THE LEATHER-HANDLED PARASOL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 250, 27 November 1909, Page 4

THE LEATHER-HANDLED PARASOL.

SEXTON BLAKE SOLVES THE* TWIN PARASOL JIYSTEIIY. I There were few women in London so winsome as Lady Home Warden. Small and dainty in build she was', with a smile as frank and spontaneous as a child's, eyes the color of the blue.iiell, and hair of the warm gold of September com. She was alert and vivacious as a bird, and in the diplomatic world to which her husband! belonged was beginning to attract the keen attention of men grown grey in the service, ft was, therefore, with a seiw* of positive stupefaction that London received the news that the Counters of Milche.ster had publicly accused Lady Florric of .stealing a parasol with a leather handle, and that the affair was so flagrant that an arrest was inevitable. This particular parasol 'had been specially designed. Not only wa.s the carving done by a special artist, but the top contained a receptacle whicli could be opened by the touch of a spring. And into this receptacle tin countess, on the occasion her paraso was stolen, had placed a very valuable ruby ring of unique lustre and work manship. The countess was taking it to liei l jeweller's, when on the road she m«" [J,adv Florric Warden, who in«Uted or 1 (taking her to tea at her bcantifu '■home in Groscenor Orescent.. Lad; • yiorrie, somewhat to the countess's/ but

• prise and secret indignation, was carryi iug a parasol, the carved leather handle of which waa identical in design with the one ahe herself was carrying, and for which Maurisc, of the Kue tie la Paix, had charged her so special a price. The countess, who was renowned for her plain speaking, could not restrain her rising wrath, and openly hinted at what she considered Maurice's chicanery. Her remarks were made in the presence of several mutual friends, who had met lat Hyde Park corner, ami there was no' doubt that Lady Florrie Had shown j some embarrassment. "They can't surely Ik' exactly Hie same?" she had *aid, with an oliviiri.ell'oi't lo refiner her sell-possessiou.| "Let nte compare them more closely." j She held out her hand, and the coun-i tcss passed into it her parasol contain-' ing in its secret sceeptacle the famous ruby. | Lady Florrie examined them carefully,! and her fair face Hushed. ' I "1 urn afraid they arc,'' >he said at lianding back to the countess her ' parasol. "Hut 1 really do not know : how they can be, since 1 bought mine at Ford's, in Bond Street." "What an extraordinary coincidence,' : said the countess, with an unpleasant sneer. "Well, my dear, 1 won't keep < you. 1 must really run away." And she '< did, fairly whisking oil' in a whirlwind j of muslin, .silk, and wrath, and I feathers. I It was half an hour later that the'l Countess of MilchesLcr swept into Lady 1 Florrie's drawing-room, and, tremblingjs with rage, asked point-blank: "Why did you change my parasol?| Where is it? Return it to me at oncel'V Lady Florrie, Hushed and paled, lialf.s rose, and sat down. "I did not change your parasol," she|l tffirmed, after a second's pause, during,! ivhich her guests looked on amazed. '■" "It is false!" cried the countess. 13 )pcniug the receptacle in the handle of J ter parasol, she explained, with characteristic vehemence, how she had ordered » ts 1 special construction, how it had contained the famous ruby when she had a landed it to Lady Florrie, and how, vhen arriving at her jeweller's, she had " ound the receptacle- empty, and not inly empty, but void of a little private I nark she had made on the gold-lined ° op. C Lady Florrie rang the bell. ii "Tell Felice to bring me my leath;r-j» andled parasol!" she said to the set'-," 1 ant who came to the summons. ,«' In three minutes a pretty little! 'rench woman came tripping in, and' c< anded her mistress the parasol. 11) . Lady Florrie handed it over to a digified dowager who was present. 'J' "Will you kindly examine it for ma,'" uchess?" she said. "Mine ha* no secret, In oxos with private marks and missing "' iwels." ' j

;| The duchess complied, and beneath ■ the pressure of her delicate fingers, the . top of the parasol handle ilew back, ■ showing a receptacle identical with that i of the other. 11 Lady FTorrie gasped, i ] The countess gave a shrill cry of tri- . umpli, and pointed at the gold-lined lid. "Look at my private mark!" sue cried. "And the receptacle is empty!" , There was' a minute's frozen silence. 11 Lady Florrie had risen to her feet. She was very pale, but there was a firmness about her lips and a sparkle in her eyes that foreboded a storm. j "She means to keep it," murmured one of her visitors to another. "What nerve!" I ''l shall be glad of my ruby, dear, please," purred the countess, with a yelilow gleam of malicious enjoyment in her narrow eyes. i "I have not got your ruby," said Lady Florrie, hi a dispassionate tone. "Felice. 'show the Countess of Milehester out!" ! I 1L I | Such was the story that was toid m \ Sir Grcalorex Waruen, Lady i-ioinos 'husband, an hour later, to Sexton JJiaUc, I who, over the telephone, had been sum'inoned from Jus looms to Grosvciior 1 Crescent. i The famous detective listened to it with unconcealed dismay. The gravity of his face was not lost upon either. "You think it is a bad ease, .Mr. Blake," said Sir Greatorex. "It has a very ugly look," admin.u Blake. "I am obliged to look ni tin; 'evidence. Of course, if it came to me I courts, it is just as admissible to ..impose that the countess stole an hcinoo.n as that your wife purloined it, save lor the incontestable fact ialter has the countess's parasol, i.ieiiulied by 'her private mark, and had ai»o nci o>\n parasol, identical with thai ui i.,i countess's. It would be very difficult .'<] get rid of the prejudice of premeditation. It was possibly within Lady war-! den's knowledge that the countess u-.es' taking the ruby to her jeweller's llii* afternoon." "1 knew it for the last three days. I i met her on purpose," said Uidy l-mii ie. | "The situation is saved," s,ml liiase.l softly rippling his long lingers. j They looked at him in amazement. "It was the psychological key of l lie I situation," he explained, with a sin.it. ' "If Lady Florrie had really designed Hie theft, she would never have admittedl that she knew of the presence of the ruby. If she had, by accident, changed | ■ the parasols, and then, discovering the 'jewel receptacle, had purloined the jewel, she would not, in producing what she knew not to be her own parasol, have asserted that it contained no receptacle. Between the two alternatives, there is only one-other solution possible. "There was no exchange made. Lady Florrie went out wjtli the parasol she brought back. The Countess of Milehester did the same. There has bei-i a very ingenious' piece of trickery, of which I think I see the working. One question to the countess will settle the point, though it may be more difficult to trace the jewel and catch the thief. "By the way, Lady Warden, did you lay down the parasol you were carrying at any place from the time you left the house I" "Not once, I am sure," said Lady Florrie. "II should like to get on to the telephone with tlie countess, Sir Ureatorex, said Blake. "She may make difficulties, and we must act quickly." I "I'll get you through," said Sir Great!orex grimly. Blake took up the two parasols, aid followed Warden and his wife into tne library. There he took the parasols' to the window, and examined them again, subjecting the secret receptacles to a prolonged scrutiny through a powerful lens.

He gave a little chuckle of satisfaction, and sniffed several times at each receptacle. on can speak to the, countess Blake," said Warden. "I have told her you are investigating the case, and want to ask her a question." Blako went to the telephone. "I believe, countess," he said, ."thai your ruby was wrapped in tissue-paper when vou put it in the parasol handle this afternoon immediately after lunch. You wrapped it, 1 think, in the tissue■paper yourself?" "Yes, I ilid, with my own hands," was the reply. "And the tissue-paper was scented with New-mown Hay?" asked Blake. "Ah. there vou are wrong!" said the countess. "I have not used New-mown Hay for more than a week. To-day f used Otto of Violets, to match my now hat." "Thank vou. countess!" said Blake. "One mole question. You did not, I suppose, lay your parasol down anywhere at any time since vou put in the jewel till you found it gone?" "No, certainly not; the only person i. who had it was Lady Florrie Warden." I replied the countess. l "Thank you, that is all," said Blake, I "except that if you desire to see your ruby again, you had better take no r proceedings at all until I sec vou in about two hours' time. You have been like Lady Florrie Warden, the victim I of a very ingenious plot and a very } simple accident. But. if yon say a word , to anyone about the matter until I se< you, I am afraid 1 shall lose all elinnci f of recovering the ruby." Ilil. f Sexton Blake spent the next hour am v a-half strenuously. i His enquiries took him through l'icea s.dilly clubs, through working-men's club I and cafes in Soho, to Scotland Yarc and Bow Street, and to a lenemeu .. house off Long Acre. In this last In el remained some time, viewing, so tin t caretaker imagined, the beauties of i hi twelve-foot square empty room he Inn a 'engaged for a week. e 1 lie wore so extremely satisfied an «i iljwihcn finally he passed the caretaker' e lodge that its worthy inmate remarkei c-jocularly: I "Bin amoosin' yerself, 'aven't yei '< lookin' at the picshures?" 't "Prints," said Blake laconically, an n leaving the man to his nivstifieaiioil ihnrricd away. !y He wm confidently .-ore of his' qnes Hnow, and as be had still half an hpu

-'in front of him before he was due b Manchester Square, where the Count! iof Mikhoster raided, he stroll II through Lincoln's Inu Fields, and, tin ring into High Holborn, paused lo spe . ( to two quietly-dressed men who wo r lounging in front of a jeweller's shop, i "Is he ,n?" he asked. One of the men nodded. . "All right," said Wake, "you ci ■ leave the rest to me now. I've con across a little find that simplifies ma ijters. And as we don't want the thn .jto get into the Press unl/.s necessar you'd better not be officially connected The two grinned and walked oil', hi Blake entered the shop. I "Clad to see you again, Draper," I jsaid pleasantly to a pallid-faced i i • with a long nose and pecuiiuii,- i,..i eyes'. | "Can't say the same to you, Mr. Se: 'ton Blake," replied the iniia. [ "I'm sure of that," said Ulake, with I short laugh. "I've given you thrc lives, Draper, and this i» your neeoiii Cot the ruby ou voir; Or'i» it in Hi safe?" "Confound you:" Miiuk'u llie man. ' might ha' guessed you'd be mil on nftc it." "You might, vou ungrateful .-.coin drel!" said Blake. "Hand it over, an come with me!" j "What am I to conic for?" while the fellow, with a sudden change u tone, as he took the famous rul)y°iroi; I his pocket ami I raiisferrwl u to Blake' hand. "You'jiut said tiiis was on,, Hi second life, and 'pou me soul 1 '" "So lies!" said Biake sternly. "Well, don't go back on your word it there's to be no lies," said Drape sullenly, L "I will keep my .void," said Blake quietly. "The place 1 am taking you ti is not Bow .Street. 1 am taking vou ti restore the ruby to the Cou'it'ess o Milchester, and bear witness as to wJion you received it from." "He'll half kill me!" said Draper ,i a quavering voice. "I hope s'o," «Ud Blake drily. "Conn along!" . The man followed him like a laml into the taxi waiting outside. It was five minutes to s.ve.i ivl-eu Blake got out and rang ,n me f-.intc--of Milchcster's door; but he fo'uud Sii Greutorex Warden and iin wr'e rwaiting him, and glancing across the "draw-ing-room at the countess and the duchess who had so hastily taken hei "And my ruby, Mr. Blake?" said the countess' eyeing him superciliously through her pince-nez. "One moment, madam!" said Uhki fng>dl.y, "The person who stole "vour ruby is now coming up Inu steps u 'nd 1 Have given orders for 1,i,„ to 'be admitted here." There was a breathless pause.

■':. , '! c . l' el ' son ab °ut your parasol, vour said u six . foot „, o:uilllei ,' t of ; ~.plush and vainglory. tl The person came in. He was an ex- ! tremely small and Oiin man, will, an ; unhealthy, chalky pallor of face, but - eyes of an extraordinary brilliance. He • round the room, saw Blake B smiling at him, and with the lean of i cat, gained the door, opened it, anil' jumped into the arms of James. ; ~ James rose to the occasion. i I' "The person about the parasol your ; ladyship, he said, with unrnflled'dbrmty, and, advancing into the room ,l". I posited his burden three inches from t the floor, and held hi m I here. j "Well, Tim," said Illakc as the , flunkey retired. "You'd better tell tnej . truth, ion won't? Well, I will tell I ■ it for you." I ''This is how your jewel was .stolen, • countess, said Blake, turning to the . ladies. ".1,1113 man learned of its pre-iseiu-e in your house through a lapidary who had been once in the employment, .ot your jewellers. He and this man ' , JJn, P er > JB"t to know that vou were inp tending to take the stone to Jtund, ! Street in your parasol to-dav. Draper' . knew that you always brought it wrapped, in tissue-paper. Tim* while you were at -lunch to-dav, mounted your balcony at the back,'and substituted for the ruoy, wrapped in its lissue-i paper, a bulb of thin glass conlamin., a ' corrosive acid, warranted to eat tlirou"ii I and reduce to ash, glass and paper In 1 i two or three hours. He got away with l ,;the ruby, you put the substitute'in its' place, and when yon had got to vour I jeweller's it had simple evaporated.' . while the ruby itself was Ivhg in the! pocket of Draper, Tim's accomplice Is' that right, Tim?" | "You're the fiend himself!" said Tim I with gaping mouth. "Or else Draper's , given me away." "Neither!" "said Blake. "What gave' I you away was the smell of (lie acid end;the powder left in the parasol that the! countess was carrying, and the smell oh . Xew-mown Hay in the receptacle of the' ; parasol that Lady 'Warden was carrying, i | That and a few logical deductions'amil I enquiries, including a visit to vour ''lew I ; rooms oil' .Long Acre, and a receipt from! I Draper found there." ,| "I give in!" said Tim. "Tain't no | use fighlm' against brains like yours.. , Every mortal word you've said is jus'tl II ow it 'appened." | , "Hut my ruby?" wailed the countess, j I "It is here, countess," and Blake. .: passed it over to her. | \ "U is very satisfactory," said the I t duchess, in a genial tone, "to know lliat our dear Lady Florric is relieved from [ so painful an anxiety. But 1 still do ( not understand, Mr.—cr—Blake, how \ the dear countess's parasol came to be in Lady Warden's possession." . "Xor do I!" cried the countess, look- . ing_ up from her jewel with bright eyes. "Then li must explain,' said Lady Florric, stepping forward, and looki-ig • altogether charming. i , "The fact is, Hilda, Iso fell in love' , with your parasol, X determined to have one like it. Maurice refused to make ' me one, so I arranged with Ford's m , copy yours, and last night at six, when! , I left you, I took your parasol to Ford s.! ; and they copied it so beautifully. I didn't know which from which when I . went for them at noon. I told them I must have it at noon, because yon want-' . ed it to take your ruby to the jeweller's after lunch, and 'so, I suppose, when I returned you yours, as 1 called found before you'were up, T must havc| .left mine and kept yours. lint, of course, I nver knew of' the secret re, ep--1 tacle. And I'm awfully sorry I vav <« , mean, but I'm frightfully iiiipeiiileni!" j —Answers.

SOME ENGLISH NOBLE FAMILIES. AND HOW THEY BECAME RICH. | THE DUCE 01' XOirniL'JlliKlii.AN'J). 1 Kvcr since Williuiii do Percy, seigneur' of Percy in Normandy, put cm his sirinoi-j and accompanied liw liege lord, Duke, William, on his epoch-making trip across flic Channel, ilie /real lic>ii—<- ho founded has added lend- t„ lands in a irnli-i roiuarkahl cuner. Cat ma ■*,' en-lles, villages, lordships of all sorts', have tumbled one after another, as one may say, into its favored lap; and. enri-, ously enough, in spite of forfeitures! Igalo're, most, of them liave remained j [there. LUCKY IX MAKIiIAt.'K. Like so manv other Rival hunses. the i IVicys owe in'osl „f their broad lands |t!) their skill in love-making; and what 'the altar did not give them they ac'cumulated l>y lucky purchitses or by grants from tile Crown. The very first of the line. William ''Algernon," or .'•William with the whiskers," was' not I content, with the thirty knights' firs his grateful Sovereign gave him. lie sighed for more manors; and he 'got them hy , the simple process cif wooing Kinina de jPort, a fair and well-dowered Saxon !maid, who was mistress of thousands I of acres which she gladly made over to her whiskered wooer. William's grandson and namesake added hirgelv to the familv acres when he led a daughter of Hichard. Karl of Chirr, to the altar; and three genera - ' lions tiller llenrv de Percv got the rich 1 Manor of • Levinglon with his bride. | Adam de Urns. A third William found il charming wife, and also the Manor of -.Halt on, in Elena, daughter of lugrlniin 'do Haldol; and so, generation after I generation, the merry wedding-bolls brought more broad acres into tin " family. \ llenrv. ninth Lord Percv. set rovetnuii'eves oii the barony of Alnwick, and, as t,lio could well afford a Utile oxtrnva '.gnnoe. bought it from Anthony Heck ? Tiishop of Durham: while his son. an 1 other Henry, was clever enough to so ' «ure a grant from the Crown of tin Ibnronv and castle of Warkworth. P'il ''.the richest slice of all came to |h. s Percys wdien the first Earl of Yorthum 1 berhinil found favor in the eves of .loan I the prettv widow of lh" ildr.l Tori '■Lucy (and of two other hush-uidsC am 'she brought to him as [lower '■"., >• honor and castle of CckorniouM. Hi, '' castle and manor of Lanaclo.- h-i'f " manor of Asnotrik. and a third 0,.| .. ' the liaronv of E»ermnnd." in the count r of. Northumberland—on enormous or

ill tatc covering a substantial part of tin as'county. i!d| Thanks to these fortunate alliances it-'and to other stroke* of liu-k, I lie I'aiuilj ikjof Percy now counted il» acres in sis re 'figures, and its manors, lordships, castles, and villages by the score. *»o Iwonder the leaders of the house fell they could hold their heads very high, in and bid defiance even to their Sovereign le'lord and master. How often they did it t- 'English, history tells, and with what ig 'result. The lirst Earl was killed, and c, '.his head exposed to derision on London Bridge, while all his honors and estates d Iwere forfeited to the Crown. They were all, however, restored to his grandson, ic Hotspur's only son. The third Karl lost n'his life and estates at Towfou; but Irs djson got. all the lands and Ijoiioi-s back again. L-l A('iH"IKiXU CHLTiUH LANDS. I .'• . . so it often was. Attainders and a followed by complete rc--0 lateral ion: for the Percys always maiiI. aged 10 fall on their feet, and, in the c long run, to keep what ine, had wou, in a way which must have excited the 1 envy of some of their less fortunate r fellow-nobles. | And all the time lucky marriages • were increasing their riches. Hie t.nril I Earl made a wife of Eleanor l'o,. lungs, and in exchange fur his u... • .mic nauileil 1 linn the baronies Vh l'o.. in/.- ■ payne, and Bryan. Ano..n. iieires»i bride, daughter of Lord .-vngns, added i the barony of Prudhoe with oilier vast j estates; while a grant from me third 'Edward brought iiaekwoiu, (Josbrulgc, 'and many other manors to swell the , Percy holdings. Tiiey liau, too, a very liuciai share «i the spoil ol tue monasteries, 'ijiies mouili Priory came lo Uiem in this way i linuirectiy; while the sire on part ol i i which Aorlhuinbcrland liouse was bunt, : where had stood the Priory of St. -Uary i 'Kuuucival (and wliich was sold a generation or so ago for £oOU,UUU), was the dower of a Percy bride, daugnter of an Earl of Suffolk. To all these possessions we must add extensive estates in I Sussex and Cumberland also Elsdon, ilicklcy, and many auolher estate, which came .by purciiase or inheritance. THE DUKES. WEALTH. . While dozens of other leudal house's ■ have lost their last acre and sunk iino 'obscurity, to-day the liouse ol Percy | holds its place among the greatest html.owners in Great iintaiu. it boasts the ownership of over I«U,UUO acres, with a ■revenue from thcui uf £;17U,000. It lowns, in fact, more acres than are in [the entire county of Middlesex, or in | three of the counties of Scotland, and has a revenue from land alone equal to the interest on J,'.ti,UUU,UI)O invested in Consols. It owns, mrtlier, five lordly pleasure houses, two at least of which — JAluwick Castle and Syon House, Brent-

ford—are among the linest ot the statu- . ly homes of England. And this is t'arp from representing the extent of the,' Percy wealth, wjjicli has been uccuinu-p lating during eight centuries. ' For the Percys it must be s'aid that, | ', unlike many other noble families "whose "ancient but ignoble blood has flowed i through scoundrels ever since the Flood," they have deserved Uicir goon fortune, and have turned it to most' j crciluanlc account- Again and again . they have delied Kings for the sake of ; the people and for causes which they * thought right; and they have spent ' their vast revenues wisely and well. Tol | give but one example, the fourth Duke, Ij 'during his seventeen years'' tenure of>, ■the family estates, spent little less than 1 ; I £1,000,01)0 ill ways of usefulness andi' I charity. I Of this enormous sum £IOO,OOO was]. 'spent on churches; £308,000 in buildingi l cottages, to most of which half an acreK of land was attached; £3!),l)00 on bridges' and roads; £170,000 on drainlage; and £250,000 on making Alnwick Castle a wonder of beauty and art.— , Tit-Bits. ' .