put an end to the conversation, and on Douglass singing out, 'Come in,' a clerk entered, bearing a card. It was the card of Mr Petherick, and the clerk added that the gentleman declared his business to be urgent. •Can I see him in your room, Raven ?*

'Why not- see him here?' asked Mrs Stanhope. ♦ I should much like to see him; so, if you have no objection, perhaps he has none.' ' Ask him to come in here, then,' said Douglass, and the clerk withdrew.

Mr Petherick very shortly afterwards entered the room. He had an air of solemn, portentious gravity, and held his head in the air with a sort of stiff-necked sternness which almost made Douglass hesitate to invite him to descend to such ordinary matters as an introduction to the ladies present. ' If you have no objection, Mr Petherick,' said Douglass, 'to speaking before these ladies, I have" none, and so we may discuss matters here.' 'My business is of a public nature —a painful public nature, I may say,' exclaimed Mr Petherick; ' and as it must be very generally known within a very short period to. the public generally, I need the less hesitate to speak of it now.' * It- is, I hope, in connection with the diamond V asked Douglass. •It is.* * Your search, I hope, has been, at last successful?' *lt has. I have come on the painful duty of bearing a warrant for the arrestof the thief.' ' The arrest!' exclaimed Douglass, quite astonished. 'Yes,' said Mr Petherick, with grave imperturbability; 'and I am. sorry to say that the thief, or rather the alleged thief, is in your employ, and is one Luker Hirst.' ' Luker Hirst!' Douglass stared aghast at the detective. Raven clenched his teeth. The precipitancy of Sophie Darke at this juncture was spoiling his plans. * Will you kindly request Mr Hirst to step this way ?' asked Petherick. Enquiry, however, elicited the fact that Hirst had left the bank. ' He has gone to the Dolphin Hotel, Maidenhead,' said Raven. •He told me of his plans.' ' Then I must be off at once,' said Petherick. 'But he will return here in the morning,* said Raven, innocently. ' Justice never waits,' said Mr Petherick. and with a bow he withdrew.

Raven, however, breathed more freely. Petherick's wild-goose chase would give Hirst time to go to Solomons and obtain the diamond.

CHAPTER XXVI.. The incrimination of Luker Hirst was a shock to Douglass. The man had always enjoyed his chief's confidence, and even great as was his desire to obtain the restoration of the diamond, the loss was hardly so great as .the loss of reputation in the case of such a man as Hirst. And yet at the moment, as thoughts flashed and crowded on his mind, one picture shone distinct and suggestive. It wa3 that of Luker Hirst and Sophie Darke in the music-hall—an incident which hardly attracted his attention at tho time, but now shone vividly before him, and seemed fraught with meaning.

Raven Ferrett took his leave of the ladies almost immediately. Hurrying to his room, he typed off this unsigned note to Hirst—

* Not a moment to lose. Go to Solomons, Pike Street, Whitechapel; the blue diamond is there. Obtain it, and restore it to the bank at once.'

Raven know that he had intervened to arrest the process of law already by sending Petherick on a wildgoose chase to Maidenhead; and he refrained, from a motive of prudence, from writing an autograph note to Hirst, or calling on him personally. The type-writer has a usefulness in avoiding recognisable individuality, and so, as he did not intend signing the note, he -couched the wording so definitely that Hirst should easily know from whom the mysterious instructions arrived. Raven/having prepared his missive, himself left the bank, and making his way into the surging mass of vehicles in Cheapside, gave the note to a cabman to deliver. Then he went home to his chambers.

Marnham Hardy was finishing a novel, and, by good luck, it pleased him; so that he had neglected his rank cigars, and was in a good humour. It was about an incomprehensible woman who loved a man she could not marry, and married a man she could not love. The curiously-related trio met under exceptional circumstances towards the end of the book, and then the author wrote 'Finis.' Hardy praised the book highly, and explained it to Raven, so far as the swing and incidents went. 'But what do thty do?' asked . Raven. •You are \o imagine what you like. about that,' 'ln other words, the author starts a story, and I am to finish it.' 'Who over knows the finish of a life story ?' and Hardy showed some desperate symptoms of the new literature mania. 'We look through the window, and people pass and repass. They interest us while within view, and then pass out of our sight. That is the view an artist should take of life.' ' Well, if you can be interested by it,' said Raven, ♦it is all right; but as for me, I like more than a window view of my subjects.' ' And yet if we apply the theory,' said Hardy, ' you will find that it is only a window-view we get of most things. Take, as an instance, your search for the diamond. You have been feeding me on scraps, and yet I have been thoroughly interested and satisfied.' ' But then I told you each time all I knew.' 'And so does my author,' said Hardy. ' Well, well,' said Raven,' I think I shall be able to complete my story very shortly; I feel almost sure we are very near the end now.' ' Bravo, old chap 1 I am awfully glad to hear it. What is the present stage?'

' That I have found and converted the thief. He has gone asm? agent, to endeavour to obtain the d : amond, and to restore it to the bank.'

Eaven furnished Hardy with all the details of the case as it stood.

• And now you see,' he concluded, ' Hirst must be successful within the next few hours, or it will be too late for him to retrieve. Indeed, all my hopes are centred on his success, as it is only by the employment of such an agent—one trusted by the receiver —that. I can hope to outdistance my Oriental rivals—the Mahatmas, as you call them. I shall expect with the next few hours to have the diamond placed in my hand by Hirst. Then, even when arrested, little can be done, for lack of proof/ Hour by hour passed by, however, and there was no sign of Hirst, and at length Raven and Hardy went out for a stroll, and also with an unexpressed curiosity to see the special late editions of the evening papers. No news, however, reached them by this or any other means, and at length they were obliged to retire for the night. Early the next morning Raven entered Hardy's room, and shaking that young gentleman roughly by the shoulder, he called out—- ' Wake up, man, wake up! Here's sensational news if you will.' Raven pointed to an article headed 'Tragedy in the East End.' Together they read through the account hurriedly, skipping the reporter's descriptive verbiage, and getting at once to the facts. The murdered man was Solomons, the marine store dealer, of Pike Street; his alleged

murderer gave the name of Luker Hirst, and described himself as the head clerk of the well-known banking firm of Pirn, Douglass, and Pirn. The arrest was effected by the celebrated detective, Mr Stephen Petherick, and a sensational circumstance was that Mr Petherick had a warrant for the arrest of Hirst for the theft of the Great Babylonian Diamond, and was in pursuit of Hirst at the time when he was discovered under such suspicious circumstances as to warrant his arrest on the still graver charge of having murdered the Jew. The police, it was announced, as it usually is 'so announced in such cases, observed the greatest reticence with regard to the facts; but it was currently reported that Solomons was regarded by the police as the receiver of the diamond. CHAPTEITxXVII.

Whether Luker Hirst was innocent or guilty, his power of stating the truth—if he were so willing—was hampered by absurd restrictions which practically make a still tongue the only wise policy for a prisoner to pursue. Hirst maintained an easy and unconcerned demeanour, not unmixed with dignity,.throughout the curious incident in which he had boen involved, which proclaimed him at least a hardened and callous criminal, or a man so confident of his innocence as to be unmovad by the peril of his position, and so sure of the good esteem of his friends as to rely on their remaining steadfast to him thioughout his trial. When he was taken to the police-station he simply replied 'Not guilty 1' to the charge, and asked to be allowed to see a solicitor. He further averred that he had many friends who would be willing and anxious to bail him out if he apprised them of his position ; but as he supposed that bail under the circumstances, could not be granted, he would not trouble them. The inspector who was taking down the charge smiled at the suggestion of bail, bub at once complied with the request to see a solicitor. One was accordingly soon engaged, and with his assistance Hirst committed a statement to writing, which, in spite of the warning that it would be used in evidence against him, he persisted in handing in. The statement; after the assertion. that he was entirely innocent of having caused, or contributed to, the death of Isaac Solomons, went on to to say that, in consequence of information One had received, he thought it probable that the ' Babylonian Diamond,' as it is called, might be in the possession of Solomons, and with the object of asking and entreating him to restore the jewel, he had called on him. He had an interview with Solomons, who did not confess that he hpd the

diamond in his possession, but from his manner Hirst thought there were some grounds for the belief. Then Solomons left the shop in which Hirst was standing, and went into the' parlour, ill-lighted and almost dark, behind the shop. Hirst thought it probable that he went for the diamond". He had gone but a minute or two when Hirst heard a deep groan and a cry for help, and rushing into the parlour he turned up the gas jet, which had been alight but had been turned down very low, and saw Solomons lying on the floor, quite motionless, and, as it afterwards appeared, dead. A few moments later Mr Petherick and two constables forced in tho door, entered, and arrested him.

At the police-court this statement was handed in, and formal evidence of the arrest having been given, the prisoner was remanded pending the result of the inquest.

The following day the inquest was held, and the result was a surprise to most people. Mr Petherick had had no hesitation in arresting Hirst on a charge of murder, and although the unattached criticism of public opinion had thougit it probable that Solomons had met his death by misadventure, or that at worst it was a case of manslaughter, no one but Eaven Ferrett had anticipated the verdict, which was one of ' Death from natural causes,' and when it was recorded no one but Eaven Ferrett disbelieved it.

Medical testimony went to prove that there was absolutely no trace of violence about the body. Death was due solely to failure of the heart's action, and although the doctors agreed that ihis might have been the result of fright—and they admitted that the expression on the face favoured the idea that he had had a shock—there was nothing to connect Hirst with the sudden closing of Solomons' career, and the result of the inquest was to clear him of one of the charges, and the most serious charge, too, which? had been preferred against him. (To be continued.)