MARTIN HEWITT.
 
 llllllllllllllllllllllllilllllllMlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllili 
 
 MARTIN HEWITT 
 
 INVESTIGATOR 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR MORRISON 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 1 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 
 
 1 NEW YORK AND LONDON 
 
 iiiiiiii
 
 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
 D-P
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAQB 
 
 I. THE LENTON CKOPT KOBBERIES 1 
 
 n. THE LOSS OP SAMMY CROCKETT 36 
 
 rrr. the case op mr. foggatt . c 69 
 
 rv. the case op the dixon torpedo 98 
 
 V. TBffi QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR = 128 
 
 VI. THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY , , 161 
 
 Vn. THE AFFAIR OP THE TORTOISE , = . 193
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 MARTIN HEWITT Frontispiece 
 
 "'is that like him?'" Facing p. 14.2 
 
 '"what! you!'" " 208
 
 MAETIN HEWITT, INYESTIGATOR 
 
 I. THE LENTOr CROFT ROBBERIES 
 
 Those who retain any memory of the great law- 
 cases of fifteen or twenty years back will remem- 
 ber, at least, the title of that extraordinary will 
 case, "Bartley v. Bartley and others," which 
 occupied the Probate Court for some weeks on end, 
 and caused an amount of public interest rarely 
 accorded to any but the cases considered in the 
 other division of the same court. The case itself 
 was noted for the large quantity of remarkable and 
 unusual evidence presented by the plaintiff's side 
 — evidence that took the other party completely by 
 surprise, and overthrew their case like a house of 
 cards. The affair will, perhaps, be more readily 
 recalled as the occasion of the sudden rise to emi- 
 nence in their profession of Messrs. Crellan, Hunt 
 & Crellan, solicitors for the plaintiff — a result due 
 entirely to the wonderful ability shown in this 
 case of building up, apparently out of nothing, 
 a smashing weight of irresistible evidence. That 
 the firm has since maintained — indeed, enhanced — 
 the position it then won for itself need scarcely be 
 said here ; its name is familiar to e very-body. But 
 there are not many of the outside public who know 
 that the credit of the whole performance was pri-
 
 2 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 marily due to a young clerk in the employ of 
 Messrs. Crellan who had been given charge of the 
 seemingly desperate task of collecting evidence in 
 the case. 
 
 This Mr. Martin Hewitt had, however, full credit 
 and reward for his exploit from his firm and from 
 their client, and more than one other firm of 
 lawyers engaged in contentious work made good 
 offers to entice Hewitt to change his employers. 
 Instead of this, however, he determined to work 
 independently for the future, having conceived the 
 idea of making a regular business of doing, on 
 behalf of such clients as might retain him, sim- 
 ilar work to that he had just done with such 
 consi)icuous success for Messrs. Crellan, Hunt & 
 Crellan. This was the beginning of the private 
 detective business of Martin Hewitt, and his action 
 at that time has been completely justified by the 
 brilliant professional successes he has since 
 achieved. 
 
 His business has always been conducted in the 
 most private manner, and he has always declined 
 the help of professional assistants, preferring to 
 carry out himself such of the many investigations 
 offered him as he could manage. He has always 
 maintained that he has never lost by this policy, 
 since the chance of his refusing a case begets com- 
 petition for his services, and his fees rise by a 
 natural process. At the same time, no man could 
 know better how to employ casual assistance at the 
 right time. 
 
 Some curiosity has been expressed as to Mr. 
 Martin Hewitt's system, and, as he himself always
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 3 
 
 consistently maintains that he has no system beyond 
 a judicious use of ordinary faculties, I intend setting 
 forth in detail a few of the more interesting of his 
 cases in order that the public may judge for itself 
 if I am right in estimating Mr. Hewitt's "ordinary 
 faculties" as faculties very extraordinary indeed. 
 He is not a man who has made many friendships 
 (this, probably, for professional reasons), notwith- 
 standing his genial and companionable manners. I 
 myself first made his acquaintance as a result of an 
 accident resulting in a fire at the old house in 
 which Hewitt's office was situated, and in an upi^er 
 floor of which I occupied bachelor chambers. I was 
 able to help in saving a quantity of extremely im- 
 portant papers relating to his business, and, while 
 repairs were being made, allowed him to lock them 
 in an old wall-safe in one of my rooms which the 
 fire had scarcely damaged. 
 
 The acquaintance thus begun has lasted many 
 years, and has become a rather close friendship. I 
 have even accompanied Hewitt on some of his expe- 
 ditions, and, in a humble way, helped him. Such 
 of the cases, however, as I personally saw nothing 
 of I have put into narrative form from the partic- 
 ulars given me. 
 
 "I consider you, Brett," he said, addressing me, 
 "the most remarkable journalist alive. Not be- 
 cause you're particularly clever, you know, because, 
 between ourselves, I hoi3e you'll admit you're not ; 
 but because you have known something of me and 
 my doings for some years, and have never yet been 
 guilty of giving away any of my little business 
 secrets you may have become acquainted with.
 
 4 MARTIN HEWITT, INVE8TIGAT0E 
 
 I'm afraid you're not so enterprising a journalist as 
 some, Brett. But now, since you ask, you shall 
 write something— if you think it worth while." 
 
 This he said, as he said most things, with a cheery, 
 chaffing good-nature that would have been, perhaps, 
 surprising to a stranger who thought of him only as 
 a grim and mysterious discoverer of secrets and 
 crimes. Indeed, the man had always as little of 
 the aspect of the conventional detective as may be 
 imagined. Nobody could appear more cordial or 
 less observant in manner, although there was to 
 be seen a certain sharpness of the eye — which 
 might, after all, only be the twinkle of good- 
 humor. 
 
 I did think it worth while to write something of 
 Martin Hewitt's investigations, and a description of 
 one of his adventures follows. 
 
 At the head of the first flight of a dingy staircase 
 leading up from an ever-open portal in a street by 
 the Strand stood a door, the dusty ground-glass 
 upper panel of which carried in its centre the single 
 word " Hewitt," while at its right-hand lower cor- 
 ner, in smaller letters, "Clerk's Office" appeared. 
 On a morning when the clerks in the ground-floor 
 offices had barely hung up their hats, a short, well- 
 dressed young man, wearing spectacles, hastening 
 to open the dusty door, ran into the arms of another 
 man who suddenly issued from it. 
 
 " I beg pardon," the first said. " Is this Hewitt's 
 Detective Agency Office % " 
 
 "Yes, I believe you will find it so," the other 
 replied. He was a stoutish, clean-shaven man, of
 
 THE LENTON CROFT EOBBERIES 6 
 
 middle height, and of a cheerful, round counte- 
 nance. " You'd better speak to the clerk." 
 
 In the little outer office the visitor was met by a 
 sharp lad with inky fingers, who presented him with 
 a pen and a printed slip. The printed slip having 
 been filled with the visitor's name and present 
 business, and conveyed through an inner door, the 
 lad reappeared with an invitation to the private 
 office. There, behind a writing-table, sat the 
 stoutish man himself, who had only just advised 
 an appeal to the clerk. 
 
 " Good-morning, Mr. Lloyd — Mr. Vernon Lloyd," 
 he said affably, looking again at the slip. "You'll 
 excuse my care to start even with my visitors — I 
 must, you know. You come from Sir James Norris, 
 I see." 
 
 " Yes ; I am his secretary. I have only to ask 
 you to go straight to Lenton Croft at once, if you 
 can, on very important business. Sir James would 
 have wired, but had not your precise address. 
 Can you go by the next train ? Eleven-thirty is 
 the first available from Paddington." 
 
 "Quite possibly^ Do you know any thing of 
 the business?" 
 
 " It is a case of a robbery in the house, or, rather, 
 I fancy, of several robberies. Jewelry has been 
 stolen from rooms occupied by visitors to the Croft. 
 The first case occurred some months ago — nearly a 
 year ago, in fact. Last night there was another. 
 But I think you had better get the details on the 
 spot. Sir James has told me to telegraph if you 
 are coming, so that he may meet you himself at 
 the station ; and I must hurry, as his drive to the
 
 6 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 station will be rather a long one. Then I take it 
 you will go, Mr. Hewitt? Twyford is the station." 
 
 " Yes, I shall come, and by the 11.30. Are 
 you going by that train yourself ? " 
 
 "No, I have several things to attend to now I 
 am in town. Good-morning; I shall wire at once." 
 
 Mr. Martin Hewitt locked the drawer of his 
 table and sent his clerk for a cab. 
 
 At Twyford Station Sir James Norris was waiting 
 with a dog-cart. Sir James was a tall, florid man 
 of fifty or thereabout, known away from home as 
 something of a county historian, and nearer his 
 own parts as a great supporter of the hunt, and a 
 gentleman much troubled with poachers. As soon 
 as he and Hewitt had found one another the bar- 
 onet hurried the detective into his dog-cart. ' ' We' ve 
 something over seven miles to drive," he said, 
 "and I can tell you all about this wretched busi- 
 ness as we go. That is why I came for you myself, 
 and alone." 
 
 Hewitt nodded. 
 
 "I have sent for you, as Lloyd probably told 
 you, because of a robbery at my place last evening. 
 It appears, as far as I can guess, to be one of three 
 by the same hand, or by the same gang. Late 
 yesterday afternoon " 
 
 "Pardon me. Sir James," Hewitt interrupted, 
 " but I think I must ask you to begin at the first 
 robbery and tell me the whole tale in proper order. 
 It makes things clearer, and sets them in their 
 proper shape." 
 
 "Very well ! Eleven months ago, or thereabout, 
 I had rather a large iDarty of visitors, and among
 
 THE LENTON CEOFT ROBBEKIES 7 
 
 them Colonel Heath and Mrs. Heath — the lady- 
 being a relative of my own late wife. Colonel 
 Heath has not been long retired, you know — used 
 to be political resident in an Indian native state. 
 Mrs. Heath had rather a good stock of jewelry of 
 one sort and another, about the most valuable piece 
 being a bracelet set with a particularly fine pearl — 
 quite an exceptional pearl, in fact — that had been 
 one of a heap of presents from the maharajah of 
 his state when Heath left India. 
 
 ''It was a very noticeable bracelet, the gold set- 
 ting being a mere feather-weight piece of native 
 filigree work — almost too fragile to trust on the wrist 
 — and the pearl being, as I have said, of a size and 
 quality not often seen. Well, Heath and his wife 
 arrived late one evening, and after lunch the fol- 
 lowing day, most of the men being off by themselves, 
 — shooting, I think, — my daughter, my sister (who is 
 very often down here), and Mrs. Heath took it into 
 their heads to go walking — fern-hunting, and so on. 
 My sister was rather long dressing, and, while they 
 waited, my daughter went into Mrs. Heath's room, 
 where Mrs. Heath turned -over all her treasures to 
 show her, as women do, you know. When my sister 
 was at last ready, they came straight away, leaving 
 the things littering about the room rather than stay 
 longer to pack them up. The bracelet, with other 
 things, was on the dressing-table then." 
 
 " One moment. As to the door ? " 
 
 ' ' They locked it. As they came away my daugh- 
 ter suggested turning the key, as we had one or two 
 new servants about." 
 
 " And the window ? "
 
 8 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 *' That they left open, as I was going to tell you. 
 Well, they went on tlieir walk and came back, with 
 Lloyd (whom they had met somewhere) carrying 
 their ferns for them. It was dusk and almost 
 dinner-time. Mrs. Heath went straight to her 
 room, and — the bracelet was gone." 
 
 "Was the room disturbed ? " 
 
 " Not a bit. Every thing was precisely where it 
 had been left, except the bracelet. The door hadn't 
 been tampered with, but of course the window was 
 open, as I have told you." 
 
 "You called the police, of course?" 
 
 " Yes, and had a man from Scotland Yard down 
 in the morning. He seemed a pretty smart fellow, 
 and the first thing he noticed on the dressing-table, 
 within an inch or two of where the bracelet had 
 been, was a match, which had been lit and thrown 
 down. Now nobody about the house had had oc- 
 casion to use a match in that room that day, and, 
 if they had, certainly wouldn't have thrown it on 
 the cover of the dressing-table. So that, presuming 
 the thief to have used that match, the robbery must 
 have been committed when the room was getting 
 dark — immediately before Mrs. Heath returned, in 
 fact. The thief had evidently struck the match, 
 passed it hurriedly over the various trinkets lying 
 about, and taken the most valuable." 
 
 " Nothing else was even moved ? " 
 
 "Nothing at all. Then the thief must have es- 
 caped by the window, although it was not quite 
 clear how. The walking party approached the 
 house with a full view of the window, but saw 
 nothing, although the robbery must have been
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 9 
 
 actually taking place a moment or two before they 
 turned up. 
 
 "There was no water-pipe within any practicable 
 distance of the window, but a ladder usually kept 
 in the stable-yard was found lying along the edge 
 of the lawn. The gardener explained, however, that 
 he had put the ladder there after using it himself 
 early in the afternoon." 
 
 " Of course it might easily have been used again 
 after that and put back." 
 
 " Just what the Scotland Yard man said. He was 
 pretty sharp, too, on the gardener, but very soon 
 decided that he knew nothing of it. No stranger 
 had been seen in the neighborhood, nor had passed 
 the lodge gates. Besides, as the detective said, it 
 scarcely seemed the work of a stranger. A stranger 
 could scarcely have known enough to go straight to 
 the room where a lady — only arrived the day before 
 — had left a valuable jewel, and away again without 
 being seen. So all the people about the house were 
 suspected in turn. The servants offered, in a body, 
 to have their boxes searched, and this was done ; 
 every thing was turned over, from the butler's to the 
 new kitchen-maid's. I don't know that I should 
 have had this carried quite so far if I had been the 
 loser myself, but it was my guest, and I was in such 
 a horrible position. Well, there's little more to be 
 said about that, unfortunately. Nothing came of it 
 all, and the thing's as great a mystery now as ever. 
 I believe the Scotland Yard man got as far as sus- 
 pecting me before he gave it up altogether, but give 
 it up he did in the end. I think that's all I know 
 about the first robbery. Is it clear % "
 
 10 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Oh, yes ; I shall probably want to ask a few 
 questions when I have seen the place, but they can 
 wait. What next?" 
 
 "Well," Sir James pursued, "the next was a 
 very trumpery affair, that I should have forgotten 
 all about, probably, if it hadn't been for one cir- 
 cumstance. Even now I hardly think it could 
 have been the work of the same hand. Four 
 months or thereabout after Mrs. Heath's disaster — 
 in February of this year, in fact — Mrs. Armitage, a 
 young widow, who had been a school-fellow of my 
 daughter's, stayed with us for a week or so. The 
 girls don't trouble about the London season, you 
 know, and I have no town house, so they were glad 
 to have their old friend here for a little in the dull 
 time. Mrs. Armitage is a very active young lady, 
 and was scarcely in the house half-an-hour before 
 she arranged a drive in a pony-cart with Eva — my 
 daughter — to look up old people in the village that 
 she used to know before she was married. So they 
 set off in the afternoon, and made such a round of 
 it that they were late for dinner. Mrs. Armitage 
 had a small plain gold brooch — not at all valuable, 
 you know ; two or three pounds, I suppose — which 
 she used to pin up a cloak or any thing of that sort. 
 Before she went out she stuck this in the pin-cush- 
 ion on her dressing-table, and left a ring — rather a 
 good one, I believe — lying close by." 
 
 " This," asked Hewitt, "was not in the room that 
 Mrs. Heath had occupied, I take it? " 
 
 "No ; this was in another part of the building. 
 Well, the brooch went — taken, evidently, by some 
 one in a deuce of a hurry, for, when Mrs. Armitage
 
 THE LENTON CROFT EOBBEEIES 11 
 
 got back to her room, there was the pin-cushion 
 with a little tear in it, where the brooch had been 
 simply snatched off. But the curious thing was 
 that the ring — worth a dozen of the brooch — was 
 left where it had been put. Mrs. Armitage didn't 
 remember whether or not she had locked the door 
 herself, although she found it locked when she 
 returned ; but my niece, who was indoors all the 
 time, went and tried it once — because she remem- 
 bered that a gas-fitter was at work on the landing 
 near by — and found it safely locked. The gas-fit- 
 ter, whom we didn't know at the time, but who 
 since seems to be quite an honest fellow, was ready 
 to swear that nobody but my niece had been to the 
 door while he was in sight of it — which was almost 
 all the time. As to the window, the sash-line had 
 broken that very morning, and Mrs. Armitage had 
 propped open the bottom half about eight or ten 
 inches with a brush ; and, when she returned, that 
 brush, sash, and all were exactly as she had left 
 them. Now I scarcely need tell you what an 
 awkward job it must have been for any body to get 
 noiselessly in at that unsupported window ; and 
 how unlikely he would have been to replace it, 
 with the brush, exactly as he found it." 
 
 " Just so. I suppose the brooch was really gone % 
 I mean, there was no chance of Mrs. Armitage hav- 
 ing mislaid it?" 
 
 *'0h, none at all! There was a most careful 
 search." 
 
 "Then, as to getting in at the window, would it 
 have been easy ? ' ' 
 
 "Well, yes," Sir James replied; "yes, perhaps
 
 12 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 it would. It is a first-floor window, and it looks 
 over the roof and skylight of the billiard-room. I 
 built the billiard-room myself — built it out from 
 a smoking-room just at this corner. It would be 
 easy enough to get at the window from the billiard- 
 room roof. But, then," he added, "that couldn't 
 have been the way. Somebody or other was in the 
 billiard-room the whole time, and nobody could 
 have got over the roof (which is nearly all skylight) 
 without being seen and heard. I was there myself 
 for an hour or two, taking a little practice." 
 
 " Well, was any thing done 1" 
 
 " Strict enquiry was made among the servants, of 
 course, but nothing came of it. It was such a small 
 matter that Mrs. Armitage wouldn't hear of mf 
 calling in the police or any thing of that sort, 
 although I felt pretty certain that there must be 
 a dishonest servant about somewhere. A servant 
 might take a plain brooch, you know, who would 
 feel afraid of a valuable ring, the loss of which 
 would be made a greater matter of." 
 
 " Well, yes, perhaps so, in the case of an inex- 
 perienced thief, who also would be likely to snatch , 
 up whatever she took in a hurry. But I'm doubt- 
 ful. What made you connect these two robberies 
 together? " 
 
 "Nothing whatever — for some months. They 
 seemed quite of a different sort. But scarcely more 
 than a month ago I met Mrs. Armitage at Brighton, 
 and we talked, among other things, of the previous 
 robbery — that of Mrs. Heath' s bracelet. I described 
 the circumstances pretty minutely, and, when I 
 mentioned the match found on the table, she said :
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBEEIES 13 
 
 * How strange ! Why, my thief left a match on the 
 dressing-table when he took my poor little brooch ! " ' 
 
 Hewitt nodded. "Yes," he said. "A spent 
 match, of course?" 
 
 "Yes, of course, a spent match. She noticed it 
 lying close by the pin-cushion, but threw it away 
 without mentioning the circumstance. Still, it 
 seemed rather curious to me that a match should 
 be lit and dropped, in each case, on the dressing- 
 cover an inch from where the article was taken. 
 I mentioned it to Lloyd when I got back, and he 
 agreed that it seemed significant." 
 
 " Scarcely," said Hewitt, shaking his head. 
 " Scarcely, so far, to be called significant, although 
 worth following up. Every-body uses matches in 
 the dark, you know." 
 
 "Well, at any rate, the coincidence appealed to 
 me so far that it struck me it might be worth while 
 to describe the brooch to the police in order that 
 they could trace it if it had been pawned. They 
 had tried that, of course, over the bracelet without 
 any result, but I fancied the shot might be worth 
 making, and might possibly lead us on the track 
 of the more serious robbery." 
 
 "Quite so. It was the right thing to do. 
 Well?" 
 
 "Well, they found it. A woman had pawned 
 it in London — at a shop in Chelsea. But that was 
 some time before, and the pawnbroker had clean 
 forgotten all about the woman's appearance. The 
 name and address she gave were false. So that was 
 the end of that business." 
 
 " Had any of your servants left you between the
 
 14 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 time the broocli was lost and the date of the 
 pawn ticket?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 *' Were all your servants at home on the day the 
 brooch was pawned ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! I made that enquiry myself." 
 
 < ' Very good ! What next ? ' ' 
 
 *' Yesterday — and this is what made me send for 
 you. My late wife's sister came here last Tuesday, 
 and we gave her the room from which Mrs. Heath 
 lost her bracelet. She had with her a very old- 
 fashioned brooch, containing a miniature of her 
 father, and set in front with three very fine 
 brilliants and a few smaller stones. Here we are, 
 though, at the Croft. I'll tell you the rest 
 indoors." 
 
 Hewitt laid his hand on the baronet's arm. 
 "Don't pull up, Sir James," he said. "Drive a 
 little further. I should like to have a general idea 
 of the whole case before we go in." 
 
 "Very good!" Sir James Norris straightened 
 the horse's head again and went on. "Late yes- 
 terday afternoon, as my sister-in-law was changing 
 her dress, she left her room for a moment to speak 
 to my daughter in her room, almost adjoining. 
 She was gone no more than three minutes, or five at 
 most, but on her return the brooch, which had been 
 left on the table, had gone. Now the window was 
 shut fast, and had not been tampered with. Of 
 course the door was open, but so was my daughter's, 
 and any body walking near must have been heard. 
 But the strangest circumstance, and one that almost 
 makes me wonder whether I have been awake to-
 
 THE LENTON" CKOFT ROBBERIES 15 
 
 day or not, was that there lay a used match on the 
 very spot, as nearly as possible, where the brooch 
 had been — and it was broad daylight ! " 
 
 Hewitt rubbed his nose and looked thoughtfully 
 before him. " Um— curious, certainly," he said. 
 "Any thing else?" 
 
 "Nothing more than you shall see for yourself. 
 I have had the room locked and watched till you 
 could examine it. My sister-in-law had heard of 
 your name, and suggested that you should be called 
 in; so, of course, I did exactly as she wanted. 
 That she should have lost that brooch, of all things, 
 in my house is most unfortunate ; you see, there 
 was some small difference about the thing between 
 my late wife and her sister when their mother died 
 and left it. It's almost worse than the Heaths' 
 bracelet business, and altogether I'm not pleased 
 with things, I can assure you. See what a position 
 it is for me ! Here are three ladies, in the space of 
 one year, robbed one after another in this myste- 
 rious fashion in my house, and I can't find the 
 thief! It's horrible! People will be afraid to 
 come near the place. And I can do nothing ! " 
 
 "Ah, well, we'll see. Perhaps we had better 
 turn back now. By-the-bye, were you thinking of 
 having any alterations or additions made to your 
 house ?" 
 
 " No. What makes you ask ? " 
 
 " I think you might at least consider the ques- 
 tion of painting and decorating, Sir James — or, say, 
 putting up another coach-house, or something. 
 Because I should like to be (to the servants) the 
 architect — or the builder, if you please — come to
 
 16 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 look round. You haven't told any of them about 
 this business?" 
 
 " Not a word. Nobody knows but my relatives 
 and Lloyd. I took every precaution myself, at 
 once. As to your little disguise, be the architect 
 by all means, and do as you please. If you can 
 only find this thief and put an end to this horrible 
 state of affairs, you' 11 do me the greatest service 
 I've ever asked for — and as to your fee, I'll gladly 
 make it whatever is usual, and three hundred in 
 addition." 
 
 Martin Hewitt bowed. "You're very generous, 
 Sir James, and you may be sure I'll do what I 
 can. As a x^rofessional man, of course, a good fee 
 always stimulates my interest, although this case 
 of yours certainly seems interesting enough by 
 itself." 
 
 "Most extraordinary! Don't you think so? 
 Here are three persons, all ladies, all in my house, 
 two even in the same room, each successively robbed 
 of a piece of jewelry, each from a dressing-table, 
 and a used match left behind in every case. All in 
 the most difiicult — one would say impossible — cir- 
 cumstances for a thief, and yet there is no clue ! " 
 
 "Well, we won't say that just yet, Sir James; 
 we must see. And we must guard against any 
 undue predisposition to consider the robberies in a 
 lump. Here we are at the lodge gate again. Is 
 that your gardener — the man who left the ladder 
 by the lawn on the first occasion you spoke of ? " 
 Mr. Hewitt nodded in the direction of a man who 
 was clipping a box border. 
 
 " Yes ; will you ask him any thing ? "
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 17 
 
 " No, no ; at any rate, not now. Remember the 
 building alterations. I think, if there is no objec- 
 tion, I will look first at the room that the lady — 
 Mrs. " Hewitt looked up enquiringly. 
 
 " My sister-in-law ? Mrs, Cazenove. Oh, yes ! 
 you shall come to her room at once." 
 
 "Thank you. And I think Mrs. Cazenove had 
 better be there." 
 
 They alighted, and a boy from the lodge led the 
 horse and dog-cart away. 
 
 Mrs. Cazenove was a thin and faded, but quick 
 and energetic, lady of middle age. She bent her 
 head very slightly on learning Martin Hewitt's 
 name, and said : "I must thank you, Mr. Hewitt, 
 for your very prompt attention. I need scarcely 
 say that any helx) you can afford in tracing the 
 thief who has my property — whoever it may be — 
 will make me most grateful. My room is quite 
 ready for you to examine." 
 
 The room was on the second floor — the top floor 
 at that part of the building. Some slight con- 
 fusion of small articles of dress was observable in 
 parts of the room. 
 
 "This, I take it," enquired Hewitt, "is exactly 
 as it was at the time the brooch was missed ? " 
 
 " Precisely," Mrs. Cazenove answered. " I have 
 used another room, and put myself to some other 
 inconveniences, to avoid any disturbance." 
 
 Hewitt stood before the dressing-table. "Then 
 this is the used match," he observed, "exactly 
 where it was found ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 " Where was the brooch ? "
 
 18 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "I should say almost on the very same spot. 
 Certainly no more than a very few inches away." 
 
 Hewitt examined the match closely. "It is 
 burned very little," he remarked. "It would ap- 
 pear to have gone out at once. Could you hear it 
 struck?" 
 
 "I heard nothing whatever; absolutely noth- 
 ing." 
 
 "If you will step into Miss Norris's room now 
 for a moment," Hewitt suggested, "we will try an 
 experiment. Tell me if you hear matches struck, 
 and how many. Where is the match -stand ? " 
 
 The match-stand proved to be empty, but 
 matches were found in Miss Norris's room, and 
 the test was made. Each striking could be heard 
 distinctly, even with one of the doors pushed to. 
 
 "Both your own door and Miss Norris's were 
 open, I understand ; the window shut and fastened 
 inside as it is now, and nothing but the brooch was 
 disturbed?" 
 
 "Yes, that was so." 
 
 ' ' Thank you, Mrs. Cazenove. I don' t think I need 
 trouble you any further just at present. I think, 
 Sir James," Hewitt added, turning to the baronet, 
 who was standing by the door — "I think we will 
 see the other room and take a walk outside the 
 house, if you please. I suppose, by-the-bye, that 
 there is no getting at the matches left behind on 
 the first and second occasions ? " 
 
 "No," Sir James answered. "Certainly not 
 here. The Scotland Yard man may have kept 
 his." 
 
 The room that Mrs. Armitage had occupied pre-
 
 THE LENTON CEOFT KOBBEEIES 19 
 
 sented no peculiar feature. A few feet below the 
 window tlie roof of the billiard-room was visible, 
 consisting largely of skylight. Hewitt glanced 
 casually about the walls, ascertained that the fur- 
 niture and hangings had not been materially 
 changed since the second robbery, and expressed 
 his desire to see the windows from the outside. 
 Before leaving the room, however, he wished to 
 know the names of any persons who were known to 
 have been about the house on the occasions of all 
 three robberies. 
 
 "Just carry your mind back, Sir James," he 
 said. "Begin with yourself, for instance. Where 
 were you at these times ? " 
 
 "When Mrs. Heath lost her bracelet, I was in 
 Tagley Wood all the afternoon. When Mrs. Ar- 
 mitage was robbed, I believe I was somewhere 
 about the place most of the time she was out. Yes- 
 terday I was down at the farm." Sir James's face 
 broadened. "I don't know whether you call those 
 suspicious movements," he added, and laughed. 
 
 ' ' JSTot at all ; I only asked you so that, remem- 
 bering your own movements, you might the better 
 recall those of the rest of the household. Was 
 any body, to your knowledge — any body, mind — 
 in the house on all three occasions % " 
 
 " Well, you know, it's quite impossible to 
 answer for all the servants. You'll only get that 
 by direct questioning — I can't possibly remember 
 things of that sort. As to the family and visitors — 
 why, you don't suspect any of them, do you ? " 
 
 "I don't suspect a soul. Sir James," Hewitt 
 answered, beaming genially, "not a soul. You
 
 20 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 see, I canH suspect people till I know something 
 about where tliey were. It's quite possible there 
 will be independent evidence enough as it is, but 
 you must help me if you can. The visitors, now. 
 Was there any visitor here each time — or even on 
 the first and last occasions only ? " 
 
 "No, not one. And my own sister, perhaps you 
 will be pleased to know, was only there at the time 
 of the first robbery." 
 
 " Just so ! And your daughter, as I have gath- 
 ered, was clearly absent from the spot each time — 
 indeed, was in company with the party robbed. 
 Your niece, now ? " 
 
 "Why, hang it all, Mr. Hewitt, I can't talk of 
 my niece as a suspected criminal ! The poor girl's 
 under my protection, and I really can't allow " 
 
 Hewitt raised his hand and shook his head dep- 
 recatingly. 
 
 "My dear sir, haven't I said that I don't suspect 
 a soul ? Do let me know how the people were dis- 
 tributed, as nearly as possible. Let me see. It was 
 your niece, I think, who found that Mrs. Armitage's 
 door was locked — this door, in fact — on the day she 
 lost her brooch ?" 
 
 "Yes, it was." 
 
 "Just so — at the time when Mrs. Armitage her- 
 self had forgotten whether she locked it or not. 
 And yesterday — was she out then ? " 
 
 "No, I think not. Indeed, she goes out very 
 little — her health is usually bad. She was indoors, 
 too, at the time of the Heath robbery, since you 
 ask. But come, now, I don't like this. It's ridic- 
 ulous to suppose that slie knows any thing of it."
 
 THE LENTON CROFT EOBBEEIES 21 
 
 " I don't suppose it, as I have said. I am only 
 asking for information. That is all your resident 
 family, I take it, and yon know nothing of any 
 body else's movements — except, i)erhaps, Mr. 
 Lloyd's?" 
 
 " Lloyd? Well, you know yourself that he was 
 out with the ladies when the first robbery took 
 place. As to the others, I don't remember. Yes- 
 terday he was probably in his room, writing. I 
 think that acquits Tiim^ eh?" Sir James looked 
 quizzically into the broad face of the affable de- 
 tective, who smiled and replied : 
 
 "Oh, of course nobody can be in two places at 
 once, else what would become of the alibi as an 
 institution ? But, as I have said, I am only setting 
 my facts in order. Now, you see, we get down to 
 the servants — unless some stranger is the party 
 wanted. Shall we go outside now ? " 
 
 Lenton Croft was a large, desultory sort of house, 
 nowhere more than three floors high, and mostly 
 only two. It had been added to bit by bit, till it 
 zig-zagged about its site, as Sir James Norris 
 expressed it, " like a game of dominoes." Hewitt 
 scrutinized its external features carefully as they 
 strolled round, and stopped some little while before 
 the windows of the two bedrooms he had just seen 
 from the inside. Presently they approached the 
 stables and coach-house, where a groom was washing 
 the wheels of the dog-cart. 
 
 " Do you mind my smoking ? " Hewitt asked Sir 
 James. " Perhaps you will take a cigar yourself — 
 they are not so bad, I think. I will ask your man 
 for a light."
 
 22 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Sir James felt for liis own matcli-box, but Hewitt 
 had gone, and was lighting his cigar with a match 
 from a box handed him by the groom. A smart 
 little terrier was trotting about by the coach-house, 
 and Hewitt stooped to rub its head. Then he made 
 some observation about the dog which enlisted 
 the groom's interest, and was soon absorbed in a 
 chat with the man. Sir James, waiting a little 
 way off, tapped the stones rather impatiently with 
 his foot, and presently moved away. 
 
 For full a quarter of an hour Hewitt chatted with 
 the groom, and, when at last he came away and 
 overtook Sir James, that gentleman was about re- 
 entering the house. 
 
 " I beg your pardon, Sir James," Hewitt said, 
 "for leaving you in that unceremonious fashion to 
 talk to your groom, but a dog, Sir James, — a good 
 dog, — will draw me anywhere." 
 
 "Oh!" replied Sir James shortly. 
 
 " There is one other thing," Hewitt went on, dis- 
 regarding the other's curtness, "that I should like 
 to know: There are two windows directly below that 
 of the room occupied yesterday by Mrs. Cazenove — 
 one on each floor. What rooms do they light ? " 
 
 "That on the ground floor is the morning-room ; 
 the other is Mr. Lloyd's — my secretary. A sort of 
 study or sitting-room." 
 
 "Now you will see at once. Sir James," Hewitt 
 pursued, with an affable determination to win the 
 baronet back to good-humor — " you will see at once 
 that, if a ladder had been used in Mrs. Heath's case, 
 any body looking from either of these rooms would 
 have seen it."
 
 THE LENTON CROFT EOBBERIES 23 
 
 *' Of course ! The Scotland Yard man questioned 
 every-body as to that, but nobody seemed to have 
 been in either of the rooms when the thing oc- 
 curred ; at any rate, nobody saw any thing." 
 
 " Still, I think I should like to look out of those 
 windows myself ; it will, at least, give me an idea 
 of what was in view and what was not, if any body 
 had been there." 
 
 , Sir James Norris led the way to the morning- 
 room. As they reached the door a young lady, 
 carrying a book and walking very languidly, came 
 out. Hewitt stepped aside to let her pass, and af- 
 terward said interrogatively: "Miss Norris, your 
 daughter, Sir John ? " 
 
 " No, my niece. Do you want to ask her any 
 thing? Dora, my dear," Sir James added, follow- 
 ing her in the corridor, ' ' this is Mr. Hewitt, who is 
 investigating these wretched robberies for me. I 
 think he would like to hear if you remember any 
 thing happening at any of the three times." 
 
 The lady bowed slightly, and said in a plaintive 
 drawl: "I, uncle? Really, I don't remember any 
 thing ; nothing at all." 
 
 " You found Mrs. Armitage's door locked, I be- 
 lieve," asked Hewitt, "when you tried it, on the 
 afternoon when she lost her brooch ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ; I believe it was locked. Yes, it was." 
 
 " Had the key been left in ? " 
 
 " The key ? Oh, no ! I think not ; no." 
 
 " Do you remember anything out of the common 
 happening — any thing whatever, no matter how triv- 
 ial — on the day Mrs. Heath lost her bracelet ? " 
 
 " No, really, I don't I can't remember at all."
 
 24 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Nor yesterday?" 
 
 "No, notliing. I don't remember any thing." 
 
 "Thank yon," said Hewitt hastily; "thank 
 you. Now the morning-room, Sir James." 
 
 In the morning-room Hewitt stayed but a few 
 seconds, doing little more than casually glance out 
 of the windows. In the room above he took a little 
 longer time. It was a comfortable room, but with 
 rather effeminate indications about its contents. 
 Little pieces of draped silk- work hung about the 
 furniture, and Ja^^anese silk fans decorated the 
 mantel-piece. Near the window was a cage con- 
 taining a gray parrot, and the writing-table was 
 decorated with two vases of flowers. 
 
 "Lloyd makes himself pretty comfortable, eh ? " 
 Sir James observed. ' ' But it' isn' t likely any body 
 would be here while he was out, at the time that 
 bracelet went." 
 
 "No," replied Hewitt meditatively. "No, I 
 suppose not." 
 
 He stared thouglitfully out of the window, and 
 then, still deep in thought, rattled at the wires of 
 the cage with a quill tooth-pick and played a mo- 
 ment with the parrot. Then, looking up at the 
 window again, he said : "That is Mr. Lloyd, isn't 
 it, coming back in a fly ? " 
 
 "Yes, I think so. Is there any thing else you 
 would care to see here ? " 
 
 "No, thank you," Hewitt replied; "I don't 
 think there is." 
 
 They went down to the smoking-room, and Sir 
 James went away to speak to his secretary. When 
 he returned, Hewitt said quietly: "I think, Sir
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 25 
 
 James — I tliiTik tliat I shall be able to give you 
 your tliiei presently^" 
 
 ' ' Wliat ! Have you a clue % Who do you think % 
 I began to believe you were hopelessly stumx3ed." 
 
 " Well, yes. I have rather a good clue, although 
 I can't tell you much about it Just yet. But it is so 
 good a clue that I should like to know now whether 
 you are determined to prosecute when you have 
 the criminal?" 
 
 "Why, bless me, of course," Sir James replied 
 with surprise. ' ' It doesn' t rest with me, you know 
 — the property belongs to my friends. And even 
 if tTiey were disposed to let the thing slide, I 
 shouldn't allow it — I couldn't, after they had been 
 robbed in my house." 
 
 " Of course, of course ! Then, if I can, I should 
 like to send a message to Twyford by somebody 
 perfectly trustworthy — not a servant. Could any 
 body go?" 
 
 "Well, there's Lloyd, although he's only just 
 back from his Journey. But, if it'-s important, 
 he'll go." 
 
 "It is important. The fact is we must have a 
 policeman or two here this evening, and I'd like 
 Mr. Lloyd to fetch them without telling any body 
 else." 
 
 Sir James rang, and, in response to his message, 
 Mr. Lloyd appeared. While Sir James gave his 
 secretary his instructions, Hewitt strolled to the 
 door of the smoking-room, and intercepted the 
 latter as he came out, 
 
 "I'm sorry to give you this trouble, Mr, Lloyd," 
 he said, "but I must stay here myself for a little.
 
 26 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 and somebody who can be trusted must go. Will 
 you just bring back a police- constable with you? 
 or rather two — two would be better. That is all 
 that is wanted. You won't let the servants know, 
 will you ? Of course there will be a female searcher 
 at the Twyford jiolice-station ? Ah — of course. 
 Well, you needn' t bring her, you know. That sort 
 of thing is done at the station." And, chatting 
 thus confidentially, Martin Hewitt saw him off. 
 
 When Hewitt returned to the smoking-room. Sir 
 James said suddenly: "Why, bless my soul, Mr. 
 Hewitt, we haven't fed you! I'm awfully sorry. 
 We came in rather late for lunch, you know, and 
 this business has bothered me so I clean forgot 
 every thing else. There's no dinner till seven, so 
 you'd better let me give you something now. I'm 
 really sorry. Come along." 
 
 "Thank you. Sir James," Hewitt replied; "I 
 won't take much. A few biscuits, perhaps, or some- 
 thing of that sort. And, by- the- bye, if you don't 
 mind, I rather think I should like to take it 
 alone. The fact is I want to go over this case 
 thoroughly by myself. Can you put me in a 
 room?" 
 
 "Any room you like. Where will you go ? The 
 dining-room' s rather large, but there's my study, 
 that's pretty snug, or " 
 
 "Perhaps I can go into Mr. Lloyd's room for 
 half-an-hour or so ; I don't think he'll mind, and 
 it's pretty comfortable." 
 
 "Certainly, if you'd like. I'll tell them to send 
 you whatever they've got." 
 
 "Thank you very much. Perhaps they'll also
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 21 
 
 send me a lump of sugar and a walnut; it's — it's 
 just a little fad of mine." 
 
 *' A — what ? A lump of sugar and a walnut ? " 
 Sir James stopped for a moment, with his hand on 
 the bell-rope. "Oh, certainly, if you'd like it; 
 certainly," he added, and stared after this detec- 
 tive of curious tastes as he left the room. 
 
 When the vehicle bringing back the secretary 
 and the policemen drew up on the drive, Martin 
 Hewitt left the room on the first floor and proceeded 
 down stairs. On the landing he met Sir James 
 Norris and Mrs. Cazenove, who stared with aston- 
 ishment on perceiving that the detective carried in 
 his hand the parrot-cage. 
 
 " I think our business is about brought to a head 
 now," Hewitt remarked on the stairs. " Here are 
 the police-officers from Twyford." The men were 
 standing in the hall with Mr. Lloyd, who, on catch- 
 ing sight of the cage in Hewitt's hand, paled sud- 
 denly. 
 
 " This is the person who will be charged, I think," 
 Hewitt pursued, addressing the officers, and indi- 
 cating Lloyd with his finger. 
 
 "What, Lloyd 1" gasped Sir James, aghast. 
 " No — not Lloyd — nonsense ! " 
 
 "He doesn't seem to think it nonsense himself, 
 does he? "Hewitt placidly observed. Lloyd had 
 sunk on a chair, and, gray of face, was staring 
 blindly at the man he had run against at the office 
 door that morning. His lips moved in spasms, but 
 there was no sound. The wilted flower fell from 
 his button-hole to the floor, but he did not move. 
 
 " This is his accomplice," Hewitt went on, placing
 
 28 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 the parrot and cage on the hall table, " though I 
 doubt whether there will be any use in charging 
 him. Eh, Polly?" 
 
 The i)arrot put his head aside and chuckled. 
 "Hullo, Polly 1 " it quietly gurgled. "Come 
 along ! " 
 
 Sir James Norris was hopelessly bewildered. 
 "Lloyd — Lloyd," he said, under his breath, 
 "Lloyd— and that!" 
 
 "This was his little messenger, his useful Mer- 
 cury," Hewitt explained, tapping the cage com- 
 placently; "in fact, the actual lifter. Hold 
 him up ! " 
 
 The last remark referred to the wretched Lloyd, 
 who had fallen forward with something between a 
 sob and a loud sigh. The policemen took him by 
 the arms and propped him in his chair. 
 
 "System?" said Hewitt, with^ a shrug of the 
 shoulders, an hour or two after in Sir James's 
 study. "I can't say I have a system. I call it 
 nothing but common-sense and a sharp pair of 
 eyes. Nobody using these could help taking the 
 right road in this case. I began at the match, just 
 as the Scotland Yard man did, but I had the 
 advantage of taking a line through three cases. 
 To begin with, it was plain that that match, being 
 left there in daylight, in Mrs. Cazenove's room, 
 could not have been used to light the table-top, in 
 the full glare of the window ; therefore it had been 
 used for some other purpose — what purpose I 
 could not, at the moment, guess. Habitual thieves, 
 you know, often have curious superstitions, and
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 29 
 
 some will never take any thing without leaving 
 something behind — a pebble or a x)iece of coal, or 
 something like that — in the premises they have 
 been robbing. It seemed at first extremely likely 
 that this was a case of that kind. The match had 
 clearly been hrougJit in — because, when I asked for 
 matches, there were none in the stand, not even an 
 empty box, and the room had not been disturbed. 
 Also the m.it<;h probably had not been struck 
 there, nothing having been heard, although, of 
 course, a mistake in this matter was Just possible. 
 This match, then, it was fair to assume, had been 
 lit somewhere else and blown out immediately — I 
 remarked at the time that it was very little burned. 
 Plainly it could not have been treated thus for 
 nothing, and the only possible object would have 
 been to prevent it igniting accidentally. Following 
 on this, it became obvious that the match was used, 
 for whatever purpose, not as a match, but merely 
 as a convenient splinter of wood. 
 
 " So far so good. But on examining the match 
 very closely I observed, as you can see for your- 
 self, certain rather sharp indentations in the wood. 
 They are very small, you see, and scarcely visible, 
 except upon narrow inspection; but there they are, 
 and their positions are regular. See — there are two 
 on each side, each opposite the corresponding mark 
 of the other pair. The match, in fact, would seem 
 to have been gripped in some fairly sharp instru- 
 ment, holding it at two points above and two below 
 — an instrument, as it may at once strike you, not 
 unlike the beak of a bird. 
 
 "Nowhere was an idea. What living creature
 
 30 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 but a bird could possibly have entered Mrs. Heath's 
 window without a ladder — supposing no ladder to 
 have been used — or could have got into Mrs. 
 Arnai tags' s window without lifting the sash higher 
 than the eight or ten inches it was already open ? 
 Plainly, nothing. Further, it is significant that 
 only one article was stolen at a time, although 
 others were about. A human being could have 
 carried any reasonable number, but a bird could 
 only take one at a time. But why should a bird 
 carry a match in its beak ? Certainly it must have 
 been trained to do that for a purpose, and a little 
 consideration made that purpose pretty clear. A 
 noisy, chattering bird would probably betray itself 
 at once. Therefore it must be trained to keep quiet 
 both while going for and coming away with its 
 plunder. What readier or more probably effectual 
 way than, while teaching it to carry without drop- 
 ping, to teach it also to keep quiet while carrying ? 
 The one thing would practically cover the other. 
 
 *' I thought at once, of course, of a jackdaw or 
 a magpie — these birds' thievish reputations made 
 the guess natural. But the marks on the match 
 were much too wide apart to have been made by 
 the beak of either. I conjectured, therefore, that 
 it must be a raven. So that, when we arrived near 
 the coach-house, I seized the opportunity of a little 
 chat with your groom on the subject of dogs and 
 pets in general, and ascertained that there was no 
 tame raven in the place. I also, incidentally, by 
 getting a light from the coach-house box of 
 matches, ascertained that the match found was of 
 the sort generally used about the establishment —
 
 THE LENTON CROFT ROBBERIES 31 
 
 the large, thick, red-topped English match. But 
 I further found that Mr. Lloyd had a parrot which 
 was a most intelligent pet, and had been trained 
 into comparative quietness — for a parrot. Also, 
 I learned that more than once the groom had met 
 Mr. Lloyd carrying his parrot under his coat, it 
 having, as its owner explained, learned the trick 
 of opening its cage-door and escaping. 
 
 " I said nothing, of course, to you of all this, 
 because I had as yet nothing but a train of argu- 
 ment and no results. I got to Lloyd's room as 
 soon as possible. My chief object in going there 
 was achieved when I played with the parrot, and 
 induced it to bite a quill tooth-pick. 
 
 " When you left me in the smoking-room, I com- 
 pared the quill and the match very carefully, and 
 found that the marks corresponded exactly. After 
 this I felt very little doubt indeed. The fact of 
 Lloyd having met the ladies walking before dark 
 on the day of the first robbery proved nothing, 
 because, since it was clear that the match had not 
 been used to procure a light, the robbery might as 
 easily have taken place in daylight as not — must 
 have so taken place, in fact, if my conjectures were 
 right. That they were right I felt no doubt. 
 There could be no other explanation. 
 
 "When Mrs. Heath left her window open and 
 her door shut, any body climbing upon the open 
 sash of Lloyd's high window could have put the 
 bird upon the sill above. The match placed in the 
 bird' s beak for the i)urpose I have indicated, and 
 struck first, in case by accident it should ignite by 
 rubbing against something and startle the bird —
 
 32 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 this match would, of course, be dropped just where 
 the object to be removed was taken up ; as you 
 know, in every case the match was found almost 
 upon the spot where the missing article had been 
 left — scarcely a likely trii3le coincidence had the 
 match been used by a human thief. This would 
 have been done as soon after the ladies had left as 
 possible, and there would then have been plenty of 
 time for Lloyd to hurry out and meet them before 
 dark — especially plenty of time to meet them com- 
 ing hack^ as they must have been, since they were 
 carrying their ferns. The match was an article 
 well chosen for its purpose, as being a not alto- 
 gether unlikely thing to fmd on a dressing-table, 
 and, if noticed, likely to lead to the wrong con- 
 clusions adopted by the ofRcial detective. 
 
 " In Mrs. Armitage's case the taking of an infe- 
 rior brooch and the leaving of a more valuable ring 
 pointed clearly either to the operator being a fool 
 or unable to distinguish values, and certainly, 
 from other indications, the thief seemed no fool. 
 The door was locked, and the gas-fitter, so to 
 speak, on guard, and the window was only eight or 
 ten inches open and propped with a brush. A 
 human thief entering the window would have dis- 
 turbed this arrangement, and would scarcely risk 
 discovery by attempting to replace it, especially a 
 thief in so great a hurry as to snatch the brooch up 
 without unfastening the pin. The bird could pass 
 through the opening as it was, and would Jiave to 
 tear the pin-cushion to pull the brooch off, probably 
 holding the cushion down with its claw the while. 
 
 "Now in yesterday's case we had an alteration
 
 THE LENTON CROFT KOBBERIES 33 
 
 of conditions. Tlie window was shut and fast- 
 ened, but the door was open— but only left for a 
 few minutes, during which time no sound was 
 heard either of coming or going. Was it not possi- 
 ble, then, that the thief was already in the room, 
 in hiding, while Mrs. Cazenove was there, and 
 seized its first opportunity on her temporary ab- 
 sence \ The room is full of draperies, hangings, 
 and what-not, allowing of plenty of concealment 
 for a bird, and a bird could leave the place noise- 
 lessly and quickly. That the whole scheme was 
 strange mattered not at all. Robberies present- 
 ing such unaccountable features must have been 
 effected by strange means of one sort or another. 
 There was no improbability — consider how many 
 hundreds of examples of infinitely higher degrees 
 of bird-training are exhibited in the London streets 
 every week for coppers. 
 
 " So that, on the whole, I felt pretty sure of my 
 ground. But before taking any definite steps I 
 resolved to see if Polly could not be persuaded to 
 exhibit his accomplishments to an indulgent stran- 
 ger. For that purpose I contrived to send Lloyd 
 away again and have a quiet hour alone with his 
 bird. A piece of sugar, as every-body knows, is a 
 good parrot bribe ; but a walnut, split in half, is a 
 better — especially if the bird be used to it ; so I got 
 you to furnish me with both. Polly was shy at 
 first, but I generally get along very well with pets, 
 and a little perseverance soon led to a complete 
 private performance for my benefit. Polly would 
 take the match, mute as wax, jump on the table, 
 pick up the brightest thing he could see, in a great
 
 34 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 hurry, leave tlie match behind, and scuttle away 
 round the room ; but at first wouldn't give up the 
 plunder to me. It was enough. I also took the 
 liberty, as you know, of a general look round, and 
 discovered that little collection of Brummagem rings 
 and trinkets that you have just seen — used in Polly's 
 education, no doubt. When we sent Lloyd away, it 
 struck me that he might as well be usefully em- 
 ployed as not, so I got him to fetch the police, de- 
 luding him a little, I fear, by talking about the 
 servants and a female searcher. There will be no 
 trouble about evidence; he'll confess : of that I'm 
 sure. I know the sort of man. But I doubt if 
 you'll get Mrs. Cazenove's brooch back. You see, 
 he has been to London to-day, and by this the swag 
 is probably broken up." 
 
 Sir James listened to Hewitt's explanation with 
 many expressions of assent and some of surprise. 
 When it was over, he smoked a few whiffs and then 
 said: "But Mrs. Armitage's brooch was pawned, 
 and by a woman." 
 
 " Exactly. I expect our friend Lloyd was rather 
 disgusted at his small luck — probably gave the 
 brooch to some female connection in London, and 
 she realized on it. Such persons don't always 
 trouble to give a correct address." 
 
 The two smoked in silence for a few minutes, and 
 then Hewitt continued: "I don't expect our 
 friend has had an easy job altogether with that 
 bird. His successes at most have only been three, 
 and I suspect he had many failures and not a few 
 anxious moments that we know nothing of. I 
 should judge as much merely from what the groom
 
 THE LENTON CKOFT KOBBERIES 35 
 
 told me of frequently meeting Lloyd with his 
 parrot. But the plan was not a bad one — not at 
 all. Even if the bird had been caught in the act, 
 it would only have been ' That mischievous parrot ! ' 
 you see. And his master would only have been 
 looking for him."
 
 II. THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT. 
 
 It was, of course, always a part of Martin Hew- 
 itt's business to be thoroughly at home among any 
 and every class of people, and to be able to in- 
 terest himself intelligently, or to appear to do so, 
 in their various pursuits. In one of the most im- 
 portant cases ever placed in his hands he could 
 have gone but a short way toward success had he 
 not displayed some knowledge of the more sordid 
 aspects of professional sport, and a great interest 
 in the undertakings of a certain dealer therein. 
 
 The great case itself had nothing to do with 
 sport, and, indeed, from a narrative point of view, 
 was somewhat uninteresting, but the man who 
 alone held the one piece of information wanted 
 was a keeper, backer, or "gaffer" of professional 
 pedestrians, and it was through the medium of his 
 I)ecuniary interest in such matters that Hewitt was 
 enabled to strike a bargain with him. 
 
 The man was a publican on the outskirts of Pad- 
 field, a northern town pretty famous for its sport- 
 ing tastes, and to Padfield, therefore, Hewitt be- 
 took himself, and, arrayed in a way to indicate 
 some inclination of his own toward sport, he began 
 to frequent the bar of the Hare and Hounds. 
 Kentish, the landlord, was a stout, bull-necked 
 man, of no great communicativeness at first ; but 
 after a little acquaintance he opened out wonder-
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 37 
 
 fully, became quite a jolly (and rather intelligent) 
 companion, and came out with innumerable anec- 
 dotes of his sporting adventures. He could put a 
 very decent dinner on the table, too, at the Hare 
 and Hounds, and Hewitt's frequent invitation to 
 him to join therein and divide a bottle of the best 
 in the cellar soon put the two on the very best of 
 terms. Good terms with Mr. Kentish was Hewitt's 
 great desire, for the information he wanted was of 
 a sort that could never be extracted by casual ques- 
 tioning, but must be a matter of open communi- 
 cation by the publican, extracted in what way it 
 might be. 
 
 "Look here," said Kentish one day, "I'll put 
 you on to a good thing, my boy — a real good thing. 
 Of course you know all about the Padfield 135 
 Yards Handicap being run off now ? " 
 
 "Well, I haven't looked into it much," Hewitt 
 replied. " Ran the first round of heats last Satur- 
 day and Monday, didn't they ? " 
 
 " They did. Well," — Kentish spoke in a stage 
 whisper as he leaned over and rapped the table, — 
 "I've got the final winner in this house." He nod- 
 ded his head, took a puff at his cigar, and added in 
 his ordinary voice : "Don't say nothing." 
 
 "No, of course not. Got something on, of 
 course?" 
 
 " Rather ! What do you think ? Got any price 
 I liked. Been saving him up for this. Why, he's 
 got twenty-one yards, and he can do even time all 
 the way I Fact ! Why, he could win runnin' 
 back'ards. He won his heat on Monday like — like 
 — like that!" The gaffer snapped his fingers, in
 
 38 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 default of a better illustration, and went on. "He 
 might ha' took it a little easier, /think ; it's short- 
 ened his price, of course, him jumpin' in by two 
 yards. Bat you can get decent odds now, if you 
 go about it right. You take my tip — back him for 
 his heat next Saturday, in the second round, and 
 for the final. You'll get a good price for the final, 
 if you pop it down at once. But don't go makin' 
 a song of it, will you, now ? I'm givin' you a tip I 
 wouldn't give any body else." 
 
 " Thanks very much ; it's awfully good of you. 
 I'll do what you advise. But isn't there a dark 
 horse anywliere else ? " 
 
 "Not dark to me, my boy, not dark to me. I 
 know every man runnin' like a book. Old Taylor 
 — him over at the Cop — he's got a very good lad — 
 eighteen yards, and a very good lad indeed ; and 
 he's a tryer this time, I know. But, bless you, my 
 lad could give him ten, instead o' taking three, and 
 beat him then! When I'm runnin' a real tryer, 
 I'm generally runnin' something very near a winner, 
 you bet ; and this time, mind this, time, I'm runnin' 
 the certainest winner I eter run — and I don't often 
 make a mistake. You back him." 
 
 " I shall, if you're as sure as that. But who is 
 he?" 
 
 "Oh, Crockett's his name — Sammy Crockett. 
 He's quite a new lad. I've got young Steggles 
 looking after him — sticks to him like wax. Takes 
 his little breathers in my bit o' ground at the back 
 here. I've got a cinder sprint path there, over be- 
 hind the trees. I don't let him out o' sight much, 
 I can tell you. He's a straight lad, and he knows
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 39 
 
 it '11 be wortli his while to stick to me ; but there's 
 some 'ud poison him, if they thought he'd spoil 
 their books." 
 
 Soon afterward the two strolled toward the tap- 
 room. ' ' I expect Sammy ' 11 be there, ' ' the landlord 
 said, ' ' with Steggles. I don' t hide him too much 
 — they'd think I'd got something extra on if I 
 did." 
 
 In the tap-room sat a lean, wire-drawn-looking 
 youth, with sloping shoulders and a thin face, and 
 by his side was a rather short, thick-set man, who 
 had an odd air, no matter what he did, of proprie- 
 torship and surveillance of the lean youth. Sev- 
 eral other men sat about, and there was loud laugh- 
 ter, under which the lean youth looked sheepishly 
 angry. 
 
 "'Tarn't no good, Sammy, lad," some one was 
 saying, "you a-makin' after Nancy Webb — she'll 
 ha' nowt to do with 'ee." 
 
 "Don' like 'em so thread-papery," added an- 
 other. *'No, Sammy, you aren't the lad for she. 
 I see her ' ' 
 
 "What about Nancy Webb?" asked Kentish, 
 pushing open the door, " Sammy's all right, any 
 way. You keep fit, my lad, an' go on improving, 
 and some day you'll have as good a house as me. 
 Never mind the lasses. Had his glass o' beer, has 
 he?" This to Raggy Steggles, who, answering in 
 the affirmative, viewed his charge as though he 
 were a post, and the beer a recent coat of paint. 
 
 " Has two glasses of mild a day," the landlord 
 said to Hewitt. "Never puts on flesh, so he can 
 stand it. Come out now." He nodded to Steggles,
 
 40 MAllTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 who rose and marched Sammy Crockett away for 
 exercise. 
 
 On the following afternoon (it was Thursday), as 
 Hewitt and Kentish chatted in the landlord's own 
 snuggery, Steggles burst into the room in a great 
 state of agitation and spluttered out : "lie — he's 
 bolted ; gone away ! " 
 
 "What?" 
 
 "Sammy — gone! Hooked it! /can't find him." 
 
 The landlord stared blankly at the trainer, who 
 stood with a sweater dangling from his hand and 
 stared blankly back. " What d'ye mean ? " Kent- 
 ish said, at last. "Don't be a fool! He's in the 
 place somewhere. Find him I " 
 
 But this Steggles defied any body to do. He had 
 looked already. He had left Crockett at the 
 cinder-path behind the trees in his running-gear, 
 with the addition of the long overcoat and cap he 
 used in going between the path and the house to 
 guard against chill. "I was goin' to give him 
 a bust or two with the pistol," the trainer ex- 
 plained, "but, when we got over t'other side, 
 ' Raggy,' ses he, 'it's blawin' a bit chilly. I think 
 I'll ha' a sweater. There's one on my box, ain't 
 there V So in I coomes for the sweater, and it 
 weren't on his box, and, when I found it and got 
 back — he w^eren't there. They'd seen nowt o* him 
 in t' house, and he weren't nowhere." 
 
 Hewitt and the landlord, now thoroughly star- 
 tled, searched everywhere, but to no purpose. 
 "What should he go off the place for?" asked 
 Kentish, in a sweat of apprehension. "'Tain't
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 41 
 
 chilly a bit — it's warm. He didn't want no 
 sweater ; never wore one before. It was a piece of 
 kid to be able to clear out. Nice thing, this is. 
 I stand to win two years' takings over him. Here 
 — you'll have to find him." 
 
 ''Ah, but how?" exclaimed the disconcerted 
 trainer, dancing about distractedly. ''I've got all 
 I could scrape on him myself. Where can I 
 look?" 
 
 Here was Hewitt's opportunity. He took Kent- 
 ish aside and whispered. What he said startled 
 the landlord considerably. "Yes, I'll tell you all 
 about that," he said, "if that's all you want. It's 
 no good or harm to me whether I tell or no. But 
 can you find him ? " 
 
 ' ' That I can' t promise, of course. But you know 
 who I am now, and what I'm here for. If you like 
 to give me the information I want, I'll go into 
 the case for you, and, of course, I sha'n't charge 
 any fee. I may have luck, you know, but I can' t 
 promise, of course." 
 
 The landlord looked in Hewitt's face for a 
 moment. Then he said : " Done ! It's a deal." 
 
 " Very good," Hewitt replied ; " get together the 
 one or two pax:)ers you have, and we'll go into my 
 business in the evening. As to Crockett, don't say 
 a word to any body. I'm afraid it must get out, 
 since they all know about it in the house, but 
 there's no use in making any unnecessary noise. 
 Don't make hedging bets or do any thing that will 
 attract notice. Now we'll go over to the back and 
 look at this cinder-path of yours." 
 
 Here Steggles, who was still standing near, was 
 
 4
 
 42 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 struck with an idea. " How about old Taylor, at 
 the Cop, guv' nor, eh ?" he said meaningly. "His 
 lad's good enough to win with Sammy out, and 
 Taylor is backing him plenty. Think he knows 
 any thing o' this?" 
 
 "That's likely," Hewitt observed, before Kentish 
 could reply. " Yes. Look here — suppose Steg- 
 gles goes and keeps his eye on the Coi) for an hour 
 or two, in case there's any thing to be heard of? 
 Don't show yourself, of course." 
 
 Kentish agreed, and the trainer went. When 
 Hewitt and Kentish arrived at the path behind the 
 trees, Hewitt at once began examining the ground. 
 One or two rather large holes in the cinders were 
 made, as the publican explained, by Crockett, in 
 I)ractising getting off his mark. Behind these were 
 several fresh tracks of spiked shoes. The tracks 
 led up to within a couj)le of yards of the high fence 
 bounding the ground, and there stopped abruptly 
 and entirely. In the fence, a little to the right of 
 where the tracks stoj)ped, there was a stout door, 
 This Hewitt tried, and found ajar. 
 
 "That's always kept bolted," Kentish said. 
 "He's gone out that way — he couldn't have gone 
 any other without comin' through the house." 
 
 "But he isn't in the habit of making a step 
 three yards long, is he?" Hewitt asked, pointing 
 at the last footmark and then at the door, which 
 was quite that distance away from it. " Besides," 
 he added, ox3ening the door, "there's no footprint 
 here nor outside." 
 
 The door opened on a lane, with another fence 
 and a thick iDlantation of trees at the other side.
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 43 
 
 Kentisli looked at the footmarks, then at the door, 
 then down the lane, and finally back toward the 
 house. " That's a licker ! " he said. 
 
 "This is a quiet sort of lane," was Hewitt's next 
 remark. "No houses in sight. Where does it 
 lead?" 
 
 "That way it goes to the Old Kilns — disused. 
 This way down to a turning off the Padfield and 
 Catton road." 
 
 Hewitt returned to the cinder-path again, and 
 once more examined the footmarks. He traced 
 them back over the grass toward the house. "Cer- 
 tainly," he said, "he hasn't gone back to the house. 
 Here is the double line of tracks, side by side, from 
 the house — Steggies's ordinary boots with iron tips, 
 and Crockett's running pumps; thus they came 
 out. Here is Steggies's track in the opposite direc- 
 tion alone, made when he went back for the 
 sweater. Crockett remained ; you see various 
 prints in those loose cinders at the end of the path 
 where he moved this way and that, and then two or 
 three paces toward the fence — not directly toward 
 the door, you notice — and there they stop dead, 
 and there are no more, either back or forward. 
 Now, if he had wings, I should be tempted to 
 the opinion that he flew straight away in the 
 air from that spot — unless the earth swallowed 
 him and closed again without leaving a wrinkle 
 on its face." 
 
 Kentish stared gloomily at the tracks and said 
 nothing. 
 
 " However," Hewitt resumed, " I think I'll take 
 a little walk now and tLink over it. You go into
 
 44 
 
 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 tlie house and show yourself at the bar. If any 
 
 body wants to know how Crockett is, he's pretty 
 well, thank you. By-the-bye, can I get to the Cop 
 — this place of Taylor's — by this back lane ? " 
 
 "Yes, down to the end leading to the Catton 
 road, turn to the left and then first on the right. 
 Any one '11 show you the Cop," and Kentish shut 
 the door behind the detective, who straightway 
 walked — toward the Old Kilns. 
 
 In little more than an hour he was back. It was 
 now becoming dusk, and the landlord looked out 
 papers from a box near the side window of his 
 snuggery, for the sake of the extra light. "I've 
 got these papers together for you," he said, as 
 Hewitt entered. ' ' Any news ? ' ' 
 
 "Nothing very great. Here's a bit of hand- 
 writing I want you to recognize, if you can. Get 
 alight." 
 
 Kentish lit a lamp, and Hewitt laid upon the 
 table half-a-dozen small pieces of torn paper, evi- 
 dently fragments of a letter which had been torn 
 up, here reproduced in fac-simile : 
 
 The landlord turned the scraps over, regarding 
 them dubiously, " These aren't much to recognize.
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 45 
 
 anyhoWo I don't know the writing. Where did 
 you find 'em?" 
 
 " They were lying in the lane at the back, a little 
 way down. Plainly they are pieces of a note ad- 
 dressed to some one called Sammy or something 
 very like it. See the first piece, with its ' mmy ' % 
 That is clearly from the beginning of the note, be- 
 cause there is no line between it and the smooth, 
 straight edge of the paper above ; also, nothing 
 follows on the same line. Some one writes to 
 Crockett — presuming it to be a letter addressed to 
 him, as I do for other reasons — as Sammy. It is 
 a pity that there is no more of the letter to be 
 found than these pieces. I expect the person who 
 tore it up put the rest in his pocket and dropped 
 these by accident." 
 
 Kentish, who had been picking up and examining 
 each piece in turn, now dolorously broke out : 
 
 " Oh, it's plain he's sold us — bolted and done us ; 
 me as took him out o' the gutter, too. Look here — 
 'throw them over'; that's plain enough — can't 
 mean any thing else. Means throw me over, and 
 my friends — me, after what I' ve done for him ! Then 
 'right away' — go right away, I s'pose, as he has 
 done. Then" — he was fiddling with the scraps and 
 finally fitted two together — "why, look here, this 
 one with ' lane ' on it fits over the one about throw- 
 ing over, and it says 'poor f where it's torn ; that 
 means 'poor fool,' I s'pose — we, or 'fathead,' or 
 something like that. That's nice. Why, I'd twist 
 his neck if I could get hold of him ; and I will ! " 
 
 Hewitt smiled. "Perhaps it's not quite so 
 uncomplimentary, after all," he said. "If you
 
 46 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 can't recognize the writing, never mind. But, if 
 he's gone away to sell you, it isn't much use find- 
 ing him, is it ? He won't win if he doesn't want to." 
 
 " Why, he Avouldn't dare to rope under my very 
 eyes. I'd— I'd " 
 
 " Well, well ; perhaps we'll get him to run, after 
 all, and as well as he can. One thing is certain — 
 he left this place of his own will. Further, I think 
 he is in Padfield now ; he went toward the town, I 
 believe. And I don't think he means to sell you." 
 
 "Well, he shouldn't. I've made it worth his 
 while to stick to me. I've put a fifty on for him 
 out of my own pocket, and told him so ; and, if he 
 won, that would bring him a lump more than he'd 
 probably get by going crooked, besides the prize 
 money and any thing I might give him over. But 
 it seems to me he's putting me in the cart al- 
 together." 
 
 "That we shall see. Meantime, don't mention 
 any thing I've told you to any one — not even to 
 Steggles. He can't help us, and he might blurt 
 things out inadvertentl3\ Don't say any thing 
 about these pieces of paper, which I shall keep 
 myself. By-the-bye, Steggles is indoors, isn't he? 
 Very well, keep him in. Don't let him be seen 
 hunting about this evening. I'll stay here to-night 
 and we'll proceed with Crockett's business in the 
 -morning. And now we'll settle my business, 
 please." 
 
 In the morning Hewitt took his breakfast in the 
 snuggery, carefully listening to any conversation 
 that might take place at the bar. Soon after nine
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 47 
 
 o'clock a fast dog-cart stopped outside, and a red- 
 faced, loud-voiced man swaggered in, greeting 
 Kentish with boisterous cordiality. He had a 
 drink with the landlord, and said : "How's things ? 
 Fancy any of 'em for the sxDrint handicap ? Got a 
 lad o' your own in, haven't you ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes," Kentish replied. "Crockett. Only 
 a young un not got to his proper mark yet, I reckon. 
 I think old Taylor's got No. 1 this time." 
 
 "Capital lad," the other replied, with a confiden- 
 tial nod. "Shouldn't wonder at all. Want to do 
 any thing yourself over it ? " 
 
 " No, I don't think so. I'm not on at present. 
 Might have a little flutter on the grounds just for 
 fun ; nothing else." 
 
 There were a few more casual remarks, and then 
 the red-faced man drove away. 
 
 "Who was that?" asked Hewitt, who had 
 watched the visitor through the snuggery window. 
 
 "That's Danby— bookmaker. Cute chap. He's 
 ,been told Crockett's missing, I'll bet any thing, and 
 come here to pump me. No good, though. As a 
 matter of fact, I've worked Sammy Crockett into 
 his books for about half I'm in for altogether — 
 through third parties, of course." 
 
 Hewitt reached for his hat. "I'm going out for 
 half-an-hour now," he said. "If Steggles wants to 
 go out before I come back, don't let him. Let him 
 go and smooth over all those tracks on the cinder- 
 path, very carefully. And, by-the-bye, could you 
 manage to have your son about the place to-day, 
 in case I happen to want a little help out of 
 doors?"
 
 48 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 " Certainly ; I'll get liim to stay in. But what do 
 you want the cinders smoothed for?" 
 
 Hewitt smiled, and patted his host's shoulder. 
 "I'll explain all my little tricks when the job's 
 done," he said, and went out. 
 
 On the lane from Padfield to Sedby village stood 
 the Plough beer-house, wherein J. Webb was 
 licensed to sell by retail beer to be consumed on the 
 premises or off, as the thirsty list. Nancy Webb, 
 with a very fine color, a very curly fringe, and a 
 wide smiling mouth revealing a fine set of teeth, 
 came to the bar at the summons of a stoutish old 
 gentleman in spectacles who walked with a stick. 
 
 The stoutish old gentleman had a glass of bitter 
 beer, and then said in the peculiarly quiet voice of 
 a very deaf man : "Can you tell me, if you please, 
 the way into the main Catton road ?" 
 
 " Down the lane, turn to the right at the cross- 
 roads, then first to the left." 
 
 The old gentleman waited with his hand to his 
 ear for some few seconds after she had finished 
 speaking, and then resumed in his whispering 
 voice : "I'm afraid I'm very deaf this morning." 
 He fumbled in his pocket and produced a note-book 
 and pencil. " May I trouble you to write it down ? 
 I'm so very deaf at times that I Thank you." 
 
 The girl wrote the direction, and the old gentle- 
 man bade her good-morning and left. All down 
 the lane he walked slowly with his stick. At the 
 cross-roads he turned, i^ut the stick under his arm, 
 thrust the spectacles into his pocket, and strode 
 away in the ordinary guise of Martin Hewitt. He
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 49 
 
 pulled out liis note-book, examined Miss Webb's 
 direction very car^afully, and then went off another 
 way altogether, toward the Hare and Hounds. 
 
 Kentish lounged moodily in his bar. "Well, 
 my boy," said Hewitt, "has Steggles wiped out the 
 tracks?" 
 
 " Not yet ; I haven't told him. But he's some- 
 where about ; I'll tell him now." 
 
 " No, don't. I don't think we'll have that done, 
 after all. I expect he'll want to go out soon — at 
 any rate, some time during the day. Let him go 
 whenever he likes. I'll sit upstairs a bit in the 
 club-room." 
 
 "Very well. But how do you know Steggles 
 will be going out?" 
 
 " Well, he's pretty restless after his lost protege, 
 isn't he? I don't supi)ose he'll be able to remain 
 idle long." 
 
 " And about Crockett. Do you give him up ? " 
 
 " Oh, no ! Don't you be impatient. I can't say 
 I'm quite confident yet of laying hold of him, — the 
 time is so short, you see, — but I think I shall at 
 least have news for you by the evening." 
 
 Hewitt sat in the club-room until the afternoon, 
 taking his lunch there. At length he saw, through 
 the front window, Raggy Steggles walking down 
 the road. In an instant Hewitt was down stairs and 
 at the door. The road bent eighty yards away, and 
 as soon as Steggles passed the bend the detective 
 hurried after him. 
 
 All the way to Padfield town and more than half 
 through it Hewitt dogged the trainer. In the end
 
 50 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Steggles stopped at a corner and gave a note to a 
 small boy who was playing near. The boy ran with 
 the note to a bright, well-kept house at the opposite 
 corner. Martin Hewitt was interested to observe 
 the legend, "H. Danby, Contractor," on a board 
 over a gate in the side wall of the garden behind 
 this house. In five minutes a door in the side gate 
 opened, and the head and shoulders of the red- 
 faced man emerged. Steggles immediately hurried 
 across and disappeared through the gate. 
 
 This was both interesting and instructive. Hewitt 
 took up a position in the side street and waited. In 
 ten minutes the trainer reappeared and hurried 
 off the way he had come, along the street Hewitt 
 had considerately left clear for him. Then Hewitt 
 strolled toward the smart house and took a good look 
 at it. At one corner of the small piece of forecourt 
 garden, near the railings, a small, baize-covered, 
 glass-fronted notice-board stood on two posts. On 
 its top edge appeared the words "H. Danby. 
 Houses to be Sold or Let." But the only notice 
 pinned to the green baize within was an old and 
 dusty one, inviting tenants for three shops, which 
 were suitable for any business, and which would be 
 fitted to suit tenants. Apply within. 
 
 Hewitt pushed oj^en the front gate and rang the 
 door-bell. "There are some shoj^s to let, I see," 
 he said, when a maid appeared. " I should like to 
 see them, if you will let me have the key." 
 
 " Master's out, sir. You can't see the shops till 
 Monday." 
 
 "Dear me, that's unfortunate. I'm afraid I 
 can't wait till Monday. Didn't Mr. Danby leave
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 51 
 
 any instructions, in case any body should en- 
 quire?" 
 
 "Yes, sir — as I've told you. He said any 
 body who called about 'em must come again on 
 Monday." 
 
 "Oh, very well, then; I suppose I must try. 
 One of the shops is in High Street, isn't it ? " 
 
 " No, sir ; they're all in the new part — Granville 
 Koad." 
 
 "Ah, I'm afraid that will scarcely do. But I'll 
 see. Grood-day." 
 
 Martin Hewitt walked away a couple of streets' 
 lengths before he enquired the way to Granville 
 Road. When at last he found that thoroughfare, 
 in a new and muddy suburb, crowded with brick- 
 heaps and half-finished streets, he took a slow 
 walk along its entire length. It was a melancholy 
 example of baffled enterprise. A row of a dozen 
 or more shops had been built before any popula- 
 tion had arrived to demand goods. Would-be 
 tradesmen had taken many of these shops, and 
 failure and disappointment stared from the win- 
 dows. Some were half covered by shutters, be- 
 cause the scanty stock scarce sufficed to fill the 
 remaining half. Others were shut almost alto- 
 gether, the inmates only keeping open the door for 
 their own convenience, and, perhaps, keeping down 
 a shutter for the sake of a little light. Others, 
 again, had not yet fallen so low, but struggled 
 bravely still to maintain a show of business and 
 prosperity, with very little success. Opposite the 
 shops there still remained a dusty, ill-treated hedge 
 and a forlorn-looking field, which an old board
 
 52 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 offered on building leases. Altogether a most 
 depressing spot. 
 
 There was little difficulty in identifying the three 
 shops offered for letting by Mr. H. Danby. They 
 were all togetlier near the middle of the row, and 
 were the only ones that ai^peared not yet to have 
 been occupied. A dusty "To Let" bill hung in 
 each window, with written directions to enquire of 
 Mr. H. Danby or at No. 7. Now No. 7 was a 
 melancholy baker's shop, with a stock of three 
 loaves and a plate of stale buns. The disappointed 
 baker assured Hewitt that he usually kept the 
 keys of the shops, but that the landlord, Mr. 
 Banby, had taken them away the day before to 
 see how the ceilings were standing, and had not 
 returned them. " But if you was thinking of tak- 
 ing a shop here," the poor baker added, with some 
 hesitation, " I — I — if you'll excuse my advising 
 you — I shouldn't recommend it. I've had a sick- 
 ener of it myself." 
 
 Hewitt thanked the baker for his advice, wished 
 him better luck in future, and left. To the Hare 
 and Hounds his pace was brisk. "Come," he 
 said, as he met Kentish's enquiring glance, "this 
 has been a very good day, on the whole. I know 
 where our man is now, and I think we can get him, 
 by a little management.'* 
 
 "Where is he?" 
 
 " Oh, down in Padfield. As a matter of fact, he's 
 being kept there against his will, we shall find. I 
 see that your friend Mr. Danby is a builder as 
 well as a bookmaker." 
 
 "Not a regular builder. He speculates in a
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CKOCKETT 53 
 
 street of new houses now and again, that's all. 
 But is he in it?" 
 
 " He's as deep in it as any body, I think. Now, 
 don' t Hy into a passion. There are a few others in 
 it as well, but you'll do harm if you don't keep 
 quiet." 
 
 " But go and get the police ; come and fetch him, 
 if you know where they' re keeping him. Why ' ' 
 
 " So we will, if we can't do it without them. But 
 it's quite possible we can, and without all the dis- 
 turbance and, perhaps, delay that calling in the 
 police would involve. Consider, now, in reference 
 to your own arrangements. Wouldn't it pay you 
 better to get him back quietly, without a soul 
 knowing — perhaps not even Danby knowing — till 
 the heat is run to-morrow?" 
 
 " Well, yes, it would, of course." 
 
 "Very good, then, so be it. Remember what I 
 have told you about keeping your mouth shut ; say 
 nothing to Steggles or any body. Is there a cab or 
 brougham your son and I can have for the evening ? ' ' 
 
 "There's an old hiring landau in the stables you 
 can shut up into a cab, if that '11 do." 
 
 " Excellent. We'll run down to the town in it as 
 soon as it's ready. But, first, a word about Crock- 
 ett. What sort of a lad is he? Likely to give 
 them trouble, show fight, and make a disturbance ? " 
 
 " No, I should say not. He's no plucked uri, 
 certainly ; all his manhood's in his legs, I believe. 
 You see, he ain't a big sort o' chap at best, and 
 he'd be pretty easy put upon — at least, I guess so." 
 
 "Very good, so much the better, for then he 
 won't have been damaged, and they will probably
 
 64 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 only have one man to guard liim. Now the car- 
 riage, please." 
 
 Young Kentish was a six-foot sergeant of gren- 
 adiers home on furlough, and luxuriating in plain 
 clothes. He and Hewitt walked a little way toward 
 the town, allowing the landau to catch them up. 
 They travelled in it to within a hundred yards of 
 the empty shops and then alighted, bidding the 
 driver wait. 
 
 "I shall show you three empty shops," Hewitt 
 said, as he and young Kentish walked down Gran- 
 ville Road. " I am pretty sure that Sammy Crock- 
 ett is in one of them, and I am pretty sure that that 
 is the middle one. Take a look as we go i)ast." 
 
 When the sliops had been slowly jiassed, Hewitt 
 resumed: " Now, did you see any thing about those 
 shops that told a tale of any sort ? " 
 
 "No," Sergeant Kentish replied. "I can't say 
 I noticed any thing beyond the fact that they were 
 emi)ty — and likely to stay so, I should think." 
 
 "We'll stroll back, and look in at the windows, 
 if nobody's watching us," Hewitt said. " You see, 
 it's reasonable to sui^pose they've i3ut him in the 
 middle one, because that would suit their purpose 
 best. The shops at each side of the three are occu- 
 l^ied, and, if the i)risoner struggled, or shouted, or 
 made an uproar, he might be heard if he were in 
 one of the shops next those inhabited. So that the 
 middle shoj) is the most likely. Now, see there," 
 he went on, as they stopped before the window of 
 the shop in question, "over at the back there's a 
 staircase not yet partitioned off. It goes down 
 below and up above. On the stairs and on the floor
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CEOCKETT 65 
 
 near tliem there are muddy footmarks. These must 
 have been made to-day, else they would not be 
 muddy, but dry and dusty, since there hasn't been 
 a shower for a week till to-day. Move on again. 
 Then you noticed that there were no other such 
 marks in the shop. Consequently the man with the 
 muddy feet did not come in by the front door, but 
 by the back ; otherwise he would have made a trail 
 from the door. So we will go round to the back 
 ourselves." 
 
 It was now growing dusk. The small pieces of 
 ground behind the shops were bounded by a low 
 fence, containing a door for each house. 
 
 "This door is bolted inside, of course," Hewitt 
 said, "but there is no difficulty in climbing. I 
 think we had better wait in the garden till dark. 
 In the meantime, the jailer, whoever he is, may 
 come out ; in which case we shall pounce on him as 
 soon as he opens the door. You have that few 
 yards of cord in your pocket, I think ? And my 
 handkerchief, properly rolled, will make a very 
 good gag. Now over." 
 
 They climbed the fence and quietly approached 
 the house, placing themselves in the angle of an 
 outhouse out of sight from the windows. There 
 was no sound, and no light appeared. Just 
 above the ground about a foot of window was 
 visible, with a grating over it, apparently lighting 
 a basement. Suddenly Hewitt touched his com- 
 panion's arm and pointed toward the window. A 
 faint rustling sound was perceptible, and, as nearly 
 as could be discerned in the darkness, some white 
 blind or covering was placed over the glass from
 
 56 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 the inside. Then came the sound of a striking 
 match, and at the side edge of the window there 
 was a faint streak of light. 
 
 "That's the place," Hewitt whispered. " Come, 
 we'll make a push for it. You stand against the 
 wall at one side of the door and I'll stand at the 
 other, and we' 11 have him as he comes out. Quietly, 
 now, and I'll startle them." 
 
 He took a stone from among the rubbish littering 
 the garden and flung it crashing through the win« 
 dow. There was a loud exclamation from within, 
 the blind fell, and somebody rushed to the back 
 door and flung it open. Instantly Kentish let fly 
 a heavy right-hander, and the man went over like a 
 skittle. In a moment Hewitt was upon him and 
 the gag in his mouth. 
 
 *' Hold him," Hewitt whispered hurriedly. "I'll 
 see if there are others." 
 
 He peered down through the low window. 
 Within Sammy Crockett, his bare legs dangling 
 from beneath his long overcoat, sat on a packing- 
 box, leaning with his head on his hand and his 
 back toward the window. A guttering candle 
 stood on the mantel-piece, and the newspaper which 
 had been stretched across the window lay in scat- 
 tered sheets on the floor. No other person besides 
 Sammy was visible. 
 
 They led their prisoner indoors. Young Kentish 
 recognized him as a public-house loafer and race- 
 course ruffian well known in the neighborhood. 
 
 "So it's you, is it, Browdie?" he said. "I've 
 caught you one hard clump, and I've half a mind 
 to make it a score more. But you'll get it pretty
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 57 
 
 warm one way or another before this job's for- 
 gotten." 
 
 Sammy Crockett was overjoyed at his rescue. 
 He had not been ill treated, he explained, but had 
 been thoroughly cowed by Browdie, who had from 
 time to time threatened him savagely with an iron 
 bar by way of persuading him to quietness and 
 submission. He had been fed, and had taken no 
 worse harm than a slight stiffness from his adven- 
 ture, due to his light under-attire of jersey and 
 knee-shorts. 
 
 Sergeant Kentish tied Browdie' s elbows firmly 
 together behind, and carried the line round the 
 ankles, bracing all up tight. Then he ran a knot 
 from one wrist to the other over the back of the 
 neck, and left the prisoner, trussed and helpless, 
 on the heap of straw that had been Sammy's 
 bed. 
 
 "You won't be very jolly, I expect," Kentish 
 said, "for some time. You can't shout and you 
 can't walk, and I know you can't untie yourself. 
 You'll get a bit hungry, too, perhaps, but that'll 
 give you an appetite. I don't suppose you'll be dis- 
 turbed till some time to-morrow, unless our friend 
 Danby turns up in the meantime. But you can 
 come along to jail instead, if you prefer it." 
 
 They left him where he lay, and took Sammy to 
 the old landau. Sammy walked in slippers, carry- 
 ing his spiked shoes, hanging by the lace, in his 
 hand. 
 
 "Ah," said Hewitt, " I think I know the name of 
 the young lady who gave you those slippers." 
 
 Crockett looked ashamed and indignant. ' ' Yes, ' '
 
 58 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 he said, "they've done me nicely between 'em. 
 But I'll pay her— I'll " 
 
 "Hush, hash ! " Hewitt said ; "you mustn't talk 
 unkindly of a lady, you know. Get into this car- 
 riage, and we'll take you home. We'll see if I can 
 tell you your adventures without making a mis- 
 take. First, you had a note from Miss Webb, tell- 
 ing you that you were mistaken in supposing she 
 had slighted you, and that, as a matter of fact, she 
 had quite done with somebody else — left him — of 
 whom you were jealous. Isn't that so ? " 
 
 "Well, yes," young Crockett answered, blushing 
 deeply under the carriage-lamp ; " but I don't see 
 how you come to know that." 
 
 "Then she went on to ask you to get rid of Steg- 
 gles on Thursday afternoon for a few minutes, 
 and speak to her in the back lane. 'Now, your 
 running pumi")s, with their thin soles, almost like 
 palmer, no heels and long sj^ikes, hurt your feet 
 horribly if you w^alk on hard ground, don't 
 they?" 
 
 "Ay, that they do — enough to cripple you. I'd 
 never go on much hard ground wdth 'em." 
 
 " They're not like cricket shoes, I see." 
 
 "Not a bit. Cricket shoes you can walk any- 
 where in !" 
 
 "Well, she knew this, — I think I know who told 
 her, — and she promised to bring you a new pair of 
 slippers, and to throw them over the fence for you 
 to come out in." 
 
 " I s'pose she's been tellin' you all this ?" Crock- 
 ett said mournfully. "You couldn't ha' seen the 
 letter ; I saw her tear it up and put the bits in her
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CEOCKETT 59 
 
 pocket. She asked me for it in tlie lane, in case 
 
 Steggles saw it." 
 
 ' ' Well, at any rate, you sent Steggles away, and 
 the slippers did come over, and you went into the 
 lane. You walked with her as far as the road at 
 the end, and then you were seized and gagged, and 
 put into a carriage." 
 
 "That was Browdie did that," said Crockett, 
 " and another chap I don't know. But — why, this 
 is Padfield High Street ? " He looked through the 
 window and regarded the familiar shops with as- 
 tonishment. 
 
 " Of course it is. Where did you think it was ? " 
 
 " Why, where was that place you found me in ? " 
 
 " Grranville Road, Padfield. I suppose they told 
 you you were in another town?" 
 
 "Told me it was Newstead Hatch. They drove 
 for about three or four hours, and kept me down on 
 the floor between the seats so as I couldn't see where 
 we was going." 
 
 "Done for two reasons," said Hewitt. "First, 
 to mystify you, and prevent any discovery of the 
 peoi)le directing the conspiracy ; and second, to be 
 able to put you indoors at night and unobserved. 
 Well, I think I have told you all you know your- 
 self now as far as the carriage. 
 
 "But there is the Hare and Hounds just in 
 front. We'll pull up here, and I'll get out and see 
 if the coast is clear. I fancy Mr. Kentish would 
 rather you came in unnoticed," 
 
 In a few seconds Hewitt was back, and Crockett 
 was conveyed indoors by a side entrance. Hewitt's 
 instructions to the landlord were few, but emphatic.
 
 CO MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Don't tell Steggles about it," he said ; " make an 
 excuse to get rid of liim, and send him out of the 
 house. Take Crockett into some other bedroom, 
 not his own, and let your son look after him. 
 Then come here, and I'll tell you all about it." 
 
 Sammy Crockett was undergoing a heavy groom- 
 ing with white embrocation at the hands of Ser- 
 geant Kentish when tlie landlord returned to 
 Hewitt. "Does Danby know you've got him?" 
 he asked. "How did you do it?" 
 
 "Danby doesn't know yet, and with luck he 
 won't know till he sees Crockett running to-morrow. 
 The man who has sold you is Steggles." 
 
 "Steggles?" 
 
 " Steggles it is. At the very first, when Steggles 
 rushed in to report Sammy Crockett missing, I sus- 
 pected him. You didn't, I suppose?" 
 
 "No. He's always been considered a straight 
 man, and he looked as startled as any body." 
 
 "Yes, I must say he acted it very well. But 
 there was something suspicious in Lis story. What 
 did he say? Crockett had remarked a chilliness, 
 and asked for a sweater, which Steggles went to 
 fetch. Now, just think. You understand these 
 things. Would any trainer who knew his business 
 (as Steggles does) have gone to bring out a sweater 
 for his man to change for his jersey in the open air, 
 at the very time the man was complaining of chilli- 
 ness ? Of course not. He would have taken his 
 man indoors again and let him change there under 
 shelter. Then supposing Steggles had really been 
 surprised at missing Crockett, wouldn't he have 
 looked about, found the gate open, and told you it
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 61 
 
 was open when he first came in 1 He said nothing 
 of that — we found the gate open for ourselves. So 
 that from the beginning I had a certain opinion of 
 Steggles." 
 
 "What you say seems pretty plain now, although 
 it didn't strike me at the time. But, if Steggles was 
 selling us, why couldn't he have drugged the lad? 
 That would have been a deal simpler." 
 
 "Because Steggles is a good trainer, and has a 
 certain reputation to keep up. It would have done 
 him no good to have had a runner drugged while 
 under his care ; certainly it would have ( c* "ked his 
 goose with you. It was much the safer thing to 
 connive at kidnapping. That put all the active 
 work into other hands, and left him safe, even if 
 the trick failed. Now, you remember that we 
 traced the prints of Crockett's spiked shoes to 
 within a couple of yards of the fence, and that 
 there they ceased suddenly ? " 
 
 "Yes. You said it looked as though he had 
 flown up into the air ; and so it did." 
 
 "But I was sure that it was by that gate that 
 Crockett had left, and by no other. He couldn't 
 have got through the house without being seen, 
 and there was no other way — let alone the evi- 
 dence of the unbolted gate. Therefore, as the foot- 
 prints ceased where they did, and were not repeated 
 anywhere in the lane, I knew that he had taken his 
 spiked shoes off — probably changed them for some- 
 thing else, because a runner anxious as to his 
 chances would never risk walking on bare feet, 
 with a chance of cutting them. Ordinary, broad, 
 smooth-soled slippers would leave no impression on
 
 62 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 the coarse cinders bordering tlie track, and nothing 
 short of spiked shoes would leave a mark on the 
 hard i^ath in the lane behind. The spike-tracks 
 were leading, not directly toward the door, but in 
 the direction of the fence, when they stopi^ed ; 
 somebody had handed, or thrown, the slippers 
 over the fence, and he had changed them on the 
 spot. The enemy had calculated upon the spikes 
 leaving a track in the lane that miglit lead us in 
 our search, and had arranged accordingly. 
 
 "So far so good, I could see no footprints near 
 the gate in the lane. You will remember that I 
 sent Steggles off to watch at the Cox) before I went 
 out to the back — merely, of course, to get him out 
 of the way. I went out into tlie lane, leaving you 
 behind, and walked its whole length, first toward 
 the Old Kilns and then back toward the road. I 
 found nothing to help me except these small pieces 
 of paper — which are here in my pocket-book, by- 
 the-bye. Of course this ' mmy ' might have meant 
 'Jimmy' or 'Tommy' as possibly as 'Sammy,' but 
 they were not to be rejected on that account. Cer- 
 tainly Crockett had been decoyed out of your 
 ground, not taken by force, or there would have 
 been marks of a scuffle in the cinders. And as his 
 request for a sweater was probably an excuse — be- 
 cause it was not at all a cold afternoon — he must 
 have previously designed going out: inference, a 
 letter received ; and here were jDieces of a letter. 
 'Now, in the light of what I have said, look at these 
 pieces. First, there is the 'mmy' — that I have 
 dealt with. Then see this 'throw them ov' — 
 clearly a part of ' throw them over ' ; exactly what
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 63 
 
 had probably been done with the slippers. Then 
 the 'poorf,' coming Just on the line before, and 
 seen, by joining up with this other piece, might 
 easily be a reference to 'poor feet.' These coinci- 
 dences, one on the other, went far to establish the 
 identity of the letter, and to confirm my previous 
 impressions. But then there is something else. 
 Two other pieces evidently mean 'left him,' and 
 'right away' — send Steggles 'right away,' per- 
 haps ; but there is another, containing almost all 
 of the words 'hate his,' with the word 'hate' un- 
 derlined. Now, who writes 'hate' with the em- 
 phasis of underscoring — who but a woman ? The 
 writing is large and not very regular; it might 
 easily be that of a half-educated woman. Here 
 was something more — Sammy had been enticed 
 away by a woman. 
 
 "Now, I remembered that, when we went into the 
 tap-room on Wednesday, some of his companions 
 were chaffing Crockett about a certain Nancy Webb, 
 and the chaff went home, as was plain to see. The 
 woman, then, who could most easily entice Sammy 
 Crockett away was Nancy Webb. I resolved to 
 find who Nancy Webb was and learn more of her. 
 
 ' ' Meantime, I took a look at the road at the end 
 of the lane. It was damper than the lane, being 
 lower, and overhung by trees. There were many 
 wheel-tracks, but only one set that turned in the 
 road and went back the way it came, toward the 
 town ; and they were narrow wheels — carriage- 
 wheels. Crockett tells me now that they drove him 
 about for a long time before shutting him up ; 
 probably the inconvenience of taking him straight
 
 64 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 to the liiding- place didn't strike tliem when they 
 first drove off. 
 
 ," A few enquiries soon set me in the direction of 
 the Plough and Miss Nancy Webb. I had the 
 curiosity to look around the x^ln^ce as I approached, 
 and there, in the garden behind the house, were 
 Steggles and the young lady in earnest confabu- 
 lation ! 
 
 " Every conjecture became a certainty, Steggles 
 was the lover of whom Crockett was jealous, and 
 he had employed the girl to bring Sammy out. I 
 watched Steggles home, and gave you a hint to 
 keep him there. 
 
 "But the thing that remained was to find Steg- 
 gles' s employer in this business. I was glad to be 
 in when Danby called. He came, of course, to hear 
 if you would blurt out any thing, and to learn, if 
 possible, what steps you were taking. lie failed. 
 By way of making assurance doubly sure I took a 
 short walk this morning in the character of a deaf 
 gentleman, and got Miss Webb to write me a direc- 
 tion that comprised three of the words on these 
 scraps of paper — 'left,' 'right,' and 'lane'; see, 
 they correspond, the peculiar 'f's,' 't's,' and all. 
 
 "Now, I felt perfectly sure that Steggles would go 
 for his pay to-day. In the first place, I knew that 
 people mixed up with shady transactions in pro- 
 fessional pedestrianism are not apt to trust one 
 another far — they know better. Therefore Steg- 
 gles wouldn't have had his bribe first. But he 
 would take care to get it before the Saturday heats 
 were run, because once they were over the thing 
 was done, and the principal conspirator might have
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 65 
 
 refused to pay up, and Steggles couldn't have 
 helped himself. Again I hinted he should not go 
 out till I could follow him, and this afternoon, when 
 he went, follow him I did. I saw him go into 
 Danby's house by the side way and come away 
 again. Danby it was, then, who had arranged the 
 business ; and nobody was more likely, considering 
 his large pecuniary stake against Crockett's win- 
 ning this race. 
 
 " But now how to find Crockett ? I made up my 
 mind he wouldn't be in Danby's own house. That 
 would be a deal too risky, with servants about and 
 so on. I saw that Danby was a builder, and had 
 three shops to let — it was on a pajDer before his 
 house. What more likely prison than an empty 
 house? I knocked at Danby's door and asked for 
 the keys of those shops. I couldn't have them. 
 The servant told me Danby was out (a manifest lie, 
 for I had Just seen him), and that nobody could see 
 the shops till Monday. But I got out of her the 
 address of the shops, and that was all I wanted at 
 the time. 
 
 "Now, why was nobody to see those shops till 
 Monday ? The interval was suspicious — just enough 
 to enable Crockett to be sent away again and cast 
 loose after the Saturday racing, supposing him 
 to be kept in one of the empty buildings. I 
 went off at once and looked at the shops, forming 
 my conclusions as to which would be the most 
 likely for Danby's purpose. Here I had another 
 confirmation of my ideas. A poor, half-bankrupt 
 baker in one of the shops had, by the bills, the 
 custody of a set of keys ; but Tie^ too, told me I
 
 66 MAETIN HEWIIT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 couldn't have tliem ; Danby had taken them away 
 — and on Thursday, the very day — with some trivial 
 excuse, and hadn't brought them back. That was 
 all I wanted or could expect in the way of guid- 
 ance. The whole thing was plain. The rest you 
 know all about." 
 
 "Well, you're certainly as smart as they give 
 you credit for, I must say. But suppose Danby 
 had taken down his ' To Let ' notice, what \yould 
 you have done then?" 
 
 "We had our course even then. We sLould 
 have gone to Danby, astounded him by telling him 
 all about his little games, terrorized him with 
 threats of the law, and made him throw up his 
 hand and send Crockett back. But as it is, you 
 see, he doesn't know at this moment — probably 
 won't know till to-morrow afternoon — that the lad 
 is safe and sound here. You will probably use the 
 interval to make him pay for losing the game — by 
 some of the ingenious financial devices you are no 
 doubt familiar with." 
 
 "Ay, that I will. He'll give any price against 
 Crockett now, so long as the bet don't come direct 
 from me." 
 
 "But about Crockett, now," Hewitt went on. 
 "Won't this confinement be likely to have dam- 
 aged his speed for a day or two ? " 
 
 "Ah, perhaps," the landlord replied; "but, 
 bless ye, that won't matter. There's four more in 
 his heat to-morrow. Two I know aren't tryers, and 
 the other two I can hold in at a couple of quid 
 apiece any day. The third round and final won't 
 be till to-morrow week, and he'll be as fit as ever by
 
 THE LOSS OF SAMMY CROCKETT 67 
 
 then. It's as safe as ever it was. How much are 
 you going to have on ? I'll lump it on for you safe 
 enough. This is a chance not to be missed ; it's 
 picking money up." 
 
 "Thank you ; I don't think I'll have any thing 
 to do with it. This professional pedestrian busi- 
 ness doesn't seem a pretty one at all. I don't call 
 myself a moralist, but, if you'll excuse my saying 
 so, the thing is scarcely the game I care to pick up 
 money at in any way." 
 
 "Oh, very well! if you think so. I won't per- 
 suade ye, though I don't think so much of your 
 smartness as I did, after that. Still, we won't 
 quarrel ; you've done me a mighty good turn, that 
 I must say, and I only feel I aren't level without 
 doing something to pay the debt. Come, now, 
 you've got your trade as I've got mine. Let me 
 have the bill, and I'll pay it like a lord, and feel a 
 deal more pleased than if you made a favor of it — 
 not that I'm above a favor, of course. But I'd 
 prefer paying, and that's a fact." 
 
 "My dear sir, you have paid," Hewitt said, with 
 a smile. " You paid in advance. It was a bargain, 
 wasn't it, that I should do your business if you 
 would help me in mine ? Very well ; a bargain's a 
 bargain, and we've both performed our parts. And 
 you mustn't be offended at what I said just now." 
 
 "That I won't! But as to that Raggy Steg- 
 gles, once those heats are over to-morrow, I'll — 
 well !" 
 
 It was on the following Sunday week that Martin 
 Hewitt, in his rooms in London, turned over his
 
 68 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 paper and read, under the head "Padfield Annual 
 136 Yards Handicap," this announcement : " Final 
 heat : Crockett, first ; Willis, second ; Trewby, 
 third ; Owen, ; Howell, 0. A runaway win by 
 nearly three yards."
 
 in. THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 
 
 Almost the only dogmatism that Martin Hewitt 
 permitted himself in regard to his professional 
 methods was one on the matter of accumnlative 
 probabilities. Often when I have remarked upon 
 the apparently trivial nature of the clues by which 
 he allowed himself to be guided, — sometimes, to all 
 seeming, in the very face of all likelihood, — he has 
 replied that two trivialities, pointing in the same 
 direction, became at once, by their mere agree- 
 ment, no trivialities at all, but enormously impor- 
 tant considerations. "If I were in search of a 
 man," he would say, "of whom I knew nothing 
 but that he squinted, bore a birthmark on his right 
 hand, and limped, and I observed a man who 
 answered to the first peculiarity, so far the clue 
 would be trivial, because thousands of men squint. 
 Now, if that man presently moved and exhibited 
 a birthmark on his right hand, the value of that 
 squint and that mark would increase at once a 
 hundred or a thousand fold. Apart they are little ; 
 together much. The weight of evidence is not 
 doubled merely ; it would be only doubled if half 
 the men who squinted had right-hand birthmarks ; 
 whereas the proportion, if it could be ascertained, 
 would be, perhaps, more like one in ten thousand. 
 The two trivialities, pointing in the same direction, 
 become very strong evidence. And, when the man
 
 10 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 is seen to walk with a limp, that limp (another 
 triviality), re-enforcing the others, brings the matter 
 to the rank of a practical certainty. The Bertillon 
 system of identification — what is it but a summary 
 of trivialities ? Thousands of men are of the same 
 height, thousands of the same length of foot, thou- 
 sands of the same girth of head — thousands cor- 
 respond in any separate measurement you may 
 name. It is when the measurements are taken 
 together that you have your man identified for- 
 ever. Just consider how few, if any, of your 
 friends correspond exactly in any two personal 
 peculiarities." Hewitt's dogma received its ilhis- 
 tration unexpectedly close at home. 
 
 The old house wherein my chambers and Hewitt's 
 office ivere situated contained, beside my own, two 
 or three more bachelors' dens, in addition to the 
 offices on the ground and first and second floors. At 
 the very top of all, at the back, a fat, middle-aged 
 man, named Foggatt, occupied a set of four rooms. 
 It was only after a long residence, by an accidental 
 remark of the housekeeper's, that I learned the 
 man's name, which was not painted on his door or 
 displayed, with all the others, on the wall of the 
 ground-floor porch. 
 
 Mr. Foggatt appeared to have few friends, but 
 lived in something as nearly approaching luxury as 
 an old bachelor in chambers can live. An ascend- 
 ing case of champagne was a common phenomenon 
 of the staircase, and I have more than once seen a 
 picture, destined for the top floor, of a sort that 
 went far to awaken green covetousness in the heart 
 of a poor journalist.
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 71 
 
 The man himself was not altogether prepossess- 
 ing. Fat as he was, he had a way of carrying his 
 head forward on his extended neck and gazing 
 widely about with a pair of the roundest and most 
 prominent eyes I remember to have ever seen, 
 except in a fish. On the whole, his appearance 
 was rather vulgar, rather arrogant, and rather 
 suspicious, without any very i)ronounced quality 
 of any sort. But certainly he was not pretty. In 
 the end, however, he was found shot dead in his 
 sitting-room. 
 
 It was in this way : Hewitt and I had dined 
 together at my club, and late in the evening had 
 returned to my rooms to smoke and discuss what- 
 ever came ux)permost. I had made a bargain that 
 day with two speculative odd lots at a book sale, 
 each of which contained a hidden prize. We sat 
 talking and turning over these books while time 
 went unperceived, when suddenly we were startled 
 by a loud report. Clearly it was in the building. 
 We listened for a moment, but heard nothing else, 
 and then Hewitt expressed his opinion that the 
 report was that of a gunshot. Gunshots in resi- 
 dential chambers are not common things, wherefore 
 I got up and went to the landing, looking up the 
 stairs and down. 
 
 At the top of the next flight I saw Mrs. Clayton, 
 the housekeeper. She appeared to be frightened, 
 and told me that the report came from Mr. Fog- 
 gatt's room. She thought he might have had an 
 accident with the pistol that usually lay on his 
 mantel-piece. We went upstairs with her, and she 
 knocked at Mr. Foggatt's door.
 
 12 MAKTIN HEWITT, IITV'ESTIGATOR 
 
 There was no reply. Through the ventilating 
 fanlight over the door it could be seen that there 
 were lights within, a sign, Mrs. Clayton maintained, 
 that Mr. Foggatt was not out. We knocked again, 
 much more loudly, and called, but still inellectually. 
 The door was locked, and an application of the 
 housekeeper's key proved that the tenant's key 
 had been left in the lock inside. Mrs. Clayton's 
 conviction that " sonietliiiig had haj^pened " became 
 distressing, and in the end Hewitt i)rized open the 
 door with a small poker. 
 
 Something Jiad happened. In the sitting-room 
 Mr. Foggatt sat with his head bowed over the table, 
 quiet and still. The head was ill to look at, and by 
 it lay a large revolver, of the full-sized army pat- 
 tern. Mrs. Clayton ran back toward the landing 
 with faint screams. 
 
 "Run, Brett!" said Ilewitt ; "a doctor and a 
 policeman ! " 
 
 I bounced down the stairs half a flight at a time. 
 "First," I thought, "a doctor. He may not be 
 dead." I could think of no doctor in the imme- 
 diate neighborhood, but ran uj) the street away 
 from the Strand, as being the more likely direction 
 for the doctor, although less so for the policeman. 
 It took me a good five minutes to find the medico, 
 after being led astray by a red lamp at a private 
 hotel, and another five to get back, with a police- 
 man. 
 
 Foggatt was dead, without a doubt. Probably 
 had shot h'mself, the doctor thought, from the 
 powder-blacl;ening and other circumstances. Cer- 
 tainly nobody could have left the room by the
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 73 
 
 door, or he must have passed my landing, while the 
 fact of the door being found locked from the inside 
 made the thing impossible. There were two win- 
 dows to the room, both of which were shut, one 
 being fastened by the catch, while the catch of the 
 other was broken — an old fracture. Below these 
 windows was a sheer drop of fifty feet or more, 
 without a foot- or hand-hold near. The windows 
 in the other rooms were shut and fastened. Cer- 
 tainly it seemed suicide — unless it were one of 
 those accidents that will occur to people who fiddle 
 ignorantly with firearms. Soon the rooms were in 
 possession of the police, and v/e were turned out. 
 
 We looked in at the housekeeper's kitchen, 
 where her daughter was reviving and calming 
 Mrs. Clayton with gin and water. 
 
 "You mustn't upset yourself, Mrs. Clayton," 
 Hewitt said, "or what will become of us all? 
 The doctor thinks it was an accident." 
 
 He took a small bottle of sewing-machine oil 
 from his pocket and handed it to the daughter, 
 thanking her for the loan. 
 
 There was little evidence at the inquest. The 
 shot had been heard, the body had been found — 
 that was the practical sum of the matter. No 
 friends or relatives of the dead man came forward. 
 The doctor gave his opinion as to the probability 
 of suicide or an accident, and the police evidence 
 tended in the same direction. Nothing had been 
 found to indicate that any other person had been 
 near the dead man's rooms on the night of the 
 fatality. On the other hand, his papers, bank- 
 
 6
 
 74 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 book, etc., proved him to be a man of considerable 
 substance, with no apparent motive for suicide. 
 The police had been unable to trace any relatives, 
 or, indeed, any nearer connections than casual 
 acquaintances, fellow-clubmen, and so on. The 
 jury found that Mr. Foggatt had died by accident. 
 
 "Well, Brett," Hewitt asked me afterward, 
 *' what do you think of the verdict ? " 
 
 I said that it seemed to be the most reasonable 
 one possible, and to square with the common-sense 
 view of the case. 
 
 "Yes," he replied, "perhaps it does. From the 
 point of view of the jury, and on their informa- 
 tion, their verdict was quite reasonable. Never- 
 theless, Mr. Foggatt did not shoot himself. He 
 was shot by a rather tall, active young man, per- 
 haps a sailor, but certainly a gymnast — a young 
 man whom I think I could identify if I saw him." 
 
 " But how do you know this ? " 
 
 "By the simplest possible inferences, which you 
 may easily guess, if you will but think." 
 
 "But, then, why didn't you say this at the 
 inquest?" 
 
 " My dear fellow, they don't want my inferences 
 and conjectures at an inquest ; they only want evi- 
 dence. If I had traced the murderer, of course 
 then I should have communicated with the police. 
 As a matter of fact, it is quite possible that the 
 police have observed and know as much as I do 
 — or more. They don't give every thing away at 
 an inquest, you know. It wouldn't do." 
 
 " But, if you are right, how did the man get 
 away 1"
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 15 
 
 "Come, we are near home now. Let us take 
 a look at tlie back of the house. He couldrCt have 
 left by Foggatt's landing door, as we know ; and 
 as he was there (I am certain of that), and as the 
 chimney is out of the question, — for there was 
 a good fire in the grate, — he must have gone out by 
 the window. Only one window is possible — that 
 with the broken catch — for all the others were 
 fastened inside. Out of that window, then, he 
 went." 
 
 " But how ? The window is fifty feet up." 
 "Of course it is. But why -ioz?? you persist in 
 assuming that the only way of escape by a window 
 is downward ? See, now, look up there. The 
 window is at the top floor, and it has a very broad 
 sill. Over the window is nothing but the flat face 
 of the gable-end; but to the right, and a foot or 
 two above the level of the top of the window, an 
 iron gutter ends. Observe, it is not of lead com- 
 position, but a strong iron gutter, supported, just 
 at its end, by an iron bracket. If a tall man stood 
 on the end of the window-sill, steadying himself by 
 the left hand and leaning to the right, he could 
 just touch the end of this gutter with his right 
 hand. The full stretch, toe to finger, is seven feet 
 three inches. I have measured it. An active gym- 
 nast, or a sailor, could catch the gutter with a slight 
 spring, and by it draw himself'upon the roof. You 
 will say he would have to be very active, dexterous, 
 and cool. So he would. And that very fact helps 
 us, because it narrows the field of enquiry. We 
 know the sort of man to look for. Because, being 
 certain (as I am) that the man was in the room, I
 
 76 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 know that lie left in tlie way I am telling yon. 
 He must have left in some way, and, all the other 
 ways being impossible, tliis alone remains, clifRcnlt 
 as the feat may seem. The fact of his shutting the 
 window behind him further proves his coolness and 
 address at so great a height from the ground." 
 
 All this was very x^lain, but the main point was 
 still dark. 
 
 " You say you Tcnow that another man was in the 
 room," I said ; "how do you know that ? " 
 
 " As I said, by an obvious inference. Come, now, 
 you shall guess how I arrived at that inference. 
 You often speak of your interest in my work, and 
 the attention with which you follow it. This shall 
 be a simple exercise for you. You saw every thing 
 in the room as plainl}^ as I myself. Bring the scene 
 back to your memory, and think over the various 
 small objects littering about, and how they would 
 affect the case. Quick observation is the first es- 
 sential for my work. Did you see a newspaper, for 
 instance?" 
 
 ' ' Yes. There was an evening paper on the floor, 
 but I didn't examine it." 
 
 "Any thing else?" 
 
 "On the table there was a whiskey decanter, 
 taken from the tantalus-stand on the sideboard, and 
 one glass. That, by-the-bye," I added, "looked as 
 though only one person were present." 
 
 "So it did, perhaps, although the inference 
 wouldn't be very strong. Go on ! " 
 
 " There was a fruit-stand on the sideboard, with a 
 plate beside it, containing a few nutshells, a piece 
 of apple, a pair of nut-crackers, and, I think, some
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 11 
 
 orange peel. There was, of course, all the ordinary 
 furniture, but no chair pulled up to the table except 
 that used by Foggatt himself. That's all I noticed, 
 I think. Stay — there was an ash-tray on the table, 
 and a partly burned cigar near it — only one cigar, 
 though." 
 
 " Excellent — excellent, indeed, as far as memory 
 and simple observation go. You saw every thing 
 plainly, and you remember every thing. Surely 
 nolo you know how I found out that another man 
 had just left?" 
 
 '•No, I don't ; unless there were different kinds 
 of ash in the ash-tray." 
 
 " That is a fairly good suggestion, but there were 
 not — there was only a single ash, corresponding in 
 every way to that on the cigar. Don't you remem- 
 ber every thing that I did as we went downstairs ? " 
 
 " You returned a bottle of oil to the house- 
 keeper's daughter, I think." 
 
 "I did. Doesn't that give you a hint? Come, 
 you surely have it now ?" 
 
 " I haven't." 
 
 "Then I sha'n't tell you ; you don't deserve it. 
 Think, and don't mention the subject again till you 
 have at least one guess to make. The thing stares 
 you in the face ; you see it, you remember it, and 
 yet you loori't see it. I won't encourage your 
 slovenliness of thought, my boy, by telling you 
 what you can know for yourself if you like. Good- 
 by — I'm off now. There's a case in hand I can't 
 neglect." 
 
 "Don't you propose to go further into this, 
 then?"
 
 V8 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Hewitt sliriigged his slioiilders. 'Tm not a 
 policeman," he said. "The case is in very good 
 hands. Of course, if any body comes to me to do it 
 as a matter of business, Fll take it up. It's very 
 interesting, but I can't neglect my regular work for 
 it. Naturally, I shall keeii my eyes open and my 
 memory in order. Sometimes these things come 
 into the hands by themselves, as it were ; in that 
 case, of course, I am a loyal citizen, and ready to 
 help the law. Au revoir ! " 
 
 I am a busy man myself, and thought little more 
 of Hewitt's conundrum for some time ; indeed, 
 when I did think, I saw no way to the answer. A 
 week after tlie inquest I took a holiday (I had 
 written my nightly leaders regularly every day 
 for the past live years), and saw no more of Hewitt 
 for six weeks. After my return, with still a 
 few days of leave to run, one evening we together 
 turned into Luzatti's, off Coventry Street, for 
 dinner. 
 
 "I have been here several times lately," Hewitt 
 said ; " they feed you very well. No, not that 
 table," — he seized my arm as I turned to an unoc- 
 cupied corner, — "I fancy it's draughty." He led 
 the way to a longer table where a dark, lithe, and 
 (as well as could be seen) tall young man already 
 sat, and took chairs opposite him. 
 
 We had scarcely seated ourselves before Hewitt 
 broke into a torrent of conversation on the subject 
 of bicycling. As our previous conversation had 
 been of a literary sort, and as I had never known 
 Hewitt at any other time to show the slightest in-
 
 THE CASE OF ME. FOGGATT V9 
 
 terest in bicycling, this rather surprised me. I had, 
 however, such a general outsider's grasp of the sub- 
 ject as is usual in a journalist-of -all-work, and man- 
 aged to keep the talk going from my side. As we 
 went on I could see the face of the young man op- 
 posite brighten with interest. He was a rather fine- 
 looking fellow, with a dark though very clear skin, 
 but had a hard, angry look of eye, a prominence of 
 cheek-bone, and a squareness of jaw that gave him 
 a rather uninviting aspect. As Hewitt rattled on, 
 however, our neighbor's expression became one of 
 pleasant interest merely. 
 
 "Of course," Hewitt said, "we've a number of 
 very capital men just now, but I believe a deal in 
 the forgotten riders of five, ten, and fifteen years 
 back. Osmond, I believe, was better than any man 
 riding now, and I think it would puzzle some of 
 them to beat Furnivall as he was at his best. But 
 poor old Cortis — really, I believe he was as good as 
 any body. Nobody ever beat Cortis — except — let 
 me see — I think somebody beat Cortis once — Who 
 was it, now? I can't remember." 
 
 "Liles," said the young man opposite, looking 
 up quickly. 
 
 " Ah, yes — Liles it was ; Charley Liles. Wasn't 
 it a championship ? " 
 
 " Mile championship, 1880 ; Cortis won the other 
 three, though." 
 
 " Yes, so he did. I saw Cortis when he first broke 
 the old 2.46 mile record." And straightway Hewitt 
 plunged into a whirl of talk of bicycles, tricycles, 
 records, racing cyclists, Hillier and Synyer and 
 Noel Whiting, Taylerson and Appleyard — talk
 
 80 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 wherein the young man opposite bore an animated 
 share, while I was left in the cold. 
 
 Our new friend, it seemed, had himself been a 
 prominent racing bicyclist a few years back, and 
 was presently, at Hewitt's request, exhibiting a 
 neat gold medal tliat hung at his watch-guard. 
 That was won, he exjilained, in the old tall bicycle 
 days, the days of bad tracks, when every racing 
 cyclist carried cinder scars on his face from numer- 
 ous accidents. He pointed to a blue mark on his 
 forehead, which, he told ns, was a track scar, and 
 described a bad fall that had cost him two teeth, 
 and broken others. Tiie gaps among his teeth were 
 plain to see as he smiled. 
 
 Presently the waiter brought dessert, and the 
 young man opposite took an apple. Nut-craclvers 
 and a fruit-knife lay on our side of the stand, and 
 Hewitt turned tlie stand to offer him the knife. 
 
 *'No, thanks," he said ; " 1 only polish a good 
 apple, never peel it. It's a mistake, except with 
 thick-skinned foreign ones." 
 
 And he began to munch the apple as only a boy 
 or a healthy athlete can. Presently he turned his 
 head to order coffee. The waiter's back was turned, 
 and he had to be called twice. To my unutterable 
 amazement Hewitt reached swiftly across the table, 
 snatched the half -eaten apple from the young man's 
 plate and pocketed it, gazing immediately, with an 
 abstracted air, at a painted Cupid on the ceiling. 
 
 Our neighbor turned again, looked doubtfully at 
 his plate and the table-cloth about it, and then shot 
 a keen glance in the direction of Hewitt. He said 
 nothing, however, but took his coffee and his bill,
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 81 
 
 deliberately drank tlie former, gazing quietly at 
 Hewitt as he did it, paid the latter, and left. 
 
 Immediately Hewitt was on his feet and, taking 
 an umbrella which stood near, followed. Just as 
 he reached the door he met our late neighbor, who 
 had turned suddenly back. 
 
 "Your umbrella, I think ?" Hewitt asked, offer- 
 ing it. 
 
 "Yes, thanks." But the man's eye had more 
 than its former hardness, and his jaw muscles 
 tightened as I looked. He turned and went. Hew- 
 itt came back to me. "Pay the bill," he said, 
 "and go back to your rooms ; I will come on later. 
 I must follow this man — it's the Foggatt case." As 
 he went out I heard a cab rattle away, and immedi- 
 ately after it another. 
 
 I paid the bill and went home. It was ten 
 o'clock before Hewitt turned up, calling in at his 
 office below on his way up to me. 
 
 "Mr. Sidney Mason," he said, "is the gentle- 
 man the police will be wanting to-morrow, I expect, 
 for the Foggatt murder. He is as smart a man as I 
 remember ever meeting, and has done me rather 
 neatly twice this evening." 
 
 " You mean the man we sat opposite at Luzatti's, 
 of course ?" 
 
 "Yes, I got his name, of course, from the reverse 
 of that gold medal he was good enough to show 
 me. But I fear he has bilked me over the address. 
 He suspected me, that was plain, and left his 
 umbrella by way of experiment to see if I were 
 watching him sharply enough to notice the circum- 
 stance, and to avail myself of it to follow him. I
 
 82 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 was hasty and fell into the trap. He cabbed it 
 away from Luzattfs, and I cabbed it af:er him. 
 He has led me a pretty dance up and down London 
 to-night, and two cabbies have made quite a stroke 
 of business out of us. In the end he entered a 
 house of which, of course, I have taken the 
 address, but I expect he doesn't live there. He is 
 too smart a man to lead me to his den ; but the 
 police can certainly find something of liim at the 
 house he went in at — and, I expect, left by the 
 back way. By-the-way, you never guessed that 
 simple little puzzle as to how I found that this was 
 a murder, did you ? You see it now, of course ? " 
 
 " Something to do with that apple you stole, I 
 suppose 1" 
 
 " Something to do with it ? I should think so, 
 you worthy innocent. Just ring your bell ; we'll 
 borrow Mrs. Clayton's sewing-machine oil again. 
 On the night we broke into Foggatt's room you 
 saw the nutshells and the bitten remains of an 
 apple on the sideboard, and you remembered it ; 
 and yet you couldn't see that in that piece of apple 
 possibly lay an im^^ortant piece of evidence. Of 
 course I never expected you to have arrived at any 
 conclusion, as I had, because I had ten minutes in 
 which to examine that apple, and to do what I did 
 with it. But, at least, j^ou should have seen the 
 possibility of evidence in it. 
 
 "First, now, the apple was white. A bitten 
 apple, as you must have observed, turns of a red- 
 dish brown color if left to stand long. Different 
 kinds of apples brown with different rapidities, and 
 the browning always begins at the core. This is
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 83 
 
 one of the twenty thousand tiny things that few 
 people take the trouble to notice, but which it is 
 useful for a man in my position to know. A russet 
 will brown quite quickly. Tlie apple on the side- 
 board was, as near as I could tell, a Newtown 
 pippin or other apple of that kind, which will 
 brown at the core in from twenty minutes to half- 
 an-hour, and in other parts in a quarter of an hour 
 more. When we saw it, it was white, with barely 
 a tinge of brown about the exposed core. Infer- 
 ence : somebody had been eating it fifteen or twenty 
 minutes before, perhaps a little longer — an infer- 
 ence supiDorted by the fact that it was only partly 
 eaten. 
 
 "I examined that apple, and found it bore 
 marks of very irregular teeth. While you were 
 gone, I oiled it over, and, rushing down to my 
 rooms, where I always have a little plaster of Paris 
 handy for such work, took a mould of the part 
 where the teeth had left the clearest marks. I 
 then returned the apple to its i3lace for the police 
 to use if they thought fit. Looking at my mould, it 
 was plain that the person who had bitten that 
 apple had lost two teeth, one at top and one below, 
 not exactly opposite, but nearly so. The other 
 teeth, although they would appear to have been 
 fairly sound, were irregular in size and line, Now, 
 the dead man had, as I saw, a very excellent set of 
 false teeth, regular and sharp, with none missing. 
 Therefore it was plain that somebody else had been 
 eating that apple. Do I make myself clear ? " 
 
 "Quite! Goon!" 
 
 "There were other inferences to be made —
 
 84 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 slighter, but all pointing tlie same way. For in- 
 stance, a man of Foggatt's age does not, as a rule, 
 munch an unpeeled apple like a school-boy. Infer- 
 ence: a young man, and healthy. Why I came to 
 the conclusion that he was tall, active, a gymnast, 
 and perhaps a sailor, I have already told you, when 
 we examined the outside of Foggatt's window. It 
 was also pretty clear that robbery was not the 
 motive, since nothing was disturbed, and that a 
 friendly conversation had preceded the murder — 
 witness the drinking and the eating of the apple. 
 Whether or not the police noticed these things I 
 can't say. If they had had their best men on, they 
 certainly would, I think ; but the case, to a rough 
 observer, looked so clearly one of accident or 
 suicide that possibly they didn't. 
 
 "As I said, after the inquest I was unable to 
 devote any immediate time to the case, but I re- 
 solved to keep my eyes open. The man to look for 
 was tall, young, strong, and active, with a very 
 irregular set of teeth, a tooth missing from the 
 lower jaw just to the left of the centre, and another 
 from the upper jaw a little further still toward the 
 left. He might possibly be a person I had seen 
 about the premises (I have a good memory for 
 faces), or, of course, he possibly might not. 
 
 " Just before you returned from your holiday I 
 noticed a young man at Luzatti's whom I remem- 
 bered to have seen somewhere about the oflBces in 
 this building. He was tall, young, and so on, but 
 I had a client with me, and was unable to examine 
 him more narrowly ; indeed, as I was not exactly 
 engaged on the case, and as there are several tall
 
 THE CASE OF ME. FOGGATT 85 
 
 young men about, I took little trouble. But to- 
 day, finding tlie same young man with a vacant 
 seat opposite him, I took the opportunity of mak- 
 ing a closer acquaintance." 
 
 " You certainly managed to draw him out." 
 "Oh, yes; the easiest person in the world to 
 draw out is a cyclist. The easiest cyclist to draw 
 out is, of course, the novice, but the next easiest is 
 the veteran. When you see a healthy, well-trained- 
 looking man, who, nevertheless, has a slight stoop 
 in the shoulders, and, maybe, a medal on his watch- 
 guard, it is always a safe card to try him first with 
 a little cycle-racing talk. I soon brought Mr. 
 Mason out of his shell, read his name on his medal, 
 and had a chance of observing his teeth — indeed, he 
 spoke of them himself. Now, as I observed just 
 now, there are several tall, athletic young men 
 about, and also there are several men who have lost 
 teeth. But now I saw that this tall and athletic 
 young man had lost exactly tioo teeth — one from 
 the lower jaw, just to the left of the centre, and 
 another from the upper jaw, further still toward 
 the left ! Trivialities, pointing in the same direc- 
 tion, became imj)ortant considerations. More, his 
 teeth were irregular throughout, and, as nearly as 
 I could remember it, looked remarkably like this 
 little plaster mould of mine." 
 
 He produced from his pocket an irregular lump 
 of plaster, about three inches long. On one side of 
 this appeared in relief the likeness of two irregular 
 rows of six or eight teeth, minus one in each row, 
 where a deep gap was seen, in the position spoken 
 of by my friend. He proceeded :
 
 86 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIQATOE 
 
 ''This was enougli at least to set me after this 
 young man. But he gave me the greatest chance 
 of all when he turned and left his ai)ple (eaten 
 unpeeled, remember ! — another important triviality) 
 on his plate. I'm afraid I wasn't at all polite, and 
 I ran the risk of arousing his suspicions, but I 
 couldn't resist the temptation to steal it. 1 did, as 
 you saw, and here it is." 
 
 He brought the apple from his coat-i)ocket. 
 One bitten side, placed against the upper half of 
 the mould, fitted precisely, a projection of apple 
 filling exactly the deep gap. The other side simi- 
 larly fitted the lower half. 
 
 "There's no getting behind that, you see," Hew- 
 itt remarked. "Merely observing the man's teeth 
 was a guide, to some extent, ))ut this is as i)lain 
 as his signature or his thumb- impression. You'll 
 never find two men bite exactly alike, no matter 
 whether they leave distinct teeth-marks or not. 
 Here, by-the-bye, is Mrs. Clayton's oil. We'll take 
 another mould from this apple, and compare themy 
 
 He oiled tbe ai)i)le, heaped a little plaster in a 
 newsj^aper, took my water-jug, and rapidly i)ulled 
 off a hard mould. The parts corresponding to the 
 merely broken places in the apple were, of course, 
 dissimilar ; but as to the teeth-marks, the impres- 
 sions were identical. 
 
 "That wUl do, I think," Hewitt said. "To- 
 morrow morning, Brett, I shall put u^d these things 
 in a small parcel, and take them round to Bow 
 Street." 
 
 " But are they sulTicient evidence ? " 
 
 " Quite sufiicient for the police purpose. There
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 87 
 
 is the man, and all the rest — liis movements on the 
 day and so forth — are simple matters of enquiry ; 
 at any rate, that is police business." 
 
 I had scarcely sat down to my breakfast on the 
 following morning when Hewitt came into the room 
 and put a long letter before me. 
 
 " From our friend of last night," he said ; " read 
 it." 
 
 This letter began abruptly, and undated, and was 
 as follows : 
 
 *'To Martin^ Hewitt, Esq. 
 
 " Sir : I must compliment you on the adroitness 
 you exhibited this evening in extracting from me 
 my name. The address I was able to balk you of 
 for the time being, although by the time you read 
 this you will probably have found it through the 
 Law List, as I am an admitted solicitor. That, 
 however, will be of little use to you, for I am re- 
 moving myself, I think, beyond the reach even of 
 your abilities of search. I knew you well by sight, 
 and was, perhaps, foolish to allow myself to be 
 drawn as I did. Still, I had no idea that it would 
 be dangerous, especially after seeing you, as a wit- 
 ness with very little to say, at the inquest upon the 
 scoundrel I shot. Your somewhat discourteous 
 seizure of my apple at first amazed me, — indeed, I 
 was a little doubtful as to whether you had really 
 taken it, — but it was my first warning that you 
 might be playing a deep game against me, incom- 
 prehensible as the action was to my mind. I sub- 
 sequently reflected that I had been eating an apple,
 
 88 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 instead of taking the drink lie first offered nie, in 
 the dead wretch's rooms on the night he came to 
 his merited end. From tiiis I assume that your 
 design was in some way to compare what remained 
 of the two apples — although I do not presume to 
 fathom the depths of your detective systeni. Still, 
 I have heard of many of your cases, and profoundly 
 admire the keenness you exhibit. I am thought to 
 be a keen man myself, but, although I was able, to 
 some extent, to hold my own to-night, I admit that 
 your acumen in this case alone is something be- 
 yond me. 
 
 " I do not know by whom you are commissioned 
 to hunt me, nor to what extent yon may be ac- 
 quainted with my connection with the creature I 
 killed. I have sufficient respect for you, however, 
 to wish that you should not regard me as a vicious 
 criminal, and a C()ui)le of hours to spare in which to 
 offer you an explanation that may persuade you 
 that such is not altogether the case. A hasty and 
 violent temper I admit jiossessing ; but even now I 
 cannot regret the one crime it has led me into — for 
 it is, I suppose, strictly speaking, a crime. For it 
 was the man Foggatt who made a felon of my 
 father before the e5'es of the world, and killed him 
 with shame. It was he who murdered my mother, 
 and none the less murdered her because she died of 
 a broken heart. That he was also a thief and 
 a hypocrite might have concerned me little but 
 for that. 
 
 " Of my father I remember very little. He must, I 
 fear, have been a weak and incapable man in many 
 respects. He had no business abilities — in fact,
 
 THE CASE OF MK. FOGGATT 89 
 
 was quite unable to understand the complicated 
 business matters in wliicb lie largely dealt. Fog- 
 gatt was a consummate master of all those arts of 
 financial jugglery that make so many fortunes, and 
 ruin so many others, in matters of company pro- 
 moting, stocks and shares. He was unable to exer- 
 cise them, however, because of a great financial dis- 
 aster in which he had been mixed up a few years 
 before, and which made his name one to be avoided 
 in future. In these circumstances he made a sort 
 of secret and informal partnership with my father, 
 who, ostensibly alone in the business, acted through- 
 out on the directions of Foggatt, understanding as 
 little of what he did, poor, simple man, as a school- 
 boy would have done. The transactions carried on 
 went from small to large, and, unhappily, from hon- 
 orable to dishonorable. My father relied on the 
 superior abilities of Foggatt with an absolute trust, 
 carrying out each day the directions given him pri- 
 vately the previous evening, buying, selling, print- 
 ing prospectuses, signing whatever had to be signed, 
 all with sole responsibility and as sole partner, 
 while Foggatt, behind the scenes, absorbed the 
 larger share of the profits. In brief, my unhappy 
 and foolish father was a mere tool in the hands of 
 the cunning scoundrel who pulled all the wires of 
 the business, himself unseen and irresponsible. At 
 last three companies, for the promotion of which 
 my father was responsible, came to grief in a heap. 
 Fraud was written large over all their history, and, 
 while Foggatt retired with his plunder, my father 
 was left to meet ruin, disgrace, and imprisonment. 
 From beginning to end he, and he only, was respon- 
 
 7
 
 90 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 eible. There was no shred of evidence to connect 
 Foggatt with the matter, and no means of escape 
 from the net drawn about my father, lie lived 
 through three years of imprisonment, and then, en- 
 tirely abandoned by the man wlio liad made use of 
 his simplicity, he died — of nothing but shame and 
 a broken heart. 
 
 "Of this I knewnotliing at the time. Again and 
 again, as a small boy, 1 remember asking of my 
 mother why I had no father at home, as other boys 
 had — unconscious of the stab I thus inflicted on her 
 gentle heart. Of her my earliest, as well as my 
 latest, memory is that of a pale, weeping woman, 
 who grudged to let me out of her sight. 
 
 " Little b}'^ little I learned the whole cause of my 
 mother's grief, for she had no other conlidant, and 
 I fear my character developed early, for my first 
 coherent remembrance of the matter is tlint of a 
 childish design to take a table knife and kill the 
 bad man who had made my father die in prison and 
 caused my mother to cry. 
 
 "One thing, however, I never knew : the name of 
 that bad man. Again and again, as I grew older, I 
 demanded to know, but my mother always with- 
 held it from me, with a gentle reminder that ven- 
 geance was for a greater hand than mine. 
 
 *' I was seventeen years of age when my mother 
 died. I believe that nothing but her strong attach- 
 ment to myself and her desire to see me safely 
 started in life kept her alive so long. Then I found 
 that through all those years of narrowed means she 
 had contrived to scrape and save a little money — 
 sufficient, as it afterward i)roved, to see me through
 
 THE CASE OP ME. FOGGATT 91 
 
 the examinations for entrance to my profession, 
 with the generous assistance of my father's old legal 
 advisers, who gave me my articles, and who have 
 all along treated me with extreme kindness. 
 
 "For most of the succeeding years my life does 
 not concern the matter in hand. I was a lawyer's 
 clerk in my benefactors' service, and afterward a 
 qualified man among their assistants. All through 
 the firm were careful, in pursuance of my poor 
 mother's wishes, that I should not learn the name 
 or whereabouts of the man who had wrecked her 
 life and my father's. I first met the man himself 
 at the Clifton Club, where I had gone with an 
 acquaintance who was a member. It was not till 
 afterward that I understood his curious awkward- 
 ness on that occasion. A week later I called (as I 
 have frequently done) at the building in which your 
 office is situated on business with a solicitor who 
 has an office on the floor above your own. On the 
 stairs I almost ran against Mr. Foggatt. He started 
 and turned pale, exhibiting signs of alarm that I 
 could not understand, and asked me if I wished to 
 see him. 
 
 " 'No,' I replied, ' I didn't know you lived here. 
 I am after somebody else just now. Aren't you 
 well ? ' 
 
 " He looked at me rather doubtfully, and said 
 he was not very well. 
 
 "I met him twice or thrice after that, and on each 
 occasion his manner grew more friendly, in a ser- 
 vile, flattering, and mean sort of way — a thing un- 
 pleasant enough in any body, but doubly so in the 
 intercourse of a man with another young enough
 
 92 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 to be his own son. Still, of course, I treated the 
 man civilly enough. On one occasion he asked me 
 into his rooms to look at a rather fine picture he 
 had lately bought, and observed casually, lifting a 
 large revolver from the mantelpiece : 
 
 " ' You see, I am prepared for any unwelcome 
 visitors to my little den ! He ! he ! ' Conceiving 
 him, of course, to refer to burglars, I could not help 
 wondering at the forced and hollow chai*acter of 
 his laugh. As we went down the stairs he said : ' I 
 think we know one another pretty well now, Mr. 
 Mason, eh ? And if I could do any thing to advance 
 your professional prospects, I should be glad of the 
 chance, of course. I understand the struggles of 
 a young professional man — he ! he ! ' It was the 
 forced laugh again, and the man si)oke nervously. 
 ' I think,' he added, 'that, if you will drop in to- 
 morrow evening, perhaps I may have a little pro- 
 posal to make. Will you ? ' 
 
 " I assented, wondering what this proposal could 
 be. Perhaps this eccentric old gentleman was a 
 good fellow, after all, anxious to do me a good 
 turn, and his awkwardness was nothing but a nat- 
 ural delicacy in breaking the ice. I was not so 
 flush of good friends as to be willing to lose one. 
 He might be desirous of putting business in my 
 way. 
 
 "I went, and was received with a cordiality that 
 even then seemed a little over-effusive. We sat 
 and talked of one thing and another for a long 
 wliile, and I began to wonder when Mr. Foggatt 
 was coming to the point that most interested me. 
 Several times he invited me to drink and smoke,
 
 THE CASE OF ME. FOGGATT 93 
 
 but long usage to athletic training has given me a 
 distaste for both j)ractices, and I declined. At last 
 he began to talk about myself. He was afraid that 
 my professional prosi)ects in this country were not 
 great, but he had heard that in some of the colo- 
 nies — South Africa, for exami)le — young lawyers 
 had brilliant opportunities. 
 
 "'If you'd like to go there,' he said, 'I've no 
 doubt, with a little capital , a clever man like you 
 could get a grand practice together very soon. Or 
 you might buy a share in some good established 
 practice. I should be glad to let you have five 
 hundred pounds, or even a little more, if that 
 wouldn't satisfy you, and- ' 
 
 "I stood aghast. Why should this man, almost 
 a stranger, offer me five hundred pounds, or even 
 more, ' if that wouldn' t satisfy ' me ? What claim 
 had I on him? It was very generous of him, of 
 course, but out of the question. I was, at least, 
 a gentleman, and had a gentleman's self-respect. 
 Meanwhile, he had gone maundering on, in a halt- 
 ing sort of way, and presently let slip a sentence 
 that struck me like a blow between the eyes. 
 
 " ' I shouldn't like jou to bear ill-will because of 
 what has happened in the past,' he said. ' Your 
 late — your late lamented mother — I'm afraid — she 
 had unworthy suspicions — I'm sure — it was best for 
 all parties — your father always aj^preciated " 
 
 "I set back my chair and stood erect before him. 
 This grovelling wretch, forcing the words through 
 his dry lips, was the thief who had made another 
 of my father and had brought to miserable ends 
 the lives of both my j)arents ! Every thing was
 
 94 MARTIN nEWITT, INVESTIGATOE 
 
 clear. The creature went in fear of me, never im- 
 agining that I did not know him, and sought to 
 buy me off — to buy me from the remembrance of 
 my dead mother's broken heart for five hundred 
 pounds — five hundred pounds that he had made 
 my father steal for him ! I said not a word. 
 But the memory of all my mother's bitter years, 
 and a savage sense of this crowning insult to 
 myself, took a hold upon me, and I was a tiger. 
 Even then I verily believe that one word of repent- 
 ance, one tone of honest remorse, would have saved 
 him. But he drooped his eyes, snuffled excuses, 
 and stammered of ' unwortliy suspicions' and 'no 
 ill-will.* I let him stammer. Presently he looked 
 up and saw my face ; and fell back in his chair, 
 sick with terror. I snatched the pistol from the 
 mantel-piece, and, thrusting it in his face, shot him 
 where he sat. 
 
 **My subsequent coolness and quietness surprise 
 me now. I took my hat and stepped toward the 
 door. But there were voices on the stairs. The 
 door was locked on the inside, and I left it so. I 
 went back and quietly opened a window. Below 
 was a clear drop into darkness, and above was 
 plain wall ; but away to one side, where the slope 
 of the gable sprang from the roof, an iron gutter 
 ended, supported by a strong bracket. It was the 
 only way. I got upon the sill and carefully shut 
 the window behind me, for people were already 
 knocking at the lobby door. From the end of the 
 sill, holding on by the reveal of the window with 
 one hand, leaning and stretching my utmost, I 
 caught the gutter, swung myself clear, and scram-
 
 THE CASE OF MR. FOGGATT 95 
 
 bled on tlie roof. I climbed over many roofs before 
 I found, in an adjoining street, a ladder lashed per- 
 pendicularly against the front of a house in course 
 of repair. This, to me, was an easy opportunity 
 of descent, notwithstanding the boards fastened 
 over the face of the ladder, and I availed myself 
 of it. 
 
 "I have taken some time and trouble in order 
 that you (so far as I am aware the only human 
 being beside myself who knows me to be the author 
 of Foggatt's death) shall have at least the means 
 of appraising my crime at its just value of culpa- 
 bility. How much you already know of what I 
 have told you I cannot guess. I am wrong, hard- 
 ened, and flagitious, I make no doubt, but I speak 
 of the facts as they are. You see the thing, of 
 course, from your own point of view — I from mine. 
 And I remember my mother ! 
 
 '' Trusting that you will forgive the odd freak of 
 a man— a criminal, let us say — who makes a confi- 
 dant of the man set to hunt him down, I beg leave 
 to be, sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "Sidney Mason." 
 
 I read the singular document through and handed 
 it back to Hewitt. 
 
 "How does it strike you?" Hewitt asked. 
 
 " Mason would seem to be a man of very marked 
 character," I said. "Certainly no fool. And, if 
 his tale is true, Foggatt is no great loss to the 
 world." 
 
 "Just so — if the tale is true. Personally I am 
 disposed to believe it is."
 
 96 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 *' Where was the letter posted ? " 
 
 "It wasn't posted. It was handed in with the 
 others from the front-door letter-box this morning 
 in an unstami^ed envelope. lie mnst have droi)ped 
 it in himself during the night. Paper," Hewitt 
 proceeded, holding it up to the light, "Turkey 
 mill, ruled foolscap. Envelope, blue, official shape, 
 Pirie's watermark. Both quite ordinary and no 
 si^ecial marks." 
 
 " Where do you suppose he's gone ? " 
 
 "Impossible to guess. Some might think he 
 meant suicide by the expression ' beyond the reach 
 even of your abilities of search,' but I scarcely 
 think he is the sort of man to do that. No, there 
 is no telling. Something may be got by encpiiriiig 
 at his late address, of course ; but, when such a man 
 tells you he doesn't think you will find him, you 
 may count upon its being a difficult job. His 
 opinion is not to be despised." 
 
 "What shall you do?" 
 
 " Put the letter in the box with the casts for the 
 police. Flat justitia^ you know, without any 
 question of sentiment. As to the apple, I really 
 think, if the police will let me, I'll make you a 
 present of it. Keep it somewhere as a souvenir of 
 your absolute deficiency in reflective observation in 
 this case, and look at it whenever you feel j^ourself 
 growing dangerously conceited. It should cure 
 you." 
 
 This is the history of the withered and almost 
 petrified half apple that stands in my cabinet 
 among a number of flint implements and one or two
 
 THE CASE OP MR. FOGGATT 97 
 
 rather fine old Koman vessels. Of Mr. Sidney- 
 Mason we never heard another word. The police 
 did their best, but he had left not a track behind 
 him. His rooms were left almost undisturbed, and 
 he had gone without any thing in the way of elab- 
 orate preparation for his journey, and without 
 leaving a trace of his intentions.
 
 rV. THE CASE OP THE DIXON TORPEDO 
 
 Hewitt was very apt, in conversation, to dwell 
 upon tlie many curious chances and coincidences 
 that he liad observed, not only in connection with 
 his own cases, but also in matters dealt with by the 
 official police, with whom he was on terms of pretty 
 regular, and, indeed, friendly, acquaintanceshiji. 
 He has told me many an anecdote of singular hap- 
 penings to Scotland Yard officials with whom he 
 has exchanged experiences. Of Inspector Net- 
 tings, for instance, who spent man}' weary months 
 in a search for a man wanted by the American Gov- 
 ernment, and in the end found, by the merest acci- 
 dent (a misdirected call), that the man had been 
 lodging next door to himself the whole of the 
 time ; just as ignorant, of course, as was the 
 inspector himself as to the enemy at the other side 
 of the party-wall. Also of another inspector, 
 whose name I cannot recall, who, having been 
 given rather meagre and insufficient details of a 
 man whom he anticipated having gi'eat difficulty 
 in finding, went straight down the stairs of the 
 office where he had received instructions, and 
 nctuziU J fell over the man near the door, where he 
 had stooped down to tie his shoe-lace ! There were 
 cases, too, in which, when a great and notorious 
 crime had been committed, and various persons 
 had been arrested on suspicion, some were found 
 among them who had long been badly wanted for 
 
 98
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 99 
 
 some other crime altogether. Many criminals had 
 met their deserts by venturing out of their own 
 particular line of crime into another ; often a man 
 who got into trouble over something comparatively 
 small found himself in for a startlingly larger 
 trouble, the result of some i)revious misdeed that 
 otherwise would have gone unpunished. The 
 ruble note-forger Mirsky might never have been 
 handed over to the Russian authorities had he con- 
 fined his genius to forgery alone. It was generally 
 supposed at the time of his extradition that he had 
 communicated with the Russian Embassy, with a 
 view to giving himself up — a foolish proceeding on 
 his part, it would seem, since his whereabouts, 
 indeed, even his identity as the forger, had not 
 been suspected. He liad communicated with the 
 Russian Embassy, it is true, but for quite a differ- 
 ent purpose, as Martin Hewitt well understood at 
 the time. What that purpose was is now for the 
 first time published. 
 
 The time was half-past one in the afternoon, and 
 Hewitt sat in his inner office examining and com- 
 paring the handwriting of two letters by the aid of 
 a large lens. He put down the lens and glanced at 
 the clock on the mantel-piece with a premonition of 
 lunch ; and as he did so his clerk quietly entered the 
 room with one of those printed slips which were kept 
 for the announcement of unknown visitors. It was 
 filled up in a hasty and almost illegible hand, thus ; 
 
 Name of visitor : F. Graham Dixon. 
 
 Address : Chancery Lane. 
 
 Business : Private and urgent.
 
 100 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 ''Show Mr. Dixon in," said Martin Hewitt. 
 
 Mr. Dixon was a gaunt, worn-looking man of 
 fifty or so, well, although rather carelessly, dressed, 
 and carrying in his strong, though drawn, face and 
 dullish eyes the look that characteiizes the life-long 
 strenuous brain-worker. He leaned forward anx- 
 iously in the chair which Hewitt offered him, and 
 told his story witli a great deal of very natural agi- 
 tation. 
 
 " You may possibly have heard, Mr. Hewitt — I 
 know there are rumors — of the new locomotive tor- 
 pedo which the government is about adopting ; it 
 is, in fact, the Dixon torpedo, my own invention, 
 and in every respect — not merely in my own opinion, 
 but in that of the government experts — by far the 
 most efficient and certain yet produced. It will 
 travel at least four hundred yards farther than any 
 torpedo now made, witli perfect accuracy of aim (a 
 very great desideratum, let me tell you), and will 
 carry an unprecedentedly heavy charge. There are 
 other advantages — speed, simple discharge, and so 
 forth — that I needn't bother you about. The ma- 
 chine is the result of many years of work and dis- 
 appointment, and its design has only been arrived 
 at by a careful balancing of principles and means, 
 which are expressed on the only four existing sets 
 of drawings. The whole thing, I need hardly tell 
 you, is a profound secret, and you may judge of my 
 present state of mind when I tell you that one set 
 of drawings has been stolen." 
 
 "From your house ? " 
 
 "From my office, in Chancery Lane, this morn- 
 ing. The four sets of drawings were distributed
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TOKPEDO 101 
 
 thus : Two were at the Admiralty Office, one being 
 a finished set on thick paper, and the other a set of 
 tracings therefrom ; and the other two were at my 
 own office, one being a pencilled set, uncolored, — a 
 sort of finished draft, you understand, — and the other 
 a set of tracings similar to those at the Admiralty. 
 It is this last set that has gone. The two sets were 
 kept together in one drawer in my room. Both 
 were there at ten this morning ; of that I am sure, 
 for I had to go to that very drawer for something 
 else when I first arrived. But at twelve the trac- 
 ings had vanished." 
 
 " You suspect somebody, probably?" 
 " I cannot. It is a most extraordinary thing. 
 Nobody has left the oflice (except myself, and then 
 only to come to you) since ten this morning, and 
 there has been no visitor. And yet the drawings 
 are gone ! ' ' 
 
 " But have you searched the place ? " 
 " Of course I have ! It was twelve o'clock when I 
 first discovered my loss, and I have been turning 
 the place upside down ever since — I and my assist- 
 ants. Every drawer has been emptied, every desk 
 and table turned over, the very carpet and linoleum 
 have been taken up, but there is not a sign of the 
 drawings. My men even insisted on turning all 
 their pockets Inside out, although I never for a 
 moment suspected either of them, and it would take 
 a pretty big pocket to hold the drawings, doubled 
 up as small as they might be." 
 
 "You say your men — there are two, I under- 
 stand — had neither left the office ? " 
 
 "Neither; and they are both staying in now.
 
 102 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Worsfold suggested that it would be more satis- 
 factory if tliey did not leave till something was 
 done toward clearing the mystery up, and, although, 
 as I have said, I don't suspect either in the least, 
 I acquiesced." 
 
 " Just so. Now— I am assuming that you wish 
 me to undertake the recovery of these draw- 
 ings? " 
 
 The engineer nodded hastily. 
 
 " Very good ; I will go round to your oflBce. But 
 first perhaps you can tell me something about your 
 assistants — something it might be awkward to tell 
 me in their presence, you know. Mr. Worsfold, 
 for instance?" 
 
 " He is my draughtsman — a very excellent and 
 intelligent man, a very smart man, indeed, and, I 
 feel sure, quite beyond suspicion. He has pre- 
 pared many important drawings for me (he has 
 been with me nearly ten years now), and I have 
 always found him trustworthy. But, of course, 
 the temptation in this case would be enoimous. 
 Still, I cannot suspect AVorsfold. Indeed, how 
 can I suspect any ])oily in the circumstances ? " 
 
 "The other, now?" 
 
 " His name's Eitter. He is merely a tracer, not 
 a fully skilled draughtsman. He is quite a decent 
 young fellow, and I have had him two years. I 
 don't consider him particularly smart, or he would 
 have learned a lirtle more of his business by this 
 time. But I don't see the least reason to suspect 
 him. As I said before, I can't reasonably suspect 
 anybody." 
 
 " Very well ; we will get to Chancery Lane
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TOEPEDO 103 
 
 now, if you please, and you can tell me more as 
 we go." 
 
 *'I have a cab waiting. What else can I tell 
 you?" 
 
 " I understand the position to be succinctly this : 
 The draAvings were in the office when you arrived. 
 Nobody came out, and nobody went in ; and yet 
 they vanished. Is that so ? " 
 
 ' ' That is so. When I say that absolutely nobody 
 came in, of course I except the postman. He 
 brought a couple of letters during the morning. 
 I mean that absolutely nobody came past the bar- 
 rier in the outer office — the usual thing, you know, 
 like a counter, with a frame of ground glass over it." 
 
 "I quite understand that. But I think you said 
 that the drawings were in a drawer in your own 
 room — not the outer office, where the draughtsmen 
 are, I presume?" 
 
 " That is the case. It is an inner room, or, rather, 
 a room parallel with the other, and communicating 
 with it ; Just as your own room is, which we have 
 just left." 
 
 "But, then, you say you never left your office, 
 and yet the drawings vanished — apparently by 
 some unseen agency — while you were there in the 
 room?" 
 
 "Let me explain more clearly." The cab was 
 bowling smoothly along the Strand, and the en- 
 gineer took out a pocket-book and pencil. "I 
 fear," he ]proceeded, "that I am a little confused in 
 my explanation — I am naturally rather agitated. 
 As you will see presently, my offices consist of 
 three rooms, two at one side of a corridor, and the
 
 104 
 
 MARTIN IlKWITT, INVKSTIOATOll 
 
 other opposite : thus." lie made a rapid pencil 
 sketch. 
 
 [ 
 
 
 Ctrvw^<-<a, 
 
 Ctt/t/* 
 
 
 9uXU0i^. 
 
 "In tlio oiilor ofUccj my rriiMi usii:illy work. In 
 the inner ollico 1 work mysoU'. These rooms com- 
 municate, as you aee, by a door. Our oidiiiary 
 way in and out of tlie plnce is l)y the door of the 
 outer oflico leading irjto tlie corridor, and wo first 
 pass through the usual lifting flap in the barrier. 
 The door l(^•lding from the ////i^r office to the corridor 
 is always kept locked on the inside, and 1 don't 
 sui)pose I unlock it once in three months. It lias 
 not been unlocked all IIk^ morning. Tiu^ drawer in 
 which the mi.ssiiig drawings wrre kci)t, and in 
 which I saw them at ten o'clock this morning, is at
 
 I'HK (JAHE OF TilK DIXON TOllI'KUO 105 
 
 Mm5 pliico rnurkcd 1); it is a largo dicHt of shallow 
 diuweiH ill vvliicJi tho plany lio Hat.'* 
 
 " 1 (juitcj luidoiHtaMd. Tlieri there is the private 
 room (>])p()Hito. What of that?" 
 
 "That in a wort of private Hitting joorri tliat I 
 rarely iiHe, ex(!o])t for buwijieHH iiiteiviewB of a very 
 private nature. Wiien I said I never left my olflce, 
 I did not mean that 1 never ntirred out of tlie inner 
 oinc,(!. I waH about in one room and another^ both 
 the outer and the inner offices, and oncje I went into 
 th(i priv.'i,t(i room for fiv(i jriinutes, but nobody came 
 «(ithor in or out of any of the roomw at tliat time, 
 for the door of the xnivale room was wide o2)en, 
 find I was Htnnding ;i,t tlie book-caKo (I had gone to 
 coriHult ;i book), Just in.side the door, witli a full 
 view of the doors opponite. Jntleed, Worsfoid was 
 :i,t the door of the outer oflice most of the short 
 timo. Me (;ame to ask me a (jueistion." 
 
 " Woll," Hewitt roplied, '^it ail comes to the 
 Him[)le first statement. You know that nobody left 
 tho pi;i(U5 or jirrivod, except the postman, who 
 jiouldii't got iioar tlie di'awingH, and yet tJie draw- 
 ings went. Is this your oflice ? " 
 
 Tim (v.ih h.id .sl()j)p<'d before a large stone build- 
 ing. Mr. Dixon .-ilighted and led the way to the 
 first lloor. Hewitt took a casual glance round each 
 of tlio thre(5 rooniH. Thcn.i wjiy a sort of door in 
 th<^ frame of ground glass over the barrier to ad- 
 init of speech with visitors. This door Hewitt 
 pushed wide open, and left so. 
 
 11(1 and the engine«ir went inio the inner oflice, 
 '' Would you lik(i to nsk VVorsfold and Hitter any 
 questions < " Mr. Dixon enquired.
 
 106 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Presently. Those are their coats, I take it, 
 hanging Just to the right of the outer office door, 
 over the umbrella-stand ? " 
 
 "Yes, those are all their things — coats, hats, 
 stick, and umbrella." 
 
 "And those coats were searched, you say ? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "And this is the drawer— thoroughly searched, 
 of course V 
 
 "Oh, certainly, every drawer was taken out and 
 turned over." 
 
 " Well, of course I must assume you made no 
 mistake in your hunt. Now tell me, did any body 
 know where these plans were, beyond yourself and 
 your two men?" 
 
 " As far as I can tell, not a soul." 
 
 " You don't keep an office boy ? " 
 
 " No, There would be nothing for him to do ex- 
 cept to i^ost a letter now and again, which Ritter 
 does quite well for." 
 
 "As you are quite sure that the drawings were 
 there at ten o'clock, perhaps the thing scarcely 
 matters. But I may as well know if your men 
 have keys of the office 1 " 
 
 " Neither. I have patent locks to each door and 
 I keep all the keys myself. If Worsfold or Ritter 
 arrive before me in the morning they have to wait 
 to be let in ; and I am always present myself when 
 the rooms are cleaned. I have not neglected pre- 
 cautions, you see." 
 
 " No. I suppose the object of the theft— assum- 
 ing it is a theft — is pretty plain : the thief would offer 
 the drawings for sale to some foreign government ? "
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 107 
 
 *'0f course. They would probably command a 
 great sum, I have been looking, as I need hardly 
 tell you, to that invention to secure me a very large 
 fortune, and I shall be ruined indeed if the design 
 is taken abroad. I am under the strictest engage- 
 ments to secrecy with the Admiralty, and not only 
 should I lose all my labor, but I should lose all the 
 confidence reposed in me at headquarters — should, 
 in fact, be subject to penalties for breach of con- 
 tract, and my career stoi^ped forever. I cannot tell 
 you what a serious business this is for me. If you 
 cannot help me, the consequences will be terrible. 
 Bad for the service of the country, too, of course." 
 
 " Of course. Now tell me this : It would, I take 
 it, be necessary for the thief to exlvibit these draw- 
 ings to any body anxious to buy the secret — I mean, 
 he couldn't describe the invention by word of 
 mouth?" 
 
 "Oh, no, that would be impossible. The draw- 
 ings are of the most complicated description, and 
 full of figures upon which the whole thing depends. 
 Indeed, one would have to be a skilled expert prop- 
 erly to appreciate the design at all. Various i)rin- 
 ciples of hydrostatics, chemistry, electricity, and 
 pneumatics are most delicately manipulated and 
 adjusted, and the smallest error or omission in any 
 part would ui^set the whole. No, the drawings are 
 necessary to the thing, and they are gone." 
 
 At this moment the door of the outer office was 
 heard to open and somebody entered. The door be- 
 tween the two offices was ajar, and Hewitt could 
 see right through to the glass door left open over 
 the barrier and into the space beyond. A well-
 
 108 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 dressed, dark, bushy-bearded man stood there car- 
 rying a hand-bag, wliich he placed on the h^dge be- 
 fore him. Hewitt raised his hand to enjoin silence. 
 The man spoke in a rather high-pitched voice and 
 with a slight accent. " Is Mr. Dixon now within V* 
 he asked. 
 
 " He is engaged," answered one of the draughts- 
 men ; "very particularly engaged. I'm afraid you 
 won't be able to see him this afternoon. Can I 
 give him any message J" 
 
 "This is two — the second time I have come to- 
 day. Not two hours ago Mr. Dixon himself tells 
 me to call again , I have a very important — very 
 excellent steam packing to show him that is very 
 cheap and the best of the market." The man 
 tapped his bag. " I have just taken orders from 
 the largest railway companies. Cannot I see him, 
 for one second only ? I will not detain him." 
 
 "Really, I'm sure you can't this afternoon; he 
 isn't seeing any body But if you'll leave your 
 name " 
 
 "My name is Hunter; but what the good of 
 that ? He ask me to call a little later, and I come, 
 and now he is engaged. It is a very great pity." 
 And the man snatched up his bag and walking- 
 stick and stalked off indignantly. 
 
 Hewitt stood still, gazing through the small aper- 
 ture in the door-way. 
 
 " You'd scarcely expect a man with such a name 
 as Hunter to talk with that accent, would you?" 
 he observed musingly. " It isn't a French accent, 
 nor a German; but it seems foreign. You don't 
 happen to know him, I suppose ? "
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 109 
 
 *'No, I don't. He called here about half-past 
 twelve, Just while we were in the middle of our 
 search and I was frantic over the loss of the draw- 
 ings. I was in the outer office myself, and told 
 him to call later. I have lots of such agents here, 
 anxious to sell all sorts of engineering appliances. 
 But what will you do now? Shall you see my 
 men?" 
 
 "I think," said Hewitt, rising — " I think I'll get 
 you to question them yourself." 
 
 "Myself?" 
 
 *' Yes, I have a reason. Will you trust me with 
 the ' key ' of the private room opposite ? I will go 
 over there for a little, while you talk to your men 
 in this room. Bring them in here and shut the 
 door ; I can look after the office from across the 
 corridor, you know. Ask them each to detail his 
 exact movements about the office this morning, and 
 get them to recall each visitor who has been here 
 from the beginning of the week. I'll let you know 
 the reason of this later. Come across to me in a 
 few minutes." 
 
 Hewitt took the key and passed through the 
 outer office into the corridor. 
 
 Ten minutes later Mr. Dixon, having questioned 
 his draughtsmen, followed him. He found Hewitt 
 standing before the table in the private room, on 
 which lay several drawings on tracing-paper. 
 
 "See here, Mr. Dixon," said Hewitt, "I think 
 .these are the drawings you are anxious about ?" 
 
 The engineer sprang toward them with a cry of 
 delight. "Why, yes, yes," he exclaimed, turning 
 them over, '* every one of them 1 But where — how
 
 110 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 — they must liave been in the i^lace, after all, then 1 
 What a fool I have been ! " 
 
 Hewitt shook his head. "I'm afraid you're not 
 quite so lucky as you think, Mr. Dixon," he said. 
 " These drawings have most certainly been out of 
 the house for a little while. Never mind how — 
 we'll talk of that after. There is no time to lose. 
 Tell me — how long would it take a good draughts- 
 man to coi)y them ?" 
 
 "They couldn't possibly be traced over properly 
 in less than two or two and a half long days of very 
 hard work," Dixon replied witli eagerness. 
 
 " Ah ! then, it is as I feared. These tracings 
 have been photographed, Mr. Dixon, and our task 
 is one of every possi))le difTiculty. If they had 
 been copied in the ordinary way, one might hoi>e 
 to get hold of the copy. But i>hotography upsets 
 every thing. Copies can be multiplied with such 
 amazing facility that, once the thief gets a decent 
 start, it is almost hopeless to checkmate him. The 
 only chance is to get at the negatives before copies 
 are taken. I must act at once ; and I fear, between 
 ourselves, it may be necessary for me to step very 
 distinctly over the line of the law in the matter. 
 You see, to get at those negatives may involve 
 something very like house-breaking. There must 
 be no delay, no waiting for legal procedure, or 
 the mischief is done. Indeed, I very much ques- 
 tion wliether you have any legal remedy, strictly 
 speaking." 
 
 "Mr. Hewitt, I implore you, do what you can. 
 I need not say that all I liave is at your disposal. 
 I will guarantee to hold you harmless for any thing
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 111 
 
 that may happen. But do, I entreat you, do every- 
 thing possible. Think of what the consequences 
 may be ! " 
 
 "Well, yes, so I do," Hewitt remarked, with a 
 smile. "The consequences to me, if I were charged 
 with house-breaking, might be something that no 
 amount of guarantee could mitigate. However, I 
 will do what I can, if only from patriotic motives. 
 Now, I must see your tracer, Ritter. He is the 
 traitor in the camj)." 
 
 "Ritter? But how?" 
 
 " Never mind that now. You are upset and agi- 
 tated, and had better not know more than is neces- 
 sary for a little while, in case you say or do some- 
 thing unguarded. With Ritter I must take a deep 
 course ; what I don't know I must appear to know, 
 and that will seem more likely to him if I disclaim 
 acquaintance with what I do know. But first put 
 these tracings safely away out of sight." 
 
 Dixon slipped them behind his book-case. 
 
 "Now," Hewitt pursued, "call Mr.Worsfoldand 
 give him something to do that will keep him in the 
 inner office across the way, and tell him to send 
 Ritter here." 
 
 Mr. Dixon called his chief draughtsman and re- 
 quested him to put in order the drawings in the 
 drawers of the inner room that had been disar- 
 ranged by the search, and to send Ritter, as Hewitt 
 had suggested. 
 
 Ritter walked into the private room with an air 
 of respectful attention. He was a puJQfy-faced, un- 
 healthy-looking young man, with very small eyes 
 and a loose, mobile mouth.
 
 112 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Sit down, Mr. Ritter," Hewitt said, ia a stern 
 voice. " Your recent transactions Avith your friend 
 Mr. Hunter are well known both to Mr. Dixon and 
 myself." 
 
 Ritter, who had at first leaned easily back in his 
 chair, started forward at this, and paled. 
 
 "You are surprised, I observe; but yon should 
 be more careful in your movements out of doors if 
 you do not wish your acquaintances to be known. 
 Mr. Hunter, I believe, has the drawings which Mr. 
 Dixon has lost, and, if so, T am certain that you 
 have given them to him. That, you know, is theft, 
 for which the law provides a severe penalty." 
 
 Ritter broke down completely and turned appeal- 
 ingly to Mr„ Dixon. 
 
 " Oh, sir," he pleaded, " it isn't so bad, I assure 
 you. I was tempted, I confess, and hid the draw- 
 ings ; but they are still in the office, and I can give 
 them to you — really, I can." 
 
 "Indeed?" Hewitt went on. "Then, in that 
 case, perhaps you'd better get them at once. Just 
 go and fetch them in ; we won't trouble to observe 
 your hiding-place. I'll only keep this door open, 
 to be sure you don't lose your way, you know — 
 down the stairs, for instance." 
 
 The wretched Ritter, with hanging head, slunk 
 into the office opposite. Presently he reappeared, 
 looking, if possible, ghastlier than before. He 
 looked irresolutely down the corridor, as if medi- 
 tating a run for it, but Hewitt stepped toward him 
 and motioned him back to the private room. 
 
 " You mustn't try any more of that sort of hum- 
 bug," Hewitt said with increased severity. "The
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 113 
 
 drawings are gone, and you have stolen them ; you 
 know that well enough. Now attend to me. If 
 you received your deserts, Mr. Dixon would send 
 for a policeman this moment, and have you hauled 
 off to the jail that is your proper place. But, 
 unfortunately, your accomplice, who calls himself 
 Hunter, — but who has other names besides that, as I 
 happen to know, — has the drawings, and it is abso- 
 lutely necessary that these should be recovered. I 
 am afraid that it will be necessary, therefore, to 
 come to some arrangement with' this scoundrel — to 
 square him, in fact. Now, Just take that pen and 
 paper, and write to your confederate as I dictate. 
 You know the alternative if you cause any diffi- 
 culty." 
 
 Ritter reached tremblingly for the pen. 
 
 "Address him in your usual way," Hewitt pro- 
 ceeded. " Say this : ' There has been an alteration 
 in the plans.' Have you got that? 'There has 
 been an alteration in the plans. I shall be alone 
 here at six o'clock. Please come, without fail.' 
 Have you got it ? Very well ; sign it, and address 
 the envelope. He must come here, and then we may 
 arrange matters. In the meantime, you will remain 
 in the inner office opposite." 
 
 The note was written, and Martin Hewitt, without 
 glancing at the address, thrust it into his pocket. 
 When Hitter was safely in the inner office, however, 
 he drew it out and read the address. " I see," he 
 observed, "he uses the same name. Hunter; 27 
 Little Carton Street, Westminster, is the address, 
 and there I shall go at once with the note. If the 
 man comes here, I think you had better lock him
 
 114 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 in with Ritter, and send for a policeman- it may 
 at least frighten him. My object is, of course, to 
 get the man away, and then, if possible, to invade 
 his house, in some way or another, and steal or 
 smash his negatives if they are there and to be 
 found. Stay here, in any case, till I return. And 
 don't forget to lock u^) those tracings." 
 
 It was about six o'clock when Hewitt returned, 
 alone, but with a smiling face that told of good for- 
 tune at first sight. 
 
 "First, Mr. Dixon," he said, as he dropped into 
 an easy chair in the i^rivate room, "let me ease 
 your mind by the information that I have been 
 most extraordinarily lucky ; in fact, I think you 
 have no further cause for anxiety. Here are the 
 negatives. They were not all quite dry when I — 
 well, what ? — stole them, I suppose I must say ; so 
 that they have stuck together a bit, and probably 
 the films are damaged. But you don't mind that, I 
 suppose?" 
 
 He laid a small parcel, wrapped in newspaper, on 
 the table. The engineer hastily tore away the paper 
 and took up five or six glass photographic negatives, 
 of the half-plate size, which were damp, and stuck 
 together by the gelatine films in couples. He held 
 them, one after another, wp to the light of the win- 
 dow, and glanced through them. Then, with a 
 great sigh of relief, he placed them on the hearth 
 and pounded them to dust and fragments with the 
 poker. 
 
 For a few seconds neither spoke. Then Dixon, 
 flinging himself into a chair, said i
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 115 
 
 "Mr. Hewitt, I can't exjpress my obligation to 
 you. What would have happened if you had 
 failed, I prefer not to think of. But what shall we 
 do with Ritter now ? The other man hasn't been 
 here yet, by-the-bye." 
 
 " JSTo ; the fact is I didn't deliver the letter. The 
 worthy gentleman saved me a world of trouble by 
 taking himself out of the way." Hewitt laughed. 
 "I'm afraid he has rather got himself into a mess 
 by trying two kinds of theft at once, and you may 
 not be sorry to hear that his attemj^t on your tor- 
 pedo plans is likely to bring him a dose of penal 
 servitude for something else. I'll tell you what 
 has happened. 
 
 "Little Carton Street, Westminster, I found to 
 be a seedy sort of place — one of those old streets 
 that have seen much better days. A good many 
 people seem to live in each house, — they are fairly 
 large houses, by-the-way, — and there is quite a 
 company of bell-handles on each doorpost, all 
 down the side like organ-stops. A barber had 
 possession of the ground floor front of No. 27 
 for trade purposes, so to him I went. ' Can you 
 tell me,' I said, ' where in this house I can find 
 Mr. Hunter ? ' He looked doubtful, so I went on : 
 ' His friend will do, you know — I can' t think of 
 his name ; foreign gentleman, dark, with a bushy 
 beard.' 
 
 "The barber understood at once. 'Oh, that's 
 Mirsky, I expect,' he said. ' Now I come to think 
 of it, he has had letters addressed to Hunter once 
 or twice ; I've took 'em in. Top floor back.' 
 
 " This was good so far. I had got at ' Mr. Hun-
 
 116 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 ter's' other alias „ So, byway of possessing hira 
 with the idea that I knew all about him, I deter- 
 mined to ask for hira as Mirsky before handing 
 over the letter addressed to him as Hunter. A lit- 
 tle bluff of that sort is invaluable at the right time. 
 At the top floor back I stopped at the door and 
 tried to open it at once^ but it was locked. I could 
 hear somebody scuttling about within, as though 
 carrying things about, and I knocked again. In a 
 little while the door opened about a foot, and there 
 stood Mr. Hunter, — or Mirsky, as you like, — the 
 man who, in the character of a traveller in steam- 
 packing, came here twice to-day. He was in his 
 shirt-sleeves, and cuddled something under his 
 arm, hastily covered with a spotted pocket-hand- 
 kerchief. 
 
 " ' I have called to see M. Mirsky,' I said, ' with 
 a confidential letter ' 
 
 " ' Oh, yas, yas,' he answered hastily; ' I know — 
 I know. Excuse me one minute.' And he rushed 
 off down stairs with his parcel. 
 
 " Here was a noble chance. For a moment I 
 thought of following him, in case there might be 
 any thing interesting in the parcel. But I had to 
 decide in a moment, and I decided on trying the 
 room. I slipi^ed inside the door, and, finding the 
 key on the inside, locked it. It was a confused 
 sort of room, with a little iron bedstead in one cor- 
 ner and a sort of rough boarded enclosure in 
 another. This I rightly conjectured to be the pho- 
 tographic dark-room, and made for it at once. 
 
 " There was plenty of light within when the door 
 was left open, and I made at once for the drying-
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TORPEDO 111 
 
 rack that was fastened over tlie sink. There were 
 a number of negatives in it, and I began hastily 
 examining them one after another. In the middle 
 of this our friend Mirsky returned and tried the 
 door. He rattled violently at the handle and 
 pushed. Then he called. 
 
 "At this moment I had come upon the first of 
 the negatives you have just smashed. The fixing 
 and washing had evidently only lately been com- 
 pleted, and the negative was drying on the rack. 
 I seized it, of course, and the others which stood 
 by it. 
 
 " 'Who are you, there, inside?' Mirsky shouted 
 indignantly from the landing. ' Why for you go 
 in my room like that ? Open this door at once, or 
 I call the police ! ' 
 
 " I took no notice. I had got the full number of 
 negatives, one for each drawing, but I was not by 
 any means sure that he had not taken an extra set ; 
 so I went on hunting down the rack. There were 
 no more, so I set to work to turn out all the unde- 
 veloped plates. It was quite possible, you see, 
 that the other set, if it existed, had not yet been 
 developed. 
 
 "Mirsky changed his tune. After a little more 
 banging and shouting I could hear him kneel down 
 and try the key-hole. I had left the key there, so 
 that he could see nothing. But he began talking 
 softly and rapidly through the hole in a foreign 
 language. I did not know it in the least, but I 
 believe it was Russian. What had led him to 
 believe I understood Russian I could not at the 
 time imagine, though I have a notion now. I went
 
 118 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 on ruining his stock of plates. I found several 
 boxes, apparently of new plates, but, as there was 
 no means of telling whether they were really un- 
 used or were merely undeveloped, but with the 
 chemical impress of your drawings on them, I 
 dragged every one ruthlessly from its hiding-place 
 and laid it out in the full glare of the sunlight — 
 destroying it thereby, of course, whether it was 
 unused or not. 
 
 " Mirsky left off talking, and I heard him quietly 
 sneaking off. Perhaps his conscience was not suffi- 
 ciently clear to warrant an appeal to the police, but 
 it seemed to me rather probable at the time that 
 that was what he was going for. So I hurried on 
 with my work. I found three dark slides, — the 
 parts that carry the j^lates in the back of the cam- 
 era, you know, — one of them fixed in the camera 
 itself. These I opened, and exposed the plates to 
 ruination as before. I suppose nobody ever did so 
 much devastation in a x^hotogra2)hic studio in ten 
 minutes as I managed. 
 
 " I had spoiled every plate I could find, and had 
 the developed negatives safely in my pocket, when 
 I hapi)ened to glance at a porcelain washing-well 
 under the sink. There was one negative in that, 
 and I took it up. It was not a negative of a draw- 
 ing of yours, but of a Russian twenty-ruble note ! " 
 
 "This was a discovery. The only possible rea- 
 son any man could have for photographing a bank- 
 note was the manufacture of an etched plate for the 
 production of forged copies. I was almost as 
 pleased as I had been at the discovery of your nega- 
 tives. He might bring the police now as soon as he
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TOEPEDO 119 
 
 liked ; I could turn the tables on him completely. 
 I began to hunt about for any thing else relating to 
 this negative. 
 
 "I found an inking-roUer, some old pieces of 
 blanket (used in imnting from plates), and in a 
 corner on the floor, heaped over with newspapers 
 and rubbish, a small copying-press. There was 
 also a dish of acid, but not an etched plate or a 
 printed note to be seen. I was looking at the press, 
 with the negative in one hand and the inking-roller 
 in the other, when I became conscious of a shadow 
 across the window. I looked up quickly, and there 
 was Mirsky hanging over from some ledge or pro- 
 jection to the side of the window, and staring 
 straight at me, with a look of unmistakable terror 
 and api)rehension. 
 
 "The face vanished immediately. I had to 
 move a table to get at the window, and by the 
 time I had opened it there was no sign or sound 
 of the rightful tenant of the room. I had no doubt 
 now of his reason for carrying a parcel down stairs. 
 He probably mistook me for another visitor he was 
 exi)ecting, and, knowing he must take this visitor 
 into his room, threw the xmpers and rubbish over 
 the press, and i3ut up his i^lates and papers in a 
 bundle and secreted them somewhere down stairs, 
 lest his occupation should be observed. 
 
 " Plainly, my duty now was to communicate with 
 the police. So, by the help of my friend the barber 
 down stairs, a messenger was found and a note sent 
 over to Scotland Yard. I awaited, of course, for 
 the arrival of the police, and occupied the interval 
 in another look round— finding nothing important,
 
 120 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 however. When tha official detective arrived, he 
 recognized at once the imx^ortance of the case. A 
 large number of forged Russian notes have been 
 put into circulation on the Continent lately, it 
 seems, and it was sus^^ected that they came from 
 London. The Russian Government have been send- 
 ing urgent messages to the police here on the 
 subject. 
 
 "Of course I said nothing about your business ; 
 but, while I was talking with the Scotland Yard 
 man, a letter was left by a messenger, addressed to 
 Mirsky. The letter will be examined, of course, 
 by the proper authorities, but I was not a little 
 interested to perceive that the envelope bore the 
 Russian imperial arms above the words ' Russian 
 Embassy.' Now, why should Mirsky communicate 
 with the Russian Embassy ? Certainly not to let 
 the officials know that he was carrying on a very 
 extensive and lucrative business in the manufacture 
 of spurious Russian notes. I think it is rather 
 more than possible that he wrote — probably before 
 he actually got your drawings — to say that he could 
 sell information of the highest importance, and that 
 this letter was a reply. Further, I think it quite 
 possible that, when I asked for him by his Russian 
 name and spoke of 'a confidential letter,' he at 
 once concluded that / had come from the embassy 
 in answer to his letter. That would account for his 
 addressing me in Russian through the key-hole ; 
 and, of course, an official from the Russian 
 Embassy would be the very last person in the 
 world whom he would like to observe any indica- 
 tions of his little etching experiments. But, any-
 
 THE CASE OP THE DIXON TORPEDO 121 
 
 how, be that as it may," Hewitt concluded, "your 
 drawings are safe now, and if once Mirsky is caught, 
 — and I think it likely, for a man in his shirt- 
 sleeves, with scarcely any start, and, j)erhaps, no 
 money about him, hasn't a great chance to get 
 away, — if he is caught, I say, he will probably get 
 something handsome at St. Petersburg in the way 
 of imprisonment, or Siberia, or what-not ; so that 
 you will be amply avenged." 
 
 "Yes, but I don't at all understand this business 
 of the drawings even now. How in the world were 
 they taken out of the i^lace, and how in the world 
 did you find it out ? " 
 
 "Nothing could be simpler; and yet the plan 
 was rather ingenious. I'll tell you exactly how the 
 thing revealed itself to me. From your original 
 description of the case many people would con- 
 sider that an impossibility had been performed. 
 Nobody had gone out and nobody had come in, and 
 yet the drawings had been taken away. But an 
 impossibility is an impossibility, after all, and as 
 drawings don't run away of themselves, plainly 
 somebody had taken them, unaccountable as it 
 might seem. Now, as they were in your inner 
 office, the only people who could have got at them 
 besides yourself were your assistants, so that it was 
 pretty clear that one of them, at least, had some- 
 thing to do with the business. You told me that 
 Worsf old was an excellent and intelligent draughts- 
 man. Well, if such a man as that meditated 
 treacliery, he would probably be able to carry 
 away the design in his head, — at any rate, a little at 
 a time, — and would be under no necessity to run the
 
 122 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 risk of stealing a set of the drawings. But Hitter, 
 you remarked, was an inferior sort of man, 'not 
 particularly smart,' I think, were your words — 
 only a mechanical sort of tracer. He would be 
 unlikely to be able to carry in his head the com- 
 plicated details of such designs as yours, and, 
 being in a subordinate position, and continually 
 overlooked, he would find it impossible to make 
 copies of the plans in the office. So that, to begin 
 with, I thought I saw the most probable path to 
 start on. 
 
 " When I looked round the rooms, I pushed open 
 the glass door of the barrier and left the door to 
 the inner office ajar, in order to be able to see any 
 thing that //.■ ////// happen in any i)art of the place, 
 without actually expecting any delinite develop- 
 ment. AVhile we were talking, as it happened, our 
 friend Mirsky (or Hunter— as you please) came into 
 the outer office, and my attention was instantly 
 called to him by the first thing he did. Did you 
 notice any thing peculiar yourself 1 " 
 
 "No, really, I can't say I did. He seemed to 
 behave much as any traveller or agent might." 
 
 "Well, what I noticed was the fact that as soon 
 as he entered the place he put his walking-stick 
 into the umbrella-stand over there by the door, 
 close by where he stood, a most nnusual thing for 
 a casual caller to do, before even knowing whether 
 you were in. This made me watch him closely. I 
 perceived with increased interest that the stick 
 was exactly of the same kind and pattern as 
 one already standing there, also a curious thing. 
 I kept my eyes carefully on those sticks, and was
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TOKPEDO 123 
 
 all the more interested and edified to see, when he 
 left, that he took the otlier stick — not the one he 
 came with— from the stand, and carried it away, 
 leaving his own behind. I might have followed 
 him, but I decided that more could be learned by 
 staying, as, in fact, proved to be the case. This, 
 by-the-bye, is the stick he carried away with him. 
 I took the liberty of fetching it back from West- 
 minster, because I conceive it to be Ri titer's 
 property." 
 
 Hewitt produced the stick. It was an ordinary, 
 thick Malacca cane, with a buck-horn handle and a 
 silver band. Hewitt bent it across his knee and 
 laid it on the table. 
 
 "Yes," Dickson answered, "that is Ritter's 
 stick. I think I have often seen it in the stand. 
 But what in the world " 
 
 "One moment; I'll just fetch the stick Mirsky 
 left behind." And Hewitt stepi^ed across the 
 corridor. 
 
 He returned with another stick, apparently an 
 exact fac-simile of the other, and placed it by the 
 side of the other. 
 
 " When your assistants went into the inner room, 
 I carried this stick off for a minute or two. I knew 
 it was not Worsf old's, because there was an um- 
 brella there with his initial on the handle. Look 
 at this." 
 
 Martin Hewitt gave the handle a twist and rap- 
 idly unscrewed it from the top. Then it was seen 
 that the stick was a mere tube of very thin metal, 
 painted to appear like a Malacca cane. 
 
 " It was plain at once that this was no Malacca
 
 124 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 cane — it wouldn't bend. Inside it I found your 
 tracings, rolled up tightly. You can get a marvel- 
 lous quantity of tliin tracing-paper into a small 
 compass by tiglit rolling." 
 
 "And this — this was the way they were brought 
 back!" the engineer exclaimed. "I see that 
 clearly. But how did they get away? That's as 
 mysterious as ever." 
 
 '^Not a bit of it! See here. Mirsky gets hold 
 of E-itter, and they agree to get your drawings and 
 photograph them. Ritter is to let his confederate 
 have the drawings, and Mirsky is to bring them 
 back as soon as possible, so that they sha' n't be 
 missed for a moment. Ritter habitually carries 
 this Malacca cane, and the cunning of Mirsky at 
 once suggests that this tube should be made in out- 
 ward fac-simile. This morning, Mirsky keeps the 
 actual stick and Ritter comes to the office with the 
 tube. He seizes the first opportunity — probably 
 when you were in this private room, and Worsfold 
 was talking to you from the corridor — to get at the 
 tracings, roll them up tightly, and put them in the 
 tube, putting the tube back into the umbrella- 
 stand. At lialf-past twelve, or whenever it was, 
 Mirsky turns up for the first time with the actual 
 stick and exchanges them, just as he afterward did 
 when he brought the drawings back." 
 
 "Yes, but Mirsky came half-an-hour after they 
 
 were Oh, yes, I see. AVhat a fool I was ! I was 
 
 forgetting. Of course, when I first missed the trac- 
 ings, they were in this walking-stick, safe enough, 
 and I was tearing my hair out within arm's-reach 
 of them!"
 
 THE CASE OF THE DIXON TOEPEDO 125 
 
 " Precisely. And Mirsky took them away before 
 your very eyes. I expect Eitter was in a rare funk 
 when he found that the drawings were missed. He 
 calculated, no doubt, on your not wanting them for 
 the hour or two they would be out of the office." 
 
 " How lucky that it struck me to jot a pencil- 
 note on one of them ! I might easily have made 
 my note somewhere else, and then I should never 
 have known that they had been away." 
 
 " Yes, they didn't give you any too much time 
 to miss them. Well, I think the rest's pretty clear. 
 I brought the tracings in here, screwed up the sham 
 stick and put it back. You identified the tracings 
 and found none missing, and then my course was 
 pretty clear, though it looked difficult. I knew 
 you would be very naturally indignant with Ritter, 
 so, as I wanted to manage him myself, I told you 
 nothing of what he had actually done, for fear that, 
 in your agitated state, you might burst out with 
 something that would spoil my game. To Ritter I 
 I)retended to know nothing of the return of the 
 drawings or Jiow they had been stolen — the only 
 things I did know with certainty. But I did pre- 
 tend to know all about Mirsky — or Hunter — when, 
 as a matter of fact, I knew nothing at all, except 
 that he probably went under more than one name. 
 That put Ritter into my hands completely. When 
 he found the game was up, he began with a lying 
 confession. Believing that the tracings were still 
 in the stick and that we knew nothing of their 
 return, he said that they had not been away, and 
 that he would fetch them — as I had expected he 
 would. I let him go for them alone, and, when he
 
 126 MAETIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 returned, utterly broken up by the discovery that 
 they were not there, I had him altogether at my 
 mercy. You see, if he had known that the draw- 
 ings were all the time behind your book-case, he 
 might have brazened it out, sworn that the draw- 
 ings had been there all the time, and we could have 
 done nothing with him. We couldn't have suffi- 
 ciently frightened him by a threat of prosecution 
 for theft, because there the things were in your 
 possession, to his knowledge. 
 
 "As it was he answered the helm capitally : gave 
 us Mirsky's address on the enveloj)e, and wrote the 
 letter that was to have got him out of the way while 
 I committed burglary, if that disgraceful expedient 
 had not been rendered unnecessary. On the whole, 
 the case has gone very well." 
 
 "It has gone marvelloiisly well, thanks to your- 
 self. But what shall I do with Ritter ? " 
 
 "Here's his stick — knock him down stairs with 
 it, if you like. I should keep the tube, if I were 
 you, as a memento. I don't suppose the respect- 
 able Mirsky will ever call to ask for it. But I 
 should certainly kick Ritter out of doors — or out 
 of window, if you like — without delay." 
 
 Mirsky was caught, and, after two remands at 
 the police-court, was extradited on the charge of 
 forging Russian notes. It came out that he had 
 written to the embassy, as Hewitt had surmised, 
 stating that he had certain valuable information to 
 offer, and the letter which Hewitt had seen deliv- 
 ered was an acknowledgment, and a request for more 
 definite particulars. This was what gave rise to the 
 impression that Mirsky had himself informed the
 
 THE CASE OP THE DIXON TORPEDO 12*7 
 
 Russian antliorities of his forgeries. His real intent 
 was very different, but was never guessed. 
 
 "I wonder," Hewitt has once or twice observed, 
 "whether, after all, it would not have paid the 
 Russian authorities better on the whole if I had 
 never investigated Mirsky' s little note factory. The 
 Dixon torpedo was worth a good many twenty-ruble 
 notes."
 
 V. THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 
 
 It was comparatively rarely that Hewitt came 
 into contact with members of the regular criminal 
 class — those, I mean, who are thieves, of one sort 
 or another, by exclusive profession. Still, nobody 
 could have been better prepared than Hewitt for 
 encountering this class when it became necessary. 
 By some means, which I never quite understood, he 
 managed to keep abreast of the very latest fash- 
 ions in the ever-changing slang dialect of the fra- 
 ternity, and he was a perfect master of the more 
 modern and debased form of Romany. So much 
 so that frequently a gypsy who began (as they 
 always do) by pretending that he understood noth- 
 ing, and never heard of a gypsy language, ended by 
 confessing that Hewitt could roklcer better than 
 most Romany chals themselves. 
 
 By this acquaintance with their habits and talk 
 Hewitt was sometimes able to render eflBcient ser- 
 vice in cases of especial importance. In the Quin- 
 ton jewel affair Hewitt came into contact with a 
 very accomplished thief. 
 
 The case will probably be very well remembered. 
 Sir Valentine Quinton, before he married, had been 
 as poor as only a man of rank with an old country 
 establishment to keep up can be. His marriage, 
 however, with the daughter of a wealthy financier 
 had changed all that, and now the Quinton estab- 
 
 128
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 129 
 
 lisliment was carried on on as lavisli a scale as 
 might be ; and, indeed, the extravagant habits of 
 Lady Quinton herself rendered it an extremely 
 lucky thing that she had brought a fortune with her. 
 
 Among other things her jewels made quite a col- 
 lection, and chief among them was the great ruby, 
 one of the very few that were sent to this country 
 to be sold (at an average price of somewhere about 
 twenty thousand pounds apiece, I believe) by the 
 Burmese king before the annexation of his country. 
 Let but a ruby be of a great size and color, 
 and no equally fine diamond can approach its 
 value. Well, this great ruby (which was set in 
 a pendant, by-the-bye), together with a necklace, 
 brooches, bracelets, ear-rings, — indeed, the greater 
 part of Lady Quinton' s collection, — were stolen. 
 The robbery was effected at the usual time and 
 in the usual way in cases of carefully planned 
 jewelry robberies. The time was early evening, 
 — dinner-time, in fact, — and an entrance had been 
 made by the window to Lady Quinton' s dressing- 
 room, the door screwed up on the inside, and 
 wires artfully stretched about the grounds below 
 to overset any body who might observe and pursue 
 the thieves. 
 
 On an investigation by London detectives, how- 
 ever, a feature of singularity was brought to light. 
 There had plainly been only one thief at work at 
 Radcot Hall, and no other had been inside the 
 grounds. Alone he had planted the wires, opened 
 the window, screwed the door, and picked the lock 
 )f the safe. Clearly this was a thief of the most 
 accomplished description.
 
 130 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Some few days passed, and, although tlie police 
 had made various arrests, they appeared to be all 
 mistakes, and the suspected persons were released 
 one after another. I was talking of the robbery 
 with Hewitt at lunch, and asked him if he had 
 received any commission to hunt for the missing 
 jewels. 
 
 " No," Hewitt replied, '^I haven't been commis- 
 sioned. They are offering an immense reward, 
 however — a very pleasant sum, indeed. I have 
 had a short note from Eadcot Hall informing me of 
 the amount, and that's all. Probably they fancy 
 that I may take the case up as a speculation, but 
 that is a great mistake. I'm not a beginner, and I 
 must be commissioned in a regular manner, hit 
 or miss, if I am to deal with the case. I've quite 
 enough commissions going now, and no time to 
 waste hunting for a problematical reward." 
 
 But we were nearer a clue to the Quinton jewels 
 than we then supposed. 
 
 We talked of other things, and presently rose 
 and left the restaurant, strolling quietly toward 
 home. Some little distance from the Strand, and 
 near our own door, we passed an excited Irishman 
 — without doubt an Irishman by appearance and 
 talk — who was pouring a torrent of angry com- 
 plaints in the ears of a policeman. The policeman 
 obviously thought little of the man's grievances, 
 and with an amused smile appeared to be advising 
 him to go home quietly and think no more about it. 
 We passed on and mounted our stairs. Something 
 interesting in our conversation made me stop for a 
 little while at Hewitt's office door on my way up,
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIE 131 
 
 and, while I stood there, the Irishman we had seen 
 in the street mounted the stairs. He was a poorly- 
 dressed but stiirdjMooking fellow, apparently a 
 laborer, in a badly-worn best suit of clothes. His 
 agitation still held him, and without a pause he 
 immediately burst out : 
 
 " Which of ye jintlemen will be Misther Hewitt, 
 sor?" 
 
 "This is Mr. Hewitt," I said. "Do you want 
 him?" 
 
 "It's protecshin I want, sor — protecshin! I 
 spake to the polls, an' they laff at me, begob. 
 Foive days have I lived in London, an' 'tis nothin' 
 but battle, murdher, an' suddhen death for me 
 here all day an' ivery day! An' the polls say I'm 
 dhrunk ! " 
 
 He gesticulated wdldly, and to me it seemed just 
 possible that the police might be right. 
 
 "They say I'm dhrunk, sor," he continued, 
 "bnt, begob, I b'lieve they think I'm mad. An' 
 me being thracked an' folleyed an' dogged an' way- 
 laid an' poisoned an' blandandhered an' kidnapped 
 an' murdhered, an' for why I do not know ! " 
 
 "And who's doing all this?" 
 
 "Sthrangers, sor — sthrangers. 'Tis a sthranger 
 here I am mesilf, an' fwy they do it bates me, onless 
 I do be so like the Prince av Wales or other crowned 
 head they thry to slaughter me. They're layin' 
 for me in the sthreet now, I misdoubt not, and 
 fwat they may thry next I can tell no more than 
 the Lord Mayor. An' the polls won' t listen to me! " 
 
 This, I thought, must be one of the very common 
 cases of mental hallucination which one hears of
 
 132 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 every day — the belief of the sufferer that he is sur- 
 rounded by enemies and followed by spies. It is 
 probably the most usual delusion of the harmless 
 lunatic. 
 
 "But what have these people done?" Hewitt 
 asked, looking rather interested, although amused. 
 "What actual assaults have they committed, and 
 when ? And who told you to come here ? " 
 
 " Who towld me, is ut ! Who but the payler out- 
 side — in the street below ! I explained to 'um, an' 
 sez he : ' Ah, you go an' take a slape,' sez he ; ' you 
 go an' take a good slape, an' they'll all be gone 
 whin ye wake up.' ' But they'll murdher me ! ' sez 
 I. ' Oh, no ! ' sez he, smilin' behind, av his ugly 
 face. 'Oh, no, they won't; you take ut aisy, me 
 frind, an' go home ! ' ' Take it aisy, is ut, an' go 
 home!' sez I; 'why, that's just where they've 
 been last, a-ruinationin' an' a-turnin' av the place 
 upside down, an' me strook on the head onsensible 
 a mile away. Take ut aisy, is ut, ye say, whin all 
 the demons in this unholy place is jumpin' on me 
 ivery minut in places promiscuous till I can't tell 
 where to turn, descendin' an' vanishin' marvellious 
 an' onaccountable ? Take ut aisy, is ut?' sez I. 
 'Well, me frind,' sez he, 'I can't help ye ; that's 
 the marvellious an' onaccountable departmint up 
 the stairs forninst ye. Misther Hewitt ut is,' sez 
 he, ' that attinds to the onaccountable departmint, 
 him as wint by a minut ago. You go an' bother 
 him.' That's how I was towld, sor." 
 
 Hewitt smiled. 
 
 ' ' Very good," he said ; "and now what are these 
 extraordinary troubles of yours ? Don't declaim,"
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIE 133 
 
 he added, as the Irishman raised his hand and 
 opened his mouth preparatory to another torrent of 
 complaint; "just say in ten words, if you can, 
 what they've done to you." 
 
 "I will, sor. Wan day had I been in London, 
 sor — wan day only, an' a low scutt thried to poison 
 me dhrink ; next day some udther thief av sin 
 shoved me off av a railway platform undher a train, 
 malicious and jDurposeful ; glory be, he didn't kill 
 me ! but the very docther that felt me bones thried 
 to pick me pockut, I du b'lieve. Sunday night I 
 was grabbed outrageous in a darrk turnin', rowled 
 on the groun', half strangled, an' me pockuts nigh 
 ripped out av me trousies. An' this very blessed 
 mornin' av light I was strook onsensible an' left a 
 livin' corpse, an' my lodgin's penethrated an' all 
 the thruck mishandled an' bruk up behind me 
 back. Is that a panjandhery for the polls to laff 
 at, sor?" 
 
 Had Hewitt not been there I think I should have 
 done my best to quiet the poor fellow with a few 
 soothing words and to persuade him to go home to 
 his friends. His excited and rather confused man- 
 ner, his fantastic story of a sort of general con- 
 spiracy to kill him, and the absurd reference 
 to the doctor who tried to pick his pocket seemed 
 to me XDlainly to confirm my first impression that 
 he was insane. But Hewitt appeared strangely 
 interested. 
 
 " Did they steal any thing ? " he asked. 
 
 "Divil a shtick but me door-key, an' that they 
 tuk home an' lift in the door." 
 
 Hewitt opened his office door.
 
 134 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 ''Come in," he said, "and tell me all about this. 
 You come, too, Brett." 
 
 The Irishman and I followed him into the inner 
 oflBce, where, shutting the door, Hewitt suddenly- 
 turned on the Irishman and exclaimed sharply : 
 " TJien yoiCm still got it f " 
 
 He looked keenly in the man's eyes, but the only 
 expression there was one of surprise. 
 
 " Got ut ? " said the Irishman. ' ' Got f what, sor ? 
 Is ut you're thinkin' I've got the horrors, as well as 
 the polls?" 
 
 Hewitt' s gaze relaxed. ' ' Sit down, sit down ! " he 
 said. " You've still got your watch and money, I 
 suppose, since you weren't robbed ?" 
 
 " Oh, that ? Glory be, I have ut still ! though for 
 how long, — or me own head, for that matter, — in this 
 state of besiegement, I cannot say." 
 
 "Now," said Hewitt, "I want a full, true, and 
 particular account of yourself and your doings for 
 the last week. First, your name ? " 
 
 " Leamy's my name, sor — Michael Leamy." 
 
 " Lately from Ireland ? " 
 
 *' Over from Dublin this last blessed Wednesday, 
 and a crooil bad poundherin' ut was in the boat, 
 too — shpakin' av that same." 
 
 "Looking for work ? " 
 
 "That is my purshuit at prisint, sor." 
 
 "Did any thing noticeable happen before these 
 troubles of yours began — any thing here in London 
 or on the journey ? " 
 
 "Sure," the Irishman smiled, "part av the way 
 I thravelled first-class by favor av the gyard, an' I 
 got a small job before I lift the train."
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 135 
 
 "How was that? Why did you travel lirst-class 
 part of the way ?" 
 
 " There was a station f where we shtopped afther a 
 long run, an' I got down to take the cramp out av 
 me joints, an' take a taste av dhrink. I overshtayed 
 somehow, an', whin I got to the train, begob, it was 
 on the move. There was a first-class carr'ge door 
 opin right forninst me, an' into that the gyard crams 
 me holus-bolus. There was a juce of a foine jintle- 
 man sittin' there, an' he stares at me umbrageous, 
 but I was not dishcommoded, bein' onbashful by 
 natur' . We thravelled along a heap av miles more, 
 till we came near London. Afther we had shtopped 
 at a station where they tuk tickets we wint ahead 
 again, an' prisintly, as we rips through some udther 
 station, up jumps the jintleman opposite, swearin' 
 hard undher his tongue, an' looks out at the windy. 
 ' I thought this train shtopped here,' sez he." 
 
 "Chalk Farm," observed Hewitt, with a nod. 
 
 " The name I do not know, sor, but that's fwhat 
 he said. Then he looks at me onaisy for a little, 
 an' at last he sez : ' Wud ye loike a small job, me 
 good man, well paid ? ' 
 
 " ' Faith,' sez I, ' 'tis that will suit me well.' 
 
 " ' Then, see here,' sez he, ' I should have got out 
 at that station, havin' particular business ; havin' 
 missed, I must sen' a telegrammer from Euston. 
 Now, here's a bag,' sez he, 'a bag full of imporrtant 
 papers for my solicitor, — imporrtant to me, ye onder- 
 shtand, not worth the shine av a brass farden to a 
 sowl else, — an' I want 'em tuk on to him. Take you 
 this bag,' he sez, 'an' go you straight out wid it at 
 Euston an' get in a cab. I shall stay in the station
 
 136 MAETIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOE 
 
 a bit to see to the telegrammer. Dlirive out av the 
 station, across the road outside, an' wait there five 
 minuts by the clock. Ye ondershtand ? Wait five 
 minuts, an' maybe I'll come an' join ye. If I don't, 
 'twill be bekaze I'm detained onexpected, an' then 
 ye' 11 dhrive to my solicitor straight. Here's his 
 address, if ye can read writin',' an' he put ut on a 
 piece av paper. He gave me half-a-crown for the 
 cab, an' I tuk his bag." 
 
 "One moment — have you the paper with the 
 address now?" 
 
 " I have not, sor. I missed ut afther the blay- 
 guards overset me yesterday ; but the solicitor's 
 name was Hollams, an' a liberal jintleman wid his 
 money he was, too, by that same token." 
 
 " What was his address ? " 
 
 '"Twas in Chelsea, and 'twas Gold or Golden 
 something, which I know by the good token av 
 f what he gave me ; but the number I misre- 
 member." 
 
 Hewitt turned to his directory. " Gold Street is 
 the place, probably," he said, " and it seems to be 
 a street chiefly of private houses. You would be 
 able to point out the house if you were taken there, 
 I suppose?" 
 
 " I should that, sor ; indade, I was thinkin' av 
 goin' there an' tellin' Misther Hollams all my 
 throubles, him havin' been so kind." 
 
 " Now tell me exactly what instructions the man 
 in the train gave you, and what happened ? " 
 
 "He sez: 'You ask for Misther Hollams, an' 
 see nobody else. Tell him ye've brought the 
 sparks from Misther W.' "
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 137 
 
 I fancied T could see a sudden twinkle in Hewitt's 
 eye, but lie made no other sign, and the Irishman 
 proceeded. 
 
 " ' Sparks ? ' sez I. 'Yes, sparks,' sez he. ' Mis- 
 ther Hollams will know; 'tis our jokin' word for 
 'em ; sometimes papers is sparks when they set a 
 lawsuit ablaze,' and he laffed. ' But be sure ye say 
 the sparJcsfrom Misther TF.,' he sez again, 'bekase 
 then he'll know ye' re Jinuine an' he'll pay ye han'- 
 some. Say Misther W. sez you're to have your 
 reg'lars, if ye like. D'ye mind that?' 
 
 " ' Ay,' sez I, 'that I'm to have me reg'lars.' 
 
 " Well, sor, I tuk the bag and wint out of the 
 station, tuk the cab, an' did all as he towld me. I 
 waited the foive minuts, but he niver came, so off 
 I druv to Misther Hollams, and he threated me 
 lian'some, sor." 
 
 " Yes, but tell me exactly all he did." 
 
 " ' Misther Hollams, sor ? ' sez I. ' Who are ye ? ' 
 sez he. 'Mick Leamy, sor,' sez I, 'from Misther 
 W. wid the sparks.' 'Oh,' sez he, ' thin come in.' 
 I wint in. 'They're in here, are they?' sez he, 
 takin' the bag. 'They are, sor,' sez I, 'an' Misther 
 W. sez I'm to have me reg'lars.' 'You shall,' sez 
 he. ' What shall we say, now— a finnip ? ' ' Fwhat' s 
 that, sor?' sez I. *0h,' sez he, ' I s'pose ye' re a 
 new hand ; five quid — ondershtand that ? '" 
 
 " Begob, I did ondershtand it, an' moighty plazed 
 I was to have come to a place where they pay five- 
 pun' notes for carryin' bags. So whin he asked me 
 was I new to London an' shud T kape in the same 
 line av business, I towld him I shud for certiu, or 
 any thin' else payin' like it. ' Right,' sez he ; * let
 
 138 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 me know wMn ye've got any tliin' — ye' 11 find me 
 all right.' An' he winked frindly. 'Faith, that I 
 know I shall, sor,' sez I, wid the money safe in me 
 pockut ; an' I winked him back, conjanial. ' I've 
 a smart family about me,' sez he, 'an' I treat 'em 
 all fair an' liberal.' An', saints, I thought it likely 
 his family 'ud have all they wanted, seein' he was 
 so free-handed wid a stranger. Thin he asked me 
 where I was livin' in London, and, when I towld 
 him nowhere, he towld me av a room in Musson 
 Street, here by Drury Lane, that was to let, in a 
 house his fam'ly knew very well, an' I wint straight 
 there an' tuk ut, an' there I do be stayin' still, 
 sor." 
 
 I hadn't understood at first why Hewitt took so 
 much interest in the Irishman's narrative, but the 
 latter part of it opened my eyes a little. It seemed 
 likely that Leamy had, in his innocence, been made 
 a conveyer of stolen property. I knew enough of 
 thieves' slang to know that "sparks" meant dia- 
 monds or other jewels; that "regulars" was the 
 term used for a jmyment made to a brother thief 
 who gave assistance in some small way, such as car- 
 rying the booty; and that the "family" was the 
 time-honored expression for a gang of thieves. 
 
 "This was all on Wednesday, I understand," 
 said Hewitt. "Now tell me what happened on 
 Thursday — the poisoning, or drugging, you know ?" 
 
 "Well, sor, I was walking out, an' toward the 
 evenin' I lost mesilf. Up comes a man, seemin'ly 
 a sthranger, and shmacks me on the showldher. 
 * Why, Mick!' sez he ; 'it's Mick Leamy, I du 
 b'liever
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 189 
 
 " *I am that,' sez I, 'but you I do not know.' 
 
 "'Not know me?' sez he. 'Why, I wint to 
 school wid ye.' An' wid that he hauls me off 
 to a bar, blarney in' and minowdherin', an' orders 
 dhrinks. 
 
 " ' Can ye rache me a poipe-loight ? ' sez he, an' I 
 turned to get ut, but, lookin' back suddent, there 
 was that onblushin' thief av the warl' tippin' a 
 paperful av powdher stuff into me glass." 
 
 " What did you do ? " Hewitt asked. 
 
 ' ' I knocked the dhirty face av him, sor, an' can 
 ye blame me ? A mane scutt, thryin' for to poison 
 a well-manin' sthranger. I knocked the face av 
 him, an' got away home." 
 
 " Now the next misfortune ? " 
 
 " Faith, that Avas av a sort likely to turn out the 
 last av all misfortunes. I wint that day to the 
 Crystial Palace, bein' dishposed for a little shport, 
 seein' as I was new to London. Com in' home at 
 night, there was a juce av a crowd on the station 
 platform, consekins of a late thrain. Shtandin' 
 by the edge av the platform at the fore end, just as 
 the thrain came in, some onvisible murdherer gives 
 me a stupenjus dhrive in the back, an' over I wint 
 on the line, mid-betwixt the rails. The engine 
 came up an' wint half over me widout givin' me a 
 scratch, bekaze av my centraleous situation, an' 
 then the porther-men pulled me out, nigh sick wid 
 fright, sor, as ye may guess. A jintleman in the 
 crowd sings out: 'I'm a medical man !' an' they 
 tuk me in the waitin'-room, an' he investigated me, 
 liaviii' turned every-body else out av the room. 
 There wuz no bones bruk, glory be ! and the docthor-
 
 140 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 man he was tellin' me so, after feelin' me over, 
 wliin I felt his hand in me waistcoat pockut. 
 
 " 'An' f what's this, sor?' sez I. 'Do you be 
 lookin' for your fee that thief's way ?' 
 
 " He laffed, and said : ' I want no fee from ye, me 
 man, an' I did but feel your ribs,' though on me 
 conscience he had done that undher me waistcoat 
 already. An' so I came home." 
 
 " What did they do to you on Saturday ? " 
 
 "Saturday, sor, they gave me a whole holiday, 
 and I began to think less av things ; but on Sun- 
 day night, in a dark place, two blayguards tuk 
 me throat from behind, nigh choked me, flung me 
 down, an' wint through all me pockets in about 
 a quarter av a minut." 
 
 "And they took nothing, you say ? " 
 
 " Nothing, sor. But this mornin' I got my worst 
 dose. I was trapesing along distreshful an' 
 moighty sore, in a street just away off the Strand 
 here, whin I obsarved the docthor-raan that was 
 at the Crystial Palace station a-smilin' an' beck- 
 onin' at me from a door. 
 
 " ' How are ye now ? ' sez he. ' Well,' sez I, 'I'm 
 moighty sore an' sad bruised,' sez I. ' Is tbat so ? ' 
 sez he. ' Shtep in here.' So I shtepi)ed in, an' be- 
 fore I could wink there dhropped a crack on the 
 back av me head that sent me off as unknowledg- 
 able as a corrpse. I knew no more for a while, sor, 
 whether half-an-hour or an hour, an' thin I got up 
 in a room av the place, marked ' To Let.' 'Twas a 
 house full av offices, by the same token, like this. 
 There was a sore bad lump on me head — see ut, sor ? 
 — an' the whole warl' was shpinnin' roun' ram-
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 141 
 
 pageous. The things out av me pockets were lyin' 
 on the flure by me — all barrin' the key av me 
 room. So that the demons had been througli me 
 posseshins again, bad luck to 'em." 
 
 "You are quite sure, are you, that every thing 
 was there excej)t the key ? " Hewitt asked. 
 
 "Certin, sor! Well, I got along to me room, 
 sick an' sorry enough, an' doubtsome whether I 
 might get in wid no key. But there was the key 
 in the open door, an', by this an' that, all the shtuff 
 in the room — chair, table, bed, an' all — was shtand- 
 in' on their heads twisty-ways, an' the bedclothes 
 an' every thin' else ; such a disgraceful stramash av 
 conglomerated tliruck as ye niver dhreamt av. The 
 chist av drawers was lyin' on uts face, wid all the 
 dhrawers out an' emptied on the flure. 'Twas as 
 though an arrmy had been lootin', sor ! " 
 
 " But still nothing was gone ? " 
 
 "Wo thin', so far as I investigated, sor. But I 
 didn't shtay. I came out to spake to the polls, an' 
 two av them laffed at me — wan afther another ! " 
 
 "It has certainly been no laughing matter for 
 you. Now, tell me — have you anything in your 
 possession — dociiments, or valuables, or any thing 
 — that any other person, to your knowledge, is 
 anxious to get hold of ? " 
 
 " I have not, sor — divil a document ! As to valu- 
 ables, tliim an' me is the co widest av sthrangers." 
 
 " Just call to mind, now, the face of the man who 
 tried to put powder in your drink, and that of the 
 doctor who attended to you in the railway station. 
 Were they at all alike, or was either like any body 
 you have seen before ? "
 
 143 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Leamy puckered liis foreliead and tlioiiglit. 
 "Faith," he said presently, "they were a bit 
 alike, though wan had a beard an' the udther 
 whiskers only." 
 
 "Neither happened to look like Mr. Hollams, 
 for instance?" 
 
 Leamy started. " Begob, but they did ! They'd 
 ha' been mortal like him if they'd been shaved." 
 Then, after a joause, he suddenly added: "Holy 
 saints ! is ut the fam'ly he talked av ? " 
 
 Hewitt laughed. "Perhaps it is," he said. 
 "Now, as to the man who sent you with the bag. 
 Was it an old bag ? " 
 
 " Bran' cracklin' new — a brown leather bag." 
 
 "Locked?" 
 
 "That I niver thried, sor. It was not my con- 
 sarn." 
 
 "True. Now, as to this Mr. W. himself." 
 Hewitt had been rummaging for some few minutes 
 in a portfolio, and finally produced a photograph, 
 and held it before the Irishman's eyes. " Is that 
 like him ? " he asked. 
 
 "Shureit's the man himself! Is he a frind av 
 yours, sor?" 
 
 "No, he's not exactly a friend of mine," Hew- 
 itt answered, with a grim chuckle. " I fancy he's 
 one of that very respectable family you heard 
 about at Mr. Hollams' s. Come along with me now 
 to Chelsea, and see if you can point out that house 
 in Gold Street. I'll send for a cab." 
 
 He made for the outer office, and I went with him. 
 
 " What is all this, Hewitt ? " I asked. "A gang 
 of thieves with stolen property ?"
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 143 
 
 Hewitt looked in my face and replied: "/^'s 
 the Quinton ruby ! " 
 
 "What! The ruby? Shall you take the case 
 up, then?" 
 
 " I shall. It is no longer a speculation." 
 
 "Then do you expect to find it at Hollams's 
 house in Chelsea ? " I asked. 
 
 "No, I don't, because it isn't there — else why 
 are they trying to get it from this unlucky Irish- 
 man ? There has been bad faith in Hollams's gang, 
 I exi)ect, and Hollams has missed the ruby and 
 suspects Leaniy of having taken it from the bag." 
 
 "Then who is this Mr. W. whose portrait you 
 have in your possession? " 
 
 " See here ! " Hewitt turned over a small pile of 
 recent newspapers and selected one, pointing at a 
 particular paragraph. " I kept that in my mind, 
 because to me it seemed to be the most likely arrest 
 of the lot," he said. 
 
 It was an evening j)aper of the previous Thursday, 
 and the x^aragraph was a very short one, thus : 
 
 "The man Wilks, who was arrested at Euston 
 Station yesterday, in connection with the robbery 
 of Lady Quinton' s jewels, has been released, noth- 
 ing being found to incriminate him." 
 
 "How does that strike you?" asked Hewitt. 
 " Wilks is a man well known to the police — one of 
 the most accomi^lished burglars in this country, in 
 fact. I have had no dealings with him as yet, but 
 I found means, some time ago, to add his portrait 
 to my little collection, in case I might want it, and 
 to-day it has been quite useful." 
 
 The thing was plain now. Wilks must have been
 
 144 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 bringing his booty to town, and calculated on 
 getting out at Chalk Farm and thus eluding the 
 watch which he doubtless felt pretty sure would be 
 kept (by telegrajDhic instruction) at Euston for sus- 
 picious characters arriving from the direction of 
 Radcot. His transaction with Leamy was his only 
 possible expedient to save himself from being 
 hopelessly taken with the swag in his possession. 
 The paragraph told me why Leamy had waited in 
 vain for "Mr. W." in the cab. 
 
 " What shall you do now ? " I asked. 
 
 " I shall go to the Gold Street house and find out 
 what I can as soon as this cab turns up." 
 
 There seemed a possibility of some excitement 
 in the adventure, so I asked : "Will you want any 
 help?" 
 
 Hewitt smiled. " I tldnlc I can get through it 
 alone," he said. 
 
 "Then may I come to look on?" I said. "Of 
 course I don' t want to be in your way, and the re- 
 sult of the business, whatever it is, will be to your 
 credit alone. But I am curious." 
 
 " Come, then, by all means. The cab will be a 
 four-wheeler, and there will be plenty of room." 
 
 Gold Street was a short street of private houses 
 of very fair size and of a half -vanished pretension 
 to gentility. We drove slowly through, and Leamy 
 had no difficulty in pointing out the house wherein 
 he had been x^aid five pounds for carrying a bag. 
 At the end the cab turned the corner and stopped, 
 while Hewitt wrote a short note to an official of 
 Scotland Yard.
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 145 
 
 "Take tliis note," he instructed Leamy, "to 
 Scotland Yard in the cab, and then go home. I 
 will pay the cabman now." 
 
 " I will, sor. An' will I be protected ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Stay at home for the rest of the day, 
 and I expect you'll be left alone in future. Per- 
 haps I shall have something to tell you in a day 
 or two ; if I do, I'll send. Good-by." 
 
 The cab rolled off, and Hewitt and I strolled back 
 along Gold Street. "I think," Hewitt said, "we 
 will drop in on Mr. Hollams for a few minutes 
 while we can. In a feAv hours I expect the police 
 will have him, and his house, too, if they attend 
 promptly to my note." 
 
 " Have you ever seen him ? " 
 
 "Not to my knowledge, though I may know 
 him by some other name. Wilks I know by sight, 
 though he doesn't know me." 
 
 "What shall we say?" 
 
 " That will dej)eud on circumstances. I may not 
 get my cue till the door opens, or even till later. 
 At worst, I can easily apply for a reference as to 
 Leamy, who, you remember, is looking for work." 
 
 But we were destined not to make Mr. Hollams' s 
 acquaintance, after all. As we approached the 
 house a great ui^roar was heard from the lower part 
 giving on to the area, and suddenly a man, hatless, 
 and with a sleeve of his coat nearly torn away, 
 burst through the door and up the area steps, pur- 
 sued by two others. I had barely time to observe 
 that one of the pursuers carried a revolver, and that 
 both hesitated and retired on seeing that several 
 people were about the street, when Hewitt, gripping
 
 146 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 my arm and exclaiming: "That's our man!" 
 started at a run after the fugitive. 
 
 We turned the next corner and saw the man 
 thirty yards before us, walking, and pulling up 
 his sleeve at the shoulder, so as to conceal the rent. 
 Plainly he felt safe from further molestation. 
 
 "That's Sim Wilks," Hewitt explained, as we 
 followed, " the 'juceof a foine jintleman' who got 
 Leamy to carry his bag, and the man who knows 
 where the Quinton ruby is, unless I am more than 
 usually mistaken. Don't stare after him, in case 
 he looks round. Presently, when we get into the 
 busier streets, I shall liave a little chat with him." 
 
 But for some time the man kept to the back 
 streets. In time, however, he emerged into the 
 Buckingham Palace Road, and we saw him stop 
 and look at a hat-shop. But after a general look 
 over the window and a glance in at the door he 
 went on. 
 
 " Good sign ! " observed Hewitt ; "got no money 
 with him — makes it easier for us." 
 
 In a little while Wilks approached a small crowd 
 gathered about a woman fiddler. Hewitt touched 
 my arm, and a few quick steps took us past our 
 man and to the opposite side of the crowd. When 
 Wilks emerged, he met us coming in the opposite 
 direction. 
 
 "What, Sim ! " burst out Hewitt with apparent 
 delight. "I haven't piped your mug* for a 
 stretch t; I thought you'd fell.:}: Where's your 
 cady?"§ 
 
 Wilks looked astonished and suspicious. "I 
 .1^ * Seen yout face, f A year. J Been imprisoned. § Hat.
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 147 
 
 don't know you," lie said. "You've made a mis- 
 take." 
 
 Hewitt laughed. " I'm glad you don't know 
 me," he said. "If you don't, I'm pretty sure the 
 reelers ^' won't. I think I've faked my mug pretty 
 well, and my clobber, f too. Look here : I'll stand 
 you a new cady. Strange blokes don't do 
 that, eh?" 
 
 Wilks was still suspicious. *' I don't know what 
 you mean," he said. Then, after a pause, he added : 
 " Who are you, then ? " 
 
 Hewitt winked and screwed his face genially 
 aside. "Hooky!" he said. "I've had a lucky 
 touch:}: and I'm Mr. Smith till I've melted the 
 pieces. § You come and damp it." 
 
 "I'm off," Wilks replied. "Unless you're pal 
 enough to lend me a quid," he added, laughing. 
 
 "I am that," responded Hewitt, plunging his 
 hand in his pocket. "I'm flush, my boy, flush, 
 and I've been wetting it pretty well to-day. I feel 
 pretty jolly now, and I shouldn't wonder if I went 
 home cannon. II Only a quid? Have two, if you 
 want 'em — or three ; there's plenty more, and 
 you'll do the same for me some day. Here 
 y'are." 
 
 Hewitt had, of a sudden, assumed the whole aj)- 
 pearance, manners, and bearing of a slightly ele- 
 vated rowdy. Now he pulled his hand from his 
 pocket and extended it, full of silver, with five or 
 six sovereigns interspersed, toward Wilks. 
 
 "I'll have three quid," Wilks said with decision, 
 
 * Police. t Clothes, t Robbery. 
 
 § Spent the money. j Drunk.
 
 148 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 taking tlie money ; " bnt I'm blowed if I remember 
 you. Who's your pal ? " 
 
 Hewitt jerked his head in my direction, winked, 
 and said in a low voice : " He's all right. Having a 
 rest. Can't stand Manchester," and winked again. 
 
 Wilks laughed and nodded, and I understood 
 from that that Hewitt had very flatteringly given 
 me credit for being "wanted" by the Manchester 
 police. 
 
 We lurched into a public-house, and drank a very 
 little very bad whiskey and water. Wilks still re- 
 garded us curiously, and I coiikl see him again and 
 again glancing doubtfully in Hewitt' s face. But the 
 loan of three pounds had largely reassured him. 
 Presently Hewitt said : 
 
 "How about our old pal down in Gold Street? 
 Do any thing with him now '? Seen him lately ? " 
 
 Wilks looked up at the ceiling and shook his 
 head. 
 
 "That's a good job. It 'ud be awkward if you 
 were about there to-day, I can tell you." 
 
 "Why?" 
 
 "Never mind, so long as you're not there. I 
 know something, if I liave been away. I'm glad 
 I haven' t had any truck with Gold Street lately, 
 that's all." 
 
 " D'you mean the reelers are on it ? " 
 
 Hewitt looked cautiously over his shoulder, 
 leaned toward Wilks, and said : "Look here : this 
 is the straight tip. I know this — I got it from the 
 very nark* that's given the show away: By six 
 o'clock No. 8 Gold Street will be turned inside out, 
 like an old glove, and every one in the place will 
 * Police spy.
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 149 
 
 be " He finished tlie sentence by crossing his 
 
 wrists like a handcuffed man. " AVhat's more," he 
 went on, "they know all about what's gone on 
 there lately, and every-body that's been in or out 
 for the last two moons f will be wanted particular — 
 and will be found, I'm told." Hewitt concluded 
 with a confidential frown, a nod, and a wink, and 
 took another mouthful of whiskey. Then he added, 
 as an af ter- thought : "So I'm glad you haven't 
 been there lately." 
 
 Wilks looked in Hewitt's face and asked: "Is 
 that straight ? " 
 
 " /« it ? " replied Hewitt with emphasis. " You 
 go and have a look, if you ain't afraid of being 
 smugged yourself. Only / sha'n't go near No. 8 
 just yet — I know that." 
 
 Wilks fidgeted, finished liis drink, and ex- 
 l^ressed his intention of going. " Very well, if you 
 
 loonH have another " replied Hewitt. But he 
 
 had gone. 
 
 " Good ! " said Hewitt, moving toward the door ; 
 "he has suddenly developed a hurry. I shall 
 keep him in sight, but you had better take a cab 
 and go straight to Euston. Take tickets to the 
 nearest station to Radcot, — Kedderby, I think it 
 is, — and look up the train arrangements. Don't 
 show yourself too much, and keej) an eye on the 
 entrance. Unless I am mistaken, Wilks will be 
 there pretty soon, and I shall be on his heels. If 
 I am wrong, then you won't see the end of the fun, 
 that's all." 
 
 Hewitt hurried after Wilks, and I took the cab 
 and did as he wished. There was an hour and a 
 
 f Months.
 
 150 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 few minutes, I found, to wait for the next train, 
 and that time I occupied as best I might, keeping a 
 sharp lookout across the quadrangle. Barely five 
 minutes before the train was to leave, and just as I 
 was beginning to think about the time of the next, a 
 cab dashed up and Hewitt alighted, lie hurried 
 in, found me, and drew me aside into a recess, just 
 as another cab arrived. 
 
 " Here he is," Hewitt said. "I followed him as 
 far as Euston Road and then got my cabby to 
 spurt up and pass liim. He has had his mustache 
 shaved off, and I feared you mightn't recognize 
 him, and so let him see you." 
 
 From our retreat we could see Wilks hurry 
 into the booking-office. We watched him through 
 to the platform and followed. lie wasted no 
 time, but made the best of his way to a third- 
 class carriage at the extreme fore end of the 
 train. 
 
 "We have three minutes," Hewitt said, "and 
 every thing depends on his not seeing us get into 
 this train. Take this cap. Fortunately, we're 
 both in tweed suits." 
 
 He had bought a couple of tweed cricket caps, 
 and these we assumed, sending our " bowler" hats 
 to the cloak-room. Hewitt also put on a -pair of 
 blue spectacles, and then walked boldly up the 
 platform and entered a first-class carriage. I fol- 
 lowed close on his heels, in such a manner that a 
 person looking from the fore end of the train would 
 be able to see but very little of me. 
 
 "So far so good," said Hewitt, when we were 
 seated and the train began to move off. " I must
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 151 
 
 keep a lookout at eacli station, in case our friend 
 goes off unexpectedly." 
 
 "I waited some time," I said ; "where did you 
 both get to?" 
 
 " First he went and bought that hat he is wear- 
 ing. Then he walked some distance, dodging the 
 main thoroughfares and keeping to the back streets 
 in a way that made following difficult, till he came 
 to a little tailor's shop. There he entered and came 
 out in a quarter of an hour with his coat mended. 
 This was in a street in Westminster. Presently he 
 worked his way up to Tothill Street, and there he 
 plunged into a barber's shop. I took a cautious 
 peep at the window, saw two or three other cus- 
 tomers also waiting, and took the opportunity to 
 rush over to a ' notion ' shop and buy these blue 
 spectacles, and to a hatter's for these caps — of 
 which I regret to observe that yours is too big. He 
 was rather a long while in the barber's, and finally 
 came out as you saw him, with no mustache. This 
 was a good indication. It made it plainer than 
 ever that he had believed my warning as to the 
 police descent on the house in Gold Street and its 
 frequenters ; which was right and proper, for what 
 I told him was quite true. The rest you know. 
 He cabbed to the station, and so did I." 
 
 "And now, perhaps," I said, "after giving me 
 the character of a thief wanted by the Manchester 
 police, forcibly depriving me of my hat in exchange 
 for this all-too-large cap, and rushing me off out of 
 London without any definite idea of when I'm 
 coming back, perhaps you'll tell me what we're 
 after 2"
 
 152 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTTOATOR 
 
 Hewitt laughed. "You wanted to join in, you 
 know," lie said, "and yon must take your luck as 
 it comes. As a matter of fact, there is scarcely 
 any thing in my profession so uninteresting and so 
 difficult as this watching and following business. 
 Often it lasts for weeks. When we alight, v, e shall 
 have to follow Wilks again, under the most diffi- 
 cult possible conditions, in the country. There it 
 is often quite impossible to follow a man unob- 
 served. It is only because it is the only way that I 
 am undertnking it now. As to what w^e're after, 
 you know that as well as I : the Quinton ruby. 
 Wilks has hidden it, and without his help it would 
 be impossible to find it. We are following him so 
 that he will find it for us." 
 
 **He must have hidden it, I suppose, to avoid 
 sharing with Hollams ? " 
 
 "Of course, and availed himself of the fact of 
 Leamy having carried the bag to direct Hollams' s 
 suspicion to him. Hollams found out, by his 
 repeated searches of Leamy and his lodgings, 
 that this was wrong, and this morning evidently 
 tried to persuade the ruby out of Wilks' s pos- 
 session with a revolver. We saw the upshot of 
 that." 
 
 Kedderby Station was about forty miles out. At 
 each intermediate stopping station Hewitt watched 
 earnestly, but Wilks remained in the train. 
 "What I fear," Hewitt observed, "is that at Ked- 
 derby he may take a fly. To stalk a man on foot 
 in the country is difficult enough ; but you carVt 
 follow one vehicle in another without being spotted. 
 But if he's so smart as I think, he won't do it.
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 153 
 
 A man travelling in a fly is noticed and remembered 
 in these i)laces." 
 
 He did not take a fly. At Kedderby we saw him 
 jump out quickly and hasten from the station. 
 The train stood for a few minutes, and he was 
 out of the station before we alighted. Through the 
 railings behind the platform we could see him 
 walking briskly away to the right. From the 
 ticket collector we ascertained that Radcot lay in 
 that direction, three miles off. 
 
 To my dying day I shall never forget that three 
 miles. They seemed three hundred. In the still 
 country almost every footfall seemed audible for 
 any distance, and in the long stretches of road one 
 could see half-a-mile behind or before. Hewitt was 
 cool and i^atient, but I got into a fever of worry, 
 excitement, want of breath, and back-ache. At 
 first, for a little, the road zig-zagged, and then the 
 chase was comparatively easy. We waited behind 
 one bend till Wilks had passed the next, and then 
 hurried in his trail, treading in the dustiest parts 
 of the road or on the side grass, when there was 
 any, to deaden the sound of our steps. At the last 
 of these short bends we looked ahead and saw a 
 long, white stretch of road with the dark form of 
 Wilks a couple of hundred yards in front. It 
 would never do to let him get to the end of this 
 great stretch before following, as he might turn off 
 at some branch road out of sight and be lost. So 
 we jumped the hedge and scuttled along as we best 
 might on the other side, with backs bent, and our 
 feet often many inches deep in wet clay. We had 
 to make continual stoppages to listen and peep
 
 154 MAKTIN HEWITT, INVESTIClATOll 
 
 out, and on one occasion, happening, incautiously, 
 to stand erect, looking after liim, I was much star- 
 tled to see Wilks with his face toward me, gazing 
 down the road. I ducked like lightning, and, for- 
 tunately, he seemed not to have observed me, but 
 went on as before. He had i)robably heard some 
 slight noise, but looked straight along the road for 
 its explanation, instead of over the hedge. At 
 hilly parts of the road there was extreme difficulty ; 
 indeed, on approaching a rise it was usually neces- 
 sary to lie down under the hedge till Wilks had 
 passed the top, since from the higher ground he 
 could have seen us easily. This imiu'oved neither 
 my clothes, my comfort, nor my temper. Luckily 
 we never encountered the difliculty of a long and 
 high wall, but once we were nearly betrayed by a 
 man who shouted to order us off his field. 
 
 At last we saw, just ahead, the square tower of 
 an old church, set about with thick trees. Opx>osite 
 this Wilks paused, looked irresolutely up and 
 down the road, and then went on. We crossed the 
 road, availed ourselves of the oj^posite hedge, and 
 followed. The village was to be seen some three 
 or four hundred yards farther along the road, 
 and toward it Wilks sauntered slowly. Before he 
 actually reached the houses he stopped and turned 
 back. 
 
 "The churchyard!" exclaimed Hewitt under 
 his breath. " Lie close and let him x^ass." 
 
 Wilks reached the churchyard gate, and again 
 looked irresolutely about him. At that moment a 
 party of children, who had been playing among 
 the graves, came chattering and laughing toward
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 156 
 
 and out of the gate, and Wilks walked hastily 
 away again, this time in the opposite direction. 
 
 " That's the place, clearly," Hewitt said. ' ' We 
 must slip across quietly, as soon as he's far enough 
 down the road. Now ! " 
 
 We hurried stealthily across, through the gate, 
 and into the churchyard, where Hewitt threw his 
 blue spectacles away. It was now nearly eight in 
 the evening, and the sun was setting. Once again 
 Wilks approached the gate, and did not enter, be- 
 cause a laborer passed at the time. Then he came 
 back and slipped through. 
 
 The grass about the graves was long, and under 
 the trees it was already twilight. Hewitt and I, 
 two or three yards apart, to avoid falling over one 
 another in case of sudden movement, watched from 
 behind gravestones. The form of Wilks stood out 
 large and black against the fading light in the west 
 as he stealthily approached through the long grass. 
 A light cart came clattering along the road, and 
 Wilks dropped at once and crouched on his knees 
 till it had passed. Then, staring warily about him, 
 he made straight for the stone behind which Hewitt 
 waited. 
 
 I saw Hewitt's dark form swing noiselessly round 
 to the other side of the stone. Wilks passed on 
 and dropped on his knee beside a large, weather- 
 worn slab that rested on a brick understructure a 
 foot or so high. The long grass largely hid the 
 bricks, and among it Wilks plunged his hand, feel- 
 ing along the brick surface. Presently he drew out 
 a loose brick, and laid it on the slab. He felt again 
 in the place, and brought forth a small dark object.
 
 156 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 I saw Hewitt rise erect in the gathering dusk, and 
 with extended arm step noiselessly toward the 
 stooping man. Wilks made a motion to place the 
 dark object in his pocket, but checked himself, and 
 opened what appeared to be a lid, as though to 
 make sure of the safety of the contents. The last 
 light, straggling under the trees, fell on a brilliantly 
 sparkling object within, and like a flash Hewitt's 
 hand shot over Wilks' s shoulder and snatched the 
 jewel. 
 
 The man actually screamed — one of those curious 
 sharp little screams that one may hear from a 
 woman very suddenly alarmed. But he sprang at 
 Hewitt like a cat, only to meet a straight drive of 
 the fist that stretched him on his back across the 
 slab. I sprang from behind my stone, and helped 
 Hewitt to secure his wrists Avith a i)Ocket-hand- 
 kerchief. Then we marched him, struggling and 
 swearing, to the village. 
 
 When, in the lights of the village, he recognized 
 us, he had a perfect fit of rage, but afterward he 
 calmed down, and admitted that it was a *'very 
 clean cop." There was some difficulty in finding 
 the village constable, and Sir Valentine Quinton 
 was dining out and did not arrive for at least an 
 hour. In the interval Wilks grew communicative. 
 
 " How much d'ye think I'll get ? " he asked. 
 
 "Can't guess," Hewitt replied. "And as we 
 shall probably have to give evidence, you'll be giv- 
 ing yourself away if you talk too much." 
 
 "Oh, I don't care ; that '11 make no difference. 
 It's a fair cop, and I'm in for it. You got at me 
 nicely, lending me three quid. I never knew a
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 157 
 
 reeler do that before. That blinded me. But was 
 it kid about Gold Street ? " 
 
 "No, it wasn't. Mr. Hollams is safely shut up 
 by this time, I expect, and you are avenged for 
 your little trouble with him this afternoon." 
 
 " What did you know about that ? Well, you've 
 got it up nicely for me, I must say. S'pose you've 
 been following me all the time ? ' ' 
 
 "Well, yes; I haven't been far off. I guessed 
 you'd want to clear out of town if Hollams was 
 taken, and I knew this " — Hewitt tapped his breast 
 pocket — " was what you'd take care to get hold of 
 first. You hid it, of course, because you knew 
 that Hollams would ]3robably have you searched for 
 it if he got suspicious ? " 
 
 "Yes, he did, too. Two blokes went over my 
 pockets one night, and somebody got into my room. 
 But I expected that, Hollams is such a greedy pig. 
 Once he's got you under his thumb he don't give 
 you half your makings, and, if you kick, he'll have 
 you smugged. So that I wasn't going to give him 
 that if I could help it. I s'pose it ain't any good 
 asking how you got put on to our mob % '* 
 
 "No," said Hewitt, "it isn't." 
 
 We didn't get back till the next day, staying for 
 the night, despite an inconvenient want of requi- 
 sites, at the Hall. There were, in fact, no late trains. 
 We told Sir Valentine the story of the Irishman, 
 much to his amusement. 
 
 "Leamy's tale sounded unlikely, of course," 
 Hewitt said, "but it was noticeable that every one 
 of his misfortunes pointed in the same direction —
 
 158 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 that certain persons were tremendously anxious to 
 get at something they supposed he had. When he 
 spoke of his adventure with the bag, I at once re- 
 membered Wilks's arrest and subsequent release. 
 It was a curious coincidence, to say the least, that 
 this should happen at the very station to which the 
 proceeds of this robbery must come, if they came 
 to London at all, and on the day following the rob- 
 bery itself. Kedderby is one of the few stations on 
 this line where no trains would stop after the time 
 of the robbery, so that the thief woukl have to 
 wait till the next day to get back. Learn y's recog- 
 nition of Wilks's portrait made me feel pretty cer- 
 tain. Plainly, he liad carried stolen i^roperty ; the 
 poor, innocent fellow's conversation with HoUams 
 showed that, as, in fact, did the sum, five pounds, 
 paid to him by way of 'regulars,' or customary 
 toll, from the plunder for services of carriage. Hol- 
 lams obviously took Leainy for a criminal friend of 
 Wilks's, because of his use of the thieves' expres- 
 sions 'sparks' and 'regulars,' and suggested, in 
 terms which Leamy misunderstood, that he should 
 sellany plunder he might obtain to himself, Hollams. 
 Altogether it would have been very curious if the 
 plunder were not that from Radcot Hall, especially 
 as no other robbery had been reported at the time. 
 "Now, among the jewels taken, only one was of 
 a very pre-eminent value — the famous ruby. It 
 was scarcely likely that Hollams would go to so 
 much trouble and risk, attempting to drug, injur- 
 ing, waylaying, and burgling the rooms of the unfor- 
 tunate Leamy, for a jewel of small value — for any 
 jewel, in fact, but the ruby. So that I felt a pretty
 
 THE QUINTON JEWEL AFFAIR 159 
 
 strong presumption, at all events, that it was the 
 ruby HoUams was after. Leamy had not had it, I 
 was convinced, from his tale and his manner, and 
 from what I judged of the man himself. The only 
 other person was Wilks, and certainly he had a 
 temptation to keep this to himself, and avoid, if 
 IDossible, sharing with his London director, or prin- 
 cipal ; while the carriage of the bag by the Irish- 
 man gave him a capital opportunity to put suspicion 
 on him, with the results seen. The most daring of 
 Hollams's attacks ou Leamy was doubtless the 
 attempted maiming or killing at the railway station, 
 so as to be able, in the character of a medical man, 
 to search his pockets. He was probably desperate 
 at the time, having, I have no doubt, been follow- 
 ing Leamy about all day at the Crystal Palace 
 without finding an opportunity to get at his pockets. 
 
 "The struggle and flight of Wilks from Hol- 
 lams's confirmed my previous impressions. Hol- 
 lams, finally satisfied that very morning that Leamy 
 certainly had not the jeAvel, either on his person or 
 at his lodging, and knowing, from having so closely 
 watched him, that he had been nowhere where it 
 could be disposed of, concluded that Wilks was 
 cheating him, and attempted to extort the ruby 
 from him by the aid of another ruffian and a pistol. 
 The rest of my way was plain. Wilks, I knew, 
 would seize the opportunity of Hollams's being 
 safely locked up to get at and dispose of the ruby. 
 I supplied him with funds and left him to lead 
 us to his hiding-place. He did it, and I think 
 that's all." 
 
 ' ' He must have walked straight away from my
 
 ICO MARTIN HETVITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 house to the churchyard," Sir Valentine remarked, 
 " to hide that pendant. That was fairly cool." 
 
 "Only a cool liand could carry out such a rob- 
 bery single-handed," He\vitt answered. " I expect 
 his tools were in the bng that Leamy carried, as 
 well as the jewels. They must have been a small 
 and neat set." 
 
 They were. We ascertained on our return to 
 town the next day that the bag, with all its con- 
 tents intact, including the tools, had been taken by 
 the police at their surprise visit to No. 8 Gold 
 Street, as well as much other stolen property. Hol- 
 lams and Wilks each got very wholesome doses of 
 penal servitude, to the intense delight of Mick 
 Leamy. Leamy liimself, by-the-bye, is still to be 
 seen, clad in a noble uniform, guarding the door of 
 a well-known London restaurant. lie has not had 
 any more five-pound notes for carrying bags, but 
 knows London too well now to expect it.
 
 VI. THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 
 
 It is now a fair number of years back since the 
 loss of the famous Stanway Cameo made its sensa- 
 tion, and the only person who had the least inter- 
 est in keeping the real facts of the case secret has 
 now been dead for some time, leaving neither rela- 
 tives nor other representatives. Therefore no harm 
 will be done in making the inner history of the case 
 public ; on the contrary, it will afford an oppor- 
 tunity of vindicating the professional reputation of 
 Hewitt, who is supposed to have completely failed 
 to make any thing of the mystery surrounding the 
 case. At the present time connoisseurs in ancient 
 objects of art are often heard regretfully to wonder 
 whether the wonderful cameo, so suddenly dis- 
 covered and so quickly stolen, will ever again be 
 visible to the public eye. Now this question need 
 be asked no longer. 
 
 The cameo, as may be remembered from the 
 many descriptions published at the time, was said 
 to be absolutely the finest extant. It was a sar- 
 donyx of three strata — one of those rare sardonyx 
 cameos in which it has been possible for the artist 
 to avail himself of three different colors of superim- 
 posed stone — the lowest for the ground and the two 
 others for the middle and high relief of the design. 
 In size it was, for a cameo, immense, measuring 
 seven and a half inches by nearly six. In subject 
 
 161
 
 ir.2 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 it was similar to tlie renowned Gonzaga Cameo, — 
 now the proi^orty of tlie Czar of Russia, — a male 
 and a female head witli imperial insignia; but in 
 this case supposed to represent Tiberius Claudius 
 and Messnlina. Experts considered it probably to 
 be the work of Athenion, a famous gem-cutter of 
 the first Christian century, whose most notable 
 other work now extant is a smaller ('ameo, with a 
 mythological subject, preserved in the Vatican. 
 
 The Stanway Cameo had been discovered in an 
 obscure Italian villngo by one of those travelling 
 agents who scour all Europe for valuable antiquities 
 and objects of art. This man had hurried imme- 
 diately to London with his prize, and sold it to ^^^. 
 Claridgeof St. James's Street, eminent as a dealer in 
 such objects. Mr. Claridge, recognizing the impor- 
 tance and value of the article, lost no opportunity 
 of making its existence known, and very soon the 
 Claudius Cameo, as it was at first usually called, 
 was as famous as any in the world. Many experts 
 in ancient art examined it, and several large bids 
 were made for its purchase. In the end it was 
 bought by the Marquis of Stanway for five thou- 
 sand pounds for the purpose of presentation to the 
 British Museum. The marquis kojit the cameo at 
 his town house for a few days, showing it to his 
 friends, and then returned it to Mr. Claridge to be 
 finally and carefully cleaned l^efore passing into the 
 national collection. Two nights after Mr. Clar- 
 idge' s premises were broken into and the cameo 
 stolen. 
 
 Such, in outline, was the generally known history 
 of the Stanway Cameo. The circumstances of the
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 163 
 
 burglary in detail were these : Mr. Claridge had 
 himself been the last to leave the premises at about 
 eight in the evening, at dusk, and had locked the 
 small side door as usual. His assistant, Mr. Cutler, 
 had left an hour and a half earlier. When Mr. 
 Claridge left, every thing was in order, and the 
 policeman on fixed-point duty just oi^i^osite, who 
 bade Mr. Claridge good-evening as he left, saw 
 nothing suspicious during the rest of his term of 
 duty, nor did his successors at the point through- 
 out the night. 
 
 In the morning, however, Mr. Cutler, the assist- 
 ant, who arrived first, soon after nine o'clock, at 
 once perceived that something unlooked-for had 
 happened. The door, of which he had a key, was 
 still fastened, and had not been touched ; but in the 
 room behind the shop Mr. Claridge' s private desk 
 had been broken open, and the contents turned out 
 in confusion. The door leading on to the staircase 
 had also been forced. Proceeding up the stairs, 
 Mr. Cutler found another door open, leading from 
 the top landing to a small room ; this door had been 
 opened by the simi)le expedient of unscrewing and 
 taking off the lock, which had been on the inside. 
 In the ceiling of this room was a trap-door, and this 
 was six or eight inches open, the edge resting on 
 the half-wrenched-off bolt, which had been torn 
 away when the trap was levered open from the 
 outside. 
 
 Plainly, then, this was the path of the thief or 
 thieves. Entrance had been made through the 
 trap-door, two more doors had been opened, and 
 then the desk had been ransacked. Mr. Cutler
 
 164 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 afterward explained tliat at this time he liad no 
 precise idea what had been stolen, and did not 
 know where the cameo had been left on the pre- 
 vious evening, Mr, Claridge had himself under- 
 taken the cleaning, and had been engaged on it, 
 the assistant said, when he left. 
 
 There was no doubt, however, after Mr. Claridge' s 
 arrival at ten o'clock — the cameo was gone. Mr. 
 Claridge, utterly confounded at his loss, explained 
 incoherently, and with curses on his own careless- 
 ness, that liH had locked the precious article in his 
 desk on r«*lin(iuishing work on it the previous even- 
 ing, feeling rather tired, and not taking the trouble 
 to carry it as far as- the safe in another part of the 
 house. 
 
 The i)olico were sent for at once, of course, and 
 every investigation made, Mr. Claridge offering a 
 reward of livn hundred pounds for the recovery 
 of the cameo. The aftair was scribbled of at 
 large in the earliest editions of the evening 
 papers, and by noon all the world was aware 
 of the extraordinary theft of the Sfanway Cameo, 
 and many people were discussing the probabilities 
 of the case, with very indistinct ideas of what a 
 sardonyx cameo precisely was. 
 
 It was in the afternoon of this day that Lord 
 Stan way called on Martin Hewitt. The marquis 
 was a tall, upstanding man of spare figure and 
 active habits, well known as a member of learned 
 societies and a great patron of art. He hurried into 
 Hewitt's private room as soon as his name had been 
 announced, and, as soon as Hewitt had given him 
 a chair, plunged into business.
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTEEY 165 
 
 "Probably you already guess my business with 
 you, Mr. Hewitt — you liave seen the early evening 
 papers ? Just so ; then I needn't tell you again 
 what you already knoWo My cameo is gone, and I 
 badly want it back. Of course the police are hard 
 at work at Claridge's, but I'm not quite satisfied. 
 I have been there myself for two or three hours, 
 and can't see that they know any more about it 
 than I do myself. Then, of course, the police, 
 naturally and properly enough from their point of 
 view, look first to find the criminal, regarding the 
 recovery of the prox^erty almost as a secondary con- 
 sideration. Now, from my point of view, the chief 
 consideration is the property. Of course I want 
 the thief caught, if possible, and properly punished ; 
 but still more I want the cameo." 
 
 "Certainly it is a considerable loss. Five thou- 
 sand pounds " 
 
 " Ah, but don't misunderstand me ! It isn't the 
 monetary value of the thing that I regret. As a 
 matter of fact, I am indemnified for that already. 
 Claridge has behaved most honorably — more than 
 honorably. Indeed, the first intimation I had of 
 the loss was a check from him for five thousand 
 pounds, with a letter assuring me that the restora- 
 tion to me of tbe amount I had paid was the least 
 he could do to repair the result of what he called 
 his unpardonable carelessness. Legally, I'm not 
 sure that I could demand any thing of him, unless I 
 could prove very flagrant neglect indeed to guard 
 against theft." 
 
 "Then I take it, Lord Stan way," Hewitt observed, 
 " that you much prefer the cameo to the money % "
 
 IGC MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "Certainly. Else I should never have been will- 
 ing to pay the money for the cameo. It was an 
 enormous price,— pt'rhai)s much above the market 
 value, even for such a valuable thing, — but I was 
 particularly anxious that it should not go out of 
 the country. Our public collections here are not 
 so fortunate as they should be in the possession of 
 the verj' liiiest examples of that class of work. Jn 
 short, I had determined on the cameo, and, fortu- 
 nately, happen to be able to carry out determina- 
 tions of that sort without regarding an extra thou- 
 sand ])ounds or so as an obstacle. So that, j'ou see, 
 what I want is not. the value, but the thing itself. 
 Indeed, I don't think I can possibly keep the money 
 Claridge hns sent me ; the affair is more his misfor- 
 tune than liis fault. I^ut I shall say nothing about 
 returning it for a little while ; it m:iy possibly have 
 the effect of sharpening every -body in the search." 
 
 "Just so. Do I under.st.'ind that you would like 
 me to look into the caso independently, on your 
 behalf?" 
 
 "Exactly. I wiint you, if you can, to approach 
 the matter entirely from iny point of view — your 
 sole object being to find the cameo. Of course, if 
 you happen on the thief as well, so much the bet- 
 ter. Perhaps, after all, looking for the one is the 
 same thing as looking for the other?" 
 
 "Not always ; but usually it is, of course ; even 
 if they are not together, they certainly liate been at 
 one time, and to have one is a very long step toward 
 having the other. Now, to begin with, is any body 
 suspected?" 
 
 "Well, the police are reserved, but I believe the
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 167 
 
 fact is they've nothing to say. Claridge won't 
 admit that he suspects any one, though he believes 
 that whoever it was must have watched him yes- 
 terday evening through the back window of his 
 room, and must have seen him put the cameo away 
 in his desk ; because the thief would seem to have 
 gone straight to the place. But I half fancy that, 
 in his inner mind, he is inclined to suspect one of 
 two people. You see, a robbery of this sort is 
 diiferent from others. That cameo would never be 
 stolen, I imagine, with the view of its being sold — 
 it is much too famous a thing ; a man might as well 
 walk about offering to sell the Tower of London. 
 There are only a very few people who buy such 
 things, and every one of them knows all about it. 
 No dealer would touch it ; he could never even 
 show it, much less sell it, without being called to 
 account. So that it really seems more likely that 
 it has been taken by somebody who wishes to keep 
 it for mere love of the thing, — a collector, in fact, — 
 who would then have to keep it secretly at home, 
 and never let a soul besides himself see it, living in 
 the consciousness that at his death it must be found 
 and this theft known ; unless, indeed, an ordinary 
 vulgar burglar has taken it without knowing its 
 value." 
 
 "That isn't likely," Hewitt replied. "An ordi- 
 nary burglar, ignorant of its value, wouldn't have 
 gone straight to the cameo and have taken it in 
 preference to many other things of more apparent 
 worth, which must be lying near in such a place as 
 Claridge's." 
 
 True — I suppose he wouldn't. Although the 
 
 ((
 
 108 MARTIN IIKWITT, INVESTIOATOU 
 
 police seem to tliiiik tliat the breaking; in is clearly 
 the work of :i regular < rimiiial — from the jimmy- 
 marks, you know, and so on." 
 
 "Well, but wliat of the two people you think 
 ^fr. Clarid^^e .siisi)e('ts ?" 
 
 " Of course I can't say that he dot's suspect them 
 — I only fancied from his tone that it mi^ht be 
 possible ; he himself insists that lie can't in justice 
 susi>ect any bt)dy. One of these men is Hahn, the 
 travellin<^ ap'nt who sold him the cameo. This 
 man's character does not appear to be absolutely 
 irn'proacliable; no dealer trusts him very far. Of 
 course Ciaridi^e doesn't say what he paid him for 
 the cameo; these dealers are very reticent about 
 (heir profits, which T believe are as oft«'n something 
 like five hundred p»'r cent, as not. Hut it seems 
 llalin bargained to have something extra, depend- 
 ing on the amount ('hnid,"' c<»uld sell the carving 
 for. According to theappt'inlment he should have 
 turned up this morning, bi?t he hasn't been seen, 
 and nobody seems to know exactly where he is." 
 
 " Yes ; and the other person ? " 
 
 "Well, 1 scarcely like mentioning him, because 
 he is certainly a gentleman, and I believe, in the 
 ordinary way, quite incajiable of any thing in the 
 least degree dishonorable ; although, of course, 
 they say a collector has no conscience in the matter 
 of his own particular hobby, and certainly Mr. 
 Woollett is as keen a collector as any man alive. 
 lie lives in chambers in the next turning past Clar- 
 idge's premises — can, in fact, look into Claridge's 
 back windows if he likes. He examined tlie cameo 
 several times before I bought it, and made several
 
 THE STAN WAY CAMEO MYSTERY 169 
 
 high offers — appeared, in fact, very anxious indeed 
 to get it. After I had bought it he made, I under- 
 stand, some rather strong remarks about people 
 like myself 'spoiling the market' by jxiying ex- 
 travagant prices, and altogether cut up 'crusty,' as 
 they say, at losing the specimen." Lord Stan way 
 imused a few seconds, and then went on : "I'm 
 not sure that I ought to mention Mr. Wooliett's 
 name for a moment in connection with such a 
 matter ; I am personally perfectly certain that he is 
 as incapable of any thing like theft as myself. But 
 I am telling you all I know." 
 
 "Precisely. I can't know too much in a case 
 like this. It can do no harm if I know all about 
 fifty innocent i)eople, and may save me from the 
 risk of knowing nothing about the thief. Now, let 
 me see : Mr. Wooliett's rooms, you say, are near 
 Mr. Claridge's place of business ? Is there any 
 means of communication between the roofs ? " 
 
 " Yes, I am told that it is perfectly possible to 
 get from one place to the other by walking along 
 the leads." 
 
 " Very good ! Then, unless you can think of any 
 other information that may help me, I think. Lord 
 Stan way, I will go at once and look at the place." 
 
 "Do, by all means. I think I'll come back with 
 you. Somehow, I don't like to feel idle in the 
 matter, though I supi)ose I can't do much. As to 
 more information, I don't think there is any." 
 
 " In regard to Mr. Claridge's assistant, now : Do 
 you know any thing of him ? " 
 
 " Only that he has always seemed a very civil and 
 decent sort of man. Honest, I should say, or Clar-
 
 110 MARTIN IIKWITT, IN VESTIOATOli 
 
 idge wouldn't have kei>t liiiii so many years—there 
 area good many valuable things about at Clarldge's. 
 Besides, the man has keys of the place himself, and, 
 even if he were a thief, he wouldn't need to go 
 breaking in through the roof." 
 
 " So that," said Hewitt, "we have, directly con- 
 nected with this cameo, besides yourself, these 
 Iieople: Mr. Claridge, the dealer, Mr. ('utler, the 
 assistant in Mr. Claridgo's business, Ilahn, who 
 sold the article to Claridge, and Mr. Woollett, who 
 made bids for it. These are all i " 
 
 "All tliat I know of. Other gentlemen mnde 
 bids, I believe, but I don't know them." 
 
 "Take these jn^ople in their order. Mr. Claridge 
 is out of the (juestion, a.s a dealer with a re])utation 
 to keep up would be even if he hadn't immediately 
 sent you this five thousand pounds— more than the 
 market value, I understand, of the ranu.'o. The as- 
 sistant is a reputable man, against wh(.m nothing is 
 known, who would never need to break in, and who 
 must understand his bjisiness well enough to know 
 that he could never attempt to sell the missing stone 
 without instant detection. Ilahn is a man of shady 
 antecedents, probably clever enough to know as 
 well as any body how to dispose of such plunder — 
 if it be possible to dispose of it at all ; also, Ilahn 
 hasn't been to Claridge's to-day, although he had 
 an appointment to take money. Kastly, Mr. Wool- 
 lett is a gentleman of the most honorable record, but 
 a perfectly rabid collector, wlio had made every 
 effort to secure the cameo before you bought it ; 
 who, moreover, could have seen Mr. Claridge work- 
 ing in his back room, and who has perfectly easy
 
 THE STAN WAT CAMEO MYSTERY 171 
 
 access to Mr. Claridge's roof. If we find it can be 
 none of these, then we must look where circum- 
 stances indicate." 
 
 There was unwonted excitement at Mr. Claridge's 
 place when Hewitt and his client arrived. It was 
 a dull old building, and in the windows there was 
 never more show than an odd blue china vase or 
 two, or, mayhap, a few old silver shoe-buckles and 
 a curious small-sword. Nine men out of ten would 
 have passed it without a glance ; but the tenth at 
 least would i)robably know it for a place famous 
 through the world for the number and value of the 
 old and curious objects of art that had passed 
 through it. 
 
 On this day two or three loiterers, having heard 
 of the robbery, extracted what gratification they 
 might from staring at nothing between the railings 
 guarding the windows. Within, Mr. Claridge, a 
 brisk, stout, little old man, was talking earnestly 
 to a burly i3olice-inspector in uniform, and Mr. Cut- 
 ler, who had seized the opj^ortnnity to attempt 
 amateur detective work on liis OAvn account, was 
 grovelling perse veringly about the fioor, among old 
 porcelain and loose pieces of armor, in the futile 
 hope of finding any clue that the thieves might 
 have considerately dropped. 
 
 Mr. Claridge came forward eagerly. 
 
 " The leather case has been found, I am pleased 
 to be able to tell you, Lord Stan way, since you 
 left." 
 
 " Empty, of course ? " 
 
 "Unfortunately, yes. It had evidently been 
 thrown away by the thief behind a chimney-stack
 
 179 MARTIN nEWITT, TNVRSTIOATOR 
 
 a roof or two away, wliere tho police have found 
 it. But it is a clue, of coui'se." 
 
 "Ah, tljen this gentleman will give me his 
 opinion of it," Lord Stanway snid, turning to 
 Ilewitt. " This, Mr. Claridge, is Mr. Martin Hewitt, 
 who has Ix'en kind enough to come with me here at 
 a moment's notice. With the police on the one 
 hand and Mr. Ilewitt on the other we shall cer- 
 tainly recover that en"" > IT it is to be recovered, I 
 think." 
 
 Mr. Claridge bowed, and beamed on Hewitt 
 through hisspHctarles. "I'm very glad Mr. Hewitt 
 has come," he said. "Indeed, I had already 
 decided to give the police till this time to-morrow, 
 and th»»n, if th»»y had found nothing, to call in Mr. 
 H.'witt myself." 
 
 Hewitt bowed in his turn, and then asked: 
 '' Will you let me see the various breakages? I 
 hop»' they have not been disturbed." 
 
 "Nothing whattwer has Iwen disturbed. Do 
 exactly as seems l)est. I need scarcely say that 
 every thing hen* is p«Tfectly at your disposal. You 
 know all the circumstances, of course?" 
 
 "In general, yes. I suppose I am right in the 
 belief that you have no resident housekeeper?" 
 
 "No," Claridge replied, " I haven't. 1 had one 
 liousekeeper who sometimes pawned my property 
 in the evening, and then another who nsed to break 
 my most valuablf* china, till I could never sleep or 
 take a moment's ease at home for fear my stock 
 was being ruined here. So I gave up resident house- 
 keepers. I felt some confidence in doing it because 
 of the policeman who is always on duty opposite."
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 173 
 
 " Can I see the broken desk ? " 
 
 Mfo Claridge led the way into the room behind 
 the shop. The desk was really a sort of work-table, 
 with a lifting toj) and a lock. The top had been 
 forced roughly open by some instrument which had 
 been pushed in below it and used as a lever, so that 
 the catch of the lock was torn away. Hewitt 
 examined, the damaged parts and the marks of the 
 lever, and then looked out at the back window. 
 
 "There are several windows about here," he 
 remarked, "from which it might be possible to see 
 into this room. Do you know any of the people 
 who live behind them ? " 
 
 "Two or three I know," Mr. Claridge answered, 
 "but there are two windows — the pair almost im- 
 mediately before us — belonging to a room or office 
 which is to let. Any stranger might get in there 
 and watch." 
 
 " Do the roofs above any of those windows com- 
 municate in any way with yours ? " 
 
 " !N'one of those directly opposite. Those at the 
 left do; you may walk all the way along the 
 leads." 
 
 "And whose windows are they ? " 
 
 Mr. Claridge hesitated. "Well," he said, 
 "they're Mr. Woollett's, an excellent customer of 
 mine. But he's a gentleman, and — well, I really 
 think it's absurd to suspect him." 
 
 "In a case like this," Hewitt answered, "one 
 must disregard nothing but the impossible. Some- 
 body — whether Mr. Woollett himself or another 
 person — could possibly have seen into this room 
 from those windows, and equally possibly could
 
 174 MARTIN IlKWriT, INVKSTIOATOK 
 
 have readied this roof from tliat one. Tlierefore 
 we must not forget Mr. Woollett, Have any of 
 your neighbors been burgled during the night? I 
 mean that strangers anxious to get at your trap- 
 door would jirobably have to begin by getting into 
 some other house close by, so as to reach your 
 roof." 
 
 "No," Mr. Claridge replied; "their li:i> I.cmii 
 nothing of that sort. It was the first thing the 
 police ascertained." 
 
 Hewitt examined tlie broken door and then made 
 his way up the stairs witii the others. The 
 unscrewed lock of the door of the top back room 
 required little examination. In the room below 
 the traj) door was a dusty table on which stood a 
 chair, and at the other side of the table sat Detec- 
 tive Inspector Plummer, whom Hewitt knew very 
 well, and who bade him "good day" and then 
 went on with his docket. 
 
 "This chair and lal)h; were found as they are 
 now, I take it?" Hewitt asked. 
 
 "Yes," said Mr. (Jiaridge ; "the thieves, I 
 should think, dropped in through the tra])-door, 
 after breaking it oj)en, an<l had to place this chair 
 where it is to be able to climb back." 
 
 Hewitt scrambled up through the trap-way and 
 examined it from the top. The door was hung on 
 long external barn-door hinges, and had been forced 
 open in a similar manner to that practised on the 
 desk. A jimmy had been pushed between the 
 frame and the door near the bolt, and the door had 
 been prized open, the bolt being torn away from 
 the screws in the ox)eration.
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 11 5 
 
 Presently Inspector Plummer, having finished 
 his docket, climbed u^ to the roof after Hewitt, 
 and the two together went to the spot, close under 
 a chimney-stack on the next roof but one, where 
 the case had been found. Plummer produced the 
 case, which he had in his coat-tail pocket, for 
 Hewitt's inspection. 
 
 "I don't see any thing particular about it; do 
 you ? " he said. " It shows us the way they went, 
 though, being found just here." 
 
 "Well, yes," Hewitt said; "if we kept on in 
 this direction, we should be going toward Mr. Wool- 
 lett's house, and Ms tra^D-door, shouldn't we?" 
 
 The inspector i)ursed his lips, smiled, and 
 shrugged his shoulders. "Of course we haven't 
 waited till now to find that out," he said. 
 
 "No, of course. And, as you say, I don't think 
 there is much to be learned from this leather case. 
 It is almost new, and there isn't a mark on it." 
 And Hewitt handed it back to the inspector. 
 
 "Well," said Plummer, as he returned the case 
 to his pocket, " what's your opinion ?" 
 
 "It's rather an awkward case." 
 
 " Yes, it is. Between ourselves — I don't mind 
 itelling you — I'm having a sharp lookout kept over 
 there," — Plummer jerked his head in the direction 
 of Mr. Woollett's chambers, — " because the rob- 
 bery's an unusual one. There's only two possible 
 motives — the sale of the cameo or the keeping of it. 
 The sale's out of the question, as you know ; the 
 thing's only salable to those who would collar the 
 thief at once, and who wouldn't have the thing in 
 their places now for any thing. So that it must be
 
 ITG MARTIN HEWITT, INVKSTIOATOR 
 
 taken to keep, and tliat's a thing nobody but the 
 maddest of collectors would do, just such i>ersons 
 
 as " and the inspector nodded again toward 
 
 Mr. Woollett's quarters, "Take that with the 
 other circumstances,'' he added, ''and 1 think 
 you'll agree it's worth while looking a little far- 
 ther that way. Of course some of the work — 
 taking off the lock and so on — looks rather like a 
 regular burglar, but it's just possible that any one 
 badly wanting the cameo would hire a man who 
 was up to the work." 
 
 "Yes, it's possible." 
 
 "Do you know any tiling of ITahn, the agent?" 
 Plummer asked, a moment later. 
 
 "No, I don't. Have you found him yet?" 
 
 "I haven't yet, but I'm after him. I've found 
 lie was at Cliaring Cross a day or two ago, booking 
 a ticket for the Continent. That and his failing to 
 turn uj) to-day seem to make it worth while not to 
 miss Jiim if we can help it. lie isn't the sort of 
 man that lets a chance of drawing a bit of money 
 go for nothing." 
 
 They returned to the room. "Well," said Lord 
 Stanway, "what's the result of the consultation? 
 AVe've been waiting here very patiently, while you 
 two clever men have been discussing the matter on 
 the roof." 
 
 On the wall just beneath the trap-door a very 
 dusty old tall hat hung on a peg. This Hewitt took 
 down and examined very closely, smearing his lin- 
 gers with the dust from the inside lining. " Is this 
 one of your valuable and crusted old antiques?" 
 he asked, with a smile, of Mr. Claridge.
 
 THE STANWAY OJ^MEO MYSTERY 177 
 
 "That's only an old hat that I used to keep here 
 for use in bad weather," Mr. Claridge said, with 
 some surprise at the question. " I haven' t touched 
 it for a year or more." 
 
 " Oh, then it couldn't have been left here by your 
 last night's visitor," Hewitt replied, carelessly 
 replacing it on the hook. " You left here at eight 
 last night, I think?" 
 
 " Eight exactly — or within a minute or two." 
 
 "Just so. I think I'll look at the room on the 
 opposite side of the landing, if you'll let me." 
 
 "Certainly, if you'd like to," Claridge replied ; 
 "but they haven't been there — it is exactly as it 
 was left. Only a lumber-room, you see," he con- 
 cluded, flinging the door open. 
 
 A number of partly broken-up packing-cases lit- 
 tered about this room, with much other rubbish. 
 Hewitt took the lid of one of the newest looking 
 packing-cases, and glanced at the address label. 
 Then he turned to a rusty old iron box that stood 
 against a wall. " I should like to see behind this," 
 he said, tugging at it with his hands. " It is heavy 
 and dirty. Is there a small crowbar about the 
 house, or some similar lever? " 
 
 Mr. Claridge shook his head. '' Haven' t such a 
 thing in the place," he said. 
 
 "Never mind," Hewitt replied, "another time 
 will do to shift that old box, and perhaps, after all, 
 there's little reason for moving it. I will just walk 
 round to the police-station, I think, and speak to 
 the constables who were on duty opposite during 
 the night. I think. Lord Stanway, I have seen all 
 that is necessary here."
 
 178 MATiTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 " I suppose," asked Mr. Chiridge, " it is too soon 
 yet to ask if you have formed any theory in the 
 matter i " 
 
 "Well— yes, it is," Hewitt answered. "But 
 perhaps I may be able to suri)rise you in an hour or 
 two; but that I don't i)romise. By-the bye," he 
 added suddenly, " I suppose you're sure the trap- 
 door was bolted last night ?" 
 
 "Certainly," Mr. Claridge answered, smiling. 
 "Else how could tlie bolt have been broken ? As a 
 matter of fart, I believe the trap hasn't been opened 
 for months. Mr. Cutler, do you remember when 
 the trap-door was last opened?" 
 
 Mr. Cutler shook his head. "Certainly not for 
 six months," he sai<l. 
 
 "Ah, very well ; it's not very important," Hew- 
 itt replied. 
 
 As they reached the front sliop a fiery-faced old 
 gentleman bounced in at the street door, stumbli|ig 
 over an umbrella that stood in a dark corner, and 
 kicking it three yards away. 
 
 "What the deuce do you mean," he roared at 
 Mr. Claridge, "by sending these police people 
 smelling about my rooms and asking questions of 
 my servants ? What do you mean, sir, by treating 
 me as a thief? Can't a gentleman come into this 
 place to look at an article without being suspected 
 of stealing it, when it disappears through your 
 wretched carelessness? I'll ask my solicitor, sir, 
 if there isn't a remedy for this sort of thing. And 
 if I catch another of your spy fellows on my stair- 
 case, or crawling about my roof, I'll — I'll shoot 
 him ! "
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 179 
 
 "Eeally, Mr. WooUett " began Mr. Claridge, 
 
 somewhat abashed, but the angry old man would 
 hear nothing. 
 
 " Don't talk to me, sir ; you shall talk to my 
 solicitor. And am I to understand, my lord," — 
 turning to Lord Stan way, — "that these things are 
 being done with your approval ? " 
 
 " Whatever is being done," Lord Stan way an- 
 swered, " is being done by the police on their own 
 responsibility, and entirely without promi)ting, I 
 believe, by Mr. Claridge — certainly without a sug- 
 gestion of any sort from myself. I think that the 
 personal oi)inion of Mr. Claridge— certainly my 
 own — is that any thing like a suspicion of your 
 position in this wretched matter is ridiculous. 
 And if you will only consider the matter calm- 
 ly " 
 
 " Consider it calmly ? Imagine yourself consid- 
 ering such a thing calmly, Lord Stan way. Iwon^t 
 consider it calmly. I'll — I'll — I won't have it. 
 And if I find another man on my roof, I'll pitch 
 him off ! " And Mr. Woollett bounced into the 
 street again. 
 
 "Mr. Woollett is annoyed," Hewitt observed, 
 with a smile. "I'm afraid Plummer has a clumsy 
 assistant somewhere. ' ' 
 
 Mr. Claridge said nothing, but looked rather 
 glum, for Mr. Woollett was a most excellent 
 customer. 
 
 Lord Stanway and Hewitt walked slowly down 
 the street, Hewitt staring at the pavement in pro- 
 found thought. Once or twice Lord Stanway 
 glanced at his face, but refrained from disturbing
 
 180 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 him. Presently, however, he observed : ' You 
 seem, at least, Mr. Hewitt, to have noticed some- 
 thing that has set you thinking. Does it look like 
 a clue?" 
 
 Hewitt came out of his cogitation at once. "A 
 clue ? " he said ; " the case bristles with clues. The 
 extraordinary thing to me is that Plumnier, usually 
 a smart man, doesn't seem to have seen one of them. 
 He must be out of sorts, I'm afraid. But the case 
 is decidedly a very remarkable one." 
 
 " Remarkable in what particular way?" 
 
 "In regard to motive. Now it would seem, as 
 Plummer was saying to me just now on the roof, 
 that there were only two possible motives for such 
 a robbery. Either the man who took all this trouble 
 and risk to break into Claridge's i)lace must have 
 desired to sell the cameo at a good price, or he must 
 have desired to keej) it for himself, being a lover of 
 such things. But neither of these has been the 
 actual motive." 
 
 " Perhaps he thinks he can extort a good sum 
 from me by way of ransom ? " 
 
 "No, it isn't that. Nor is it jealousy, nor 
 spite, nor any thing of that kind. I know the 
 motive, I think — but I wish we could get hold of 
 Hahn. I will shut myself up alone and turn it 
 over in my mind for half-an-hour presently." 
 
 "Meanwhile, what I want to know is, apart from 
 all your professional subtleties, — which I confess I 
 can't understand, — can you get back the cameo ? " 
 
 "That," said Hewitt, stopping at the corner of 
 the street, "lam rather afraid I cannot — nor any 
 body else. But I am pretty sure I know the thief."
 
 THE STANWAT CAMEO MYSTERY 181 
 
 " Then surely that will lead you to the cameo ? " 
 
 " It may^ of course ; but, then, it is just possible 
 that by this evening you may not want to have it 
 back, after all." 
 
 Lord Stanway stared in amazement. 
 
 "Not want to have it back! "he exclaimed. 
 " Why, of course I shall want to have it back. I 
 don' t understand you in the least ; you talk in 
 conundrums. Who is the thief you speak of ? " 
 
 '*I think. Lord Stanway," Hewitt said, "that 
 perhaps I had better not say until I have quite 
 finished my enquiries, in case of mistakes. Tbe 
 case is quite an extraordinary one, and of quite a 
 different character from what one would at first 
 naturally Imagine, and I must be very careful to 
 guard against the possibility of error. I have very 
 little fear of a mistake, however, and I hope I may 
 wait on you in a few hours at Piccadilly with news. 
 I have only to see the policemen." 
 
 " Certainly, come whenever you please. But 
 why see the policemen ? They have already most 
 positively stated that they saw nothing whatever 
 suspicious in the house or near it." 
 
 "I shall not ask them any thing at all about the 
 house," Hewitt responded. "I shall just have a 
 little chat with them — about the weather." And 
 with a smiling bow he turned away, while Lord 
 Stanway stood and gazed after him, with an exj^res- 
 sion that implied a suspicion that his special de- 
 tective was making a fool of him. 
 
 In rather more than an hour Hewitt was back in 
 Mr. Claridge's shop. "Mr. Claridge," he said, "I
 
 182 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 think I must ask you one or two questions in private. 
 May I see you in your own room ? " 
 
 They went there at once, and Hewitt, pulling a 
 chair before the window, sat down with his back to 
 the light. The dealer shut the door, and sat op- 
 posite him, with the light full in his face. 
 
 "Mr. Claridge," Hewitt proceeded slowly, 
 '■'"lolieii did you first find that Lord Stamoay's 
 cameo was a forgery f " 
 
 Claridge literally bounced in his chair. His 
 face paled, but he managed to stammer sharply : 
 " What — what — what d'you mean ? Forgery? Do 
 you mean to say I sell forgeries? Forgery? It 
 wasn't a forgery ! " 
 
 " Tiien," coutiiHied Hewitt in the same deliberate 
 tone, watching the other's face the while, "if it 
 wasn't a forgery, loJiy did you destroy it and hurst 
 your trap-door ami desk to imitate a burglary f"* 
 
 The sweat stood thick on the dealer's face, and 
 he gasped. But he struggled hard to keep his facul- 
 ties together, and ejaculated hoarsely: "Destroy 
 it? What— what— i didn't— didn' t destroy it ! " 
 
 " Threw it into the river, then — don't prevaricate 
 about details." 
 
 ' ' No — no — it' s a lie. ^Vho says that ? Go away ! 
 You're insulting me ! " Claridge almost screamed. 
 
 " Come, come, Mr. Claridge," Hewitt said more 
 placably, for he had gained his point; "don't dis- 
 tress yourself, and don't attemj^t to deceive me— 
 you can't, I assure you. I know every thing you 
 did before you left here last night — every thing." 
 
 Claridge' s face worked i:>ainfully. Once or twice 
 he appeared to be on the point of returning an in-
 
 THE STAN WAY CAMEO MYSTERY 183 
 
 dignant reply, but hesitated, and finally broke down 
 altogether. 
 
 " Don' t expose me, Mr. Hewitt ! " he pleaded ; " I 
 beg you won't expose me ! I haven' t harmed a soul 
 but myself. I've paid Lord Stan way every penny 
 back, and I never knew the thing was a forgery till 
 I began to clean it. I'm an old man, Mr. Hewitt, 
 and my professional reputation has been spotless 
 till now. I beg you won't expose me." 
 
 Hewitt's voice softened. " Don't make an unnec- 
 essary trouble of it," he said. "I see a decanter 
 on your sideboard — let me give you a little brandy 
 and water. Come, there' s nothing criminal, I believe, 
 in a man's breaking open his own desk, or his own 
 trap-door, for that matter. Of course I'm acting 
 for Lord Stanway in this affair, and I must, in 
 duty, report to him without reserve. But Lord 
 Stanway is a gentleman, and I'll undertake he'll 
 do nothing inconsiderate of your feelings, if you're 
 disposed to be frank. Let us talk the affair over ; 
 tell me about it." 
 
 " It was that swindler Hahn who deceived me in 
 the beginning," Claridge said. " I have never made 
 a mistake with a cameo before, and I never thought 
 so close an imitation was possible. I examined 
 it most carefully, and was perfectly satisfied, and 
 many experts examined it afterward, and were all 
 equally deceived. I felt as sure as I possibly could 
 feel that I had bought one of the finest, if not 
 actually the finest, cameo known to exist. It was 
 not until after it had come back from Lord Stan- 
 way's, and I was cleaning it the evening before last, 
 that in course of my work it became apparent that
 
 184 MARTIN HEWITT, INVKSTIOATOIl 
 
 the thing was nothing but a consummately clever 
 forgery. It was made of three layers of moulded 
 glass, nothing more nor less. But the glass was 
 treated in a way I had never before known of, and 
 the surface had been cunningly worked on till it 
 defied any ordinary examination. Some of the 
 glass imitation cameos made in the latter part of 
 the last century, I may toll you, are regarded as 
 marvellous i)iece3 of work, and, indeed, command 
 very fair prices, but this was something quite 
 beyond any of those. 
 
 "I was amazed and horrified. T put the thing 
 away and went home. All that night I lay awake 
 in a state of distraction, quite unable to decide 
 what to do. To let the cameo go out of my i)osses- 
 sion was impossible. Sooner or later the forgery 
 would be discovered, and my reinitation, — the high- 
 est in these matters in this country, I may safely 
 claim, and the growth of nearly fifty years of hon- 
 est application and good judgment, — this reputation 
 would be gone forever. But without considering 
 this there was the fact that I had taken five thou- 
 sand pounds of Lord Stanway's money for a mere 
 piece of glass, and that money I must, in mere 
 common honesty as well as for ray own sake, return. 
 But howl The name of the Stan way Cameo had 
 become a household word, and to confess that the 
 whole thing was a sham would ruin my reputation 
 and destroy all confidence — past, present, and future 
 — in me and in my transactions. Either way spelled 
 ruin. Even if I confided in Lord Stanway privately, 
 returned his money, and destroyed the cameo, what 
 then 'i The sudden disappearance of an article so
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 185 
 
 famous would excite remark at once. It had been 
 presented to the British Museum, and if it never 
 appeared in that collection, and no news were to be 
 got of it, people would guess at the truth at once. 
 To make it known that I myself had been deceived 
 would have availed nothing. It is my business not 
 to be deceived ; and to have it known that my most 
 expensive specimens might be forgeries would 
 equally mean ruin, whether I sold them cunningly 
 as a rogue or ignorantly as a fooh Indeed, my 
 pride, my reputation as a connoisseur, is a thing 
 near to my heart, and it would be an unspeakable 
 humiliation to me to have it known that I had been 
 imposed on by such a forgery. What could I do ? 
 Every expedient seemed useless but one — the one 
 I adopted. It was not straightforward, I admit; 
 but, oh ! Mr. Hewitt, consider the temptation — and 
 remember that it couldn't do a soul any harm, No 
 matter who might be suspected, I knew there could 
 not possibly be evidence to make them suffer. All 
 the next day — yesterday — I was anxiously worry- 
 ing out the thing in my mind and carefully devis- 
 ing the — the trick, I'm afraid you'll call it, that 
 you by some extraordinary means have seen 
 through. It seemed the only thing — what else was 
 there? More I needn't tell you; you know it. I 
 have only now to beg that you will use your best 
 influence with Lord Stanway to save me from pub- 
 lic derision and exposure. I will do any thing — • 
 pay any thing — any thing but exposure, at my age, 
 and with my position." 
 
 "Well, you see," Hewitt replied thoughtfully, 
 "I've no doubt Lord Stanway will show you every 
 
 S3
 
 186 MAUTIN IIKWITT, INVKSTIOATOK 
 
 consideration, and certainly T will do what I can to 
 save you in the circumstances ; though you must 
 remember that you Jiane done some barm — you 
 have caused suspicions to rest on at least one 
 honest man. But as to reputation, I've a profes- 
 sional reputation of my own. If I helj) to conceal 
 your professional failure, I shall appear to have 
 failed in viy i)art of the business." 
 
 '' I)ut th«! cases are dilTerent, Mr. Hewitt. Con- 
 sider. You are not exi)ected — it would be impos- 
 sible — to succeed invaria])ly ; and there are only 
 two or three who know you have looked into the 
 case. Then your other conspicuous successes " 
 
 "Well, well, we shall see. One thing I don't 
 know, though — whetln.T you climbed out of a win- 
 dow to l)reak open the trap-door, or whether you 
 got up through the trap-door itself and pulled the 
 bolt with a string through the jamb, so as to 
 bolt it after you." 
 
 "There was no available window; I used the 
 string, as you say. My poor little cunning must 
 seem very transi)arent U) 3'ou, 1 fear. I spent hours 
 of thought over the question of the trap-door — how 
 to break it open so as to leave a genuine appear- 
 ance, and especially how to bolt it inside after I 
 had reached the roof. I thought I had succeeded 
 beyond the possibility of suspicion ; how you pene- 
 trated the device surpasses my comprehension. 
 How, to begin with, could you possibly know that 
 the cameo was a forgery ? Did you ever see it ?" 
 
 "Never. And, if I had seen it, I fear I should 
 never have been able to express an opinion on it ; 
 I'm not a connoisseur. As a matter of fact, I didn't
 
 THE STANWAY CAMEO MYSTERY 187 
 
 know that the thing was a forgery in the first place ; 
 what I knew in the first place was that it was you 
 who had broken into the house. It was from that 
 that I arrived at the conclusion, after a certain 
 amount of thought, that the cameo must have been 
 forged. Gain was out of the question. You, 
 beyond all men, could never sell the Stanway 
 Cameo again, and, besides, you had paid back Lord 
 Stanway' s money. I knew enough of your reputa- 
 tion to know that you would never incur the scan- 
 dal of a great theft at your place for the sake of 
 getting the cameo for yourself, when you might 
 have kept it in the beginning, with no trouble and 
 mystery. Consequently I had to look for another 
 motive, and at first another motive seemed an 
 impossibility. Why should you wish to take all 
 this trouble to lose five thousand pounds % You 
 had nothing to gain ; perhaps you had something 
 to save — your professional reputation, for instance. 
 Looking at it so, it was plain that you were sup- 
 'pressing the cameo — burking it ; since, once taken 
 as you had taken it, it could never come to light 
 again. That suggested the solution of the mystery 
 at once — you had discovered, after the sale, that 
 the cameo was not genuine." 
 
 ' ' Yes, yes — I see ; but you say you began with 
 the knowledge that I broke into the place myself. 
 How did you know that ? I cannot imagine a 
 trace " 
 
 ''My dear sir, you left traces everywhere. In 
 the first place, it struck me as curious, before I 
 came here, that you had sent off that check for 
 five thousand pounds to Lord Stanway an hour or
 
 188 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIOATOR 
 
 SO after the robbery was discovered ; it looked so 
 much as though you were sure of the cameo never 
 coming back, and were in a hurry to avert sus- 
 picion. Of course I understood that, so far as I 
 then knew the case, you were the most unlikely 
 person in the world, and that your eagerness to 
 repay Lord Stanway might be the most creditable 
 thing possible. But the point was worth remem- 
 bering, and I remembered it. 
 
 " When I came here, I saw suspicious indications 
 in many directions, but the conclusive piece of evi- 
 dence was that old hat hanging below the trap- 
 door." 
 
 *'But I never touched it; I assure you, Mr. 
 Hewitt, I never touched the hat ; haven't touched 
 it for months " 
 
 "Of course. If you had touched it, I might 
 never have got the clue. But we'll deal with the 
 liat presently ; that wasn't what struck me at first. 
 The trap-door first took my attention. Consider, 
 now : Here was a trap-door, most insecurely hung 
 on cxttnnal hinges ; the bui'glar had a screw-driver, 
 for he took ofT the door-lock below with it. AVhy, 
 then, didn't he take this trap off by the hinges, 
 instead of making a noise and taking longer time 
 and trouble to burst the bolt from its fastenings ? 
 And why, if he were a stranger, was he able to 
 plant hie jimmy from the outside just exactly 
 opi^osite the interior bolt ? There was only one 
 mark on the frame, and that precisely in the proper 
 place. 
 
 " After that I saw the leather case. It had not 
 been thrown away, or some corner would have
 
 THE STAN WAY CAMEO MYSTERY 189 
 
 shown signs of the fall. It had been put down 
 carefully where it was found. These things, how- 
 ever, were of small imj)ortance compared with the 
 hat. The hat, as you know, was exceedingly thick 
 with dust — the accumulation of months. But, on 
 the top side, i)resented toward the trajo-door, were 
 a score or so of raindrop marJcs. That was all. 
 They were new marks, for there was no dust over 
 them ; they had merely had time to dry and cake 
 the dust they had fallen on. Now, there liad been 
 no rain since a sJiarp shower just after seven 
 o'clock last night. At that time you, by your own 
 statement, were in the place. You left at eight, 
 and the rain was all over at ten minutes or a quar- 
 ter past seven. The trap-door, you also told me, 
 had not been ox^ened for months. The thing was 
 plain. You, or somebody who was here when you 
 were, had opened that trap-door during, or just 
 before, that shower. I said little then, but went, as 
 soon as I had left, to the police-station. There I 
 made j)erfectly certain that there had been no rain 
 during the night by questioning the policemen who 
 were on duty outside all the time. There had been 
 none. I knew every thing. 
 
 *' The only other evidence there was pointed with 
 all the rest. There were no rain-marks on the 
 leather case ; it had been put on the roof as an 
 after- thought when there was no rain. A very poor 
 after-thought, let me tell you, for no thief would 
 throw away a useful case that concealed his booty 
 and protected it from breakage, and throw it away 
 just so as to leave a clue as to what direction he had 
 gone in. I also saw, in the lumber-room, a number
 
 190 MAIiTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 of packing-cases — one witli a label dated two days 
 back — wLicli had l)een opened with an iron lever: 
 and yet, when I made an excuse to ask for it, you 
 said there was no such tiling in the place. Infer- 
 ence : you didn't want me to comjiare it with tlie 
 marks on the desks and doors. That is all, I 
 think," 
 
 Mr. Claridge looked dolorously down at the floor. 
 *'rm afraid," he said, *' that I took an unsuitable 
 role when I undertook to rely on my wils to deceive 
 men like you. I thought there wasn't a single 
 vulfierable spot in my defence, but you wiilk calmly 
 through it at the lirst attempt Why did I never 
 think of those raindrops ? " 
 
 "Come," said Hewitt, with a smile, *' that sounds 
 unrepentant. I am going, now, to Ix)rd Stanway's. 
 If I were you, I think I should apologize to Mr. 
 Woollett in some way." 
 
 Lord Stanway, who, in the hour or two of reflec- 
 tion left him after parting with Hewitt, had come 
 to the belief that he had employe<l a man whose 
 mind was not always in order, received Hewitt's 
 story with natural astonishment. For some time 
 he was in doubt as to whether he w^ould be doing 
 right in acquiescing in any thing but a straightfor- 
 ward public statement of the facts connected with 
 the disappearance of the cameo, but in the end was 
 persuaded to let the affair drop, on receiving an 
 assurance from Mr, Woollett that he unreservedly 
 accepted the apology offered him by Mr. Claridge. 
 
 As for the latter, he was at least sufficiently pun- 
 ished in loss of money and personal humiliation for 
 Ms escapade. But the bitterest and last blow he
 
 THE STAN WAT CAMEO MYSTERY 191 
 
 sustained when tlie unblushing Hahn walked smil- 
 ingly into his office two days later to demand the 
 extra payment agreed on in consideration of the 
 sale. He had been called suddenly away, he ex- 
 claimed, on the day he should have come, and 
 hoped his missing the ax)pointment had occasioned 
 no inconvenience. As to the robbery of the cameo, 
 of course he was very sorry, but "pishness was 
 pishness," and he would be glad of a check for the 
 sum agreed on. And the unhappy Claridge was 
 obliged to j)ay it, knowing that the man had swin- 
 dled him, but unable to open his mouth to say so. 
 
 The reward remained on offer for a long time ; 
 indeed, it was never publicly withdrawn, I believe, 
 even at the time of Claridge' s death. And several 
 intelligent newspapers enlarged upon the fact that 
 an ordinary burglar had completely baffled and 
 defeated the boasted acumen of Mr. Martin Hewitt, 
 the well-known private detectiveo
 
 Vn. THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 
 
 Very often Hewitt was tempted, by the fascina- 
 tion of some particularly odd case, to neglect his 
 otlier alTairs to follow up a matter tliat from a busi- 
 ness point of view was of little or no value to him. 
 As a rule, he had a suflicient regard for his own 
 interests to resist such temptations, but in one 
 curious cast', at least, I believe he allowed it largely 
 to iulhieiu-e him. It was certainly an extremely 
 odd case — one of those affairs that, coming to light 
 at intervals, but more ofr^n remaining unheard of 
 by tlie general public, convince one that, after all, 
 there is very little extravagance about Mr. R. L. 
 Stevenson's bizarre imaginings of doings in London 
 in his "New Arabian Nights." "Tiiereis nothing 
 in this world that is at all possible," I have often 
 heard Martin Hewitt say, "that has not hai)pened 
 or is not happening in London." Certainly he had 
 opportunities of knowing. 
 
 The case I have referred to occurred some time 
 before my own acquaintance with him began — in 
 1878, in fact. He had called one Monday morning 
 at an office in regard to something connected with 
 one of those uninteresting, though often difTicult, 
 cases which formed, i)erhaps, the bulk of his prac- 
 tice, when he was informed of a most mysterious 
 murder that had taken place in another part of the 
 same building on the previous Saturday afternoon. 
 
 192
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 193 
 
 Owing to the circumstances of the case, only the 
 vaguest account had appeared in the morning 
 papers, and even thisj as it chanced, Hewitt had 
 not read. 
 
 The building was one of a new row in a partly 
 rebuilt street near the National Gallery. The whole 
 row had been built by a speculator for the purpose 
 of letting out in flats, suites of chambers, and in 
 one or two cases, on the ground floors, offices. The 
 rooms had let very well, and to desirable tenants, 
 as a rule. The least satisfactory tenant, the pro- 
 prietor reluctantly admitted, was a Mr. Rameau, 
 a negro gentleman, single, who had three rooms on 
 the top floor but one of the particular building that 
 Hewitt was visiting. His rent was paid regularly, 
 but his behavior had produced complaints from 
 other tenants. He got uproariously drunk, and 
 screamed and howled in unknown tongues. He fell 
 asleep on the staircase, and ladies were afraid to 
 pass. He bawled rough chaff down the stairs and 
 along the corridors at butcher boys and messen- 
 gers, and played on errand boys brutal practical 
 jokes that ended in police-court summonses. He 
 once had a way of sliding down the balusters, shout- 
 ing : " Ho ! ho ! ho ! yah ! " as he went, but as he 
 was a big, heavy man, and the balusters had been 
 built for different treatment, he had very soon and 
 very firmly been requested to stop it. He had 
 plenty of money, and spent it freely ; but it was 
 generally felt that there was too much of the light- 
 hearted savage about him to fit him to live among 
 quiet people. 
 
 How much longer the landlord would have stood
 
 194 MARTIN UEWITl', INVESTIGATOR 
 
 this sort of tiling, Hewitt's informant said, vras a 
 matter of conjecture, for on tlie Saturday afternoon 
 in question the tenancy had come to a startling full- 
 stop. Rameau had been murdered in his room, and 
 tlie body had, in the most unaccountable fashion, 
 been secretly removed from the premises. 
 
 The strongest possible suspicion pointed to a man 
 who had been employed in shovelling and carrying 
 coals, cleaning windows, and chopping wood for 
 several of the buildings, and who had left that very 
 Saturday. The crime had, in fact, been committed 
 with this man's chopper, and the man himself had 
 been heard, again and again, to threaten Rameau, 
 who in his brutal fashion had made a butt of him. 
 This man was a Frenchman, Victor Goujon by 
 name, who had lost his employment as a watch- 
 maker by renson of an injury to his right hand, 
 which destroyed its steadiness, and so he had fallen 
 upon evil days and odd jobs. 
 
 lie was a little man, of no great strength, but 
 extraordinarily excitable, and the coarse gibes and 
 horse-play of the big negro drove him almost to mad- 
 ness. Rameau would often, after some more than 
 ordinarily outrageous attack, contemptuously fling 
 Goujon a shilling, which the little Frenchman, 
 although wanting a shilling badly enough, would 
 hurl back in his face, almost weeping with impotent 
 rage. " Pig ! Canaille ! " he would scream. " Dirty 
 X)ig of Africa ! Take your sheelin' to vere you 'ave 
 stole it! Yoleur ! Pig!" 
 
 There was a tortoise living in the basement, of 
 which Goujon had made rather a pet, and the negro 
 would sometimes use this animal as a missile, fling-
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 195 
 
 ing it at the little Frencliman's head. On one such 
 occasion the tortoise struck the wall so forcibly as 
 to break its shell, and then Goujon seized a shovel 
 and rushed at his tormentor with such blind fury 
 that the latter made a bolt of it. These were but a 
 few of the passages between Rameau and the fuel- 
 porter, but they illustrate the state of feeling be- 
 tween them. 
 
 Groujon, after correspondence with a relative in 
 France who offered him work, gave notice to leave, 
 which expired on the day of the crime. At about 
 three that afternoon a house-maid, proceeding toward 
 Rameau' s rooms, met Goujon as he was going away„ 
 Goujon bade hergood-by, and, pointing in the direc- 
 tion of Rameau's rooms, said exultantly: "Dere 
 shall be no more of the black pig for me ; vit 'im I 
 'ave done for. Zut ! I mock me of 'im ! 'E vill 
 never tracasser me no more." And he went away. 
 
 The girl went to the outer door of Rameau's 
 rooms, knocked, and got no reply. Concluding that 
 the tenant was out, she was about to use her keys, 
 when she found that the door was unlocked. She 
 passed through the lobby and into the sitting-room, 
 and there fell in a dead faint at the sight that met 
 her eyes. Rameau lay with his back across the 
 sofa and his head drooping within an inch of the 
 ground. On the head was a fearful gash, and below 
 it was a pool of blood. 
 
 The girl must have lain unconscious for about ten 
 minutes. When she came to her senses, she dragged 
 herself, terrified, from the room and up to the 
 housekeeper's apartments, where, being an excita- 
 ble and nervous creature, she only screamed "Mur-
 
 196 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 der ! " and immediately fell in a fit of hysterics that 
 lasted three-quarters of an hour. When at last she 
 came to herself, she told her story, and, the hall- 
 porter having been summoned, Rameau's rooms 
 were again appronched. 
 
 The blood still lay on the floor, and the chopper, 
 with which the crime had evidently been committed, 
 rested against the fender ; but the body had van- 
 ished 1 A search was at once made, but no trace of 
 it could be seen anywhere. It seemed impossible 
 that it could have been carried out of the building, 
 for the hall-porter must at once have noticed any 
 body leaving with so bulky a burden. Still, in the 
 building it was not to be found. 
 
 When Hewitt was informed of these things on 
 Monday, the police were, of course, still in posses- 
 sion of Rameau's rooms. Inspector Nettings, 
 Hewitt was told, was in charge of the case, and as 
 the inspector was an acquaintance of his, and was 
 then in the rooms upstairs, Hewitt went up to see 
 him. 
 
 Nettings was pleased to see Hewitt, and invited 
 him to look round the rooms. "Perhaps you can 
 spot something we have overlooked," he said. 
 " Though it's not a case there can be much doubt 
 about." 
 
 "You think it's Goujon, don't youl" 
 
 "Think? Well, rather! Look here! As soon 
 as we got here on Saturday, we found this piece of 
 paper and pin on the floor. We showed it to the 
 house-maid, and then she remembered — she was too 
 much upset to think of it before — that when she 
 was in the room the paper was lying on the dead
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 191 
 
 man's chest — pinned there, evidently. It must 
 have drop]ped off when they removed the body. 
 It's a case of half -mad revenge on Goujon's part, 
 plainly. See it ; you read French, don't you ?" 
 
 The paper was a plain, large half sheet of note- 
 paper, on which a sentence in French was scrawled 
 in red ink in a large, clumsy hand, thus : 
 
 puni par un Dengeur de la tortue. 
 
 '-'■ Puni par un vengeur de la tortite,^^ Hewitt 
 repeated musingly. " 'Punished by an avenger of 
 the tortoise.' That seems odd." 
 
 "Well, rather odd. But you understand the 
 reference, of course. Have they told you about 
 Rameau's treatment of Goujon's pet tortoise?" 
 
 "I think it was mentioned among his other 
 pranks. But this is an extreme revenge for a thing 
 of that sort, and a queer way of announcing it." 
 
 "Oh, he's mad — mad with Rameau's continual 
 ragging and baiting," Nettings answered. "Any 
 way, this is a plain indication — plain as though he'd 
 left his own signature. Besides, it's in his own 
 language — French. And there's his chopper, too." 
 
 "Speaking of signatures," Hewitt remarked, 
 "perhaps you have already compared this with 
 other specimens of Goujon's writing ? " 
 
 " I did think of it, but they don't seem to have 
 a specimen to hand, and, any way, it doesn't seem 
 very important. There's ' avenger of the tortoise ' 
 plain enough, in the man's own language, and that 
 tells every thing. Besides, handwritings are easily 
 disguised." 
 
 "Have you got Goujon ? "
 
 198 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 " Well, no ; we liaveu't. There seems to be some 
 little difSculty about tliat. But I expect to liave 
 him by tliis time to-morrow. Here comes Mr. 
 Styles, the landlord." 
 
 Mr. Styles was a thin, querulous, and withered- 
 looking little man, who twitched his eyebrows as 
 he spoke, and spoke in short, jerky phrases. 
 
 "No news, eh, inspector, eh? eh? Found out 
 nothing else, eh ? Terrible thing for my property — 
 terrible ! Who's your friend i " 
 
 Nettings introduced Hewitt. 
 
 " Shocking thing this, eh, Mr. Hewitt ? Terrible ! 
 Comes of haviug any thing to do with these blood- 
 thirsty foreigners, eh? New buildings and all — 
 character ruined. No one come to live here now, 
 eh ? Tenants — noisy niggers — murdered by my own 
 servants — terrible ! You formed any opinion, eh ? " 
 
 " I dare say I might if I went into the case." 
 
 "Yes, yes — same opinion as insi)ector's, eh? 
 I mean an opinion of your own r' Tlie old man 
 scrutinized Hewitt's face sharply. 
 
 "If youM like me to look into the matter " 
 
 Hewitt began. 
 
 " Eh ? Oh, look into it ! Well, I can't commis- 
 sion you, you know — matter for the police. Mis- 
 chiefs done. Police doing very well, I think — 
 must be Goujon. But look about the place, cer- 
 tainly, if you like. K you see any thing likely to 
 serve my interests, tell me, and— and — jierhaps I'll 
 employ you, eh, eh? Good-afternoon." 
 
 The landlord vanished, and the inspector 
 laughed. "Likes to see what he's buying, does 
 Mr. Styles," he said.
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 199 
 
 Hewitt's first impulse was to walk ont of the 
 place at once. But Ms interest in the case had 
 been roused, and he determined, at any rate, to 
 examine the rooms, and this he did very minutely. 
 By the side of the lobby was a bath-room, and in 
 this was fitted a tip-u]3 wash-basin, which Hewitt 
 inspected with particular attention. Then he called 
 the housekeeper, and made enquiries about 
 Rameau's clothes and linen. The housekeeper 
 could give no idea of how many overcoats or how 
 much linen he had had. He had all a negro's 
 love of display, and was continually buying new 
 clothes, which, indeed, were lying, hanging, litter- 
 ing, and choking up the bedroom in all directions. 
 The housekeeper, however, on Hewitt's enquiring 
 after such a garment in i^articular, did remember 
 one heavy black ulster, which Rameau had very 
 rarely worn — only in the coldest weather. 
 
 " After the body was discovered," Hewitt asked 
 the housekeeper, "was any stranger observed 
 about the place — whether carrying any thing or 
 not?" 
 
 "No, sir," the housekeeper replied. "There's 
 been particular enquiries about that. Of course, 
 after we knew what was wrong and the body was 
 gone, nobody was seen, or he'd have been stopped. 
 But the hall-porter says he's certain no stranger 
 came or went for half-an-hour or more before that 
 — the time about when the house-maid saw the 
 body and fainted." 
 
 At this moment a clerk from the landlord's office 
 arrived and handed Nettings a paper. " Here you 
 are," said Nettings to Hewitt ; " they've found a
 
 200 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 specimen of Goujon's handwriting at last, if you'd 
 like to see it. I don't want it ; I'm not a graphol- 
 ogist, and the case is clear enough for me any way." 
 
 Hewitt took the paper. "This," he said, "is a 
 different sort of handwriting from that on the 
 paper. Tlie red-ink note about the avenger of the 
 tortoise is in a crude, large, clumsy, untaught style 
 of writing. This is small, neat, and well formed — 
 except that it is a trifle shaky, probably because of 
 the hand injury." 
 
 " That's nothing," contended Nettings ; " hand- 
 writing clues are worse than useless, as a rule. It's 
 so easy to disguise and imitate writing ; and 
 besides, if Goujon is such a good penman as you 
 seem to say, why, he could all the easier alter his 
 style. Say now yourself, can any fiddling question 
 of handwriting get over this tiling about 'avenging 
 the tortoise' — practically a written confession ? To 
 say nothing of the chopper, and what he said to 
 the house-maid as he left." 
 
 "Well," said Hewitt, "perhaps not; but we'll 
 see. Meantime " — turning to the landlord's clerk — 
 " possibly you will be good enough to tell me one or 
 two things. First, what was Goujon's character?" 
 
 "Excellent, as far as we know. We never had a 
 complaint about him except for little matters of 
 carelessness — leaving coal-scuttles on the staircases 
 for jieople to fall over, losing shovels, and so on. 
 He was certainly a bit careless, but, as far as we 
 could see, quite a decent little fellow. One would 
 never have thought him caj)able of committing mur- 
 der for the sake of a tortoise, though he was rather 
 fond of the animal."
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 201 
 
 " The tortoise is dead now, I understand? " 
 
 "Yes." 
 
 "Have you a lift in this building'?" 
 
 " Only for coals and heavy parcels. Goujon used 
 
 to work it, sometimes going up and down in it 
 
 himself with coals, and so on ; it goes into the 
 
 basement." 
 
 " And are the coals kept under this building ? " 
 
 " No. The store for the whole row is under the 
 
 next two houses — the basements communicate." 
 
 " Do you know Rameau's other name ? " 
 
 " Cesar Rameau he signed in our agreement." 
 
 *' Did he ever mention his relations ?" 
 
 " No. That is to say, he did say something one 
 
 day when he was very drunk ; but, of course, it 
 
 was all rot. Some one told him not to make such 
 
 a row, — he was a beastly tenant, — and he said he 
 
 was the best man in the place, and his brother was 
 
 Prime Minister, and all sorts of things. Mere 
 
 drunken rant ! I never heard of his saying any 
 
 thing sensible about relations. We know nothing 
 
 of his connections ; he came here on a banker's 
 
 reference." 
 
 " Thanks. I think that's all I want to ask. You 
 
 notice," Hewitt proceeded, turning to Nettings, 
 
 " the only ink in this place is scented and violet, 
 
 and the only paper is tinted and scented, too, with 
 
 a monogram — characteristic of a negro with money. 
 
 The paper that was pinned on Rameau' s breast is 
 
 in red ink on oommon and rather grubby paper, 
 
 therefore it was written somewhere else and brought 
 
 here. Inference, premeditation." 
 
 " Yes, yes. But are you an inch nearer with all 
 14
 
 202 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 these speculations ? Can you get nearer than I am 
 now without them ? " 
 
 " Well, perhaps not," Hewitt replied. " I don't 
 profess at this moment to know the criminal; you 
 do. I'll concede you that point for the present. 
 But you don't offer an opinion as to who removed 
 Rameau's body — which I think I know." 
 
 "Who was it, then?" 
 
 *'Come, try and guess that yourself. It wasn't 
 Goujon ; I don' t mind letting you know that. But 
 it was a person quite within your knowledge of the 
 case. You've mentioned the person's name more 
 than once." 
 
 Nettings stared blanklJ^ "I don't understand 
 you in the least," he said. "But, of course, you 
 mean that this mysterious person you speak of as 
 having moved the body committed the murder 1 " 
 
 "No, I don't. Nobody could have been more 
 innocent of that." 
 
 "Well," Nettings concluded with resignation, 
 "I'm afraid one of us is rather thick-headed. 
 What will you do ? " 
 
 " Interview the person who took away the body," 
 Hewitt replied, with a smile. 
 
 "But, man alive, why ? Why bother about the 
 person if it isn't the criminal ? " 
 
 " Never mind — never mind ; probably the person 
 will be a most valuable witness." 
 
 "Do you mean you think this person — whoever 
 it is — saw the crime ? ' ' 
 
 " I think it very probable indeed." 
 
 "Well, I won't ask you any more. I shall get 
 hold of Goujon ; that's simple and direct enough
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 203 
 
 for me. I prefer to deal with the heart of the case — 
 the murder itself — when there's such clear evidence 
 as I have." 
 
 "I shall look a little into that, too, perhaps," 
 Hewitt said, " and, if you like, I'll tell you the first 
 thing I shall do." 
 
 "What's that?" 
 
 " I shall have a good look at a map of the West 
 Indies, and I advise you to do the same. Good- 
 morning." 
 
 Nettings stared down the corridor after Hewitt, 
 and continued staring for nearly two minutes after 
 he had disappeared. Then he said to the clerk, 
 who had remained : ' ' What was he talking about ? ' ' 
 
 "Don't know," replied the clerk. "Couldn't 
 make head or tail of it." 
 
 " I don't believe there is a head to it," declared 
 Nettings; " nor a tail either. He's kidding us." 
 
 Nettings was better than his word, for within two 
 hours of his conversation with Hewitt Goujon was 
 captured and safe in a cab bound for Bow Street. 
 He had been stopped at Newhaven in the morning 
 on his way to Dieppe, and was brought back to 
 Jjondon. But now Nettings met a check. 
 
 Late that afternoon he called on Hewitt to ex- 
 plain matters. "We've got Goujon," he said 
 gloomily, "but there's a difficulty. He's got two 
 friends who can swear an alibi. Rameau was seen 
 alive at half-past one on Saturday, and the girl 
 found him dead about three. Now, Goujon' s two 
 friends, it seems, were with him from one o'clock 
 till four in the afternoon, with the exception of five
 
 204 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 minutes when the girl saw him, and then he left 
 them to take a key or something to the housekeeper 
 before finally leaving. They were waiting on the 
 landing below when Goujon spoke to the house- 
 maid, heard him speaking, and had seen him go all 
 the way up to the housekeeper's room and back, 
 as they looked up the wide well of the staircase. 
 They are men employed near the place, and seem 
 to have good characters. But perhaj^s we shall 
 find something unfavorable about them. They 
 were drinking with Goujon, it seems, by way of 
 'seeing him off.' " 
 
 "Well," Hewitt said, "I scarcely think you 
 need trouble to damage these men's characters. 
 They are probably telling the truth. Come, now, 
 be plain. You've come here to get a hint as to 
 whether my theory of the case helps you, haven't 
 you?" 
 
 "Well, if you can give me a friendly hint, 
 although, of course, I may be right, after all. Still, 
 I wish you'd explain a bit as to what you meant by 
 looking at a map and all that mystery. Nice thing 
 for me to be taking a lesson in my own business 
 after all these years ! But perhaps I deserve it." 
 
 " See, now," quoth Hewitt, "you remember what 
 map I told you to look at?" 
 
 " The West Indies." 
 
 " Right I Well, here you are." Hewitt reached 
 an atlas from his book-shelf. "Now, look here: 
 the biggest island of the lot on this map, barring 
 Cuba, is Hayti. You know as well as I do that the 
 western part of that island is peopled by the black 
 republic of Hayti, and that the country is in a
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 205 
 
 degenerate state of almost unexampled savagery, 
 with a ridiculous show of civilization. There are 
 revolutions all the time; the South American re- 
 publics are peaceful and prosperous compared to 
 Hayti. The state of the country is simply awful — 
 read Sir Spenser St. John's book on it. President 
 after president of the vilest sort forces his way to 
 power and commits the most horrible and blood- 
 thirsty excesses, murdering his opponents by the 
 hundred and seizing their property for himself and 
 his satellites, who are usually as bad, if not worse 
 than the president himself. Whole families — men, 
 women, and children — are murdered at the instance 
 of these ruffians, and, as a consequence, the most 
 deadly feuds spring up, and the presidents and their 
 followers are always themselves in danger of re- 
 prisals from others. Perhaps the very worst of these 
 presidents in recent times has been the notorious 
 Domingue, who was overthrown by an insurrection, 
 as they all are sooner or later, and comx^elled to fly 
 the country. Domingue and his nephews, one of 
 whom was Chief Minister, while in power com- 
 mitted the cruellest bloodshed, and many members 
 of the opposite party sought refuge in a small 
 island lying just to the north of Hayti, but were 
 sought out there and almost exterminated. Now, 
 I will show you that island on the map. What is 
 its name?" 
 
 "Tortuga." 
 
 "It is. 'Tortuga,' however, is only the old 
 Spanish name ; the Haytians speak French — Creole 
 French. Here is a French atlas : 7iow see the name 
 of that island."
 
 206 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIQATOB 
 
 *'LaTortue!" 
 
 "La Tortue it is— the tortoise. Tortuga means 
 the same thing in Spanish. But that island is 
 always spoken of in Hayti as La Tortue. Now, do 
 you see the drift of that paper pinned to Rameau's 
 breast?" 
 
 " Punished by an avenger of — or from — the tor- 
 toise or La Tortue — clear enough. It would seem 
 that the dead man had something to do with the 
 massacre there, and somebody from the island is 
 avenging it. The thing's most extraordinary." 
 
 "And now listen. The name of Domingue's 
 nephew, who was Chief Minister, was Septimus 
 Rameau.'''' 
 
 " And this was Cesar Rameau — his brother, prob- 
 ably. I see. Well, this is a case." 
 
 "I think the relationship probable. Now you 
 understand why I was inclined to doubt that Gou- 
 jon was the man you wanted." 
 
 "Of course, of course! And now I suppose I 
 must try to get a nigger — the chap who wrote that 
 paper. I wish he hadn't been such an ignorant 
 nigger. If he'd only have put the capitals to 
 the words ' La Tortue,' I might have thought a 
 little more about them, instead of taking it for 
 granted that they meant that wretched tortoise 
 in the basement of the house. Well, I've made 
 a fool of a start, but I'll be after that nigger 
 now." 
 
 "And I, as I said before," said Hewitt, "shall 
 be after the person that carried off Rameau's body. 
 I have had something else to do this afternoon, or 
 I should have begun already."
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 207 
 
 " You said you thought he saw the crime. How 
 did you judge that ? " 
 
 Hewitt smiled. "I think I'll keep that little 
 secret to myself for the present," he said. "You 
 shall know soon." 
 
 "Very well," Nettings replied with resignation. 
 " I suppose I mustn't grumble if you don't tell me 
 every thing. I feel too great a fool altogether over 
 this case to see any further than you show me." 
 And Inspector Nettings left on his search ; while 
 Martin Hewitt, as soon as he was alone, laughed 
 joyously and slapped his thigh. 
 
 There was a cab-rank and shelter at the end of 
 the street where Mr. Styles' s building stood, and 
 early that evening a man ai)proached it and hailed 
 the cabmen and the waterman. Any one would 
 have known the new-comer at once for a cabman 
 taking a holiday. The brim of tLe hat, the bird's- 
 eye neckerchief, the immense coat-buttons, and, 
 more than all, the rolling walk and the wrinkled 
 trousers, marked him out distinctly. 
 
 " Watcheer ! " he exclaimed affably, with the 
 self-possessed nod only possible to cabbies and 
 'busmen. "I'm a-lookin' for a bilker. I'm told one 
 o' the blokes off this rank carried 'im last Satur- 
 day, and I want to know where he went. I ain't 
 'ad a chance o' get tin' 'is address yet. Took a 
 cab just as it got dark, I'm told. Tallish chap, 
 muffled up a lot, in a long black overcoat. Any of 
 ye seen 'im ?" 
 
 The cabbies looked at one another and shook 
 their heads ; it chanced that none of them had
 
 208 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 been on that particular rank at that time. But the 
 waterman said : " 'Old on — I bet 'e's the bloke wot 
 old Bill Stammers took. Yorkey was fust on the 
 rank, but the bloke wouldn't 'ave a 'ansom — 
 wanted a four-wheeler, so old Bill took 'im. Big- 
 gish chap in a long black coat, collar uj) an' muffled 
 thick ; soft wideawake 'at, pulled over 'is eyes ; 
 and he was in a 'urry, too. Jumped in sharp as a 
 weasel." 
 
 "Didn't see 'is face, did ye?" 
 
 "No — not an inch of it; too much muffled. 
 Couldn't tell if he 'ad a face." 
 
 *' Was his arm in a sling ? " 
 
 *'Ay, it looked so. Had it stuffed through the 
 breast of his coat, like as though there might be a 
 sling inside." 
 
 "That's 'im. Any of ye tell me where I might 
 run across old Bill Stammers? He'll tell me where 
 my precious bilker went to." 
 
 As to this there was plenty of information, and 
 in five minutes Martin Hewitt, who had become an 
 unoccupied cabman for the occasion, was on his way 
 to find old Bill Stammers. That respectable old 
 man gave him exact particulars as to the place in 
 the East End where he had driven his muffled fare 
 on Saturday, and soon Hewitt had begun an eighteen 
 or twenty hours' search beyond Whitechapel. 
 
 At about three on Tuesday afternoon, as Nettings 
 was in the act of leaving Bow Street Police-Station, 
 Hewitt drove up in a four-wheeler. Some prisoner 
 appeared to be crouching low in the vehicle, but, 
 leaving him to take care of himself, Hewitt hurried
 
 WHAT ! YOU ?"
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 209 
 
 into the station and shook Nettings by the hand. 
 "Well," he said, "have you got the murderer of 
 Rameau yet?" 
 
 "No," Nettings growled. "Unless — well, Gou- 
 jon's under remand still, and, after all, I've been 
 thinking that he may know something " 
 
 "Pooh, nonsense!" Hewitt answered. "You'd 
 better let him go. Now, I liax)e got somebody." 
 Hewitt laughed and slap^oed the inspector's shoul- 
 der, "I've got the man who carried Rameau' s 
 body away !" 
 
 " The deuce you have ! Where ? Bring him in. 
 We must have him " 
 
 " All right, don't be in a hurry ; he won't bolt." 
 And Hewitt stei)ped out to the cab and produced 
 his prisoner, who, pulling his hat further over his 
 eyes, hurried furtively into the station. One hand 
 was stowed in the breast of his long coat, and below 
 the wide brim of his hat a small piece of white band- 
 age could be seen ; and, as he lifted his face, it was 
 seen to be that of a negro. 
 
 "Inspector Nettings," Hewitt said ceremoni- 
 ously, "allow me to introduce Mr. Cesar Ra- 
 meau !" 
 
 Nettings gasped. 
 
 "What!" he at length ejaculated. "What! 
 You — you're Rameau % " 
 
 The negro looked round nervously, and shrank 
 further from the door. 
 
 " Yes," he said ; "but please not so loud — please 
 not loud, Zey may be near, and I'm 'fraid." 
 
 "You will certify, will you not," asked Hewitt, 
 with malicious glee, "not only that you were not
 
 210 MARTIN HEWITT, INVE8TIQAT0E 
 
 murdered la^ Saturday by Victor Goujon, but that, 
 in fact, you were not murdered at all ? Also, that 
 you carried your own body away in the usual 
 fashion, on your own legs?" 
 
 "Yes, yes," responded Rameau, looking hag- 
 gardly about ; "but is not zis — zis room publique ? 
 I should not be seen." 
 
 "Nonsense!" replied Hewitt rather testily; 
 "you exaggerate your danger and your own im- 
 portance, and your enemies' abilities as well. 
 You're safe enough." 
 
 "I suppose, then," Nettings remarked slowly, 
 like a man on whose mind something vast was be- 
 ginning to dawn, "I suppose — why, hang it, you 
 must have just got ui) while that fool of a girl was 
 screaming and fainting upstairs, and walked out. 
 They say there's nothing so hard as a nigger's skull, 
 and yours has certainly made a fool of me. But, 
 then, somebody must have chopped you over the 
 head ; who was it ? " 
 
 "My enemies — my great enemies — enemies 
 politique. lam a great man" — this with a faint 
 revival of vanity amid his fear — "a great man in 
 my countree. Zey have great secret club-sieties to 
 kill me — me and my fren's ; and one enemy coming 
 in my rooms does zis — one, two" — he indicated 
 wrist and head — " wiz a choppa." 
 
 Rameau made the case plain to Nettings, so far 
 as the actual circumstances of the assault on him- 
 self were concerned. A negro whom he had noticed 
 near the place more than once during the previous 
 day or two had attacked him suddenly in his 
 rooms, dealing him two savage blows with a chop-
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 211 
 
 per. The first he had caught on his wrist, which 
 was seriously damaged, as well as excruciatingly- 
 painful, but the second had taken effect on his 
 head. His assailant had evidently gone away then, 
 leaving him for dead ; but, as a matter of fact, he 
 was only stunned by the shock, and had, thanks to 
 the adamantine thickness of the negro skull and 
 the ill direction of the chopper, only a very bad 
 scalp-wound, the bone being no more than grazed. 
 He had lain insensible for some time, and must 
 have come to his senses soon after the house-maid 
 had left the room. Terrified at the knowledge that 
 his enemies had found him out, his only thought 
 was to get away and hide himself. He hastily 
 washed and tied up his head, enveloped himself in 
 the biggest coat he could find, and let himself down 
 into the basement by the coal-lift, for fear of obser- 
 vation. He waited in the basement of one of the 
 adjoining buildings till dark and then got away in 
 a cab, with the idea of hiding himself in the East 
 End. He had had very little money with him on 
 his flight, and it was by reason of this circumstance 
 that Hewitt, when he found him, had prevailed on 
 him to leave his hiding-place, since it would be 
 impossible for him to touch any of the large sums 
 of money in the keeping of his bank so long as he 
 was supposed to be dead. With much difficulty, 
 and the promise of ample police protection, he Avas 
 at last convinced that it would be safe to declare 
 himself and get his property, and then run away 
 and hide wherever he pleased. 
 
 Nettings and Hewitt strolled off together for a 
 few minutes and chatted, leaving the wretched
 
 212 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 Rameau to cower in a corner among several police- 
 men. 
 
 "Well, Mr. Hewitt," Nettings said, "this case 
 has certainly been a shocking beating for me. I 
 must have been as blind as a bat when I started 
 on it. And yet I don't see that you had a deal to 
 go on even now. What struck you first ? " 
 
 " Well, in the beginning it seemed rather odd to 
 me that the body should have been taken away, 
 as I had been told it was, after the written paper 
 had been pinned on it. Why should the murderer 
 pin a label on the body of his victim if he meant 
 carrying that body away ? Who would read the 
 label and learn of the nature of the revenge grat- 
 ified ? Plainly, that indicated that the person who 
 had carried away the body was not the person who 
 had committed the murder. But as soon as I began 
 to examine the place I saw the probability that 
 there was no murder, after all. There were any 
 number of indications of this fact, and I can't 
 understand your not observing them. First, 
 although there was a good deal of blood on the 
 floor just below where the house-maid had seen 
 Rameau lying, there was none between that place 
 and the door. Now, if the body had been dragged, 
 or even carried, to the door, blood must have 
 become smeared about the floor, or at least there 
 would have been drops, but there were none, and 
 this seemed to hint that the corpse might have 
 come to itself, sat up on the sofa, staunched the 
 wound, and walked out. I reflected at once that 
 Rameau was a full-blooded negro, and that a negro's 
 head is very nearly invulnerable to any thing;
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 213 
 
 short of bullets. Then, if the body had been 
 dragged out, — as such a heavy body must have 
 been, — almost of necessity the carpet and rugs 
 would show signs of the fact, but there were no 
 such signs. But beyond these there was the fact 
 that no long black overcoat was left with the other 
 clothes, although the housekeeper distinctly remem- 
 bered Rameau's possession of such a garment. I 
 judged he would use some such thing to assist his 
 disguise, which was why I asked her. Why he 
 would want to disguise was plain, as you shall see 
 presently. There were no towels left in the bath- 
 room ; inference : used for bandages. Every thing 
 seemed to show that the only person responsible 
 for Rameau's removal was Rameau himself. Why, 
 then, had he gone away secretly and hurriedly, 
 without making complaint, and why had he stayed 
 away % What reason would he have for doing this 
 if it had been Goujon that had attacked him? 
 None. Goujon was going to France. Clearly, 
 Rameau was afraid of another attack from some 
 implacable enemy whom he was anxious to avoid — 
 one against whom he feared legal complaint or 
 defence would be useless. This brought me at 
 once to the paper found on the floor. If this were 
 the work of Goujon and an ojien reference to his 
 tortoise, why should he be at such pains to dis- 
 guise his handwriting ? He would have been 
 already pointing himself out by the mere mention 
 of the tortoise. And, if he could not avoid a 
 shake in his natural, small handwriting, how could 
 he have avoided it in a large, clumsy, slowly drawn, 
 assumed hand? No, the paper was not Goujon' s."
 
 214 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 "As to the writing on the paper," Nettings 
 interposed, "I've told you how I made that mis- 
 take. I took the readiest explanation of the words, 
 since they seemed so pat, and I wouldn't let any 
 thing else outweigh that. As to the other things — 
 the evidences of llameau's having gone off by him- 
 self — well, I don't usually miss such obvious things ; 
 but I never thought of the possibilitj'- of the victim 
 going away on the quiet and not coming back, as 
 though Jie^d done something wrong. Comes of 
 starting with a set of fixed notions." 
 
 "Well," answered Hewitt, "I fancy yon must 
 have been rather ' out of form,' as they say ; every- 
 body has his stupid days, and you can't keep up 
 to concert pitch forever. To return to the case. 
 The evidence of the chopper was very untrust- 
 worthy, especially when I had heard of Goujon's 
 careless habits — losing shovels and leaving coal- 
 scuttles on stairSo Nothing more likely than for 
 the chopper to be left lying about, and a criminal 
 who had calculated his chances would know the 
 advantage to himself of using a weajjon that 
 belonged to the place, and leaving it behind to 
 divert suspicion. It is quite possible, by the way, 
 that the man who attacked Rameau got away down 
 the coal-lift and out by an adjoining basement, just 
 as did Rameau himself ; this, however, is mere con- 
 jecture. The would-be murderer had plainly pre- 
 pared for the crime : witness the previous prepara- 
 tion of the paper declaring his revenge, an indica- 
 tion of his i)ride at having run his enemy to earth 
 at such a distant j)lace as this — although I expect 
 he was only in England by chance, for Haytians
 
 THE AFFAIR OF THE TORTOISE 215 
 
 are not a persistently energetic race. In regard to 
 the use of small instead of capital letters in the 
 words ' La Tortue ' on the paper, I observed, in the 
 beginning, that the first letter of the whole sentence 
 — the ' p ' in ' puni ' — was a small one. Clearly, the 
 writer was an illiterate man, and it was at once 
 plain that he may have made the same mistake 
 with ensuing words. 
 
 " On the whole, it was plain that every-body had 
 begun with a too ready disposition to assume that 
 Goujon was guilty. Every-body insisted, too, 
 that the body had been carried away, — which was 
 true, of course, although not in the sense intended, 
 — so I didn't trouble to contradict, or to say more 
 than that I guessed who Tiad carried the body off. 
 And, to tell you the truth, I was a little piqued at 
 Mr. Styles' s manner, and indisposed, interested in 
 the case as I was, to give away my theories too 
 freely. 
 
 ' * The rest of the job was not very difficult. I 
 found out the cabman who had taken Rameau 
 away, — you can always get readier help from cab- 
 bies if you go as one of themselves, esj)ecially if 
 you are after a bilker, — and from him got a suffi- 
 ciently near East End direction to find Rameau 
 after enquiries. I ventured, by- the- way, on a 
 rather long shot. I described my man to the 
 cabman as having an injured arm or wrist — and 
 it turned out a correct guess. You see, a man 
 making an attack with a chopper is pretty certain 
 to make more than a single blow, and as there 
 appeared to have been only a single wound on the 
 head, it seemed probable that another had fallen
 
 216 MARTIN HEWITT, INVESTIGATOR 
 
 somewhere else — almost certainly on the arm, as 
 it wonld be raised to defend the head. At Lime- 
 house I found he had had his head and wrist 
 attended to at a local medico's, and a big nig- 
 ger in a fright, with a long black coat, a broken 
 head, and a lame hand, is not so difficult to find in 
 a small area. How I persuaded him up here you 
 know already ; I think I frightened him a little, 
 too, by explaining how easily I had tracked him, 
 and giving him a hint that others might do the 
 same. He is in a great fnnk. He seems to have 
 quite lost faith in England as a safe asylum." 
 
 The police failed to catch Karaeau's assailant — 
 chiefly because Rameau could not be got to give a 
 proper description of him, nor to do any thing 
 except get out of the country in a hurry. In 
 truth, he was glad to be quit of the matter with 
 nothing worse than his bioken head. Little Gou- 
 jon made a wild storm about his arrest, and before 
 he did go to France managed to extract twenty 
 pounds from Rnmeau by way of compensation, in 
 spite of the absence of any strictly legal claim 
 against his old tormentor. So that, on the whole, 
 Goujon was about the only person who derived any 
 particular profit from the tortoise mystery. 
 
 THE END
 
 THE LIHR ARV 
 UNIVERSITY OF (ALI FORMA 
 
 Santa Barbara 
 
 THIS HOOK FS DFF ON FHF LAS I DATE 
 STAMPED lUI.OW. 
 
 Series 9482
 
 A A 001 425 162 3 
 
 -^