The Gem Collector
Page 16
CHAPTER XVI.
Jimmy had gone up to his room to put on the costume he was to wear inthe first act at about the time when Spennie was being seized upon byCharteris to act as prompter. As he moved toward the stairs, asquare-cut figure appeared.
It was the faithful Galer.
There was nothing in his appearance to betray the detective to theunskilled eye, but years of practice had left Spike with a sort ofsixth sense as regarded the force. He could pierce the subtlestdisguise. Jimmy had this gift in an almost equal degree, and it hadnot needed Mr. Galer's constant shadowing of himself to prove to Jimmythe correctness of Spike's judgment. He looked at the representativeof Wragge's Detective Agency, Ltd., as he stood before him now, takingin his every detail: the square, unintelligent face; the badly cutclothes; the clumsy heels; the enormous feet.
"And this," he said to himself, "is the man McEachern thinks capableof tying my hands!" There were moments when the spectacle of Mr. Galerfilled Jimmy with an odd sort of fury, a kind of hurt professionalpride. The feeling that this espionage was a direct challenge enragedhim. Behind this clumsy watcher he saw always the self-satisfiedfigure of Mr. McEachern. He seemed to hear him chuckling to himself.
"If it wasn't for Molly," he said to himself, "I'd teach McEachern alesson. I'm trying to hold myself in, and he sets these fooldetectives onto me. I shouldn't mind if he'd chosen somebody who knewthe rudiments of the game, but Galer! Galer!
"Well, Mr. Galer," he said, aloud, "you aren't trying to escape, areyou? You're coming in to see the show, aren't you?"
"Oh, yes," said the detective. "Jest wanted to go upstairs for 'alf aminute. You coming, too?"
"I was going to dress," said Jimmy, as they went up. "See you later,"he added, at the door. "Hope you'll like the show."
He went into his room. Mr. Galer passed on.
* * * * *
Jimmy had finished dressing, and had picked up a book to occupy theten minutes before he would be needed downstairs, when there burstinto the room Spike Mullins, in a state of obvious excitement.
"Gee, Mr. Chames!"
"Hello, Spike."
Spike went to the door, opened it, and looked up and down the passage.
"Mr. Chames," he said, in a whisper, shutting the door, "there's bindoin's to-night for fair. Me coco's still buzzin'. Say, I was to SirThomas' dressin' room----"
"What! What were you doing there?"
Spike looked somewhat embarrassed. He grinned apologetically, andshuffled his feet.
"I've got dem, Mr. Chames," he said.
"Got them? Got what?"
"Dese."
He plunged his hand in his pocket, and drew forth a glittering mass.Jimmy's jaw dropped as he gazed at Lady Blunt's rope of pearls.
"Two hundred t'ousand plunks," murmured Spike, gazing lovingly atthem. "I says to myself, Mr. Chames ain't got no time to be getting'after dem himself. He's too busy dese days wit' jollyin' along theswells. So it's up to me, I says, 'cos Mr. Chames'll be tickled todeat', all right, all right, if we can git away wit' dem. So I----"
Jimmy gave tongue with an energy which amazed his faithful follower.
"Spike! You lunatic! Didn't I tell you there was nothing doing whenyou wanted to take those things the other day?"
"Sure, Mr. Chames. But dose was little dinky t'ings. Dese poils isboids, for fair."
"Good heavens, Spike, you must be mad. Can't you see--Oh, Lord!Directly the loss of those pearls is discovered, we shall have thosedetectives after us in a minute. Didn't you know they had beenwatching us?"
An involuntary chuckle escaped Spike.
"'Scuse me, Mr. Chames, but dat's funny about dem sleut's. Listen.Dey's bin an' arrest each other."
"What!"
"Dat's right. Dey had a scrap in de dark, each finking de odder wasafter de jools, an' not knowin' dey was bote sleut's, an' now one ofdem's bin an' taken de odder off, an' locked him in de cellar."
"What on earth do you mean?"
Spike giggled at the recollection.
"Listen, Mr. Chames, it's dis way. I'm in de dressin' room, chasin'around wit' dis lantern here for de jool box"--he produced from hisother pocket a small bicycle lamp--"and just as I gets a line on it,gee! I hears a footstep comin' down de passage straight for de door.Was to de bad? Dat's right. Gee, I says to m'self, here's one of desleut' guys what's bin an' got wise to me, and he's comin' in to putde grip on me. So I gets up, an' I blows out de lantern, and I standsdere in de dark, waitin' for him to come in. And den I'm going to getbusy before he can see who I am, and jolt him one on de point, andden, while he's down and out, chase meself for de soivants' hall."
"Yes?" said Jimmy.
"Well, dis guy, he gets to de door, and opens it, and I'm just goin'to butt in, when dere suddenly jumps out from de room on de odder sidede passage anodder guy, and gets de rapid strangleholt on dis foistmug. Say, wouldn't dat make you wonder was you on your feet or yourcoco?"
"Go on. What happened, then?"
"Dey begins to scrap good and hard in de dark. Dey couldn't see me,and I couldn't see dem, but I could hear dem bumpin' about an'sluggin' each odder, all right, all right. And by an' by one of demputs de odder to de bad, so dat he goes down and takes de count; an'den I hears a click. And I know what dat is. One of de guys has put deirons on de odder guy. Den I hears him strike a light--I'd turned deswitch what lights up de passage before I got into de room--and den hesays, 'Ah', he says, 'got youse, have I? Not the boid I expected, butyou'll do.' I knew his voice. It was dat mug what calls himselfGaler."
"I suppose I'm the bird he expected," said Jimmy. "Well?"
"De odder mug was too busy catchin' up wit' his breat' to shoot itback swift, but after he's bin doin' de deep breathin' stunt for awhile, he says, 'You mutt', he says, 'youse to de bad. You've made abreak, you have.' He put it different, but dat's what he meant. Den hesays that he's a sleut', too. Does de Galer mug give him de glad eye?Not on your life. He says dat dat's de woist tale that's ever binhanded to him. De odder mug says, 'I'm Sir Tummas' vally', he says.'Aw, cut it out', says Galer. 'Sure youse ain't Sir Tummas himself?''Show me to him', says de foist guy, 'den you'll see.' 'Not on yourlife', says Galer. 'What! Butt in among de swells what's enjoyin'themselves and spoil deir evenin' by showin' dem a face like yours? Tode woods! It's youse for de coal cellar, me man, and we'll see whatyouse has got to say afterward. G'wan!' And off dey went. And I lit melantern again, got de jools, and chased meself here."
Jimmy stretched out his hand.
"All very exciting," he said. "And now you'll just hand me thosepearls, and I'll seize the opportunity while the coast is clear to putthem back where they belong."
Only for a moment did Spike hesitate. Then he pulled out the jewels,and placed them in Jimmy's hand. Mr. Chames was Mr. Chames, and whathe said went. But his demeanor was tragic, telling eloquently of hopesblighted.
Jimmy took the necklace with a thrill. He was an expert in jewels, anda fine gem affected him much as a fine picture affects the artistic.He went to the light, and inspected them gloatingly.
As he did so, he uttered a surprised exclamation. He ran the jewelsthrough his fingers. He scrutinized them again, more closely thistime.
Then he turned to Spike, with a curious smile.
"You'd better be going downstairs," he said. "I'll just run along andreplace them. Where is the box?"
"It's on de floor against de wall, near de window, Mr. Chames."
"Good. Better give me that lamp."
There was no one in the passage. He raced softly along it to SirThomas Blunt's dressing room.
He lit his lamp, and found the box without difficulty. Dropping thenecklace in, he closed down the lid.
"They'll want a new lock, I'm afraid," he said. "However!"
He rose to his feet.
"Jimmy!" said a startled voice.
He whipped round. The light of the lamp fell on Molly, standing, paleand open-eyed, beside the curtain by the door.
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