LITERATURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7714, 17 January 1905, Page 4

LITERATURE.

iBpiADY INGLEDEW'S DIAMONDS. JEpr (Continued) r|| J went back to my office quite ex- ; KjjTpectrog that I should find there an m&r {nMmanL denial on the part of MesRp sera Scruby and Bengamin that they hF had had anything to do with the BI& fliaraonds, for I thought it was E-'- tolerably plain that Mademoiselle Hfc ' Celeste (who seemed to have a pcrK" feet genius for intrigue) had given ! Wk the names of the wrong firms of Br Jewellers to her mistress, besides telJre, ling a lie as to the sum she had reWs'" reived for the jewels'. Hjh I bad, however, discovered the ■Ok purchaser "by accident, and I wrote H&" to Wright's clients. Sparks and Kf» CirtUcworthJ. that evening, repudiatHp. fog the supposed sale of the jewels, Hip and demanding their return,: K£ My amazement was great, howevBf er, when I received on the fallowing Hf morning a letter from Scruby and Ep* Benjamin's solicitors, denying Lady E? ingledew's right to claim the diapjjk moods, but containing no denial that jB? they had them in their possession. El I utterly failed to understant it, IK Bud my surprise was not diminished, Wj when I received, later fin the day, a Mf* communication from Wright to the ■T very same effect. It Messrs Sparks end Cuttleworth, §§£%- like Scruby and Benjamin, set Lady Hp Ingledew's clafm as defiance, but did not deny that they held the diaEj£7 monda' '-There could not be two sets of Bg>- stones. Bg' "Hie question was, which of them Bjf .trafc the real set ? E It was of tho greatest importance HJf ' that I should know, for one set must B&' he artificial, and it would never do B£" to waste money and bring ridicule ■E npon my. client by taking proceedBfi lugs to recover a set of paste diaBfp monds. B: IdM not forget to write a very ■F firm letter t 0 Messrs Scruby and ■pi and Benjamin that evening, but it Bft , ,waa not until I was on the point of Hp , applying for a summons at Bow BJ$- Street that they yielded. ■£"* In the meantime I had made some ■&;*- inquiries about the firm, and had K& learnt that although they were <hjBjsiU no means destitute of means, they Bjp .were not supposed to be above mixing themselves up in a shady Kb*' transaction if there was a good proBj& fit, with a reasonable chance of safeBJS However, they yielded, rather than BJji" lace cross-examination at Bow Street SB£ and it was arranged that S should Kg go to their place of business next Eg', morning> and prodeed with one of HJES their clerks bearing the jewcl.case to B£ Clarence Gate, and then and there ■H" band the diamonds over to Lady mjjkf Inglodew. BgT- That evening, as it happened, I BIS Wsftt to a. political dinner given at a club to which I belong ; and among JgßtjL - the guests there was a jolly little Hp red-raced man, whose ready laugh KBL- greatly contributed to the success of EK- the evening. Kj„ ' Turning to my next neighbour, I E|£ asked bun who the jolly little man Bj? witfi tho red cheeks was. BJji' - '•' Don't you Enow Lord IngleBJU 'dew?" said my friend. BK,-* I said that although I had had KT ', the honour of acting for Lady IngleK&'- > Sew on some important business, I Bjb had never met bis lordship, and my BBS friend good-naturedly offered to inBK* _ fcroduqe ine to the earl before the BjL' eveing was oven. ■li- When the speeches had all been K, made, and the toasts alt drunk, the guests began to move from their Bp.' places, and an, opportunity arose for HC ~ effecting "the introduction which my BgJ-> _ friend had. promised. BJ,£ The earl exchanged a few pleasant E?_ .words me, and then, for lack K|s. of anything better, to say, I observed E?J that I was very glad that my efforts EL' to recover Lady Ingledew's jewels JED had at last been successful, V What's that you say ! Diamonds ■gj. 'I never heard they were Host •! '-• cried his lordship. Bk" i'Weß, Lord Ingledew," said I. *• I suppose I should not have mentioned the matter at all, but Lady gag, . Ingledew oame t» my office to tell !§£* me that " W> "When was that?" interrupted Up. the earl. mb< " About a week ago."' B&j '" But Ingledew is in Switzerland." j|g r this affair. It was sufficientlv imWL portant '' K> " Oh, yes; I see. Go on.'* R" -" She came io tell me that; her gr* maifl had confessed that she had Bjj- soH her ladyship's diamonds, of Hg course without any authority " ■g.i. 1 The pious Celeste t That Ej?;\, model of virture and propriety ! This ■Eg,' is too rich ! Oh, Sappbira ! "- And • rolled over on the Settee on which ho had sank into an ecstasy of enjoy--1 ment< *' But it was no joke to steal the diamonds. So my mother came to consult you, did she ? -'- 4 -Not your mother, Lord Ingleflew/i said I, smiling att-he sugges"tion tbafi the "tall and handsome Lady Ingledew should be the mother of the stout, middle-aged man before me. • '"SxH I thought you saiitt that ' Lady Ingledew hail come from Switzerland da purpose," said the earl, evidently puzzled. '(■ I did not mean the Dowager Lady Ingledew,'J said I j *' I mean ine Countess—your wife." "Bless me ! The man's crazy ! I havehi got any wife, that I know of. Wat on earth do you mean ? " The room seemed to turn round .with me< For the moment I forgot ~g.~ .where I was, my bewilderment was r bo complete.; The loud laugh of the i' earl startled 1 me* £, "By the Lord Harry, it's that ft Itttte minx Celeste herself ■! "He roarSi 1 e3 '"She's been and taken in the y lawyer ! Done him brown—had him i , on toast, by Jove ! Gone and conr <t suited him how she could best steal £ my poor motEer's atamonds. Well, \ this beats everything—Ha;! Ha ' Ha' it Hat '.;"' *- I sa6 Sown and rested my aching Jj and stupefied head in my hands. I was aroused by the* earl's voice _ • asking me rather sternly whether'the ■„ stones had actually been handed 0 vC— «*; to' the fair Ceitcste ; and I was i , UianCful to be able to assure him fr tiiat they had not.- *- AH was not lost. On the contrary nothing hail been really lost. f Tho cunning waiting-m a id had f used me and laughed' at me, 'jut I though she would not laugh much ' longer, AM I had to do was to send a r .warning telegram W Messre Scruby % **** Ben,amil '' te'Kng Ihcmnot to I send the diamonds to Clarence Gate t . but await further instructions from I • 80 Lady Ingledew's house **• Tu ~* detcoWv e at twelve o'clock, "''.' lr° ?, which had "x-en appointed ! for the delivery of the diamonds to f tho false Lady Inglledcw, and have |_ her arrested then and there. - ' * ««* a telogram to the jewellers f that night and made an appointK r . ment with Lord Ingledew to meet f. me at their office next morning. r? I*imctually at twelve o'clock, a t four-wheeled cab containing Mr Benja- *■ _ min, of Scruby and Benjamin, a detiEective officer, and mvself, drove up 3to Wq< 20 Clareacc Gate, A decent-looking person, who look- «;* cd like a superannuated cook, and Ipr jrho was evidently on the premises B"jf as caretaker, answered our ring, and •jte. *oM us when we asked for Lady In--8"_ gledew, that her ladyship was not r t ~ at home, but was coming hack that fh, day, and was expected to be in every gs- minute. »;, We took" our seats and gave, tho jk accomplished Frenchwoman five "mints', utes to come into the room in one g£ ol her mistress's cloaks and one of *£ 'her mistress's bonnets, as- if she had Ejj: at t-bat moment arrived, in! the character of Lady Ingledew. K The five minutes became ten, and m then we rang the bc"d. pi The superannuated cook came up fe -at once, and the detective asked her, S- < rather sharply, whether. Lady Ingle- £ Bew had come in yet. r «No, str, she I»sn't,'i was tho %■ '' but her maid has taken a i > cab and gone to the station to meet 1"?, l*r, and tell her you are here K; .Gracious me ! Lor ! " E* The good croalure was almost ovB erwhefraed by the frantic rush which ■C tbKO maiio Sor tho 6oor - T* lo Px. . jade had taken our ca?>, and it is * ' *° sa - v tnat non e of «s '" <?L CS ' CB on ner a R«" n - nSS I** 1 ** v y hCT mis 'n>s9. who knew Wk *«edew and the caeetaker, it *Z ■K, J very easy matter fort-he girl to go cowaiing f rom the ca^ BJfi^^ e , <*» i she had been dismissed BJMRSj?»I m B U>at,l)er mistress had deBBK^tl^c£!!^ t> bo ' m almo * at oucc 'l BfßßSnni&K: 4? 9 U l P have tbim-s I

So letters and telegrams addressed to Lady Ingledew had been delivered toifchc woman without question, for the purpose of being forwarded-. It was some little time before 1 got at the true inwardness of the Frenchwoman's transactions, but at length a chat with Wright made it clear to me. Being intrusted with the diamonds, in order to take them to tihe jewellers to be reset, she had persuaded her mistress to let her take them to Messrs Scruby and Benjamin, with whom the maid had probably had dealings before. Instead of telling the jewellers to •reset the stones, she had ordered a 'complete duplicate set of brilliants, the settings being oil real gold, but, of course, the diamonds paste. These she had paid for herself. Sho had then taken both sets;, the real and the false, in her bag, and paid a visit to Messrs Sparkes and Cuttleworth. She had shown them the real jewels, and, pretending that she was Lady Ingledew, had oflercd to sell them. Not satisfied, apparently, by the price offered for them by. the firm, ishe had gone oft in a temper, but apparently thinking better of it, she had come back in a few minutes, saying that she would take what they had offered, and- had given them the imitation diamonds. TWey, having seen the real stones only a few minutes before, and not dreaming that an imitation set could -be an existancc, had naturally beeri satisfied nlith a very cursory examination on the second occasion. That very day she had gone and sold the real gems to the makers of the imitation ones, Scruby and Benjamin, who deserved to lose their money, for they believed that she had had the sham stones made in order to deceive her mistress. It was clever of the Frenchwoman to take in experienced jewellers like Sparkes and Cuttleworth by means of paste diamonds ; but I admired feven more her audacity in attempting to get the real stones from the people she had sojd iliem to, by personating her mistress, a nd inducing a cautious and respectab'e solicitor like myself to aid her in her nefarious schemes.